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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

June 24, 2006

A Sin (Sort of) of Omission

I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way. -- Franklin P. Adams

I can't believe I missed this. Maybe I was too strict in my searches. After all, when the word "secret" appears in a URL or its description, I get suspicious. You know, Secret Service, secret police (why would big brother want to watch, anyway?), top secret, Secret Agent (oh, wait, that was an interesting TV series.), secret Santa (I just don't like that one), secret weapons, Victoria's Secret (I used to like that one), I've Got a Secret (What a dumb show!), secret hiding place (when you have four brothers, there's no such thing ....), secret recipes (you really don't want to know what the colonel put in his fried chicken, do you?), Secret Gospel (hmmm, think about it.)

So, when the URL www.holdemsecrets.com showed up in my regular routine search for new and exciting hold'em information, I just shuttled it off to a folder labeled FUTURE SEE (taken from the title of a rejected science fiction story by yours truly) in my favorites file. Most of the stuff in that folder consists of what I call cyber hype, stuff that's patterned after the old mail-order ads of fine print in entrepreneurial magazines promising the moon for a mere $199. Some of it's just a lead-in to e-commerce. (Not that I'm against using the web to sell goods, far from it. If it weren't for the Web, I wouldn't own half the things I bought last year.) But the future did arrive and I started looking at some of the sites I'd saved when I clicked on this one.

If you're looking for flashy banner ads, clicks to Internet bonuses, sales pitches that link to online bookstores or anything of the typical web fare, forget it. It's not here. In fact, there's nothing here but information. And if you're looking for reference material on poker, specifically hold'em, this should be one of your starting points.

But first the disclaimer. I don't know Rich McComas, the man whose face appears smiling out from the site's home page. I assumed he was from Arizona since one of the lists on his site documents all the available poker in that state; however, a little sleuthing shows that to be a questionable assumption. Not that it's important because this guy doesn't seem to be selling anything and that's a big plus. Rich just says in fine print, "This is a personal hobby site," and then he lists the subject matter. This matter includes hand names and descriptions of their origins, including both recognized and regional names.

• 101 poker truisms about poker.

• A bibliography of sorts that features information about more than 600 poker books.

• The aforementioned list of casinos in Arizona with poker facilities and tournaments.

• A chart that shows pre-flop betting strategies based on cards, position, previous bets, and number of players.

• Seating tips, including what kind of player you want to sit to the left, right or across from.

• An article about being a good loser.

• A discussion of 13 types of starting hands and their odds of winning against random hands with an analysis of their viability against pot odds.

• A discussion of some sucker hands, hands which are often played by beginners (AKA losers) to showdown.

• 200 timeless poker insults, used for weak players, cheaters, dummies and card sharks.

• A timeline of the 1800s as it pertains to the origins of poker.

• A scan of the first known printed reference to hold'em in a 1968 issue of Life magazine.

• More than 100 famous quotes about or related to poker, many by today's most recognized players.

• And at the end, a list of all the winners and number of entrants of the World Series back to 1970 and up to Greg Raymer's win in 2004

The last of the list includes insight into what percentage of the pool went to the winner, since in the beginning it was a winner-take-all affair.

All in all, this is a cool site that doesn't require you to plunk down $29.95 (the average cost of a poker paperback that might include some but not all the information) for anything. It's a great jumping off point for researchers and for serious students of the game who want to know more than just the competitive part. And it's just a nice place to go for some hidden gems of hold'em.

If you haven't been to the site, check it out. The smiling face left his email address as well, so if you like it, don't like it, or want him to update, drop him a line and share your thoughts.