When I got my first three Standard Poodles (a white, an appricot, and a black - each a year apart), I knew I wanted to groom them at home.  This was back in the late 1980's and there were only a few books available on grooming.  I learned to groom from books and from observing how Poodles in pictures were groomed, but I continually had trouble getting two specific areas on my Poodles to look the way I wanted - where the neck meets the back and where the hips join with the torso (that indention).  Then, I acquired a DVD on grooming Poodles by Kay Zucco and Jay Scruggs which really helped with those areas.  (Note: I am not a professional grooming and have only ever groomed my own dogs.) 

    

 HOW I GROOM MY STANDARD POODLES

Pic 1: Joey being thoroughly brushed out.  Pic 2: Plucking the ear hair and then cleaning      Pic 3: Put cotton balls in ears before bath.
Pic 1: Joey is being "finished" (drying) on the table.   Pic 2: Clipping around the base of the tail  Pic 3: Clipping aroung "naughty bits", tummy, and inside of flanks.
Pic 1: Joey in the tub being washed   Pic 2: On the table being towel dried    Pic 3: Using two blow dryers (plus lots of cotton in Joey's ears!)
Pic 1: I tie Joey's ears back with a ribbon.  Pic 2: Shave neck with a 15 blade setting   Pic 3: Setting line from ear to eye and shave face.
Pic 1 -3  I use a Wahl mini clipper for under the eyes, inside the lip folds, all along the lip edges and the chin. 
Pic 1: With Joey standing, I scoop out the hair inside the pads using the mini clippers  Pic 2: With him lying down, I use the 15 setting on the tops and sides of the feet and Pic 3: the mini clipper to (carefully!!!) clip inbetween the toes.
Pic 1: Using the clippers, I edge and bevel around the hems.  Pic 2: Grinding toenails  Pic 3: We use a papertowel and poke the dewclaw through to grind the nail so we don't get hair caught in the grinder.  This completes the morning part of the grooming.
Pic 1: After a couple hours rest, we start the bodywork.  I clip the body using a 30 blade with a metal clipper guard (Wahl 1/2").
Pic 2 and 3: I scissor the tail, the neck and the head, and the legs.  I finish beveling th hems of the "trousers". 
Pic 1: After I've cut length and shape to the legs, my husband finishes by cleaning up all the wisps and tags while I finish the head/neck. 
Pic 2: I see I need to work on getting the front and back curve better on the back legs.
Pic 3: This was after a recent groom - I don't like the close crop above the ears - gonna work on that.  Luckily, Poodle hair grows so I have endless chances to get the look I want.
aaaaaaaaaaaaiii