Whether you're an American Mah Jongg newbie or an intermediate player looking to gain an edge over your opponents, American Mah Jongg for Everyone is the perfect book to help you start practicing your game! Experienced international Mah Jongg instructors Gregg Swain and Toby Salk walk you through the basics of American Mah Jongg--introducing readers to the tiles, rituals, history, rules and winning strategies of the game. Using the humor, warmth and professional tips they share with their own students, this narrative-style instruction book offers an accessible way to learn this popular game. Topics include: Recognizing Mah Jongg tiles in different types of sets Building the walls and dealing the tiles Organizing your tiles and planning your play Understanding table rules and etiquette Winning strategies for various types of hands National Mah Jongg tournament director Gladys Grad contributes a foreword that explains why so many people love the game. Grad also has written a chapter that outlines the rules of Siamese Mah Jongg, a fun two-person game she created that you can't find in any other Mah Jongg book! This book comes with everything you need to get started playing, including: A timeless sample Mah Jongg scoring card A paper set to cut out and use while learning Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions Over 80 color illustrations Helpful practice exercises and quizzes that reinforce the lessons Access to a website that provides up to date information about the game A glossary of terms that every Mah Jongg player needs to know From the many different types of tiles and how to recognize them, personal stories about the game and historical trivia, American Mah Jongg for Everyone has something for anyone interested in this fascinating game.

A cabin boy in 1839; could steal cards and cheat the boys at eleven; stock a deck at fourteen; bested soldiers on the Rio Grande during the Mexican war; won hundreds of thousands from paymasters, cotton buyers, defaulters and thieves; fought more rough and tumble fights than any man in America and was the most daring gambler in the world. George H. Devol was the greatest riverboat gambler in the history of the Mississippi. Born in Ohio in 1829, he ran away from home and worked as a cabin boy at age ten. At Fourteen he could stack a deck of cards. Over the years, he bilked soldiers, paymasters, thieves, cotton buyers and businessmen alike. He fought more fights than anyone and was never beaten. This is his story. Nobody was ever bored by it. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Pierides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

The most fun you can have learning Texas Hold'em (and we ain't bluffin') Playing Texas Hold'em is about the most fun you can have with two cards in your hand. Navigating the slang, rules, and intricacies of the game can be challenging, though. With Texas Hold'em For Dummies, 2nd Edition, you'll learn the tricks you need to know to win your first online or in-person game. From ranking the various poker hands to applying betting strategies, this book helps you build the skills necessary to achieve poker room success. In Texas Hold'em For Dummies, you'll learn to: Improve your chances at casinos and in online poker rooms Participate in a poker tournament with confidence Bluff, bet, raise, and fold in the right way at the right times The perfect handbook for beginning poker players who want to play in-person or online, Texas Hold'em For Dummies is also an essential companion for more experienced players looking to brush up on the fundamentals and improve their skills.

This book is designed to provide valuable insight into how to improve the return on your investment when playing the lottery. While it does not promise that you will win more often, it does show you how to improve the odds of winning larger amounts when your numbers do come up. So, when you do win that million-dollar jackpot, you will be less likely to have to share it with anyone else.

Among the intriguing topics covered are the most popular (and the most foolish) combinations of numbers, why it is impossible to improve the odds of any legitimate lottery, how popular (and thus unprofitable) an attractive-looking ticket might be, why not to follow the suggested numbers from so-called "expert advisors" and why it is important to avoid winning combinations of past drawings. With this book and a little luck, the dream of winning millions might just come true.

LMT or Loss Management Technique, is vital for all gamblers to apply in order to maximise their winnings and minimise their losses. Learning the techniques in this book will greatly improve your roulette game. The principles can also be applied to other types of gambling games, however this book was specifically written for use with the Ultimate Roulette System range of roulette products. You will learn how to spot when to raise your stakes or when to lower them, how to double your chances of winning by observing patterns in the roulette game. You will learn how to calculate risk and how to apply this knowledge to making regular winnings with roulette. You will learn when to quit and when to go on betting, and you will learn the best ways to use the URS range of products for maximum results.

