"Talkin' About Poker: Straight Talk for Parents and their Players:" this 2006 book by Loren (Mom) and Chris (24 year old poker pro) Ackerman is the first book written to help parents educate themselves about poker, communicate with their young poker players, and determine if they are playing in a healthy way.

As Loren points out, Cigar smoking, middle-age men no longer play poker in back rooms. Families and friends gather around the television, watch the games, and cheer on their favorite players. Within the last couple of years, poker has become the theme for family game nights, bar mitzvahs and birthday parties. Loren adds another dimension: how about if your son wants to become a poker pro?

The book describes addiction and compulsive gambling behaviors and provides valuable suggestions on ways to help college and high school kids avoid the pitfalls of online gambling. This is a timely book in this regard because in December, 2005, Greg Hogan, president of the sophomore class at Lehigh University, ran up five thousand dollars in online gambling debts and tried to rob a bank in Allentown, PA to pay off his losses.

Each chapter includes straight talk and tips from Chris, who started playing poker at eleven, with baseball cards as prizes. He played poker in college, then in local card rooms. Then to the big tournaments. His recent efforts on the pro poker tour have resulted in wins of $74,000 and $227,000.

Talkin' About Poker also offers answers to these questions:

1. What is Texas Hold'em?

2. How do you play and bet?

3. Is it legal for my child to play poker?

4. Can my child become addicted to poker playing?

5. What kind of professional help is available for young gamblers?

6. Can poker really be played as a recreational sport?

Loren, a teacher of gifted children, took on Talkin' About Poker: Straight Talk for Parents and their Players in order to open up communication between concerned parents and young, hopeful poker players.

"Initially, we thought our son was headed down a path of destruction, and we simply didn't know what to do and I was terrified," she said. "It was my fear of him becoming addicted that led me to learn everything there is to know about poker, so I could communicate with my son intelligently and in a way he would not find threatening."

Chris is a graduate of a graduate of Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and lives in northern New Jersey.

The book opens with this quote: Each of us is the architect of our own future, by Appius Claudius. Loren and Chris have decided their future in poker together and offer the book as a guide to others facing the same situation.

2006 Murphy James