The Poker Player's Bible by Lou Krieger

Lou Krieger, who is married to the lovely Deirdre Quinn, began playing poker at the early age of seven, while he was standing at his father's side at the Krieger kitchen table in the blue-collar Brooklyn area where they lived. Lou played poker throughout high school and college--it was seven-card stud at the time, because Texas hold'em and Omaha weren't even on the horizon--and only managed to keep his head above water because his buddies were so terrible. But it wasn't until his first trip to Las Vegas that he tackled poker seriously, investing in a low-limit seven-card stud game where he was able to break even despite having far more luck than ability. I discovered another game that appeared even more exciting while playing stud, he recalls. That was a game of Texas hold'em.

I spent approximately 30 minutes watching the hold'em game. The stakes were higher, there was more action, and the participants appeared to be having more fun. I summoned the bravery to request a game change and sat down to play. I was hooked after an hour and $100.

I didn't mind if I lost. I expected to lose because it was my first time playing. But I didn't want to be a dummy, so I bought and studied every poker book I could get my hands on. I was a student and a player.

I continued to study and play. I was soon winning consistently, and I haven't had a losing year since I started keeping track. Lou discovered Omaha a few years later. I was in Palm Desert for a week at the time, and the only place to play poker was a small club in an abandoned building in Indio.

The two hold'em games were both low-limit affairs, but the club boasted a thriving $10-$20 Omaha game. I bought in and started learning the game by attempting to apply what I understood about Texas hold'em to Omaha. It didn't go properly at first, but by the end of the week, I'd evened out, grasped the basics of the game, and realized I had a lot more to learn if I ever hoped to play it well. Lou Krieger started writing an On Strategy piece for Card Player Magazine in the early 1990s.

Hold'em Excellence: From Novice to Winner; MORE Hold'em Excellence: A Winner For Life; The Poker Player's Bible, 52 Amazing Poker Tips, Poker For Dummies, coauthored by Richard Harroch; and Internet Poker: How to Play and Beat Online Poker Games, coauthored by Kathleen Keller Watterson, are among his eleven poker books. Lou coauthored a book about casino gaming called Gambling For Dummies with Richard Harroch and Arthur Reber. Krieger co-authored Secrets the Professionals Won't Tell You About Winning Hold'em Poker, The Rules of Poker: Fundamentals for Every Game, and The Portable Poker Pro with poker player Sheree Bykofsky. Lou, who now lives in Palm Desert, can be found playing poker online and in Southern California card casinos when she is not blogging about poker.

(Lou Krieger died on December 12, 2012, according to the publisher.) Everybody who knew him will miss him.)