Book Description
Bridge, as any player will tell you, is simply the best card game ever. It’s challenging—each hand presents a different set of conditions you must figure out and solve. It's very social—you play with a partner and two opponents. And best of all—it's fun.
Bridge For Dummies, 2E gives you a step-by-step explanation of the fundamentals of the game in terms you can understand. It walks you through the different aspects of bridge, featuring real-life examples, so that you can feel comfortable with the basics before you ever start to play. And if you're already experienced at the game, you'll discover a wealth of tips and hints that can make you a better player. You'll learn all about:
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The basics of nontrump play
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How to play the hand in a trump contract
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Bidding for fun and profit
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Taking advantage of advanced bidding techniques
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Playing a strong defense and keeping score
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Playing bridge on your computer
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Playing in bridge clubs and tournaments
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Where to find other great bridge resources
This newly revised edition features an expanded section on playing bridge online, with updated web addresses and other resources, along with new information on the latest bidding techniques. For anyone from novice to pro wanting to learn bridge or learn techniques to improve their game, Bridge For Dummies, 2E makes an ideal partner!
Customer Reviews:
Bridge for Dummies - not so good.......2007-09-15
This book is not bad, but unfortunately is not clear, and not fun to read.
It goes in to details too quickly.
It appears to be aimed at a person becoming an Intermediate Player
The Only Way to Learn.......2007-08-17
Over Memorial Day weekend of this year, I decided to learn to play bridge after never playing the game at all. I took several on-line lessons and other learning tools. The next week I bought Bridge for Dummies (BFD). I read the book cover to cover a couple times, highlighted appropriate passages and quickly learned the game.
Within a month I was playing online confidently based on what I learned in BFD. I had people comment that there was no way I was only playing for a month. After another couple weeks I played duplicate bridge at a local club and finished second my first time playing live.
I highly recommend this book to everyone wanting to learn to play bridge. If this book has one weakness, occasionally you will find instances where bidding strays from SAYC. But simply print out the 4 page SAYC brochure and tuck it in the book.
Bridge is by far the best game of any type I have ever played and this book gave me a foundation to grow from.
Terrific Value.......2007-07-14
Bridge for Dummies, by Eddie Kantar, has turned out to be one of the best purchases I have ever made. I love bridge, and bought this book as just a refresher type thing. No way! The book is teeming with tips, strategies, and explanations that should be of great value to all but the most advanced players. I consider this to be the best book on bridge in the market today.
excellent review of standard and newer principles.......2007-03-25
I was pleasantly surprised by the incorporation of all the latest bidding schemes in this Dummies book. I recommend it to all as a good review/reference source.
Best Book.......2007-03-21
This is the best book I've found for those of us needing a refresher course in bridge. Much better, for me, than Goren. I would highly recommend this book for beginners.
Book Description
Turn on the TV, drop by a newsstand, or just browse the checkout your local supermarket and you'll see firsthand that Texas Hold 'Em is the poker game everyone's playing. It's a game that's deceptively simple, yet within its easy framework you’ll find truth and trickery, boredom and fear, skill and misfortune—in other words, all the things that make life fun and worth living!
Texas Hold'em For Dummies introduces you to the fundamental concepts and strategies of this wildly popular game. It covers the rules for playing and betting, odds, etiquette, Hold'em lingo, and offers sound advice to avoid mistakes. This handy reference guide gives new and even seasoned players winning strategies and tactics not just for playing the game, but for winning. You'll learn:
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Rules and strategies for limit, no-limit, tournament, and online play
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How to "play" the other players
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The importance of your bankroll—recommended sizes and more
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Hands you should and should not play
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How to camouflage your play and dodge traps
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When, who, and how to bluff
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How to maximize your win with check-raising and trapping
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The different approaches for playing in private games, casinos, card rooms, tournaments, and on the Internet
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How to use mathematics to your advantage
Texas Hold 'Em is a game of both skill and chance. But it's a game that can be beaten, and whether you want to make money, sharpen your game, or just have a good time, Texas Hold 'Em for Dummies will give you the winning edge.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable and easy read.......2007-08-03
This book was a nice read and I really enjoyed some of the information that was presented in this one. Some information was new that other books, including ones that claim to teach you the secrets of the pros, decided to leave out. My only complaint is, that it being a For Dummies books makes a lot of references to "We'll cover this later" or "Head back to Chapter 7 for a review on this "
a Dummy's perspective .......2007-08-01
Prefacing these remarks with the fact that I know very little about any type of card game (except Crazy Eights, Old Maid and Gin Rummy) I found this book both informative and entertaining. Mr. Harlan has a way with words that educates us Dummies in a manner that is not condescending in the least. His stated assumptions that we understand the basis of a normal deck of playing cards, plus simple but detailed descriptions of how play advances at the table, make this volume an enjoyable read. The sidebar stories and trivia tidbits are classic Harlan; in fact, the reader could ignore the main text and just read the anecdotal information to learn a LOT about the game. I received the book as a gift; it is a welcome addition to my library.
