A" NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW" EDITORS' CHOICE
"Cowboys Full" traces the story of poker from its roots in China, the Middle East, and Europe, through the back rooms of saloons and the parlors of U.S. presidents to its evolution as a global phenomenon. It describes how early Americans took a French parlor game and turned it into a national craze by the time of the Civil War. It explains how poker, once dominated by cardsharps, is now the most popular card game in Europe, East Asia, Australia, South America, and cyberspace, as well as on television. Along the way, James McManus examines the game's remarkable hold on American culture, seen in everything from Frederic Remington's paintings to countless poker novels, movies, and plays. "Cowboys Full "is raucous and fascinating, a lively, definitive history of the game that, more than any other, explains who we are and how we operate.

Crammed with over 90 card games for all ages, this comprehensive guide offers a range of games for one, two, three, four, five or more players. It includes all the classics such as Bridge, Brag, Poker, Rummy and Cribbage with all their variations, along with lesser known games such as Red Dog, Beleaguered Castle and Quinto. With easy-to-follow explanations for each game including their origins, rules, ranking of cards and tactics, as well as clear illustrations of sample hands, scoring systems and a full glossary of terms, The Complete Book of Card Games and a deck of cards are all you need to test your abilities and have fun no matter where you may be.

Want to learn to play bridge? Let Mary Ann Dufresne and Marion Ellingsen get you started. You won't find a clearer, simpler presentation of the basic guidelines. Plus, the authors tell you all about their winning bridge strategy: bid a major whenever you can! Unlike many beginner books, We Love the Majors doesn't oversimplify the game for ease of consumption. This is an honest presentation of the modern game-complexities and all-but expressed in terms everyone can understand and apply. Want to teach beginning bridge? You couldn't ask for a better student text. Students and teachers will find hundreds of examples, homework to test student knowledge and practice deals to play. The book includes an introduction to Stayman, transfers, and modern guidelines for competitive bidding. When looking for the right bid, We Love the Majors!

In this book, Ken Rexford introduces the strong club relay system with canap bidding that he played successfully for years. His approach is novel, but it is also one that is easy to learn and play. Most importantly, the entire system fits within the ACBL General Convention Chart. As with his first book, Cuebidding At Bridge, Ken Rexford spends much time explaining the theory and thinking behind canap sequences, so that the reader will understand the approach rather than simply memorizing a list of conventions. The author also includes a basic scheme for converting your system from Precision to Canap, or even from Standard all the way to Canap, all in easy steps. For those who are intrigued but intimidated by Canap, this extra material should help to ease the transition.

The History of Poker Presents the origins and evolution the various centuries-old European betting and bluffing card games that eventually fused together to create American-style poker. The book starts with the evolution of playing cards, integrates the history of games like Brag and Pochen which in turn evolved in the French game of "Poke" played in the city of New Orleans in the early 1800's. The book, written in timeline fashion, then adds year-by-year the subtle changes and additions to the orginal game of 1820's Whiskey Poker until it becomes the poker of today that we all recognize. The book is full of interesting tidbits and trivia specifically designed to please the reader who wants something interesting in every paragraph. The casual reader, the historian and the trivia buff will all be excited to read about the famous historical figures involved in the early history of poker all the way up to President Barack Obama's surprise quote about poker.

You thought bridge was going to be eternally glorious, didn't you? Suddenly, out of the blue, you're going crazy! Confusion reigns supreme. Every partner is an expert with a barrage of new conventions. You are beset on every side with questions you fear to ask. Secrets Your Bridge Friends Never Tell You explores the bumpy, and exciting, journey a bridge player takes on the road from beginner, to intermediate, to the unlimited glory that awaits somewhere down the line. Undoubtedly, you will recognize part of your own journey. You will discover you were never alone as you suffered the constant ups and downs that proliferate in pursuit of this great game. With a humorous slant that delights, Secrets offers insights into such questions as: How do you find a partner? How do you keep a partner? Should you play with your spouse? Should you hire a pro? What happens when you get bridge burn-out? Find the answers here. Critics' Viewpoint Cathy combines humor and insight as she shines light on a part of our bridge world that is seldom talked about. Secrets is informative and fun. -- Marty Bergen, ten-time National Champion, author of Points Schmoints!

First Base Blackjack: What It Takes To Beat Today's Game, juxtaposes Riley's testosterone fueled hit and run style with O'Dwyer's subtle mastery of the game to evoke a book full of dynamic moves for a new generation of players. Explaining reasons why "Card Counting and Basic Strategy Does Not Work," look for O'Dwyer and Riley to be a major influence in the Blackjack landscape for years to come.

