Now here's a book I've been waiting for. This is not your regular poker strategy book, but a collection of short stories connected to poker. The stories are loosely connected in parts that deal with different areas of poker life, such as life style, home poker and tactics & strategy.

The great thing about the book is, obviously, the man himself: Doyle Brunson. This Mastodont of Poker has been around forever, well, since the early days of poker down in Texas. And he's got the wisdom the title promises us. A lot of the small, anecdotal stories connect some incident in his poker life with a more general topic that he wants to talk about. And almost all of them are real gems, little treasures. Not only very entertaining but at times truly moving or educational.

To read about those early days, playing poker at some little ranch or in the backroom of a shabby bar, is a real delight. The stories are very well written and every scene comes to life instantly. Learning about poker comes as a bonus.

Like I said, I've been waiting for a book like this. Most books deal with theory. Some treat us to the occasional anecdote. But none that I know of give us this warm bath of typical poker scenes that you wish you'd been there yourself. Now, with this book, we can at least imagine what it was like when a young Doyle roamed the Texas road, searching for the next game.