+ H E R P L AY
BOOK REVIEW
“A GIRL’S GUIDE TO POKER” BY RENI CANDELIER
A
s a lifelong poker player, it feels strange to admit that I’ve never been to a casino to play the game or traveled to Las Vegas’ famous poker casinos. Currently in my 20s, I’ve told myself that I’ll travel to Vegas for my 30th birthday, when I’ll hopefully be prepared (both financially and mentality) to gamble worry-free. I started playing poker with my cousins and siblings for fun as a child. We’d play in exchange for pennies and change we collected around the house. The feeling of being in control and simultaneously not in control during a poker game has always felt exhilarating to me. When first given the book “A Girl’s Guide to Poker” by Amanda Botfeld, I was a little skeptical by the title. I thought to myself, “Yet again, women are being compared to men by categorizing us.” However, I gave the book a chance, and I surprisingly learned not only about poker but about myself. “A Girl’s Guide to Poker” is written with a feminine touch that most women can probably relate to. Botfeld takes stereotypically female subjects and applies them to poker strategies to help readers learn how to improve their game. For example, she uses analogies like, “No-limit Texas hold’ em never gets old like Maybelline mascara.” She also adds short and fun quizzes at the end of each chapter to help memorize tips and tricks to become a better poker player.
Truth be told, this book is not intended to teach the reader the basics of poker. Instead, it’s a book that will enhance the reader’s poker skills. Before reading the book, I’d suggest knowing what full house, two-pairs, a straight, a flush and high cards mean and know which hands beat which. The book will then help you be tactical with the decisions you make throughout a game. The life lesson I learned from reading this is that people are molded into certain characters through life lessons. As women, we are faced with certain challenges and experiences that only other women can relate too. Embracing my own feminine experiences and challenges will then help me improve the story I tell when playing poker.
March 2 0 2 0 | H ERS M ag az i ne 73
