Poker: The Real Deal, by Phil Gordon and Jonathan Grotenstein

If you've seen Phil Gordon on television hosting Celebrity Poker Showdown or winning a World Poker Tour event, it's probably hard to believe that he was once the biggest sucker at the table. In July of 1991, just after his 21st birthday, he moved from a small suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, to Santa Cruz, California, for an engineering job with a small software development firm. It wasn't long before he made an important discovery: Poker is legal in California!

He arrived at a Garden City casino at about 11:45 p.m., at which time a burly security guard asked him for ID at the door. He found his way to the floorman and started asking questions: "This is completely legal?" Yes. "The chips are real? For real money?" Yes. "What game do they play?" Texas hold'em. "How do you play?"

Phil left at 6 a.m. – completely broke.

The players you see on television make it seem so easy – a million-dollar bluff here, a great read and call there, a late-position steal from the short stack, a well-timed reraise with second pair, and so on. But for the new player, like Phil was in 1991, poker is intimidating. That's why, along with Jonathan Grotenstein, Phil authored Poker: The Real Deal (Simon & Schuster).

Phil Gordon is an undisputed poker superstar, a winner on the WPT, and a fourth-place finisher in the main event at the 2001 World Series. Grotenstein, a Los Angeles-based writer and proposition player, has made a living at the game for the last four years. Together, they managed to write a book that will have you laughing out loud as you become a much better poker player.

Phil has had an incredible ride in poker and in life. In addition to his poker success, he traveled around the world and then embarked on the "Ultimate Sports Adventure" – a year-long trip in an RV that took Phil and Rafe Furst to every major sporting event in America. And when he took the gig as the co-host of Celebrity Poker Showdown, not only did he become a household name, he also became the tutor to the stars. He even traded poker lessons for a foreword to his book with Jon Favreau (writer and star of Swingers).

What all of this means for you, the reader, is that Phil has a wealth of experience that will enable you to become a better poker player and teach you how to have more fun in any poker environment – whether it's at the kitchen table with your buddies, at a no-limit hold'em game in Hollywood with Ben Affleck, or at a final table with Doyle Brunson. This book presents much of what Phil has learned since July 1991: what to expect at a cardroom, playing online, moving from low-limit games to middle-limit to high-limit, entering and winning tournaments, and how to know when you're ready to turn pro. You'll also experience the psychology of a professional poker player, and learn how you can attain that winning edge.

You'll discover a treasure trove of battle-tested strategies, from the lighthearted (how to put a table on tilt) to the indispensable (when and how to change gears in a tournament). Each chapter ends with a "defining moment" – a scenario that puts you in the hot seat, giving you the chance to apply what you've learned – ultimately leading to a climactic encounter at the final table of the World Series.

When you're reading a book, it's easy to breeze through it and assume you've mastered its concepts. But anyone who knows anything about how the mind processes information knows that you can't simply read something once and internalize it. That's why the "defining moment" is so powerful and distinguishes Poker: The Real Deal from other poker books. From challenging you to pick the best seat in a game based on your read of the players to testing you on probability, every chapter concludes by forcing you to apply the knowledge you have just learned. Even better, the authors then offer their expert opinions for you to compare your answer. The outcome: You retain the material and become a better poker player.

All Phil Gordon has done is go from the biggest sucker at the table to one of the best and most insightful poker players in the world. If you're not interested in that fate, you probably shouldn't read this book. However, at least you should be kind enough to buy the book for a friend – a friend who doesn't play in your poker game.

As the co-founder of Venture Literary, www.ventureliterary.com, Greg Dinkin represents nonfiction authors. He is also the author of three books, including The Poker MBA, www.thepokermba.com, and Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People.