OOPS! I Won Too Much Money: Winning Wisdom from the Boardroom to the Poker Table

A Certified Public Accountant and former President and Chief Financial Officer for three Arizona-based companies, Tom Schneider found that his background and experience in business and management were readily adaptable to playing and winning at poker. Becoming successful in going up against some of the most accomplished players in some of the biggest poker games around, Tom became and professional poker player (and the host of Texas' first televised poker tournament) for the last four years and has finished "in the money" four times at the World Series of Poker. Now he brings together in the pages of Oops! I Won Too Much Money: Winning Wisdoms From The Boardroom To The Poker Table (also available in a paperback edition, 1933285389, $16.95) all the hard earned wisdom he's learned in business, in poker, and in life to provide aspiring poker players with wit, humor, and "life lessons learned" that will enable poker players to become better at playing the game and living their lives .

Review by Bette Daoust, Ph.D. for Reader Views (3/06) In my estimation I am not a gambler but in reality after reading this book, I recognize the signs of a true gambler at business. Some of us go to the poker table while others play the game of business. No matter which way you go, you are always taking risks and perhaps even educated risks. Poker is about knowing when you have a positive edge and when you should recognize where you stand at all times. Business is no different. Tom Schneider opens the eyes to the similarities between how we work the business game as a parallel to the game of poker. His wisdom comes from deep experience and is not just giving platitudes about what we should be doing. His insights ring true. This book will help the reader to strengthen their game in either world because you will be more aware of the nature of other people in the inside the game. This book packs a lot of information into an easy read - wisdom everyone should tap into.

Tom Schneider doesn't tell us too much we don't already know in his new book. But he reminds us of important things we maybe don't pay attention to enough. I finished his easy to read book in a couple of evenings. The writing style is almost like a wizened old uncle telling interesting stories. Never heavy handed or hard to decipher he reveals truths about life and business through clear clean parables. This is a book you will enjoy and enjoy giving friends.

Having known the author for over 20 years and worked with him for a couple of years 20 years ago I was pleasantly surprised when Tom told me he was finishing writing this book. His wit and ability to recount his experiences in a relevant and enteraining manner makes this book a great read. The humor relayed in print is equal to sitting down with Tom and discussing life's absurdities in relation to business and poker. Having received the book one afternoon I began reading it late that night and finished it in a few hours. Pausing frequently to laugh out loud and say Amen to the Winning Wisdom summarized at the end of each short chapter. Read, laugh, think about and enjoy the wisdom and wit of its author.

Frankly, I am astonished by the recent popularity of television programs which feature competitive poker. They continue to be among the most highly rated in terms of the numbers of viewers they attract. It remains to be seen how long their popularity will continue. Within the past year or so, there have been several books published which suggest correlations between competitive gambling and the contemporary business world. Previously, I have reviewed Eileen Shapiro and Howard Stevenson's Make Your Own Luck: 12 Practical Steps to Taking Smarter Risks in Business in which they offer a concept which they call "Predictive Intelligence" (PI): "the ability to act in the face of uncertainty to bring about desired results." It involves a process which begins with recognizing whether or not one is in a betting situation. If so, they recommend "The Gambler's Dozen," steps by which to increase one's PI and thereby improve the odds when "placing" business bets, career bets, and life bets. If all this seems hokey, blame me. It really isn't. Shapiro and Stevenson are quite serious when asserting that "every purposive action is a bet; one acts now on the expectation or hope, but not the certainty, of the results that will be achieved in the future." I agree. Given that premise, it is highly desirable to increase one's PI and, in their book, Shapiro and Stevenson explain how. In Oops! I Won Too Much Money, Tom Schneider shares what he calls "winning wisdom." It consists of what he has learned during his life, business career, and then more recently during his current career as a professional poker player. Schneider carefully organizes his material by creating a context for each of 61 lessons or insights, all of which he hopes will be of interest and at least several of which will be of practical value to his reader. The tone of his narrative is appropriately informal, indeed conversational. He is a genial companion as you proceed through the material. I especially appreciate his sense of humor. Presumably some of his readers will become more successful as competitive poker players. Thousands of people now gamble in casinos and many more gamble online. I defer to others to condemn the evils of gambling. I am an infrequent recreational gambler who has no intention of applying what I have learned about playing poker. That said, I was intrigued by various strategies and tactics which Schneider discusses and, indeed, several are directly relevant to business. Entrepreneurs are by nature gamblers. That said, there are significant differences between risks which are calculated and those which are not. Presumably Schneider agrees with Shapiro and Howard Stevenson about the importance of developing what they characterize as "Predictive Intelligence." Experts on negotiation stress the importance of having a "drop dead point" beyond which one must not proceed. That is, knowing when to "hold `em" and when to "fold `em." Those with PI may not always be able to "make th