by Richard D. Harroch and Lou Krieger Foreword by Chris Moneymaker Winner of the 2003 World Series of ER About the Authws Lou Krieger learned poker at the tender age of 7, while standing at his father's side during the weekly Thursday night game held at the Krieger kitchen table in the bluecollar Brooklyn neighborhood where they lived. Lou played throughout high school and college and managed to keep his head above water only because the other players were so appallingly bad. But it wasn't until his first visit to Las Vegas that he took poker seriously, buying into a low-limit Seven Card Stud game where he managed - with a good deal of luck -to break even. "While playing stud," he recalls, "I noticed another game that looked eved more interesting. It was Texas Hold'em. "I watched the Hold'em game for about 30 minutes, and sat down to play. One hour and $100 later, I was hooked. I didn't mind losing. It was the first time 1 played, and I expected to lose. But I didn't like feeling like a dummy so I bought and studied every poker book I could find." "I studied; 1 played. I studied and played more. Before long I was winning reg- ularly, and I haven't had a losing year since I began keeping records." In the early 1990s Lou Krieger began writing a column called "On Strategy" for Card Player Magazine. He has also written two books about poker, Hold'em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner and MORE Hold'em Excellence: A Winner For Life. When not writing about poker, Lou (who lives in Long Beach, California) can be found playing poker in the card casinos of Southern California. Richard Harroch is an attorney with over 20 years of experience in repre- senting start-up and emerging companies, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists. He is listed in "Who's Who in American Law" and is a corporate partner in a major law firm in San Francisco, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of U.C. Berkeley and graduated from UCLA Law School, where he was managing editor of the Law Review. He has written a number of legal/business books, including The Small Business Kit For Dummies; Start-Up and Emerging Companies: Planning, Financing and Operating the Successful Business; and Partnership and Joint Venture Agreements. He also spearheaded the development of a premier legal-agree- ments Web site on the Internet. He has lectured extensively before various legal and business organizations, including the American Electronics Association, the Venture Capital Institute, the California Continuing Education of the Bar, the Corporate Counsel Institute, the San Francisco Bar, and the Practicing Law Institute (PLI). Richard has served as the Chairman of the California State Bar Committee on Partnerships, the Co-Chairman of the Corporations Committee of the San Francisco Bar (Eiarristers), a member of the Executive Committee of the Business Law Section of the California State Bar, and Co-Chair of the Law \ Journal annual seminar in New York on "Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances." Richard has experience in the following areas: start-up and emerging compa- nies, ecommerce, corporate fihancings, joint ventures, strategic alliances, venture capital financings, employment agreements, initial public offerings, leases, loans, online and Internet matters, license agreements, partnerships, preferred stock, confidentiality agreements, stock options, sales contracts, securities laws, and mergers and acquisitions. Richard has participated a number of times in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and is the co-author of Gambling For Dummies. Authors' Acknodedgmen ts Books are always a collaborative effort. Never believe an author who tells you otherwise. Without the efforts of acquisitions editor Mark Butler, who believed in and nurtured this project for two years, this book would not have come to fruition. Skilled editors are a wondrous breed, and the effort, assistance, and sugges- tions of senior project editor Tim Gallan, and copy editor Patricia Yuu Pan shaped this book into something we're proud of. With dedication and talent, Tim and Patricia possessed the magic to make the authors appear more liter- ate, wittier, and eminently more readable than they really are. We are also indebted to those who contributed their writing talent and poker know-how to this book: to poker's "Mad Genius" Mike Caro for his work on "tells" - the body language of poker - and for many of the statistical tables and tips found throughout this book; to Nolan Dalla for his biographical sketches of poker legends past and present; to Dan Payrnar for his informa- tion on video poker; to Kathy Watterson for her chapter on Internet poker and for showing you, the reader, how to use your personal computer to improve your poker skills; and to Linda Johnson for her foreword. The world of poker is far too large to individually thank each person we'd like to acknowledge here: the dealers, players, floormen, chip runners, food servers, board attendants, porters, cashiers, supervisors and managers, props, players, and railbirds, who have all graciously enhanced our experi- ences at the poker table. Here's a warm and heartfelt thank you. And thanks to friends and family members who have always encouraged our endeavors - even those involving a risk and a gamble. Special thanks to the folks at Card Player Magazine, who collectively possess a bottomless reserve of poker knowledge, wisdom, and advice and are always willing to share. Dedication From Lou: I dedicate this book to Abby, David, and Karen, and to all the Lubchansky cousins whose grandparents sailed to America in steerage with not much more than a suitcase and immigrant dreams. Their dream afforded me the enviable luxury of living well by writing books and playing poker. From Richard: I dedicate this book to the partners at my law firm who have played poker with me for many years. Thanks for your money, guys! Publisher's Acknowledgments We're proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration formlocated at www.dummies. comlregisterl. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Production Media Development Project Coordinator: Kristy Nash Senior Project Editor: Tim Gallan Layout and Graphics: Beth Brooks, Acquisltions Editor: Mark Butler Amy Adrian, Barry Offringa, Copy Editor: Patricia Yuu Pan Tracy K. Oliver, Jill Piscitelli, Brent Savage Acquisitions Coordinator: Lisa Roule Proofreaders: Laura Albert, Corey Bowen, John Greenough, Marianne Santy, Technical Editor: David Galt Kathleen Sparrow Editorial Manager: Pam Mourouzis Indexer: Sharon Hilgenberg Editorial Assistant: Carol Strickland Specia 1 Help Cover Photo: FPG International LLC. 0 Buss, Gary Linda Stark, Tina Sims Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel Brice Gosnell, Associate Publisher, Travel Suzanne Jannetta, Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debble Stailey, Director of Composition Services Contents at a Glance 1n troduction ................................................................. 1 Part 1: Hour to Play the Games....................................... 7 Chapter 1: Poker Basics ..........r .......................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: Essential Strategic Considerations ............................................................. 29 Chapter 3: Seven-Card Stud ............................................................................................. 45 Chapter 4: Texas Hold'em ............................................................................................... 59 Chapter 5: Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better, High-Low Split (Seven-Stud/8) ............ 81 Chapter 6: Omaha ............................................................................................................. 99 Chapter 7: Home Poker Games ..................................................................................... 117 Part 11: Adganced Strategy ........................................ 127 Chapter 8: Bluffing.......................................................................................................... 129 Chapter 9: Money Management and Recordkeeping ................................................. 141 Part 111: Computers. Casinos. and Cardrooms .............. 157 Chapter 10: Poker Tournaments ................................................................................... 159 Chapter 11: Video Poker ................................................................................................ 175 Chapter 12: The World Series of Poker ........................................................................ 189 Chapter 13: The Computer: Your Shortcut to Poker Mastery .................................. 203 Chapter 14: Internet Poker ............................................................................................ 213 Part IV: More Poker Fun ............................................ 223 Chapter 15: What's Behind the Sayings. Terms. and Myths ..................................... 225 Chapter 16: Learning More about Poker ....................................................................