Review of Poker Night

Title:

Poker Night

Author:

John Vorhaus

Publisher:

St. Martin's Griffin

Date:

2004

ISBN:

0-312-33492-3

Pages:

275

Price:

$13.95

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

November 21, 2004

The current boom in the popularity of poker has many manifestations. Certainly online and card room poker have seen their popularity soar in recent years, but home poker is also experiencing renewed popularity. In many ways, though, building and maintaining a successful home poker game is more difficult than excelling at card room or online poker. Certainly it is quite a different beast. In his latest book, Poker Night, John Vorhaus explores the ins and outs of hosting and playing home poker games.

While Poker Night is intended to be appealing to folks who are more than familiar with the game of poker, its primary audience is people who are not experts at the game, including those who are complete novices. To accommodate neophytes, Vorhaus begins his book with some very introductory remarks followed by a chapter that explains the basics of poker.

Vorhaus then moves on to discuss some of the decisions that need to be made as a part of organizing a home poker game. For example, considerations of stakes, frequency of the game, numbers of chips needed, and other aspects are discussed in some detail. While the author allows for many different preferences, he's pretty forceful in advocating his own opinions on the best ways to conduct a home poker game. Most of these ideas I think are pretty good, but some of them I don't agree with, such as his seeming preference for not enforcing strict table stakes. This isn't to say that Vorhaus' opinions are wrong, I'd just prefer that with some of his more controversial positions he would present the possibilities, list the pros and cons of each side, and let the readers decide what would work best for them.

The book then moves on to talk about poker games themselves, combining discussions of rules and strategy. Most of the popular casino games, such as Hold'em, Omaha, and Seven Card stud receive mention. Vorhaus also devotes space to high-low split games, considering both cards speak and chip declare, a popular variant in home poker games. Given its recent popularity, it's natural that some mention be made of no-limit poker, along with some suggestions for home tournament play. The author only provides cursory strategy information on each game, so the reader should not expect to become a poker master just by reading this book. Nonetheless, those who read this book and follow its advice are likely to gain some advantage over those who haven't thought about the game as much.

Poker Night concludes with paragraphs providing advice for how someone who has been bitten by the home poker bug can become more serious about their game and eventually make the transition to casino poker. Overall, Vorhaus' advice is pretty light, even lighter than his previous books, but there is some good material here. In fact, I'd heartily recommend Chapter 15, "From Poker Night to Casinos and Beyond" as a brief introduction to just about anyone preparing to make their first jump from home games to the "big time" of card room poker.

As one would expect from John Vorhaus, Poker Night is well written in an entertaining and energetic manner. While this energy occasionally seems a bit frenetic, his skill with a phrase usually compensates for the author's mercurial style. Still, this leaves occasional gaps in his narrative. Those who have enjoyed other writings by this author will likely enjoy the act of reading this book, those who don't find his other writings to be especially entertaining or informative aren't likely to be dramatically surprised here.

Basically, for those who are relatively new to the concept of poker and want some advice on how to build and maintain a successful home game will likely find something of value in what Vorhaus has to say. Those who are already very familiar with poker, at home, online, or in a casino and are looking for strategic advice on improving their game aren't likely to receive a lot of enlightenment from Poker Night. Personally, I enjoyed the book although for me it was far more entertaining than informative.

Capsule:

John Vorhaus' latest book, Poker Night provides some good advice on playing in and running home poker games for those who are relatively new to the excitement of this great game. This book is written in a very entertaining manner, the writing itself is some of the author's best in my opinion. Those who find this sort of thing appealing may wish to check out this book.

Note: I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher. I have no other interest, financial or otherwise, in the success of this book.