Poker: it's the king of card games. Betting and bluffing turn a game of chance into a test of skill and wits... at least, if you know how to play. But if you don't know how, and if you don't have a group of poker-playing buddies to mentor you, how are you supposed to learn? That's where Poker for Dummies comes in, offering a video tutorial to teach the basics of the game and the techniques for winning.

At the outset, Poker for Dummies promises to be valuable for novices, intermediate, and advanced players alike. That's a tall order for a 50-minute program, and that's really where the weaknesses in the presentation originate from. Poker for Dummies starts out with the basics, running through the relative values of the different poker hands and describing the play mechanics of Texas Hold'em, a popular variety of poker. After that, it swiftly moves on to strategies, bluffing, and "tells" (body cues that provide hints about the player's hand), before wrapping up with a quick run-down of the rules of several other variants of poker, and a list of "World Series secrets" from co-host and poker champion Chris Moneymaker.

The result of cramming all this material into a mere fifty minutes is that Poker for Dummies cranks along at a relentless pace, with a steady stream of new information being steadily thrown at the viewer. There's no time to assimilate any of the material before the program moves on to the next topic, so if it doesn't click immediately, it's necessary to pause the program and repeat some sections as needed. For a novice, it's rather overwhelming... and for a more advanced player, it's probably too routine. Poker for Dummies really would have benefited from a significantly longer running time, which would have allowed the program to give examples to illustrate each of the concepts and help the viewer assimilate the material. As it is, the program feels very much like a video summary of the Poker for Dummies book, zipping right along through the major headings with the aim of "getting through the material" as soon as possible.

One area where Poker for Dummies does improve on a printed presentation is in the sample games. We get to see a full game laid out on the table, with all the players going through their turns as they would in a normal game, but with commentary from the dealer as to who's doing what, and more importantly, why. Superimposed arrows and circles are used effectively to call the viewer's eye to the important elements of the set-up, such as whose turn it is to bet, and to highlight the winning card combinations in a particular hand. These sample games would be much harder and more confusing to present in a printed form; it's just too bad that Poker for Dummies doesn't capitalize on this and include more of them.

The DVD

Video

We get an ordinary and satisfactory video transfer, in the program's original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. This isn't the kind of program where image quality is all that important, but in any case, it looks quite nice. Colors are bright and cheerful, and all the on-screen text is sharp and easy to read. No complaints here.

Audio

The soundtrack here is a basic Dolby 2.0, and while there's not a lot for the track to handle, it's not as good as I'd have wished. The sound is reasonably natural and doesn't have any background noise or distortion, but it does sound rather muffled on occasion.

Extras

Poker for Dummies gets kudos for actually making good use of a DVD insert. It's a two-page booklet that includes a section of "poker slang" and, more importantly, an illustrated list of poker hands ranked in order. Especially considering how quickly the video program zips through this section, it's an essential reference for a poker newbie.

Final thoughts

Poker for Dummies has its merits, but it's far from what it could be. It's too rushed to be a true instructional program for new players, and with only fifty minutes of running time overall, it lacks depth to be worthwhile to more experienced players. Now that I've watched it, I feel I'm more familiar with the game, but that's about it. What it's probably best viewed as is a video supplement to the Poker for Dummies book, mainly useful for its well-done demonstration hands of Texas Hold'em. It may be worth picking up on sale; at full price I'd put it in the "Rent it" category.