Playing Card comparisons

I received my order from Amazon yesterday. Harrington on Hold'em Volume 1, Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide Tournament edition, and Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro. I plan on reading them in the order listed. I have heard many great things about Harrington's books and the early reviews on FTP's book have been good. I don't really know why I picked up the third book as I have heard it is only an average read, but it was cheap and I have so much to learn, I am sure I will pick up something from it. I plan to post updates on how they are here, so check back if you are interested. I found the flopturnriver book reviews very helpful if you are thinking of studying up.

I also received my new cards for my home tournaments. They are Dal Negros. If you play regularly at home, like I do, you must get quality cards. Here is my take on them:

The regular store bought (i.e. bicycle brand) cards are good for maybe 3 or 4 tournaments, but that is only if someone doesn't bend them. They are easily creased or what I call canoe'd (when they look like they can float down the river with two drunks, wet sandwiches and a cooler of beer). They also soak up beer and soda like a sponge.

I did buy some WPT brand cards that were slightly heavier, but noticed some creases after about 4 uses. They too soak up beer and soda like a sponge.

Then I found some Copag cards on clearance at some website I don't even remember. I thought I would try them, and they became my favorite cards. 100% plastic. Hard to bend or crease. No canoe effect. And you can wipe them with a wet cloth if they get wing sauce or cheese dip on them. They are also unaffected by the spilled beer or soda. The one drawback was that many people found them too slick. They are harder to shuffle because of this and if you play on a non-felt table, they will slide off the table like they are pucks on an air hockey table.

I used my FPP on pokerstars to order 100% plastic cards from them. They are almost identical to the Copag cards except they are smaller. So much smaller that I almost prefer playing with the bicycle cards. It is the width of the cards that makes them smaller. We use cut cards to hide the bottom cards when people are dealing, but you can't use them with the pokerstars cards because the cut cards are a good 1/8 of an inch or more bigger. Smaller cards are also harder to shuffle. Trust me when I say: Do not order the pokerstars cards.

Finally a friend of mine brought over his Dal Negro cards. WOW! I was impressed. Thank you Bill. These are Italian made 100% plastic cards. They have the durability of the Copag cards but they have a more grainy surface to keep them from sliding out of your hand while shuffling. They also have bigger icons in the corners, which is designed to help you in peaking at the cards. They are also heavier than the Copag cards so have more "snap" to them. But they are still light enough to toss across the table with ease. 100%, without a doubt, the best cards I have ever played with. I highly recommend the Dal Negro's. I bought mine here: Tridentcards.com I bought a set of Poker 2SI and a set of Poker 4SI. The number refers to 2 or 4 corners with Icons. Try these and you will not be disappointed.

I hope this was helpful. I'm off to do some reading.