dj11
Legend
Silver Level
I've had this book forever;
Poker Is the Name of the Game by Walter Gibson.
Published in the early 1970's. No date as to when it was written. I have to think it was written much earlier.
It has no Holdem or Omaha sections. So far no mention of no-limit poker either. This could be due to the notion that in California, all the games were limit post war thru sometime in the late 70's. On a daily average basis, California is still probably the poker capital of the world.
The book covers a variety of Draw and Stud games, with many variations. It sort of covers strategy for those games, which at best, offers an insight into old souls that might still be playing those games.
But there are a lot of interesting things in this short small book, like;
-the blind was originally singular, only one, which would be the equivalent of a table full of ante's. The variation to 2 blinds (SB/BB) started as a forced straddle of that singular blind. Multiple straddles might be agreed upon as table rules.
-it mentions several times that bets in a hand would be 'equalized' prior to the next round of action in a hand. So calling a raise would equalize it at that point....
-the book also describes many alternate hands, with interesting names. My favorite is still the skip straight, 2,4,6,8,T for example. It also describes where those oddball hands would fit in the final showdown.
It is entirely possible this book was essentially a Kitchen Poker bible back in the days before Holdem evolved. I do not remember where I got it, or when. It is possible that I bought it long ago with a couple of decks of cards packaged with this book. It was published by the United States Playing Card Company. Thru most of the 80's I was an avid Bridge player. Slowed down in the 90's till I found Bridge online at Playsite.
Poker Is the Name of the Game by Walter Gibson.
Published in the early 1970's. No date as to when it was written. I have to think it was written much earlier.
It has no Holdem or Omaha sections. So far no mention of no-limit poker either. This could be due to the notion that in California, all the games were limit post war thru sometime in the late 70's. On a daily average basis, California is still probably the poker capital of the world.
The book covers a variety of Draw and Stud games, with many variations. It sort of covers strategy for those games, which at best, offers an insight into old souls that might still be playing those games.
But there are a lot of interesting things in this short small book, like;
-the blind was originally singular, only one, which would be the equivalent of a table full of ante's. The variation to 2 blinds (SB/BB) started as a forced straddle of that singular blind. Multiple straddles might be agreed upon as table rules.
-it mentions several times that bets in a hand would be 'equalized' prior to the next round of action in a hand. So calling a raise would equalize it at that point....
-the book also describes many alternate hands, with interesting names. My favorite is still the skip straight, 2,4,6,8,T for example. It also describes where those oddball hands would fit in the final showdown.
It is entirely possible this book was essentially a Kitchen Poker bible back in the days before Holdem evolved. I do not remember where I got it, or when. It is possible that I bought it long ago with a couple of decks of cards packaged with this book. It was published by the United States Playing Card Company. Thru most of the 80's I was an avid Bridge player. Slowed down in the 90's till I found Bridge online at Playsite.