You began by learning to count points, but that only got you so far. Then, someone introduced you to a new idea, Losing Trick Count. Better in theory, sure. But how do you use it? A response shows at least 6 high-card points, but how many losers? How many of these mysterious 'cover cards'? What's the range? Plus, something just seems wrong with the whole thing! How can A 3 2 be just as good as Q 3 2? That cannot be right! Counting Goren high-card points is much easier, and is a very reasonable gauge for bidding square hands. When things start to get distributional, however, you know that you need a better way to evaluate your hand. The concept of winners, losers, and cover cards really seems to be the right path, allowing you to escape from counting points into the world of counting TRICKS! In Winners, Losers and Cover Cards, Ken Eichenbaum reveals not only the secrets an expert would use to better evaluate the real power (or weakness) of your hand, but also how to use this knowledge to your advantage in a myriad number of ways. The author explains a fresh take on popular conventions and treatments, within the context of real auctions facing you at the table, and introduces novel methods, allowing you to maximize the benefit of your new understanding.

From the man who literally CREATED the poker ebook market and its poster child, "Let There Be Range" ("a two-thousand dollar poker manual for high-stakes poker professionals"), "The Poker Blueprint" provides the infrastructure for micro- and small-stakes players to build their game on. It also offer advanced strategies that are vital to crushing today's online short-handed games up to 100NL.
YOU WILL LEARN:
How to win pots without premium holdings ... Secrets revealed on page 97
How to crush your opponents using this simple tactic ... See page 177
How to increase your win-rate with a tiny adjustment to your game ... Go to page 184
How to be the best player at your table the moment you sit down ... See page 14 immediately
How to bluff big and gets rewarded for it ... Read page 235
How to deal with downswings without stressing yourself ... Read page 238
How to calculate odds on the fly ... Go to Page 34
How Tri becomes a self-made millionaire through playing poker ... Secrets revealed on Page 20
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are more than 50 advanced tactics covered, all proven to work under the Las Vegas bright lights, the New York underground games, the internet, the college dorms, the kitchen home games, and anywhere you can think of
You "don't" need advanced math "or" a high IQ to crush poker.
You need the right strategies and that's exactly what The Poker Blueprint delivers.
Order today. Our winning circle awaits you

Roy Cooke and John Bond's CardPlayer Magazine column is the longest running poker feature in the world. This, their sixth book, is a continuation of their Real Poker II: The Play of Hands and a companion volume to their last book, How to Think Like a Poker Pro (both titles are also available from Amazon.com). It contains all their CardPlayer Magazine Play of Hand columns from 2000- 2006, edited and updated. Each essay takes you through a professional's thought process in the play of a hand, how to really analyze each decision to make or save the most at the poker table. Roy Cooke is one of the only poker writers I find worth reading. Doyle Brunson Roy Cooke's writing is the best limit hold em adivce anywhere. In fact, I learned more from reading Roy's articles in CardPlayer on limit hold em than any other source. He does a masterful job of walking you through a hand and teaches you the right way to think about a poker hand. Daniel Negreanu, 2003 Player of the Year Roy Cooke has made

Patrick Jourdain's Problem Corner has been a popular regular feature of Bridge Magazine in the UK for many years.

This collection of challenging declarer-play problems has been selected from the best of the material that has appeared in the magazine, and will be welcomed by advanced players.

Poker players are very lucky - they can mix their hobby with travel. Yet there's never been a travel guide with the poker player's unique interests in mind, until now... The World Poker Travel Guide is the first of its kind: a comprehensive rundown of poker rooms around the world that will show you where, when, and what to expect when playing away from home. Our reviewers are poker players, not your average travel writer, who have personally visited and played in every poker room included here in order to deliver the information you need, including]: * Detailed descriptions of major poker rooms in the United States, Spain, England, France, Australia, and New Zealand * A chapter dedicated to the first-time visitor to a poker room * A comprehensive guide for the poker player's ultimate poker vacation - a trip to the WSOP * The best poker vacation spots in the world * A listing of the best and loosest games, by game type and limit * Tournament details and schedules as well as reward programs * The playing atmosphere at each venue * The best accommodations convenient to casinos and card rooms * The top three casino restaurants ...and much more So before you book that flight, pack that bag, or place that bet, make sure you're traveling as smart as you're playing. With The World Poker Travel Guide, your trip will be a guaranteed winner

This book was first published in 1959 and quickly became one of the classic textbooks for the playing of bridge. The original version has been out of print for some time and the book is now being republished in its first revision in 50 years. In its new modernised form, bridge players will find the ideas much more accessible, while handy end-of-chapter quizzes reinforce the concepts.

EXPANDED NEW EDITION A Complete Course in Playing Winning Limit Hold'em No Limit Hold'em has become the glamor game of poker. Yet today's savvy pros know that some of the best low-risk money-making opportunities exist in Limit Hold'em. This complete manual will show you how to consistently beat today's Limit Hold'em game, whether you play on the Internet or in live games. Revised, updated and expanded with over 100 pages of all-new material and over 250 sample hands to bring the lessons to life, this classic text shows you how to win again and again. Step-by-step and hand-by-hand, you will learn: - Which starting hands to play Pre-Flop - How to turn sound poker theory into winning play - Traps to set and minefields to avoid - How to play through the Flop, the Turn, and the River - The odds and probabilities every successful player must know - How and when to bluff and how to pick off habitual bluffers - ...and much more Plus detailed new chapters that include a complete strategy for conquering short-handed games and the keys to playing in multi-way pots. Poker is a fun game, but it is even more fun when you win. With poker professional Matthew Hilger's Internet Texas Hold 'em as your guide, you can master in hours what most players take a lifetime to discover.

