A quiet poker table, cards fanned across deep green felt

Lessons · Talks · Signed books

Welcome to Poker With Sara.

Poker With Sara LLC is a place to come as a beginner and better your game — a gateway to mastering the table before entering a cardroom or casino with confidence and class.

You can book a one-on-one or group beginner’s lesson with Sara or buy one of her books.

Lessons Books Free Book

Lessons & TalksNo-Limit Hold’EmBooksCome for the PokerStay for the FunLessons & TalksNo-Limit Hold’EmBooksCome for the PokerStay for the Fun

The invitation

Welcome Poker Newcomer!

Let me show you the tools and strategies that will hold up at any table. Master the basic rules and the layout of Texas Hold ’Em. Move from the nuances of reading hands into strategic play.

Learn from poker professionals, dealers, and the floor. Embrace the adventure that is playing No-Limit Texas Hold ’Em cash games.

Come have fun playing poker with me. A Discord community online arena is currently in development to do just that. Stay tuned!

Come for the poker, stay for the fun.

Sara O'Connor at the poker table, chip leader

Example Poker Hands

Royal flush

Beginner’s Lessons

You can book a one-on-one hour-long lesson with Sara for $50.

Tutoring topics include but aren’t limited to:

Demystify the rules, hand rankings, and betting strategies of Texas Hold’Em cash games and tournaments, including the art of folding, calling, raising, and bluffing
Mental toughness and bankroll control
Master the art of table conduct and flow

Sara strongly suggests students purchase and read her beginner’s guide before booking a tutoring session so you can hit the ground running!

Contact Sara to discuss an individual or group lesson plan to make your poker goals a reality.

The Bookstore

Buy signed copies of Sara’s work here.

Unsigned copies of Shuffle Up and Deal With It and A New Queen’s Guide to Poker are available on Amazon for $5 less.

Please rate and review your book(s) once done!

Cover of Between the Blinds by Sara O'Connor

Free bookBetween the Blinds24 interviews. Leave your email and the PDF arrives there.

2025 · 252 pages

Shuffle Up and Deal With It

Tales from Dealers Worldwide

They’ve dealt every kind of hand imaginable. Now they’re showing theirs.

Welcome to the real world behind the poker table — raw, chaotic, and deeply human. Sara brings you face-to-face with over 30 poker dealers from around the globe. These are the voices you never hear over the clatter of chips: bad beats, personal breakdowns, rounders chasing dreams, and players spiraling out.

Inside the book

From behind the box to the other side of the felt — or into entirely new careers. Stories of reinvention, risk, and chasing more.

Life on the road, bouncing from casino to casino. These voices span borders, cultures, and languages. Poker is global, and the grind is universal.

The backbone of poker’s biggest stage. High pressure, long hours, and a front-row seat to iconic moments.

Surviving trauma, physical pain, and mental-health battles — and rising again.

From smoky basements to private games, these tales introduce readers to poker’s shadow world.

Stories too raw, strange, or personal to fit the mold — and impossible to forget.

These dealers aren’t just keeping the game running. They’re holding the line between chaos and order, one hand at a time. You think you know poker? Think again.

Some tales are unfiltered and include addiction, violence, and loss. They aren’t here to shock. They’re here for the people who still showed up to shuffle.

$24.99

Signed · US domestic buyers only

Buy a signed copy

Paperback on Amazon Kindle

2024 · 310 pages

A New Queen's Guide to Poker

The Art of Playing Cash Games Like a Pro for Beginning and Intermediate Players

From beginner to champion in a year — and a map so you can take the same road.

In “A New Queen’s Guide to Poker,” Sara shares her first year playing poker in a casino with confidence and a roadmap for cash games: clear explanations, exercises, and the stories that make the strategy stick.

Inside the book

Rules, hand rankings, and betting, with clear explanations and exercises you can actually run.

Folding, calling, raising, and bluffing — plus when each one works, and when it doesn’t.

Mental toughness, bankroll control, and the particular challenges women meet in poker.

The personalities you'll meet at the table, told through anecdotes and personal experiences with all player types.

Wisdom from seasoned professionals, gathered so you can lift your game without the tuition of a bad year.

Table conduct that keeps the game clean — and makes the other players take you seriously.

Everything you need to hold your own on the felt. Practical strategy, plain language, and a glossary explaining common poker lingo to give you a winning ticket into the game.

$24.99

Signed · US domestic buyers only

Buy a signed copy

Paperback on Amazon Kindle

Book Sara

Please share whether you want to sign up for a private or group lesson, book Sara for a speaking engagement, live poker event, or interview, or ask her a question about her work.

Straight answers

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Poker With Sara?

Poker With Sara LLC is Sara O'Connor's poker studio. She teaches beginner-level No-Limit Texas Hold'em, one-on-one or in a group, speaks at events, and sells copies of her books.

Who is Sara O'Connor?

Sara O'Connor is an author, journalist, educator, and poker player who has spent the past four years writing about the game and the people who make it worth playing. She is the author of multiple poker books and has written substantial articles, interviews, profiles, educational pieces, and commentary about poker players, dealers, strategy, culture, and the wider industry.

A former attorney and educator, Sara brings an analytical mind and a teacher's instinct to her work. Her goal is to make complicated ideas approachable, useful, and—most importantly—interesting and fun, whether she is teaching a new player the fundamentals of No-Limit Texas Hold'Em or telling the story of someone whose life revolves around the game.

Outside poker, Sara is also the artist and owner behind Sara O'Connor Fine Art, an independent art business specializing in original artwork and custom commissions created for individual collectors.

How do I book a lesson, talk, or event?

Use the form on this page or email pokerwithsara@gmail.com. Say whether you want a private or group lesson, to book Sara for a speaking engagement, an event, or an interview, or what you have in mind.

How much are the signed books?

Signed copies of Sara's work are $24.99 each for US domestic buyers only, which can be purchased here.

Unsigned copies are $5 less on Amazon.

The $5 difference covers shipping of signed work.