Do I have to know how to play Poker to understand the book?

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5 years ago
8 answers

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Matt Mcgee I sort of disagree with other answers. You don't have know how to play but you at least have to buy into the fact that poker is interesting and worthy of a book long discussion. I had no interest in poker before reading this book, and still doubt whether it has any really special place as a metaphor for living except that EVERYTHING we do as humans, including this stupid card game, reveals human character.

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Ginger Not really, though it helps to have a general understanding, you will figure it out. It's not about the game, it's about observing others, understanding yourself, taking chances, particularly in situations with varying levels of uncertainty and information. It's a good book for business people and thinking about negotiation skills. There is the point where someone asks her to speak and she holds out for more money when earlier she would have jumped at their first offer.

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Maura I know nothing about poker, and a LOT of the discussion went over my head. If you're the kind of person who will feel frustrated by not understanding every detail, then I'd skip this book. I made the decision to let the Greek-to-me references slide and just focus on the main points about human emotion, decision-making, biases, etc., and I enjoyed it.

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Ted Parkinson I am a serious "recreational" player and found the book helped me understand myself and my relation to poker. But there is not much about "poker itself". But you should know how No Limit Hold 'em works, what the flop, turn and river are in order for some of the suspense to work.

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Carmen212 Not really - Texas Hold-em is explained but the book is really more about chance, skill, the decisions we make and what they are based on, and *paying attention.*

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Jason Laso I really felt like she did a great job of explaining things in layman's terms, but full disclaimer that I used to play poker full time and thus my understanding might still have been skewed. Still I do think that her clear intent was to write this book for a mass audience.

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Alesh Houdek I got curious about it while reading this book. Turns out Apple itself makes a pretty good Hold'em iPhone game. Playing it helped me get a little big of a feel for what she's talking about.

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