Poker: The Real Deal

By: Phil Gordon and Jonathan Grotenstein 

Poker: The Real Deal is an informative book written by former Celebrity Poker Showdown co-host Phil Gordon.  Mr. Gordon is a known as a laid back guy with a great sense of humor.  That personality shines through in this title. 

Poker: The Real Deal is an introductory book aimed at new to fairly new players.  After a brief dedication, some acknowledgements, and a little background information about the authors there’s a nice foreword written by Jon Favreau.  After that there’s a short introduction and we’re on to chapter 1. 

The main contents of the book begin with a history of poker.  That history covers everything from the origin of playing cards to poker on television as we know today.  The book then has a very basic description of how Texas hold’em is played. The description of the play is similar to what is commonly shown at the beginning of a WSOP or WPT broadcast.  It’s short, sweet, and to the point.   

It’s during these early chapters that we’re also introduced to the numerous anecdotes that continue through the book.  Mr. Gordon provides little pieces of information occasionally that serve different purposes.  Some are stories that Mr. Gordon experienced or witnessed and are included for humor.  Others serve as examples and some general tips.  Mr. Gordon also provides tips on suggested reading to aid the reader’s development as a poker player. 

Chapter 3 begins the heart of the book.  It sets the scenario that the reader is beginning their journey in the world of playing poker.  Chapter 3 provides a quick once over of several necessary concepts needed to play winning poker.  Some of those concepts include odds and percentages, position, bluffing, check-raising, and slow-playing.  None of them go into great detail.  Mr. Gordon instead directs the reader to other books for more detail of the specific concepts. 

Chapters 4 through 10 take the reader from their first home game to the final table of the main event of the WSOP.  Stops along the way include playing on-line, playing at the casino, and moving up in limits.  There’s also a chapter thrown in that provides some information on the thought process of a poker player.  They cover general information needed for each and touch on some things in more detail.  Again, most of the information is general and not too in depth.  The scenario also includes a “quiz” at end of each chapter.   

These “quizzes” start at the end of chapter 1 and continue through the end of the book.  The “quizzes” are generally a single question or situation that the reader can answer or choose a play.  The correct answer or play in the revealed along with a brief explanation.  In the event that the question involved choosing a play the correct answer is often met with a bad result.  This may be in an effort to bring realization to the reader that the correct play isn’t always met with a favorable outcome.     

Mr. Gordon then touches on the subject of going pro and has another WSOP scenario to play through in the final 2 chapters.  The quality of the subject matter in these sections is on par with rest of the book, general and not too in depth.  The WSOP scenario is much like a series of the end of the chapter “quizzes”.   

Final Thoughts

This book is written in a very friendly style that will make for an easy read.  It’s humorous and most of the information is presented in an easy to follow manner.  It’s certainly aimed at beginning players.  Experienced players will likely have little to gain from it outside of entertainment.  For the beginning player, the book serves as a quick introduction to hold’em poker.  It loses value in the perspective of depth, because it covers such a wide array of information. Some of that information is not even needed by a beginning player.  However, the recommendations on other books to read for more depth are very good.  It gains value from the perspective of comfort.  This book can make a new player familiar with the game of Texas hold’em and allow them to be comfortable while playing at home, on-line, or at the casino.  I would recommend this book to a new player who is looking to get a feel for hold’em and enough information to fit in at the table.