Best comprehensive reference on texas hold em!.......2007-05-31
As a reference that covers all aspects of the game, this book cannot be beat. It is easy to read, yet packed with information, and everything is here, including pre-flop, flop, turn, and river play, the importance of position, pot odds, raising, check-raising, bluffing, semi-bluffing, starting hand values, analyzing and playing to your opponents, the different types of players (tight vs. loose, passive vs. aggressive), bankroll management, internet vs. casino play, and more.
There are other books that cover some of these aspects of play, but I have found no other book that describes them in a manner that is this easy to understand while having plenty of detail at the same time.
This is definitely one of the first poker books that you should read, and I am certain that you will find this to be a useful reference. I can see this as being a resource that I will refer to often as I continue to learn the game and build my experience.
More then worth some bets ;-).......2007-04-01
Very easy to read and a lot of tips.
Even if you know nothing of Texas Hold'em (like I did) you understand it within the first few pages.
And he slowly but surely further and deeper into the subject to a point where real advanced strategies come in to place.
Also his sense of humor helps a lot. I really stopped reading a few times cause I couldn't stop laughing. When someone can make me laugh because of what he wrote, for me you are a very good writer then.
After I read this one I also bought the another book of Mark Harlan, called Winning at Internet Poker For Dummies®. It was written in the same way as this book but with (as the titlte suggest) internet poker as its subject. It shows the differences with poker in the Real World.
After I read his books I started playing tournaments online and started with the real low tournaments. It is amazing how his tips work. I allmost won back his book in chips.
To conclude the review: I hope no-one buy this book as they will clearly become better players and cost me money ;-)
Richard Wensing.
Real bang for the buck.......2007-03-31
Harlan's first book Winning at Internet Poker For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) is the book that turned me from a losing player to a winning player. I bought this book as soon as it hit the shelves and I was not disappointed. Since his first book I have bought and studied over a dozen texas hold'em books and like the one reviewer said "nothing new". Well duh it is a for dummies book, but Harlan brings it all together in a unique fashion and he covers the basics to some advanced concepts that I have only seen in one or two other books.
Harlan has a point he drives home repeatedly: know your enemy. "If you can identify the traits of your opponents, and interpret the way those traits are presented to you at the table, you've found the master key to the game. Make no mistake about it, understanding your opponents at the table is THE most important aspect of poker."
I have found a couple holes in the way I present MYSELF at the table, and I am more able to see things in others.
Don't let the title sway you. This book's a winner, and for the low price the best bang for your buck in any poker book I've seen. I can honestly say that Harlan's books have been worth thousands of dollars in profit to me at the tables. If you are serious about winning you should add Harlan's books to your library.
Book Description
Poker is America’s national card game, and its popularity continues to grow. Nationwide, you can find a game in progress everywhere. If you want to play, you can find poker games on replicas of 19th century riverboats or on Native American tribal lands. You can play poker at home with the family or online with opponents from around the world. Like bowling and billiards before it, poker has moved out from under the seedier side of its roots and is flowering in the sunshine.
Maybe you’ve never played poker before and you don’t even know what a full house is. Poker For Dummies covers the basics. Or perhaps you've played for years, but you just don’t know how to win. This handy guide will help you walk away from the poker table with winnings, not lint, in your pockets. If you’re a poker expert, you still can benefit – some of the suggestions may surprise you, and you can certainly learn from the anecdotes from professional players like T.J. Cloutier and Stu Unger.
Know what it takes to start winning hand after hand by exploring strategy; getting to know antes and betting structure; knowing your opponents, and understanding the odds. Poker For Dummies also covers the following topics and more:
- Poker games such as Seven-Card Stud, Omaha, and Texas Hold'em
- Setting up a game at home
- Playing in a casino: Do's and don'ts
- Improving your play with Internet and video poker
- Deciphering poker sayings and slang
- Ten ways to read your opponent's body language
- Playing in poker tournaments
- Money management and recordkeeping
- Knowing when and how to bluff
Poker looks like such a simple game. Anyone, it seems, can play it well – but that's far from the truth. Learning the rules can be quick work, but becoming a winning player takes considerably longer. Still, anyone willing to make the effort can become a good player. You can succeed in poker the way you succeed in life: by facing it squarely, getting up earlier than the next person, and working harder and smarter than the competition.
Foreword by Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker Champion.
Customer Reviews:
not so good.......2007-01-04
Honestly, this book didn't do much for me. I never got interested in reading it, and just learned by playing and watching poker tournaments on TV.
Excellent start.......2006-03-10
This book is great for everyone who's new to poker, especially casino poker. It explains all kinds of poker in detal and gives general rules on how to win in poker. You certainly can learn all your basics from this book, but I don't think it's good for people who want to learn Hold'em in particular - for that I'd recommend "Hold'em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner" by Lou Krieger. It explains everything in detail. Krieger certainly knows what he's talking about and explains it in a simple, easy to read form.
