'Kit Fielding's debut is a triumph. A story told with brutal honesty, underpinned by humour, love, hope and the inestimable power of friendship.' RUTH HOGAN, author of The Keeper of Lost Things In every pub in every town unspoken stories lie beneath the surface. Each week, six women meet at The Bluebell Inn. They form an unlikely and occasionally triumphant ladies darts team. They banter and jibe, they laugh. But their hidden stories of love and loss are what, in the end, will bind them. There is Mary, full of it but cradling her dark secret; Lena - young and bold, she has made her choice; the cat woman who must return to the place of her birth before it's too late. There's Maggie, still laying out the place for her husband; and Pegs, the dark-eyed girl from the travellers' site bringing her strangeness and first love. And Katy: unappreciated. Open to an offer. They know little of each other's lives. But here they gather and weave a delicate and sustaining connection that maybe they can rely on as the crossroads on their individual paths threaten to overwhelm. With humanity and insight, Kit Fielding reveals the great love that lies at the heart of female friendship. Raw, funny and devastating, all of life can be found at the Bluebell.

"Secrets of Sit'n'gos" is the ULTIMATE GUIDE to one of the most popular forms of poker. Sit'n'go tournaments are single table events usually starting with nine or ten players and paying prizes for the top three finishers. ALL serious poker websites and casinos offer Sit'n'gos - a fun and profitable way to get started in poker without having to risk a lot of money or make many difficult decisions. This book will teach you everything you need to know whether you are a beginner or an experienced poker player, including: * how to go from being a novice to a winner using basic all-in or fold strategies * how to apply more advanced Sit'n'go concepts such as ICM to become an expert player * how to use computer programs effectively in making critical decisions * how to play optimally when heads-up (one-on-one) with high blinds * how to buiild a $200 bankroll to $100,000 in one year purely in Sit'n'go events Phil Shaw will guide you through the early, middle and late stages of play, with clear explanations of the strategies required for success at each.

Dice, Cards, Wheels A Different History of French Culture Thomas M. Kavanagh "With his connoisseur's knowledge (and manifest love) of the rules, and ruses, of games and the culture that they shape, Kavanagh makes a convincing case that gambling ought to be considered not a moral failing or individual pathology but a conspicuous, and uncommonly revelatory, practice that sets the social scene that it dramatizes."--"Journal of Modern History" Gambling has been a practice central to many cultures throughout history. In "Dice, Cards, Wheels," Thomas M. Kavanagh scrutinizes the changing face of the gambler in France over a period of eight centuries, using gambling and its representations in literature as a lens through which to observe French culture. Kavanagh argues that the way people gamble tells us something otherwise unrecognized about the values, conflicts, and cultures that define a period or class. To gamble is to enter a world traced out by the rules and protocols of the game the gambler plays. That world may be an alternative to the established order, but the shape and structure of the game reveal indirectly hidden tensions, fears, and prohibitions. Drawing on literature from the Middle Ages to the present, Kavanagh reconstructs the figure of the gambler and his evolving personae. He examines, among other examples, Bodel's dicing in a twelfth-century tavern for the conversion of the Muslim world; Pascal's post-Reformation redefinition of salvation as the gambler's prize; the aristocratic libertine's celebration of the bluff; and Balzac's, Barbey d'Aurevilly's, and Bourget's nineteenth-century revisions of the gambler. "Dice, Cards, Wheels" embraces the tremendous breadth of French history and emerges as a broad-ranging study of the different forms of gambling, from the dice games of the Middle Ages to the digital slot machines of the twenty-first century, and what those games tell us about French culture and history. Thomas M. Kavanagh is Professor of French at Yale University. Among his previous books is "Esthetics of the Moment: Literature and Art in the French Enlightenment." Critical Authors & Issues 2005 264 pages 6 x 9 2 illus. ISBN 978-0-8122-3860-0 Cloth $59.95s 39.00 ISBN 978-0-8122-0245-8 Ebook $55s 36.00 World Rights Literature, Cultural Studies Short copy: Kavanagh argues that the history of gambling as a cultural practice provides new and important insights into how French culture has responded to the challenge of understanding what identity, responsibility, and freedom can mean in a world ruled largely by chance.

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.

Gambling in Papua New Guinea, despite being completely absent prior to the Colonial era, has come to supersede storytelling as the region's main nighttime activity. Money Games is an ethnographic monograph which reveals the contemporary importance of gambling in urban Papua New Guinea. Rich ethnographic detail is coupled with cross-cultural comparison which span the globe. This anthropological study of everyday economics in Melanesia thereby intersects with theories of money, value, play, informal economy, social change and leadership.

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.

