[LL] “Like Doyle Brunson’s ‘Online Poker’, Avery Cardoza’s Internet Hold’Em Poker seems to have been mostly written to get people playing online poker at a particular site”, Leroy the Lion claimed.
[RR] “I know Cardoza Publishing, but what poker site were they hawking?” Roderick the Rock questioned.
[LL] “Their own: Cardoza Games.”
[RR] “I’ve never heard of that.”
[LL] “And indeed, it didn’t last long, probably only a couple years beyond this book’s publication. Cardoza Games’s web site now redirects to the Cardoza Books store.1
I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but this one foreshadows what’s inside, as it features a hand holding four Aces, an impossibility in Texas Hold ‘Em.”
[RR] “Undoubtedly a stock photo.”
[LL] “The book makes its next error when it’s still explaining online poker: in the list of ‘Fifteen Advantages of Online Poker’, #12 is ‘You Can Play As a Team’, which is expressly forbidden by pretty much every site. Also, in full knowledge of the cheating that had occurred at Absolute Bet and Ultimate Poker, the book still claims that ‘Online Sites Cannot Manipulate the Software’. It may never happen again at any of the major sites, but it’s completely possible as it would only take one rogue employee.
Despite a section covering the basics of poker, even explaining suits and denominations, this is a fairly thin book for explaining Internet Poker and Texas Hold ‘Em. The cover also teases, ‘Plus 5-card stud, 7-card stud & Omaha’, which get a meager five to six pages each, only enough to list their rules and some very basic strategy. But then, Hold ‘Em doesn’t get a whole lot of specific coverage either as most of the book applies to online poker in general, including 16 pages alone on ‘Getting Into Games’, a section padded with screenshots that were of limited value then and no value now.
The most useful section in the book may be the appendix on internet poker acronyms, which includes three pages of abbreviations and acronyms you might not know if you haven’t played much online poker.”
[RR] “So the book was pretty much a waste of time…”
[LL] “And paper.”
| Title | Internet Hold’Em Poker |
| Author | Avery Cardoza |
| Year | 2007 |
| Skill Level | Beginner |
| Pros | Decent glossary of internet poker acronyms. |
| Cons | Mostly served as an ad for Cardoza Games, which no longer has online poker. |
| Rating | 1.5 |
Footnotes:
- Cardoza Books surprisingly still sells this book for $6.47.