Gamblers have been trying to figure out how to game the system since our ancestors first made wagers over dice fashioned from knucklebones: in revolutionary Paris, the 'martingale' strategy was rumoured to lead to foolproof success at roulette ; today, professional gamblers are using cutting-edge techniques to tilt the odds in their favour. Science is giving us the competitive edge over opponents, casinos and bookmakers. But is there such a thing as a perfect bet? The Perfect Bet looks beyond probability and statistics to examine how wagers have inspired a plethora of new disciplines - spanning chaos theory, machine learning and game theory - which are not just revolutionising gambling, but changing our fundamental notions about chance, randomness and luck. Explaining why poker is gaming's last bastion of human superiority over AI, how methods originally developed for the US nuclear programme are helping pundits predict sports results and why a new breed of algorithms are losing banks millions, The Perfect Bet has the inside track on any wager you'd care to place.

Learn how to bet on sports safely, smartly, and responsibly--and profit big--with this easy-to-use guide, perfect for beginners! Betting money on sports can be great fun and is a sure way to turn any sports game into an exciting must-watch event. However, it can be dangerous to the uninitiated--new gamblers can risk too much, bet randomly, or even lose it all. The Everything Guide to Sports Betting won't let that happen. Filled with tips, tricks, and tactics, this handy guide shows you how to place bets strategically. You'll learn all of the different types of bets you can make, how to spot a potentially profitable bet, and when to walk away. Covering all of the major sports leagues, The Everything Guide to Sports Betting will introduce you to the sports betting world and show you how to beat the casinos at their own games. In no time, you'll be a gambling pro--and cash in on some major wins!

Maximize your odds on the casino floor Casinos are designed for distraction, so it helps to know a bit about when the odds are in your favor and when they're not before you push a stack of chips onto a table. Professional blackjack player Kevin Blackwood and lifelong sports bettor Swain Scheps know a thing or two about casino gambling. In Casino Gambling For Dummies, these seasoned gaming veterans guide you through the essential strategies for walking out of the casino ahead of the game. They also show you the most common mistakes made by players, helping you avoid gambling risks while you enjoy what the gaming industry has to offer. Learn to see past the flashing lights, decide how much you're willing to wager, and find out how to enjoy yourself. In this book, you'll also discover: Step-by-step walkthroughs of casino etiquette and the rules of common casino games, including poker and blackjack Explanations of video poker and slots and ways to avoid losing more than you're comfortable with Explorations of online gambling, so you can enjoy the fun of a casino from the comfort of your home The perfect guide for anyone looking for an easy introduction to the world of casino gaming, Casino Gambling For Dummies is also an essential resource for those seeking to improve their odds at blackjack, craps, video poker, slots, and other games.

Casino gambling has spread throughout the world, and continues to spread. As governments try to cope with fiscal pressures, legalized casinos offer a possible source of additional tax revenue. But casino gambling is often controversial, as some people have moral objections to gambling. In addition, a small percentage of the population may become pathological gamblers who may create significant social costs. On the benefits side, casinos are often purported to spur economic growth (increases in GDP), employment, and tax revenues. However, these benefits have been questioned. Does casino expansion simply "cannibalize" other industries, having no net effect? Or does casino gambling have significant positive economic impacts? The Economics of Casino Gambling is a comprehensive discussion of the social and economic costs and benefits of legalized gambling. It is the only comprehensive discussion of these issues available on the market.

Horse racing in America dates back to the colonial era when street races were a common occurrence. The commercialization of horse racing produced a sport that would briefly surpass all others in popularity, with annual races such as the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes growing to rank among America's most celebrated sporting events. From the very onset, horse racing and gambling were intertwined. As the popularity of racing and betting grew, so, too, did the controversies and corruption. Yet, despite the best efforts of social reformers, bookmakers stubbornly plied their trade, adapting and evolving as horse racing gave way to team sports as the backbone of their business. In Sports Betting and Bookmaking: An American History, Arne K. Lang provides a sweeping overview of legal and illegal sports and race betting in the United States, from the first thoroughbred meet at Saratoga in 1863 through the modern day. The cultural war between bookmakers and their adversaries is a recurring theme, as bookmakers were often forced into the shadows during times of social reform, only to bloom anew when the time was ripe. While much of bookmaking's history takes place in New York, other locales such as Chicago, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City-not to mention Cyberspace-are also discussed in this volume. A comprehensive exploration of the evolution of bookmaking-including the legal developments and technological advancements that have taken place over the years-Sports Betting and Bookmaking is a fascinating read. This informative and engaging book will be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about America's long history with gambling on horse racing and team sports.