__________________ The bookies always win. But one man has been proving them wrong for four decades. In the summer of 1975 Barney Curley, a fearless and renowned gambler, masterminded one of the most spectacular gambles of all time with a racehorse called Yellow Sam. With a meticulous, entirely legal plan involving dozens of people, perfectly timed phone calls, sealed orders and months of preparation, Curley and Yellow Sam beat the bookmakers and cost them millions. They said that it could never happen again. But in May 2010, thirty-five years after his first coup, Curley staged the ultimate multi-million-pound-winning sequel. The Sure Thing tells the complete story of how he managed to organise the biggest gamble in racing history - and how he then followed up with yet another audacious scheme in January 2014.

Verbal Poker Tells is the follow-up to Zachary Elwood's acclaimed book Reading Poker Tells. When poker players talk, they sometimes reveal information about their hands. Verbal Poker Tells describes the most common and reliable verbal patterns poker players have. More importantly, it gives you a framework for thinking about and analyzing verbal behavior at the poker table. The author analyzes many real poker hands: some from televised poker shows such as the World Series of Poker, Poker After Dark, and High Stakes Poker, some players by the author, and some submitted by other players.

Punters have never had it so good. In a world of rapidly progressive technology and ever-changing ways to bet, the days of punting solely in the betting shop and on the racecourse are long gone. Since the invention of Betfair in 2000 and the mass move online, bookmakers have never been closer to their customers. Punters are able to place bets at the click of a button - on the move, from the pub and even in the office - and the gambling industry has boomed because of it. Football has taken over as the market leader but horseracing is still hugely popular, while odds on other popular sports have opened them up to a fresh audience - the punters. But in a world of flickering screens and rifling numbers can come confusion. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned bettor, the Racing Post Betting Guide provides a lighter look at betting in the current climate, covering horseracing, football and other major sports such as golf, cricket and tennis. The views of our unparelled team of experts can help shape your thinking. Call on the Racing Post's unrivalled expertise, soak up all the knowledge you can and become a better bettor. Among the chapters to consider are: Ten top tips by Pricewise supremo Tom Segal-Studying the form by tipping judge Paul Kealy-Football accas and in-play by Mark Langdon-Punting at the big festivals by David Jennings-Golf betting and the Majors by Steve Palmer-Betting on the favourites by Richard Birch-Tackling the handicaps by Keith Melrose. Other forms of betting covered are: Betting exchanges, pool betting, multiple bets, ante-post betting, pedigree punting plus betting on NFL, darts, rugby, UFC and cycling plus more!

In 1956 two Bell Labs scientists discovered the scientific formula for getting rich. One was mathematician Claude Shannon, neurotic father of our digital age, whose genius is ranked with Einstein's. The other was John L. Kelly Jr., a Texas-born, gun-toting physicist. Together they applied the science of information theory--the basis of computers and the Internet--to the problem of making as much money as possible, as fast as possible.
Shannon and MIT mathematician Edward O. Thorp took the "Kelly formula" to Las Vegas. It worked. They realized that there was even more money to be made in the stock market. Thorp used the Kelly system with his phenomenonally successful hedge fund, Princeton-Newport Partners. Shannon became a successful investor, too, topping even Warren Buffett's rate of return. "Fortune's Formula "traces how the Kelly formula sparked controversy" "even as it made fortunes at racetracks, casinos, and trading" "desks. It reveals the dark side of this alluring scheme, which is" "founded on exploiting an insider's edge.
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Shannon believed it was possible for a smart investor to beat" "the market--and "Fortune's Formula "will convince you that he was right.

Having survived the games at the Starside Hotel, Kaiji is invited to join another game for a chance at even more cash! But while the previous game was physically challenging, this game, E-Card, is socially twisted. At its core it is a card game similar to rock-paper-scissors, but like the cards played - slave, citizen, emperor - the power balance is not in the favor of the challenger.

The extraordinary life of the best poker player who ever lived When Stuey 'The Kid' Ungar took his first World Series of Poker title, one journalist asked him what he would do with the money. His answer: 'Gamble it'. Stuey grew up among the hoodlums and wiseguys of New York's Lower East Side. A pint-sized high-school drop out who never worked a day in his life, never had a bank account or paid a penny in taxes, he lived to gamble and became the world's most feared card player. From the multi-million dollar fortune he won and lost, the addictions that consumed him, and one of the greatest phoenix-from-the-ashes comebacks of all time, this is the story of a Las Vegas legend.

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/.

