Not a great novel at all, and not satisfying to someone looking for fiction concerning poker in particular.

Five childhood friends live their lives obsessed by poker and haunted by a secret tragedy. Every year, four of them get together for a weekend-long reunion in San Fransisco where they play an epic game of poker and relive their youths. Only one -- Bobby McCorkle -- has refused to attend these games until finally, the details of that hidden tragedy threaten to bubble to the surface. This year, Bobby attends the game and, over the course of one chaotic weekend, the truth is finally revealed. Its a good premise for a thriller but Mark Joseph's The Wild Card ends up promising more than it delivers.

Probably the most important element of any thriller are creating credible, believable characters. If you can buy the characters and their motivations, even the most improbable of twists can be accepted. Unfortunately, with the exception of Bobby and occasionally gambling addicted Alex, the main characters never really stand out from each other. Each is given one trait to set them apart (one is gay, another Chinese) but otherwise, they're basically interchangeable. Since very little seems to be happening inside the characters (and most of their dialouge feels forced and leaden), the book's attempts at creating a psychological thriller fall flat. As well, the deep, dark secret should be obvious to most readers as soon as they read the first chapter. With a few noteable exceptions, the book lacks a certain element of surprise that a succesful thriller needs to keep the reader on the edge of his seat.

That said, there are also a few elements that work quite well. The author is, himself, a poker player and the game scenes crackle with a vibrancy that the rest of the book lacks. (Though, by the end, his oft-repeated message that poker represents the twists and turns of life starts to feel just a bit heavy handed and forced.) Though he's hardly a master of prose, Joseph is a good story teller and the book is a quick read. Even if it didn't enthrall me, the Wild Card certainly didn't bore me either. As well, the ending's final twist, if a little improbable (as most final twists are), is a genuine surprise and does stick in the reader's mind after he finishes the book. On the whole, an uneven thriller that certainly has its moments. One could do worse when looking for a book to pass a rainy afternoon with.

Joseph's new book, "The Wild card," finds the author taking an interesting break from his usual techno-thriller style of writing and exploring new territory as a spinner of more broadly accessible suspense yarns. The result is a rather winning piece of work, at least in terms of storytelling. First of all, the whole book has a sort of Americana, meat-and-potatoes ambience in terms of its writing--Joseph brings to mind Stephen King's knack for evoking eras, places, and events in the recent American past and in the present, and the ability to capture the straightforward emotions of individual characters embroiled in those "snapshots of time,"--especially in somewhat questionable, shady situations.The feel reminds me of King's short story "The Body," upon which "Stand By me" was based, and this is a favorable comparison, obviously. The book starts right off the bat with suspense; within two pages Joseph conjures the indelible image of a busy riverside suburb in northern California--an image suddenly twisted by the problematic discovery of a skeleton. 'The Wild Card' is a character-driven tale, so it helps that the reader can't help but take a liking to the very first character Joseph draws: a female bulldozer operator who discovers the bones and is forced to take a ten-minute cigarette break in the cab of her vehicle, pondering in the workday heat while her inner-moral compass decides whether to report the finding or simply "ditch" the cadaver and keep her paycheck secure. Being, as Joseph describes, "an honest sort," she spills the beans and sets in motion the typically American brand of frantic investigative activity that usually leads to the suspicion of foul play. Now, the stage is set for the heart of the story: five men with a potentially shattering secret in their pre-Vietnam era past--four of these men still meet annually for a raucous poker game in a San Francisco hotel suite, but ONE of the former clique, a near-vagabond gambling addict named Bobby, has ostracized himself from his friends' yearly revelries. Trust me: he has good reason. However, with the grisly discovery, the jig is suddenly up and Joseph successfully creates the tense, charged atmosphere of an almost ritualistic poker gathering. Instead of halting their good time, the discovery of the skeleton brings this bunch of guys together in a palpably tense, almost frightening manner. Joseph's writing is effective enough here that you almost want to reach in and wipe the sweat from their foreheads. What each of them has to reveal about their recollection of poor Sally (and her long-ago fate) seems designed by the author to show the nature of the tricky business we might call "individual human perspective." Of course, card game imagery is "shuffled" into the plot at a number of turns, but it doesn't come off as being too contrived because Joseph is sort of churning toward a conclusion that brings these images into union with his number one image: *THE* wild card--poor, enigmatic Bobby McCorkle. Obviously, the story whips up the suspense quotient at a swift pace, and the whole point is to make you salivate for the conclusion (and believe me, you do). Also of note:the San Francisco setting is used to extremely good effect throughout the tale--if the author is planning another thriller set in the city by the bay, then that is good news, because his particular vision of San Francisco grabs. On a very minor note, the dialogue of Joseph's characters can be inexplicably clunky, but only on a few occasions, and their use of profanity is often so gratuitous as to be genuinely irritating and too contrived. This book is, without question, the ideal read for a man who wants to kick back in his easy chair after a hard-day's work, drink a Scotch (or a Bud), and sink into a fast-paced, gripping tale about five other guys who are knee-deep in some potentially serious manure ...basically,this book has "guy" written all over it. It's hard to find a man who hasn't taken part in the thrill of a poker game at some time or another, so "Wild card" is probably the best book out right now to buy as a gift for a man--whether he reads a great deal or not. Buy it, and watch how easy it is for your husband or boyfriend to really bond with a book.

