Zen and the Art of Poker

Inside the intriguing world of poker lies a fascinating exercise in strategy and extreme concentration--many of the same principles that underpin the one-thousand-year-old philosophy of Zen spirituality.

Zen and the Art of Poker is the first book to apply Zen theories to America's most popular card game, presenting tips that readers can use to enhance their game. Among the more than one hundred rules that comprise this book, readers will learn to:

*Make peace with folding
*Use inaction as a weapon
*Make patience a central pillar of their strategy
*Pick their times of confrontation

Using a concise and spare style, in the tradition of Zen practices and rituals, Zen and the Art of Poker traces a parallel track connecting the two disciplines by giving comments and inspirational examples from the ancient Zen masters to the poker masters of today.“An entertaining and well-written work worth perusing. He gives 100 useful rules for improving one's play plus proverbs and theories that are great to mull over. As to the challenge of finding peace in folding, there is no way of doing it and maintaining sanity.”—Library JournalLarry Phillips is a journalist, writer, and professional poker player. He has played poker most of his life and is equally comfortable competing with world-class players or two-dollar players. He lives in Monroe, Wisconsin, and placed second in the 1997 Wisconsin State Poker Tournament.