How Women Can Crack The Seemingly Closed Brotherhood Of Poker; Men do it. Boys do it. Even brothers and cousins and fathers do it. But for many women, it remains a mystery, a closed brotherhood of codes. Much has been written about poker, but this is the first book that focuses on the needs of women. This is a book for women, by women, who want to claim their seat at the poker table - and win The information in Playing With The Big Boys comes in an easy-to-follow, lively and practical presentation. Everything from the origins and basics of the game, to the variations, to strategies, and to the ways women can participate in tournaments is included. Readers will be led through the chapters by 'Laura, ' the card shark heroine: How did Laura get started? How did she become her local winner? What advice can she give to other women for their home games or for possible casino ventures? And how can women contend with husbands, boyfriends, Big Boys - and take their money Beyond the fundamentals of 5 and 7 card stud, blackjack, draw games, and Texas hold 'em, the authors investigate the unusual variants such as Chicago, Indian Poker, baseball, lowball, hi-lo, and Anaconda. hold them, and when to fold them. Bluffing gets its own separate treatment, as does the age old problem of how to manage a losing streak - or a winning streak

"The Definitive Guide to Betting on Football" is a distillation of "Racing Post" expert Kevin Pullein's extensive knowledge on how to make money when betting on football. His weekly column in the "Post" is hugely popular with sports betting fans. In this masterwork Pullein explains how you can work out what is likely to happen during a football match and how you might be able to exploit this knowledge profitably by betting. In each chapter there will be both theory and practice, in separate but complementary sections. The theory will always be simply explained and illustrated, and will satisfy both the more-specialist and the less-experienced reader alike, each of whom will be able to get out of it want they want most - as well as a lot of other things beside. Topics include first and second half betting, corners, first goalscorer, final result, bookings, spread betting, betting exchanges and ante post.

Is this the right book for me? Do you want to make smart choices and win at the track? Whether you are a novice better or an experienced punter, it has all the tips and advice to help you spot a winner and enjoy this popular national pastime. This new edition has been been brought right up-to-date with interactive features. It explains not only such basics as the form and the nature of the races, but will also explain in full where to bet, how to bet, and how to do so successfully. It offers full and unique coverage of the latest phenomena, such as internet betting, online betting exchanges and spread betting. It also gives you vital tips in addition to providing practical information on how to avoid credit card fraud and how to make a successful selection. Back a Winning Horse includes: Chapter 1: Horse racing Origins of horse racing Thoroughbred horses Types of racing Grading of racing Handicaps Conditional races Gambling on horse racing A day at the races Owning a racehorse Racing around the world Chapter 2: Racecourse betting On-course bookmakers Tote betting Pari-mutuel Bookmaking Understanding the odds Factors affecting prices Placing a tote bet Chapter 3: Betting shops Types of price Disadvantages of using a betting shop Writing a bet Bookmakers' rules Types of bet Chapter 4: Remote betting Internet betting Types of internet betting Types of bet How bets are matched Ordering odds How to bet Spread betting Playing safe Telephone betting Chapter 5: Making your selection Factors you can assess Factors you cannot assess Gathering information Systems Effect of the draw at British and Irish racecourses Chapter 6: Betting tips Be aware of rules Appreciate your chances of winnin How bookmakers make a profit Keep records of your gambling Set a budget Staying in control Take account of all costs Be selective Take your time Maximize returns Be realistic How bookmakers try to make you spend more money Ground Type of race Betting on handicap races Number of runners Backing favourites Take the best price Making the best bet Betting each way Bets to avoid Placing large bets Big winners Steamers Collecting winnings Betting exchanges Hedging Dutching Syndicate betting Chapter 7: Checking results and calculating winnings Checking results Disputes with bookmakers Calculating winnings Using a ready reckoner Learn effortlessly with a new easy-to-read page design and interactive features: Not got much time? One, five and ten-minute introductions to key principles to get you started. Author insights Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience. Test yourself Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress. Extend your knowledge Extra online articles to give you a richer understanding of the subject. Five things to remember Quick refreshers to help you remember the key facts. Try this Innovative exercises illustrate what you've learnt and how to use it.

Should we be afraid that in the digital era, anyone with a broadband connection and a few hundred pounds can gatecrash the elite world of City traders - even if, like Sally Nicoll, they are numerically dyslexic? Sally is looking for a source of extra cash to fund a sabbatical while she writes a novel, and decides spread betting is the answer. She tries to open an account with Finspreads - "their web site has the best colour scheme" - only to discover she's been credit blacklisted. Instead of being thankful for divine intervention, she complains to the marketing department and is hired to write an online trading blog. Bets and the City is based on Sally's enormously popular column for Finspreads.In between the funny bits, there's some really useful information: - Never take a holiday in Cornwall when you're speculating on sterling against the dollar - Why you should resist the temptation to be kind to your mother - Sensible advice from the man who lost $10 million in a single trading session - Why women make better traders than men - The simple trade that enables you to turn your computer into a cash register Sally's romp through the City, combined with her anecdotes of hanging out in celebrity-studded Primrose Hill, will appeal to investors, gamblers, and anyone who enjoys playing with money. And prepare to be entertained by Sally's spread betting accomplice, a Jack Russell called Dow Jones...