A big part of poker's appeal is that, at its essence, the rules are same everywhere. For the most part, you play with a deck of fifty-two cards, four suits, and thirteen ranks. The best five card hand takes the money. There are only five combinations of actions: check, bet, call, raise, and fold. The purpose of this book is to provide a uniform set of rules for the most popular poker games spread in public cardrooms. Some rules apply to all games. Some apply to particular games. In deciding upon which rules to use, the rulebooks of nearly every major cardroom in the country have been consulted. Where rules differ, the authors have given preference to the rule that best serves the interest of fairness in the game. While some players and cardroom managers may not agree with all the rules included, it is hoped that the comprehensiveness of Cooke's Rules of Real Poker will result in it being used as a standard in cardrooms across the country.

BRIDGE GAME SUMMARY Easy Reference & Game Companion Bridge Game Summary provides a brief overview of the bridge game. It is a great game table companion for all bridge players. Need help bidding? Or, responding to a bid? Just check the "bidding" section. Want to know what card to lead? Check "playing the hand" section. Need a reminder of the most popular bridge conventions? They are all there when you need them. Need to know how to write the score and how many bonus points are awarded for a grand slam? Check "keeping the score" section. Bridge Game Summary combines the easy reference of color tables with a brief explanation of how to play the game. It's the best of both worlds for beginners and casual bridge players alike.

This book addresses the thought processes that novice declarers must develop and practice. The carefully chosen examples here will help advancing players to recognize the key features of a bridge hand and take appropriate action.

Originally published in 1980, this book quickly became recognized as a 'must-read' for any would-be bridge expert, and has never been out of print. Now, almost 30 years later, the author has revised, updated and expanded it to take into account modern developments in the theory and practice of competitive bidding. Anyone serious about improving their game needs to own a copy of this book. Alfred Sheinwold's review of the original edition: 'If you read only one bridge book this year, this should be it.'

Bridge players are taught numerous rules to help them make good bidding decisions, rules that involve things like point count, losing trick count, the Law of Total Tricks and a host of other evaluation methods. But eventually everyone discovers that there are more situations where these rules don't apply than where they do. This book fills a gap in bridge literature by discussing how to make decisions in the bidding, especially in competitive auctions. Think about your own game. Are you sure you know when it's right to be aggressive and when to pull back? When to bid on and when to double the opponents? When to push forward for a slam and when to be content with reaching game? This book goes through the factors you need to be aware of in your hand and in the bidding around you (partner's and the opponents') that will help you get these decisions right more often. Filled with real-life examples, practical advice and helpful quizzes, this book will help any reader become a better bidder.

Larry Cohen is one of the most successful American bridge players of the last 20 years. In My Favorite 52, Cohen presents a collection of his favorite personal bridge moments, using an intimate 'over-the-shoulder' presentation, taking the reader through more than 60 deals (no, not just 52!). Each deal is important to him in some way, or technically interesting, or just plain fun.

The book's interactive style allows the reader to follow bidding and play, and even to make their own decisions at key points. Read this book for fun, or study it in depth and learn from it - whichever you choose to do, you will find it hard to put down.

Self-made poker millionaires Tom "kingsofcards" Marchese and Tri "SlowHabit" Nguyen will show you how to crush the regulars at your table with The NL Workbook.
They will teach you advanced no-limit strategies that they used to win million of dollars from poker.
Whether it is Heads-up, Short-handed, or Full-ring, The NL Workbook has helped many professional poker players improve their winrate and swollen their bankrolls. Many readers can attest to this fact.
YOU WILL LEARN:
How to abuse your opponents like Tom and Tri ... SECRETS REVEALED on page 87
How to put your opponent on a hand range in a few seconds ... See page 15
How to play more aggressively to increase your winrate ... Go to page 29
How to profitably play small pocket pairs such as 22, 33, and 44 without hitting a set ... SECRETS REVEALED on 135
How to overbet correctly to own your opponents ... Read page 63
How to balance your range to confuse your opponents ... Go to page 41
How to win millions at cash games like Tom and Tri ... SECRETS REVEALED on page 75
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are more than 50 advanced tactics covered, all proven to work under the Las Vegas bright lights, the New York underground games, the internet, the college dorms, the kitchen home games, and anywhere you can think of
You "don't" need advanced math "or" a high IQ to crush poker.
You need the right strategies and that's exactly what The NL Workbook delivers.
Order today. Our winning circle awaits you