Bob Dancer and Liam Daily's A Winner's Guide to Double Double Bonus Poker (114 pages, paperbound, 8x11 format, $16.50) is right on target for the most popular form of video poker today in Nevada. ButHoward Schwartz, the "librarian for gamblers," is the marketing director for Gambler's Book Club in Las Vegas, a position he has held since 1979. Author of hundreds of articles on gambling, his weekly book reviews appear in numerous publications throughout the gaming industry. Howard's website is www.gamblersbook.com be forewarned‹you must be able to find a 10-6 machine for the book to effective. The experts to the fact that there are many 9-7 and 9-6 machines out there, but the book and its advice focuses on the 10-6 version for the most part. You won't find an edge using the book with 9-7 or 9-6 models.
Always the perfectionist, Dancer, as he has done with his previous books, leaves no stone unturned when it comes to this game. One chapter reaches out to the beginner on game basics and then basic strategy with examples and practice sessions. On another level he moves to recreational strategy, then to basic strategy getting into areas like suited versus unsuited cards; insides and the problem with three-card straight flushes.
By Chapter Five, the more serious players can see how Dancer advises moves for 10-6 and 9-6 Double Double Bonus; then to advanced concepts of the same games including the impact of penalty cards; square, curved and curlicue brackets. Two final chapters compare 10-6 and 9-6 Double Double Bonus with 9-6 Jacks or Better and 10-7 Double Double Bonus; finally basic strategy for 9-5 Double Double Bonus.
The book covers the higher-paying versions of this game where flushes return 6 for 1 as well as the not-so-high-paying versions of this game where flushes return 5 for 1.
Since Dancer has personally changed the way the industry looks at video poker, including countermeasures by nervous casino management, this is a book you should buy now if you're a serious player, to take advantage of that ever-elusive edge while it still exists.
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