Janda Semok

So far you've gotten along just fine as a wife, riding on your considerable skills as a lover, best friend, and career adviser. But why sit still? Why not, instead, be a surprising, fun, smart, knows-it-all-does-it-all wife who just blows him away with her wonderfulness? Sound exhausting? Guess again. REDBOOK has compiled an essential list of wifely skills guys love — along with easy secrets for mastering them from the experts who should know.

Learn each at your leisure, then spring them on him gradually, adding layer upon layer of, well, awe.

Oh, and by the way, here's what's in it for you: a totally content and grateful husband, a more playful and interesting marriage, and the proud feeling you'll get every time you take on a new challenge — and triumph!

PLAY POKER

Why: So you can socialize his way for a change.

How: The most popular home version of this casino classic is seven-card stud, says Debbie Burkhead, a professional poker player in Las Vegas. How it works: The dealer gives each player three cards, two of them facedown (you can look at your own). You place your first bet this round, "seeing" (matching) or "raising" (increasing) the previous bet, depending on the quality of your hand. (If it's really bad, you can "fold," meaning that you opt out of a hand.) After a round of betting, each player gets another card, until all players either have folded or are holding seven cards. The winner of the pot is the player with the best five of seven cards.

So how do you know how good your hand is? Hands rank as follows, from best to worst; each hand beats all the hands listed below it. The higher your cards in any given hand, the better; aces are high, deuces (2s) are low.