i found this book disappointing...it is not what i expected...very little real information...large print, few pages, no statistics on hand value...what is there is good advice...just not enough to improve a good player's game...very pricey for what you get...invest in one of the other authors if you take your poker seriously...

I've played a LOT of hold'em and omaha poker, and read most of the literature on these games, and this books simply does not stack up. It's advice is simplistic, and well-known to anyone who has played the game at all seriously. Not that there is anything wrong to a lot of the advice, it simply will not give you any edge. Far better are books by Tom McEvoy, Bob Ciaffione, and Ray Zee, which take a little more effort to master, but give some real insight. This wouldn't be a good book for anyone other than a beginner.

This book (and book one) is for beginners only. If you already know how to read the board (the five community cards on the table), you will not get much use out of these two books. There is some useful information on starting hands. The rest of the books emphasizes playing for the nutz or folding. No other strategy or game play is taught. At the low price, you almost get what you pay for.

Kind of fun to read (and not without one or two moments of genuine value), this book lays out a plan to win money at home poker games on a regular basis. The theme of this plan: Surround yourself with losers -- the bigger the losers they are, the more time you should spend playing with them. Wallace's "moral" is that it's a good thing to deceive and manipulate people who are of weak constitution, because they can be controlled and you can get in their wallets. This is rather pathetic, but it's the thrust of all Wallace's work: If you find yourself losing, bully the winners out of the game and fleece the losers yourself. You may win a few bucks, but your poker will suffer. And if you adopt a general "Wallacian" mindset, expect your non-poker life to suffer the same deterioration from avioding anything challenging.

Many years ago, this book had a major impact on me as a poker player. While certainly not a "how to" book like (as in what do you do when dealt a pair of Aces) it revealed to me for the first time how much of a skill game poker is. Its written around story lines about a fictional character who is pretty ruthless. Critics who call the book "How to hustle your friends" aren't completely wrong. But it offers much more than that. It offers so many unique insights into the game of poker that you will never get from other traditional books that I must recommended it. The section on tracking your earnings and losses was worth the price of the book.

This book has deep meanings and concepts that may not be understood by beginners but lots of these concepts will not be lost and will work for inexperienced as well. If you are moderate then this book is a must.

I picked up this book at a used bookstore on a whim and was completely disappointed. There were one or two interesting pieces of information, but for the most part the book was repetitive and uninformative. I agree that this book is only useful as a rulebook and extremely basic strategy. You could get that same information from a general card game anthology, like hoyles or scarnes if you wanted to. Or, if you are really interested in learning how to win at poker there are a variety of other, more detailed books available.