There is growing interest among academics and policymakers in the economics of gambling, which has been stimulated by major regulatory and tax changes in the U.S., U.K. Continental Europe, Asia, Australia and elsewhere. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive source of path-breaking research on this topic. To fill this gap, we commissioned chapters from leading economists on all aspects of gambling research. Topics covered include the optimal taxation structure for various forms of gambling, factors influencing the demand and supply of gambling services, forecasting of gambling trends, regulation of gambling, the efficiency of racetrack and sports betting markets, gambling prevalence and behavior, modeling the demand for gambling services, the economic impact of gambling, substitution and complementarities among different types of gambling activity, and the relationship between gambling and other sectors of the economy. These are all important issues, with significant global implications. Specifically, we divide the Handbook into sections on casinos, sports betting, horserace betting, betting strategy, motivation, behavior and decision-making in betting markets, prediction markets and political betting, and lotteries and gambling machines

After surviving Tonegawa's dastardly schemes set outside of the hotel tower, Kaiji was let inside the building for what may be one last chance to pay off his debts. But while his last two tests were partially physical and emotional, this new game is a test of wills. E-Card is a simple card game but when played against someone who says he can read minds, it may be an impossible game to win at consistently! Kaiji has gone too far now, so he'll literally put his body on the line as payback!

Each year experts, odds makers, the polls, team records, tournament seeds, and the eyeball test mislead March Madness fans filling office pool brackets. 128 Billion to 1: Ten Steps to Beat the Odds and Win Your NCAA Tourney Office Pool by Mike Nemeth, explains the secrets and inner workings of the NCAA Tournament to exponentially increase one's odds of filling a winning bracket. It was written for basketball fans who want to understand why they don't often win their office pool. 128 Billion to 1 is a simple, yet ingenious guide to the way the NCAA Championship works, and explains the factors that best predict the outcome. Paramount among the factors is an accurate assessment of relative team strength to correct misleading polls and erroneous tournament committee selections and seedings. Using analytics, understandable mathematics and a dash of ingenious reasoning, Nemeth exposes the need for a new set of statistical measures to explain the outcomes of basketball games. The new statistics accurately rank each team entering the NCAA Tournament so that fans can make informed picks in their tournament brackets. Weekly accurate rankings can be found at https://nemosnumbers.com/basketball-rankings/.

This book develops the concept of "gamble-play media", describing how some gambling and gambling-like practices are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. Digital gambling brings gambling closer to the practices and features of videogames, as audio-visual simulations structure users' experiences. By studying digital gambling from media studies, videogame and cultural studies approaches, this book offers a new critical perspective on the issues raised by computer-mediated gambling, while expanding our perspective on what media and gambling are. In particular, it critically analyses terrestrial, mobile and online slot machines, online poker and stock trading apps through a selection of case studies.

Twenty-four million people wager nearly $3 billion on college basketball pools each year, but few are aware that winning strategies have been developed by researchers at Harvard, Yale, and other universities over the past two decades. Bad advice from media sources and even our own psychological inclinations are often a bigger obstacle to winning than our pool opponents. Profit opportunities are missed and most brackets submitted to pools don't have a breakeven chance to win money before the tournament begins. Improving Your NCAA (R) Bracket with Statistics is both an easy-to-use tip sheet to improve your winning odds and an intellectual history of how statistical reasoning has been applied to the bracket pool using standard and innovative methods. It covers bracket improvement methods ranging from those that require only the information in the seeded bracket to sophisticated estimation techniques available via online simulations. Included are: Prominently displayed bracket improvement tips based on the published research A history of the origins of the bracket pool A history of bracket improvement methods and their results in play Historical sketches and background information on the mathematical and statistical methods that have been used in bracket analysis A source list of good bracket pool advice available each year that seeks to be comprehensive Warnings about common bad advice that will hurt your chances Tom Adams' work presenting bracket improvement methods has been featured in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and SmartMoney magazine.

