In the exciting world of poker, arguments break out by the minute in card rooms across the country. There are scores of rules concerning fairness and etiquette, and they vary from place to place. There are some rules that are generally accepted, but sometimes card room managers and tournament directors just don't know them or fail to make their policies known. Typically, tempers flare and cards go flying. Finally, here's the solution.

THE RULES OF POKER comprehensively lays out all of the rules and provides, whenever possible, varying rules, with the authors' preferred rules first and in bold. Includes a thorough and easy-to-use index.

Throughout the book are boxed sidebars with anecdotes from dealers, players, and poker room staff around the world (who, incidentally, comprise the market) about fights that have broken out and how they were settled. Readers will actually hear the gunshots.

Other games and sports have official rules of etiquette, but until today, no such single book has been accepted in the world of poker. Before the Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary was released, people divorced over whether or not "belting" took an S or not. Through interviews, research and personal experience, with a dash of fun and a lot of authority, Sheree Bykofsky and Lou Krieger offers to the world of poker THE book that will settle poker arguments and allow players to concentrate on the business at hand—scooping in large sums of money.

Here is a sampling of issues that require hard and fast rules. Many are cross-referenced, and when appropriate, tournament poker and cash games are discussed separately. This is only a partial list:

*Show one, show all.

*The minimum raise in no limit.

*Verbal statements in tournaments and cash games: ("I'll see you and raise you.", "I raise", "I'll call if you raise","I have pocket aces; you should fold.", "Go ahead and call that bluffer.")

*When the dealer inadvertently mucks a player's hand.

*Betting and raising with a single chip.

*Who shows first at the showdown.

*Cutting a deal at the final table.

*The right to request to see a winning hand.

*Who at the table has the right to ask to see the cards after the showdown.

*All-in rules in limit and no limit.

*Binding statements.

*Collusion.

*When is the player's hand dead.

*Correcting dealer mistakes: (dealing too many cards, reshuffling a premature window card.)

*Leaving chips at the table.

*When, at the showdown, a player announces "you win" when he or she has the winner.

*When cards are exposed.

*Influence by players "on the rail."

*Short re-buys in cash games.

*Re-buy tournament.

*Who is the big blind when the clock is reset during tournaments.

*Cards off the table.

*Cards thrown at dealer.

*Verbal bluffing.

*Money counting in front of the cards.

*Reading at the table.

*Short-changing the pot.

*Posting.

*Missing just the small blind.

*Taking back the small blind.