What makes this book different than any other blackjack book is that it was written for beginner and novice blackjack players. Unlike most gambling books, where the author tries to prove how much he knows by using complicated math and confusing terms to make his point, Blackjack - Made Simple will not intimidate or overwhelm new players. If you are new to blackjack, or just want to improve your understanding of the game in general, this book was written for you.
This book covers: The basic fundamentals of playing blackjack and all aspects involved in the game of blackjack.
It also includes an introduction to card-counting, blackjack tournaments, basic strategy, simple betting strategies and table etiquette.

This is the fifth (and according to the author, the very last - but don't hold your breath!) edition of what is acknowledged to be the definitive book on a convention that every serious player uses. Completely revised and updated from the previous version, this newest version contains even more leading-edge ideas, and is full of examples, quizzes and practice hands. A must for the tournament player. Includes, among many other features: - Why you should play 1430 and 3014 RKB responses, and when - The extensions of RKB: the queen ask, the specific king ask, and more - How to handle voids, as asker or responder - RKB in minor-suit auctions - 60 practice hands for you to bid with your favorite partner This is the only book that explains every facet of one of the most popular conventions in modern bridge. Eddie Kantar (Santa Monica, CA) is one of the most popular and prolific bridge writers in the world. A winner of two World Championships, and a member of the Bridge Hall of Fame, his many books include Modern Bridge Defense, Advanced Bridge Defense, the hilarious Kantar on Kontract, and of course, Roman Keycard Blackwood. His work appears regularly in many bridge magazines around the world.

"I had just learned standard bridge bidding and was trying to learn 2/1. Every person that I played with had their own style and followed their interpretation of standard bidding. Then I met Bob Gish and he introduced me to his bidding system: The New Awakening. I could not believe how this system has helped me. I make better bids and get to good contracts."

Manish Dixit

Life Master

Crazy Pineapple 8b Poker covers the rules, strategies and review examples one needs to play this insane version of poker. A popular home game among enthusiasts, Crazy Pineapple 8b is a is a hi/lo split game meaning that the person with the highest hand splits with the person with the lowest hand (with the 8b standing for "Eight or better" - eight being the highest card allowable for a low hand). The game is played initially with three cards unlike Texas Hold'em which starts with two. One card is discarded after the flop. The book also briefly covers Omaha 8/b, Pineapple and Tahoe. The author, Kim Greenblatt, a technical specialist and "poker hater" (though he is pretty good at it), has written the popular book, "Practical Low and No Limit Texas Hold'em Ring Games." Readers of that book wrote in and asked him to write a book on this nutty variation of poker that is still played in some casinos and card clubs. Part of the proceeds from the sales of this book will go to finding a cure for Rett Syndrome.

"Bernard stands out as an excellent teacher of the game. He makes poker more accessible to players of all levels through his writings, radio show and everyday conversations. You will see how his articles convey both his vast knowledge of the game and his passion for the details of play. Additionally, you will enjoy his personal commentary about each column. These comments will give you a very rare, candid look inside the mind of a poker professional. For those of you who are not loyal followers already, I know you will become a fan of Bernard after reading this book ..."
Joe Hachem, 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion

"Bernard is a rare, diligent student of the game. His natural teaching ability draws people to him. His serious, meticulous focus on the finer points of the game has led to his success on the professional poker tour. His future in the world of poker is secure and bright."
Mark Seif, two time WSOP bracelet winner

"A must read for poker players of all levels, as it give you an unusual opportunity to get into the mind of a great poker player and columnist. You will learn something new to better your game with every column you read."
Andrew Feldman, ESPN.com Poker Club Editor

"Bernard has an amazing ability to take complicated tournament strategies and make them easy to understand. To say that he is a master teacher would be an understatement. Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player, his lessons will enhance your play and help to increase your bankroll." Linda Johnson, the First Lady of Poker "You play poker. You talk about poker. You write columns about poker. Now you've finished a book about poker. What don't you do?" Norman Chad, ESPNpoker commentator

This is an author who has been there and seen it all. As a multiple world champion, and former president of the World Bridge Federation, no one is better placed to discuss the big issues that face the game today. He can talk authoritatively about cheating at the top levels of the game, destructive bidding systems, sponsorship, professional players, and the other big issues - and he does. He opens the closets of the bridge world, and shows us the skeletons inside that no one wants to talk about. Wolff names names: as the title implies, he has always been prepared to call a spade and let the chips fall where they may. Wolff describes his own life and career in bridge with a brutally honest and emotional appraisal. This book will receive major review attention, and will be as controversial as one would expect a book from this author to be.

Originally published in London in the 1920s as a revised and enlarged edition based on Hoyle's early works of the 1700s. The book is an illustrated compendium of over eighty games and their varieties including card, billiard and board games. These are fully explained with rules and advice on play. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

This book gives the reader a chance to watch an expert play a number of hands, either as declarer or defender. Most of the hands come from the author's own experience in top-level play. As usual in this type of presentation, the reader is offered the opportunity to make his own decisions at critical points in the play, and will be able to learn from situations where an expert took a different line of play - rightly or wrongly! It is aimed at advanced skill levels.

