Real Poker: The Cooke Collection by Roy Cooke with John Bond. $19.95 400p, paper. 1999, Mike Caro University of Poker, ISBN 1-880069-50-8.

Every two weeks I receive an envelope from Card Player magazine containing the latest issue (I don't live near enough to a card room to pick one up, so I subscribe.) When I get the magazine, I go through a several step ritual.

The first step is to check the ConJelCo advertisement. The second is to scan the table of contents to see if there are any special articles that catch my eye. The third step is to read Mike Caro's column. And the fourth is to read Roy Cooke's column. Roy's column is one of the few that I read religiously. His writing is entertaining, and it is a rare column that doesn't teach me something about poker that I either didn't know, or hadn't thought about. Those of you who have missed his column have missed out on some important knowledge.

But wait! There is good news. Mike Caro has taken a collection of Roy's columns... about five years worth...and packaged them into the book Real Poker. The columns have been lightly edited, and organized, but are essentially as they have appeared in past issues of Card Player. This means you can throw out your magazine collection (just kidding Linda!)

The book starts with a foreword by David Sklansky. David is not known for his effusive praise of poker books, so the fact that he likes this book and is willing to say so in writing is quite an endorsement by itself. Following the foreword are over 140 separate columns organized into five sections; Introduction; Play of Hands; Theory, Strategy and Tactics; Philosophy of Life and the Game; and Miscellaneous Topics. Each column contains at least one nugget of valuable information, or is designed to make you think seriously about some aspect of your play.

They say that if a poker book is worth it if it has one good idea or concept that helps to improve your game. Based upon this, Real Poker: The Cooke Collection should pay for itself many times over.