Poker Quotes - Lou Krieger's Top Ten

TOP TEN POKER QUOTES by Lou Krieger

Some time last year, while researching a book of humorous poker quotations, I came across this interesting article in Card Player magazine …

“This column marks a milestone for me: my 200th article for Card Player. My personal celebration involved perusing each of my 200 columns and pulling my favorite poker quotes to share with you. I don't know if any of these will make it to Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, but if someone ever complies a book of quotable poker quotes, I hope to see a few of mine there.”
Lou Krieger, On Poker: You Can Quote Me on That  in Card Player magazine (2000)

With such a heartfelt plea it is only fitting to add Lou Krieger to my ongoing list of ‘Top Ten Poker Quoters.’

In some small way this Top Ten tribute may make his dream come true as some of Lou’s quotations do indeed appear in my book The Quotable Poker Player. Although TQPP is not going to match Bartlett's Familiar Quotations in terms of size or age, TQPP is certainly much funnier and is 100% poker-based.

“In poker - as in so many other disciplines - there are great ‘players’ and then there are great ‘teachers.’ Lou Krieger is both. Trust me. His appreciation for the intricacies of poker are obvious. He's one of the few writers who incorporates both good card sense and comprehensive situational analysis in his writing. Reading Lou’s advice is like getting painting lessons from Rembrandt or being taught the violin by Stradivarius.”
Nolan Dalla

With a glowing introduction like that from the World Series of Poker Media Director and renowned poker writer / historian, who is this Lou Krieger and what has he got to say about poker?

Lou is currently the editor of Poker Player Newspaper and has written 11 books and more than 400 columns about poker strategy for a variety of magazines. His first book, Hold ’em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner, was published in 1995. Since then Lou has also published other poker books such as: MORE Hold ’em Excellence: A Winner For Life, Poker For Dummies, Gambling For Dummies, Internet Poker: How to Play and Beat Online Poker Games, Winning Omaha/8 Poker, The Poker Player’s Bible, Secrets the Pros Won’t Tell You About Winning Hold ’em Poker, The Portable Poker Pro: Winning Tips for Texas Hold ’em and 52 Great Poker Tips.

With a resume like that there is no doubt that Lou deserves to have his own list of poker quotables - and this is my personal choice of  the Top Ten Quotes by Lou Krieger (with sources where known) …

“Hold ‘em - like life itself - has its defining moment. It’s the flop. When you see the flop, you’re looking at 71 percent of your hand, and the cost is only a single round of betting.” 

“Learn their secrets and determine how they keep from going on tilt. If the shoe fits, steal it!”

“As batting practice is not baseball, reading about poker, or playing against computerized opponents - while undeniably helpful - is not the same as playing for real money, against live opponents, in public games.”
from Hold ‘em Excellence (2000)

“Only losers and amateurs blame the cards. After all, cards don’t care; they don’t take sides, and they have no memory. They are blind justice holding her scales, and in the long run they’ll tip evenly for the novice and the skilled alike.”
from More Hold ‘em Excellence (1999)

On the pre-poker boom TV shows - “Before that, even for poker fans like myself, poker was boring. It was just a bunch of guys grimacing at one another. Boring television.”

“Most of the money you’ll win at poker comes not from the brilliance of your own play, but from the ineptitude of your opponents.” 

“Figure out what your opponent wants you to do and try to do the opposite.”

“You have it in your power to turn a bad beat around simply by realizing this simple truth: The more bad beats you encounter, the luckier you are. It’s a sign that you are playing against opponents who continually take the worst of it, and if you can’t beat someone who always takes the worst of it, you can’t beat anyone.”

“Not only is poker good for you, it’s the American way, where winners play fair, have the right stuff, and nothing else matters, except, perhaps, a bit of luck every now and then.”

“There are two kinds of poker face. Everyone thinks of Mount Rushmore, immobile, but the other is to broadcast so much information that no one can tell what you’re thinking.”


Compiled by
Colin M Jarman
The Quotable Poker Player


For more great poker quotations by Lou, go to his excellent blog Keep Flopping Aces and his excellent quotes page  - Quotable Krieger. Also check out Poker Player Newspaper edited by Lou.

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