Most people playing online poker think they are winning players when they're actually losing month after month. But, if you have basic knowledge of the game and follow Paul Mendelson's techniques, you can ensure that you win regularly and consistently. Find out how to: Select the best poker sites for your standard. Analyse your opponents and their games. Adapt your game to combat the styles of play you meet. Counter the costly dangers of 'tilt' and temperament. Manage your bankroll and build it into serious money. Play to benefit from being alert while others - in another time zone - are exhausted. Make the right decisions - and avoid costly mistakes. Read your opponents correctly - and keep them guessing about you!

Man is not a born gambler but when he experiences playing the slot machines he acquires a fascination for the element chance. With all the advertising we're to believe that it's ok for the lottery to rob us blind because so much of the money is going to good causes like education. Gambling is neither an immoral nor a noble exercise it is motivated by both a desire to win big and foolishness. "During my career as a gambler I began to notice that people would win and two hours later lose it all." There are three kinds of machines - good, bad, and indifferent. The good will give you some money back, the bad will hardly pay, the indifferent are the ones that malfunctioned and you are out of luck, no money. Studies generally consider a person a problem gambler if they report at least five problems associated with gambling. Those problems range from lying about gambling and having to steal, having to borrow money, losing jobs, dumping your kid at the entrance to a casino so you can play the slots, and being unable to cut down or stop gambling. A recent report from the state task force of compulsive gambling estimates New Mexico has anywhere from 90,000 to 108,000 problem gamblers, compulsive gamblers that is. I do go to the casino at times and without a doubt it is questionable whether many of the gamblers I see playing the slots should be there at all. Compulsive gambling is like any other addiction (drinking or smoking). It is arrested only by total abstinence and cannot be cured. Compulsive gamblers live in a fantasy world that tells them the big wish is around the corner and they will be set for life, all debts will be paid, and life will be good again. As we see today, when they don't win there are disastrous effects and heartbreak that are caused by compulsive gambling every day.

"The book comes in two major sections. First you'll read a series of hand examples. These examples are designed to show you the difference between how a typical no-limit hold'em player thinks and how a professional-level player thinks. Each of these hand examples represents a small improvement you can make in your play. The second section turns the lessons from the first section into missions you can do on your own. These missions are the equivalent of recipes in a book on nutrition or exercises in a workout book. Doing the missions-doing them as often and using as much your brain on them as possible-are what will make you a better poker player. Do the missions, and you'll see results. Ignore the missions, and you likely won't." from the Foreword by Ed Miller -Author of Playing the Player, How To Read Hands At No-Limit Hold'em, Small Stakes Hold'em