Poker Strategies
After receiving pocket cards, you are immediately faced with a choice: play your cards and either raise or call the blinds, or fold.
Practice Matters
Truscott later forwarded to me a set of the page proof's to read. I
Truscott later forwarded to me a set of the page proof's to read. I don't recall if the book was authored by Truscott, Hayden, or both. What I do remember, however, is that after reading the page proofs I concluded they failed miserably to substantiate the serious cheating accusations leveled at Reese and Shapiro. Hence, I refused to write the introduction. Reese and Shapiro had been accused of cheating by supposedly making use of the most childish and ludicrous code of finger suit signals that has ever come to my attention. I recognize Terence Reese as one of the world's top Bridge and Texas Hold'em Poker experts and therefore it's beyond my comprehension that if Reese wanted to cheat he would resort to this childish and readily detectable signal code that he and Shapiro were accused of using. Particularly so when I considered the countless number of undetectable signaling codes used by various Bridge experts at championship tournaments.
A detailed explanation of the finger-signaling code supposedly used
A detailed explanation of the finger-signaling code supposedly used by Reese and Shapiro to cheat at the World's Duplicate Bridge Championship Tournament in Buenos Aires as described by Truscott, Hay-den, Becker and others follows. The code allegedly worked in this way: Whenever Reese or Shapiro held one, two, three or four fingers on the back of their thirteen-card hand prior to the bidding, it meant that the holding in the heart suit was one, two, three or four hearts respectively. When two fingers were spread apart, this meant a holding of five hearts. Three fingers spread apart meant a holding of six hearts. Truscott, Hayden or Becker failed to mention the finger signal code for a void or seven or more hearts.