Unique in the literature of the game, this book describes and classifies hundreds of tactics, stratagems and coups used during the play of the hand at bridge. Each technique is illustrated with an example deal, and its application fully explained. The topics run the gamut from the simplest finesses to the most complex squeeze positions, and cover literally everything in between. This book will be an essential component of any bridge library.

The late Terence Reese, perhaps the greatest bridge writer of all time, introduce the "over-the-shoulder" style of bridge writing in his classic "Play These Hands With Me." In this wry homage to the master, Horton leads the reader through a plausibly logical line of play on each instructive deal, but usually a line that ends in failure. In each post-mortem, the "expert" realizes how he could have improved on his play, and (usually) made his contract. The deals are all from top-class events, which prove to be a remarkably fertile source of such material. A book filled with subtle humor and great bridge.

Written for complete beginners, this book is based on material that Barbara Seagram uses in her own classes to introduce hundreds of new players to the game every year. The book will take readers to the point where they can enjoy a social game with friends or begin to explore their local bridge club.

Endplays are an aspect of bridge declarer play that many intermediate players think are beyond them. Yet while they can be extremely complex, the basic principles are not. Five years ago, David Bird wrote "Bridge Squeezes for Everyone," a book about an even more complex topic that has become a modern classic. Using the same straightforward, conversational style with recaps and quizzes that characterized the earlier book, this new title will make endplays understandable to many readers who have been afraid to attempt to learn them.

Itas no news that cheating pervades American culture. Americans cheat on taxes, tests, sports and spouses. But the largest arena for cheating may be at the poker table! With an estimated 60-80 million Americans playing poker every weekafor the highest stakes everayou can be sure that not everyone is playing by the rules!
In this fascinating look at the card sharperas artafrom its origins in Renaissance Italy to the high-tech methods of todayadeception expert Allan Kronzek reveals 52 of the most diabolical scams ever invented. Topics include codes and signaling systems, hidden cameras and miniature ear pieces, false shuffles, cuts and deals, peeking and flashing, deck and card switches, culling, instant stacks, marked cards, alocation play, a the acooler, a and dozens of other devious devices.
Each chapter zeroes in on a single cheating concept and provides expert advice on how to spot and foil the scam (when possible!). Youall learn the secrets of "shade, flash," and "juice"athe subtlest marking systems; why cutting the cards doesnat guarantee an honest deal, how a crooked dealer can stack the flop in hold aem, why casino card rooms are "not" 100% safe, and how cheating crews crush the opposition "without" marked cards or sleight of hand.
Thoroughly illustrated and researched, and enlivened with historical sidebars, "52 Ways to Cheat at Poker" is essential reading for anyone who plays cards for moneya or anyone interested in the ingenious ways cheats steal your money while appearing to do nothing at all.

Why aren't you an expert bridge player? What makes a bridge expert, and why does he or she always come out on top compared to the average club player? No, it's not the ability to execute esoteric squeezes and endplays - they simply don't come up enough to account for the way the experts consistently win against weaker opposition. It's much more basic than that. This book contains a collection of deals that illustrate the difference between the expert player and the would-be expert. These illustrate the kinds of decisions that will come up in every club game, situations in bidding, play and defense where the amateur will often go wrong, but the expert never will. A study of the concepts in this book will take the reader a long way from amateur status towards actually becoming an expert player.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Julian Pottage worked on a number of books with the late Terence Reese, and this one pays homage to a man who was certainly the best bridge writer of his time. One of Reese's classics "Play These Hands With Me" pioneered the 'over-the-shoulder' style of bridge writing. What that book did for declarer play, this present one will do for defence: the reader can follow the thinking of an expert player, stopping at critical points in the play to make their own decisions about how to continue...This is both a tribute and a sequel to one of the most famous bridge books ever published: "Play These Hands With Me" by Terence Reese. It is intended for intermediate to advanced skill levels (for serious club and tournament players).

Originally published in London 1890. This interesting little book gives descriptions and advice on fourteen different variations of the game of Dominoes and a chapter on Solitaire. Skill at dominoes is founded on accurate calculation, ready observation, and rapid deduction. The author deals with these, and the various rules, in a professional but straight forward manner. The book is well illustrated with explanatory line drawings.Keywords: Straight Forward Manner Dominoes Line Drawings Accurate Calculation Author Deals Solitaire Variations Observation London Game

"Essential Poker" is a long overdue compilation of the brightest, daftest, most memorable and, above all, most entertaining comments ever made about the remarkably popular, and enduring game of Poker. In its 150 or so years of existence, Poker has fascinated some of the world's great thinkers, great gamblers and great personalities, many of whom have found something pithy, funny, helpful, original and quotable to say about this deceptively simple yet perennially absorbing game whose raison d'etre is man's obsession with beating the odds, the fates and the opponent opposite at the card table. These bons mots about poker will not make you a better player, nor a better person. But they may make you a better bettor, and will certainly provide you with a veritable royal flush of poker pleasure. Nothing can match the thrill, drama and sheer joie de vivre of playing poker - but this book captures the essence and spirit of the world's greatest gambling game and lays it out for all to see - just like the greatest winning hand you ever drew. And that's not bluffing.

