The author has been involved in the casion business since graduating from Loyola University Law School. He learned about poker and other casion games from his father who was a poker player and in 1965, he began his formal experience in the casino business, working his way up from a Downtown shill to owner and president of a casino. Now with contributions from Jan Fisher, he has put together 35 chapters that cover all aspects of running a poker room. These include etiquette, hand rankings, betting terms, general procedures, shuffle and cut procedures, wagering rules, employee rules, the rake, fills, running chips, brushing, blinds (specificially how to handle missed blinds), general button procedures, kill pots.

Steve Forte explains how cheaters operate today and how the grifters operated a century ago. The chapter discussing tournament play, the chance of collusion; how final table deals may occur and the often heard term "chip dumping" along with deliberate slow play should alert novice players, inexperienced supervisors or tournament organizers what might devastate their casino or reputation. Additional coverage includes Random Number Generators, the "core of every online poker hand," with an explanation of how serious security issues surfaced in 1999 and a valuable checklist of items to consider before sitting down in someone's home, in a private game or at a fraternal organization.