Product Description
Widely regarded as the world’s best poker player, Johnny Chan has been beating the highest buy-in tournaments and big money cash games everywhere for the past twenty years. Because he worked his way up to the top of the poker world by starting in the smallest games, Johnny is the perfect person to teach you how to do it. Whether you are a beginning or intermediate player, this book will help you on your way to expert status. All of the popular casino poker games are… More >>
Play Poker Like Johnny Chan, Book One: Casino Poker
Tags: best poker player, Book., cash games, Casino, casino poker, Chan, expert status, intermediate player, Johnny, johnny chan, Like, Play, Poker, poker games, poker world
I just wanted to drop you a note on the book. I received the book in the mail yesterday. Thanks for the super fast shipping. I also would like to comment on the quality of the book. This book is first rate. I am about 30 pages into it so far and a few things really stand out. It is extremely well written, the use of stories and strategies are fantastic. The pages of the book are of extreme quality, you dont find many books in this price range done on such quality paper. The cover is of a very high quality. This book is nicer then 99% of the hard cover books that sell for the same price. Also all the color photos are a real nice touch.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’d just like to give you a little background so that you can decide if this is the right book for you. This is the first book in a series. It starts out with the information a beginning player needs in order to move from little or no experience to playing in a casino, and then explains the concepts necessary to become a winning player. If you look at the customer images section for this book you can see for yourself what topics are covered. The first chapter is called “Hand Rankings” and addresses the needs of people who have never played before. The next couple of chapters describe the casino environment and include most of the important rules and regulations regarding playing in a casino. One is called “General Poker Concepts” and the other is called “What to Expect in a Casino”. If you are an experienced player, you may want to skip this introductory material.
The following chapters are devoted to each of the games that are commonly played in the casinos and at tournaments. Those chapters begin with a brief description of the game and then cover what you need to know to become a winning player.
Those chapters are:
Limit Hold-em
Seven Card Stud
Seven Card Stud Eight or Better
Omaha High
Omaha Hi-low
No-Limit Hold-em
There are a few other short chapters dealing with such things as bluffing, money management, and tournaments.
Because Johnny started out playing in the smallest games available in a casino, has moved up through all the limits, and now plays in the highest games in the world on a regular basis, he understands what you need to know to begin to develop your game. That material is included in this book.
Although the information is not meant to be exhaustive, it will give you the pertinent information you’ll need to beat most home games and do well in low to mid limit casino poker. The object of this book is to take a novice or moderately experienced player from the beginning stages of play to an intermediate level of play. And although this is not an advanced book, there are many intermediate and some advanced concepts in it. Subsequent books in the series will be more directly geared toward advanced players.
We wrote this book as if we were sitting down with you and guiding you along the road toward playing a winning game. We’ve also tried to include some entertaining stories and give mention to some of the great personalities in the game today.
We both believe it is an excellent book and sincerely hope you enjoy it!
Rating: 5 / 5
This book cover the basic rules and strategies of different poker games. Personally, I did not find this book very useful partially due to my participation in many tournaments and cash games weekly.
All in all this book is nice to read, great for beginners, and printed on nice material, but I would not recommend for intermediate poker players. However, if you are often beat in cash games or tournaments then this book may be useful.
Rating: 3 / 5
Dont use this book as your BREAD AND BUTTER book. It doesnt show you the intricute parts to playing poker. It goes over specific chunks of playing and theory, this book leaves a lof of gaps in terms of poker instruction. If you have read all of Sklansky’s books, then this one might just be an interesting read. But it wont help improve your game much.
Rating: 3 / 5
When I first started playing poker, I had difficulty whenever someone called my pre-flop raise. An interesting piece of advice from Chan himself was to do a continuation bet; in short, to always bet on the flop if you raised preflop, with the exception being when you flop quads or a straight flush. I had not been doing this, so I employed it and I can safely say that it was a highly effective strategy.
Now, I’m not claiming that this advice is exclusive to Chan, or that he made it up or that it’s some big secret, but to a new player just learning and having difficulty, employing this advice and at times against my better judgment revealed that it’s very effective, and because I got this advice from Chan, I got this book (years later) because in my eyes, Chan was 1 for 1 on good advice given to me.
At first I was a bit disappointed in that many of the tips and advice I had already learned for myself. However, Chan goes on to give strategies, once again, that I had overlooked. Advice on “second best” hands where you trap yourself is rock solid, as is the advice on mid-range suited connectors. I deliberately and intentionally applied the advice on suited connectors which had been previously contrary to my play style and ended up winning 2 tournaments and numerous additional hands by following his advice. The book paid for itself in one session. I can absolutely guarantee that I would not have won these hands in question without Chan’s advice.
Having said that, the book tries to be all things to all games and suffers from not having the depth that Chan is more than capable of exploring. All sections are a minority and are largely unrelated. I have no use for advice on Omaha or 7stud so there goes 44 pages I don’t need. I don’t play 8 or better stud so there’s another 18 pages. People that Johnny has played with and giving shout-outs to doesn’t help my game… that’s another 28 pages. What to expect at a casino (I already know) that’s 9 pages. You get the picture.
In spite of this, the advice on NLHE is short, but sweet. There are a couple of good tips, and they alone have potential to substantially increase your revenue. In the end it hardly matters if 20 pages of solid game improving advice is shorter than 900 pages of solid advice; if your play is improved and it makes you money, then it’s worth it.
But rather than to add filler outside of specific playing advice, Chan makes good points about playing when you’re winning vs. when you’re losing. I’m not talking about tilting, but rather Chan’s consideration of factors to your play that you’re not aware of, and how to exploit these unknowns even if you don’t understand them. I appreciate how Chan is sensitive to the notion of factors that one may not be aware of but can recognize as having impact on play by their results, and how to counter or capitalize on this depending upon how you’re affected.
This is a 5 star book, but I give it four stars simply from my own perspective in that I learned everything the book could teach me in my experience, all in one sitting. I know Chan knows a lot more, and could have included a lot more, but for an intermediate player (especially HORSE players), this book has a lot to offer even if too diverse to be elaborate on a single subject.
Rating: 4 / 5