The Book took on too many games to provide any kind of useful information on how to play. It should be used more as an introduction to the various rules of the different styles of poker. Touched only briefly on the issues of starting hands and calling bets in each of the different games.

Avery Cardoza writes another winner. Not only is he a succesful gambler himself, I have used the techniques listed in this book to win real money! It explains the basics of poker, and gives you the rules for some of the most popular games. With this, it gives you several strategies, money management techniques, and advice on what to do against what kind of player. This was a very usefull book, a must-have for any beginning poker player.

Since I am a professional poker player, I actually hope that lots of players read this book and take its advice.

In the introduction, the author starts off by saying:

"I played for years in a weekly game in a university town".

This book shows it. Doubtful if he has ever played in Vegas or any other large cardroom for significant money. He actually recommends bluffing frequently. Hope he manages to sit in my game some time...

All the examples are for Stud or Stud hi/lo split. The latest book in his bibliography is 1975 and the earliest is from 1940.

Fortunately, I did not buy this book but checked it out from the library and skimmed through it in about 30 minutes. This book is a waste of time and money.

The book took a week to get to me, but it was in good shape -- 5 star service, if not for the shipping time. I would buy from them again!

Lots of people picking up cards for the first time just push bets in to keep things going, because it's what everyone else at the table is doing and they want action. Lynne Taetzsch gives helpful pointers about why every bet, check, call and fold you make has a purpose as well as when and how you make them. She also gives simple lessons on how playing the man or woman opposite you at the table is just as important as playing your cards correctly.

I read every book on poker I can find, and this one is as close to worthless as it can be.

This is an informative, smartly written book that is filled with details and tips on various games of poker. I enjoyed the wit and humor of the prose as well all the games packed into this book. The writers have a real flair and I learned alot from this book. Sometimes the writing reminded me of Sex in the City, very urbane and witty. Anyone (male or fremale) who is clueless about poker could benefit from reading this book. They even show you how to better your luck if you get stuck with a DUD hand.

All the women at my Saturday night game had better look out! Momma has an ace up her sleeve and I got it from this book!

This is mostly about draw poker, which is not played in poker rooms any more.

The concept of "pot odds" is the core of the presentation. For example, drawing to an inside straight at 13 to 1 odds is said to be "wrong" however the authors shows you exactly when to make this move...and make all your poker bets based using this higher mathematical reasoning. You need a strong memory to use these principles, but they're worth $$$ every session.

This book unlike his other work, SuperSystem a Course in Power Poker, is not going to do much or your poker game. It is a group of articles he wrote for an out of print gambling magazine. They are recollections of playing on the underground trail of big-poker games in the 50's through the 70's and then playing for vast sums of money in Vegas. Some of the stories are quite good but not all are exactly gripping. If you didn't already know many of the points these stories make, e.g. pay attention to your opponents, know yourself, no limit is a different kettle of fish than limit poker, etc. then you might want to reconsider playing for anything more than nickels. This book is pretty much for hardcore poker fans only.

Like other Malmuth books, he draws on examples from many games to prove his statements. And like in his other books, I found myself skipping over a good portion because I'm simply not interested in poker.

Yet, the book is valuable in its explanation of standard deviation (luck) and non self-weighting approaches to gambling. In areas, it was somewhat too technical to grasp for the layman.

This book may take a lot of pages to explain for the blackjack player why you should vary your bet size, but the point is made clear mathematically. I'll have at least one less doubt about my play the next time at the tables.

Epstein's book starts out hokey and somewhat trivial, although his poker "rules" may not be obvious to everyone. The book strengthens quite a bit once he begins to discuss strategies in detail, so the book is probably best for an advanced beginner. The best chapters, the all too brief chapter on Texas Hold 'Em and the chapter on the psychology of poker, were written by a co-author.

Parts of this book, including the title, come across as a vanity publication for Epstein and his friends and family - he even quotes his own pithy remarks. But if you want to learn how to play poker, and you haven't figured out that you shouldn't drink while playing or play hands with little chance of winning, this is a place to start.