By the end of this book, you'll understand what it means to be a real poker player...Odds are, you will be one too.

Poker has been Matt Matros's passion since he was fifteen, playing dealer's choice for plastic chips with his friends on a Friday night. But Matt always had his eyes on bigger stakes. He wanted to be a pro. And in April 2004, at the age of 26, Matt scored his biggest win to date, finishing third in the World Poker Tour Championship and netting more than $700,000.

The Making of a Poker Player is a strategy book drawn from Matt's gripping journey into the poker world - from those high school games to his first casino card rooms and on to major tournaments where he played against, and defeated, the greatest poker champions around. You'll experience the game through the eyes of one of its top players, from the Saturday morning tournaments that were more motivating than his math classes, as he picks off a bluff by world champion Phil Hellmuth in Las Vegas, and as he suffers through a prolonged losing streak that wipes out months of hard work and profit - only to turn around and recoup every penny. You will discover how to hold your own against any player - the aggressive, the outrageous and the outright cheats. You'll accrue winning tips and tricks, absorb theory on reading tells, learn how to apply logic and probability, get the basics for playing online, and take in the lingo for discussing every other aspect of modern poker strategy.

Matt Matros's vivid storytelling, nail-biting play-by-play recaps, and insider anecdotes capture all the excitement of the game and its subculture.