Exotic Betting at the Racetrack is unique as it covers the efficient-inefficient strategy to price and find profitable racetrack bets, along with handicapping that provides actual bets made by the author on essentially all of the major wagers offered at US racetracks. The book starts with efficiency, accuracy of the win odds, arbitrage, and optimal betting strategies. Examples and actual bets are shown for various wagers including win, place and show, exacta, quinella, double, trifecta, superfecta, Pick 3, 4 and 6 and rainbow pick 5 and 6. There are discussions of major races including the Breeders' Cup, Pegasus, Dubai World Cup and the US Triple Crown from 2012-2018. Dosage analysis is also described and used. An additional feature concerns great horses such as the great mares Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Treve, Beholder and Song Bird. There is a discussion of horse ownership and a tour through arguably the world's top trainer Frederico Tesio and his stables and horses in Italy.Related Link(s)

Exotic Betting at the Racetrack is unique as it covers the efficient-inefficient strategy to price and find profitable racetrack bets, along with handicapping that provides actual bets made by the author on essentially all of the major wagers offered at US racetracks. The book starts with efficiency, accuracy of the win odds, arbitrage, and optimal betting strategies. Examples and actual bets are shown for various wagers including win, place and show, exacta, quinella, double, trifecta, superfecta, Pick 3, 4 and 6 and rainbow pick 5 and 6. There are discussions of major races including the Breeders' Cup, Pegasus, Dubai World Cup and the US Triple Crown from 2012-2018. Dosage analysis is also described and used. An additional feature concerns great horses such as the great mares Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Treve, Beholder and Song Bird. There is a discussion of horse ownership and a tour through arguably the world's top trainer Frederico Tesio and his stables and horses in Italy.Related Link(s)

This book develops the concept of "gamble-play media", describing how some gambling and gambling-like practices are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. Digital gambling brings gambling closer to the practices and features of videogames, as audio-visual simulations structure users' experiences. By studying digital gambling from media studies, videogame and cultural studies approaches, this book offers a new critical perspective on the issues raised by computer-mediated gambling, while expanding our perspective on what media and gambling are. In particular, it critically analyses terrestrial, mobile and online slot machines, online poker and stock trading apps through a selection of case studies.

This power-packed book on beating no-limit hold'em is one of the three most influential poker books ever written. Negreanu headlines a collection of young, great players - Todd Brunson, David Williams, Erick Lindgren, Evelyn Ng and Paul Wasicka - who share their insider professional moves and winning secrets. You'll learn about short-handed and heads-up play, high-limit cash games, a powerful beginner's strategy to neutralize professional players, how to mix up your play, bluff, and win big pots. The centerpiece, however, is Negreanu's powerful and revolutionary small ball strategy. You'll learn how to play hold'em with cards you never would have played before - and with fantastic results. The preflop, flop, turn and river will never look the same again. It is a must-have!

During the early twentieth century, professional gamblers were such a scourge in the smoking rooms of trans-Atlantic passenger liners that White Star Line warned its passengers about them. In spring 1912 three professional gamblers travelled from the USA to England for the sole purpose of returning to America on the maiden voyage of Titanic. "Kid" Homer, "Harry" Rolmane and "Boy" Bradley (Harry Homer, Charles Romaine and George Brereton) were grifters with a long history of living on the wrong side of the law, who planned to utilize their skills at the card table to relieve fellow passengers of cash. One swiftly fell under suspicion of being a professional "card mechanic", and was excluded from some poker games, but other games continued apace. This new book, the result of years of research by George Behe, reveals the true identities of these gamblers, their individual backgrounds, the ruses they used, and their ultimate fates after tragedy struck, as well as providing an intriguing insight into a bygone age.