It is, quite simply, the best book ever
written.
The
book does not burden itself with the actual nitty-gritty of how to
do the 'moves' of the card cheat; rather it focuses on the philosophical
and ideological principles that a card cheat needs to embrace in order
to be successful. It's also filled with colorful stories.
Although it's frequently rather brash in language,
How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: the Wisdom of Dickie Richard
is fascinating.
Poker players will find a lot to love in the book...not only are the
poker anecdotes interesting, but the glossary is chock-full of jargon
and slang that every poker player worth his chingaderos should know.
One can't help but wonder why the cover features dogs
playing poker with Jim Belushi
The glossary also features a plethora of poker variations, which will
be useful for anyone running a home game. Man can't live on Texas Hold 'Em
alone.
If you are running a home game, this is a good book to have.
Hey, you don't want your "friends" to read this and then
come over and
clean you out, do you? Cheaters who want to cheat will find that
cheating at poker (and cheating friends at poker, more specifically)
has a lot to it. Cheaters never prosper? They haven't read
this book. That's not to say that cheating is right or moral. It's up
for the reader to decide how they use this information. Though,
it's hard to imagine using this information for good.
While there are specific descriptions of various cheating
methodologies (like stacks, holdouts, peeking, etc) the book takes a
more holistic approach.
For those of you who are easily offended, the harsh language may be a
bit much at times. Some moments feel like they were tacked on or
dirtied up for dirtiness' sake (such as the last chapter, "Julia Roberts
is Still a Whore"). But, people who easily suffer moral
indignation probably want to stay away from the book in any event.
Julia Roberts may want to pass, too.
Who is Dickie Richard? Is Dickie Richard a real person?
What is Dickie Richard's secret identity? Is Dickie Richard a
pseudonym or a nom de plume? Surely this information will be
revealed, if it can't be gleaned from the book. But, hey, the
Masked Reviewer's Secret Identity Policy means that he doesn't believe in giving away secret identities.
Some people have speculated that Penn might be Dickie Richard, though
that is impossible to believe -- anyone who has read Penn's first book
will notice that the style and quality of the writing in How to Cheat
Your Friends at Poker is far superior to Penn's other work.
So, if you want a copy of How to Cheat Your Friends at Poker: The
Wisdom of Dickie Richard (no relation to Dickie Roberts, former
child star),
click here and buy it, or run down to your local bookery.