In bridge, the 'declarer' is the one who nominates which suit is trumps; his/her partner's hand becomes the 'dummy'. Every intermediate bridge player is familiar with the routine techniques of dummy play. What this book describes are less well-known stratagems that may save the day in non-routine situations.

Learn or get refresher tips on how to play the $40NL Texas Hold'em game. The Forty Dollar No Limit Texas Hold'em game - ring or tournament - is one of the hottest games played in casinos and card clubs. Low buy-ins lead to some interesting games and this book by example, shows you what you should do and what you shouldn't do. For less than the cost of a buy-in, this book demonstrates a $40NL session, $40NL tournament, half a dozen thinking hand examples and some great advice as to how the forty dollar game differs from other no limit Hold'em games. Learn patience and how to be aggressive with some of the advice in this book. Kim Isaac Greenblatt, is an excellent low limit Texas Hold'em player and the author of Practical Low Limit Texas Hold'em Ring Games and other books. Part of the proceeds from the sales of this book go to research for finding a cure and therapies for Rett Syndrome. Rett Syndrome affects one out of 15,000 girls at birth worldwide. Boys born with the disease die at birth.

If you think a gang of real-life geeks can't take on the world and win big . . . think again. And whatever you do, don't sit down across a gaming table from Jon Finkel, better known as Jonny Magic. Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids is his amazing true story: the jaw-dropping, zero-to-hero chronicle of a fat, friendless boy from New Jersey who found his edge in a game of cards-and turned it into a fortune.
The ultimate bully-magnet, Finkel grew up heckled and hazed until destiny came in the form of a trading-card game called Magic: The Gathering. Magic exploded from nerdy obsession to mainstream mania and made the teenage Finkel an ultracool world champion.
Once transformed, this young shark stormed poker rooms from the underground clubs of New York City to the high-stakes tables online, until he landed on the largest card-counting blackjack team in the country. Taking Vegas for millions, Finkel's squad of brainy gamers became the biggest players in town. Then they took on the town's biggest game, the World Series of Poker, and walked away with more than $3.5 million.
Thrilling, edgy, and ferociously feel-good, the odyssey of these underdogs-turned-overlords is the stuff of pop-culture legend. And David Kushner, acclaimed author of "Masters of Doom," masterfully deals out the outrageous details while bringing to life a cast of characters rife with aces, kings, knaves . . . and more than a few jokers. If you secretly believe every player has his day, you're right. Here's the proof.

"From the Hardcover edition."

Chthonic, the bridge-playing computer is back! This time he is attempting to teach humans a little about the game of bridge - not in order to turn them into competent players, because he knows that is impossible. But he thinks he may be able to get the reader to the point where his mobile phone won't laugh at him behind his back (it does, you know). Each chapter of this wickedly funny book highlights a different 'human bridge error', and points out why and how it should be avoided. Chthonic Chthonic, the irascible bridge-playing computer, modestly describes himself as the world's best bridge player. Danny Kleinman Danny Kleinman of Los Angeles is a prolific bridge writer, theorist, professional player, and teacher, who is a regular contributor to several bridge magazines. He is a Contributing Editor of The Bridge World, and is one of the moderators of 'The Master Solvers' Club' in that magazine. He also writes about backgammon, another game which he plays at an expert level. Nick Straguzzi Nick Straguzzi of Mullica Hill, NJ, is a software analyst specializing in artificial intelligence and knowledge management. Nick has researched ways in which computer game theory could be applied to bridge, but concluded that it would be far easier to write about a perfect bridge-playing computer than to actually build one.

In this book, learning to recognize and appreciate threat cards plays a central role as you begin to understand how squeeze play operates. It won't be long before you can look at a layout and begin to imagine how the East-West cards will need to lie in order for your squeeze to be successful. Very soon, you will get to the point where simple squeezes are a part of your regular bridge arsenal. The first edition of this book was named Book of the Year in 2006 by the American Bridge Teachers Association. DR. JULIAN LADERMAN is a retired mathematics and computer science professor (Lehman College, City University of New York). He has written two books that have won the American Bridge Teachers' Association Book of the Year Award. His first book A Bridge to Simple Squeezes won in 2006 and A Bridge to Inspired Declarer Play won in 2009. For many years he wrote the bridge column for The Bronx Journal.