"Poker: How To Play" (1996)

If YouTube existed in the nineties, this video would proudly be posted on there given its quality of presentation and editing.

No kidding: If YouTube launched in the nineties, we're sure this video would proudly be posted on there. You can take that as a compliment or not despite the mediocre quality of editing, and nothing like the ones we've reviewed previously. Other than that, this video has a very "classroom" style of presentation where expert David Wilhite explains the game and its rules so thoroughly. It's hard to get lost learning from him, though some may find his teaching to be too slow.



The tutorial starts off with 7-Card Stud, and presenting shots of the winning hands such as three-of-a-kind and straight were atrociously slow (also known as a "long take"). As Wilhite demonstrates the gameplay in action is where things ran as normal. Given that this was in the mid-nineties, the rules likely haven't changed much, but the allowance and limits of bets have, depending on the casino and the state. Presentation of the second and third games, Texas Hold'Em and Omaha, were well done and kept at normal pace.

Teaching gameplay of Caribbean Stud featured an image of a sign displaying progressive jackpot which was taken inside a Las Vegas casino (no hints as to which one). The last game taught was Pai Gow Poker, and this is the poker game we, personally, haven't played yet. To create two different hands takes some getting used to, along with the presence of dice, so it's a game we'd like to try and continue to learn. Wilhite, with his slow and fool-proof approach to teaching, did so in a gentle manner. This presentation ends with poker tips scrolling upward like movie credits, presents yet different winning hands in poker albeit the slowest way possible, then wraps it up with a "THE END" splash screen with no credits.

Perhaps the cool thing about this tape is the beginning, where defunct casinos like Westward Ho and now The Mirage can subtly be seen behind Wilhite. Having grown up in Las Vegas with family, it sure brought back lots of memories.




This feature presentation only had two music scores, but overall, the presentation was too slow for us. We understand many people learn differently, and this works for those who want everything taught in a way where the teacher spells it out for them. That's fine, but for us, we thought it was slower than normal. For the cuts and transitions, as someone who has done video production for twenty (20) years, quality of editing shown in this presentation was abysmal. Granted, nonlinear editing systems were expensive back then and were not readily available to the average household, so, again, it's understandable. However, the editing style is very inconsistent; High school and/or college students of filmmaking/post production can do a better job than this. Being that Wilhite has many other video tutorials teaching casino games, we fear what those other ones will look like. We find him to be a great teacher, and literally spells out the rules and gameplay, but the presentation contrasted with cheesy but lazy editing makes this too painful to watch. According to the VHS tape cover, this video was done by Professional Video Services and copyrighted by Tiffany Designs. If this is the quality of presentation that both Tiffany Designs and Professional Video Services portray, then it's fair to say that both these companies are the "LJN" of VHS home video. (For those who are not retro video gamers, LJN was a company known for producing lots of low-quality video games, having been rated poorly by critics and the video gaming community.)

Mr. Wilhite, you're a great teacher, but this video needs a heck-ton of improvement. However, it sold quite well and has made rounds during its time but by today's standards, there are better options. One of them we recommend is the Fun-To-Know series: Poker Made Simple on DVD which we have reviewed back in 2018.

Check out David Wilhite's IMDb page here.



UPDATE 09-23-2024: Watch the full video of this VHS on KCU + Plus!

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development) and video production, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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