The Education of a Poker Player<span><span>by Herbert O. Yardley
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In 1957, there was no question whether or not poker was a sport, it was gambling. Gambling, at the time, was looked upon as respectable when done correctly. This meant playing in casinos and in your friendly neighborhood game. Most of the time this did not include poker. The casino's saw it as unpopular, and games like gin, pinochle, and bridge were much more common in home games. In that year Herbert O. Yardley published The Education of a Poker Player .
The poker games held back then are things of legend today. People like Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim Preston, Sailor Roberts, Titanic Thompson, Johhny Moss, Jimmy the Greek, and countless others played in the highest stakes games right under the law's nose. Mostly in the Texas circuit, and in every odd place where they found people with money to lose. Both five and seven card stud were popular in those circles, and five card draw was played almost everywhere.
The Education of a Poker Playercontains mostly anecdotes but it also goes into great detail on the technical aspect of every major game popular at the time and quite a few variations you wouldn't see in any casinos and still won't see today. In between each of these technical chapters are the afforermentioned anecdotes, some only dealing with poker in the least sense. Most stem from Mr. Yardley's experiences in the armed forces during World War II, and various home games he participated in over the years.
Compared to books like Harrington on Hold'em and the SuperSystems this book pales in comparison if you are looking for poker strategy but it is a must have in any poker players book collection, if nothing else for the nostialga.
If you want to buy this book on Amazon.com click here : The Education of a Poker Player
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