Improve Your Poker
A book with tremendous appeal to fans of no-limit poker. The short essay style helps readers remember these lessons when it counts.
As a professional poker player, Bob Ciaffone was ideally situated to write what has become the pro's handbook to big bet poker. Improve Your Poker is a collection of short articles designed to improve your poker game. Despite being focused on non-limit play, the book is really aimed at the beginner and intermediate player, although pros will undoubtedly benefit from reading this book as well.
Bob Ciaffone is a seasoned poker player with over five decades of experience on the professional poker circuit under his belt. He has played the game just about everywhere in the world, from the casinos of Las Vegas to the exclusive casino parlors of London and Malta. A professional writer, for the past 20 years, Ciaffone has written poker columns in gambling publications that contain the benefit of his 50 years of gaming experience.
This book is clean, neat, tidy, and contains no airs and graces. Ciaffone cuts straight to the chase using the short-essay format to relay ideas that are easily understood and recalled. Each essay is 3 to 5 pages long and focuses on a number of specific topics. Starting off in a general style, the book then moves onto more specialized subjects that will appeal to the experienced player. General topics include gambling skills, bluffing, and how to gauge your opponent's strengths and weaknesses. Ciaffone notes that while most people play poker reasonably well, his book is intended to provide those reasonable players with the edge required to become pros.
Ciaffone's style is easy to follow and his explanations flow smoothly from page to page. Using a friendly conversational style, readers can absorb the information at a single reading, without pouring over the turgid text that so many poker guides seem to contain. Ciaffone has acquired the nickname "Coach" due to his easy manner and willingness to share his knowledge with those hungry for information on poker strategy and game play.
The book describes the range of popular poker variants such as Hold'em, Omaha, Stud, and high-low split games, all which appear with detailed explanations and tips. Texas hold 'em is covered in greatest depth, and Stud and high-low split are covered in two articles each. Heavy emphasis is played on the big-bet variants of Texas hold ‘em and Omaha. Further practical information on tourney play will help anyone keen on building their skills for life on the pro circuit.
This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in improving their poker game. Appealing to both pro and beginner, and even for the casual reader interested in the world of live poker gambling, there is something in Improve Your Poker for everyone.
Bob Ciaffone was born in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, and is a professional poker player and writer on gambling. Finishing third in the 1987 World Series of Poker, he took home prize money of $125,000. His total winnings at 2008 stand at $230,000. A regular contributor to Card Player Magazine, Ciaffone specializes in the legal aspects of poker gambling and founded Fair Laws on Poker, a non-profit organization devoted to improving local, state, and national laws regarding legal poker gambling. A former president of the Michigan Chess Association, Ciaffone is also interested and involved in the world of chess and has been awarded with the title of Life Master by the US Chess Federation.