Poker for Dummies doesn't deal very well with internet poker; it only gives some general advice and the info is somewhat outdated. If you're interested in online poker, it's definitely not for you.
There's not much here.......2005-07-12
I love "Dummies" books and usually start with one when I want to learn something completely new. I have played poker recreationally most of my life, and been a consistent winner--because my competition was even worse than I was. I even won in my sole foray into a card club--because I was lucky. I had never played Hold'em, however. I wanted to learn more than just the rules of the game and get an introduction to some of the theoretical poker concepts that I knew were out there. This is the wrong book for that.
This book is just too elementary for anyone but a total and complete novice. The only "take away" for me was an understanding of what playing tight pre-flop means for Hold'em. The commentary on post-flop play was way too simple-minded.
This book spends too much time explaining things like tournaments, the World Series of Poker, and the Internet. I am still looking for the book I want.
Lou Krieger knows poker.......2005-07-11
it's great that this book assumes that you know nothing about poker, because i knew nothing.
this book is great in helping you think of all the considerations in poker, what the odds are, the groupings of hands, what other players are playing etc, but with a bit of practise, you can make these decisions in a matter of seconds. and practise i did. when i found that lou krieger was host of royal vegas poker, i practised there.
the only aspect that put me off a bit, but was my own shortcoming, not the book's, was the issue of calculating the standard deviations, outs etc. being mathematically challenged, puts me at a disadvantage.
but this is a great book, which is comprehensively basic - as it should be. i'd recommend it to anyone.
Good for beginners!.......2005-03-10
Its good for beginners but its too broad.....it covers a little bit on every poker game and teaches you about bluffing, helped me win Id reccomend it!
Book Description
Take poker online the fun and easy way!
Five years ago, 50 million people were playing poker recreationally or professionally. Now that number is more than 100 million, including a huge influx of young people. Online betting is up nearly four-fold over the past year, with total wagers running over $30 billion.
Winning at Internet Poker For Dummies provides the lowdown on the hottest game around, highlighting the best sites and virtual games and showing how to make secure online bets. The book covers setting up an account, securing funds, navigating a basic online poker game, using Internet abbreviations and lingo, observing online poker etiquette, playing popular online poker games such as Texas Hold 'Em and Omaha, devising a winning strategy, and participating in tournaments.
Download Description
The fun and easy way to take poker online Five years ago, 50 million people were playing poker recreationally or professionally. Now that number is more than 100 million, including a huge influx of young people. Online betting is up nearly four-fold over the past year, with total wagers running over $30 billion. Winning at Internet Poker For Dummies provides the lowdown on the hottest game around, highlighting the best sites and virtual games and showing how to make secure online bets. The book covers setting up an account, securing funds, navigating a basic online poker game, using Internet abbreviations and lingo, observing online poker etiquette, playing popular online poker games such as Texas Hold 'Em and Omaha, devising a winning strategy, and participating in tournaments. Mark ""The Red"" Harlan (Santa Clara, CA) is cofounder of CyberArts Licensing, a company working on the next-generation Internet poker room, gamesgrid.com. During the course of his 20-year Silicon Valley career, he designed eBay's bidding schema, was the Human Interface Evangelist at Apple Computer, and wrote the popular ""Notes from the Fringe"" column at InfoWorld. Chris Derossi (Henderson, NV) is also a cofounder of CyberArts Licensing and has been an avid poker player for 15 years. His two-decade computer career includes stints at Apple Computer, where he was chief architect of the Macintosh operating system, as well as ePeople, which he founded, and Trading Technologies, where he was CEO. He has written for many computer magazines.
Customer Reviews:
Great!.......2006-02-08
I didn't think much of this book when I borrowed it from a friend, but after a few pages I had changed my mind. It's a great book that will teach you to become a very good poker player.
YOU WILL NOT BETTER YOUR GAME WITH THIS BOOK.......2005-06-19
First off this is not a 'WINNING AT INTERNET POKER' book...it is a 'EXPLANATION OF INTERNET POKER'. I bought this book hoping to learn something. The first (and I am not exaggerating this) 2/3 of the book has nothing to do with actual poker playing. Throughout those chapters they discuss how to use your computer to choose and download a poker program. I saw that they had a chapter on tournaments. All they do is simply explain the enviroment of the tourney (i.e. how many people are in certain tournaments, how much you have to pay to get into them...) You will not learn any actual strategies or what to do in certain situations. I recommend buying this book if you have never in your life played any poker over the internet. If you saw the world series of poker on your TV and thought to yourself 'hey maybe i can play online' then right at that point this book wouldn't be the worst idea. Let me take an exerpt from the book...page 18 5th paragraph..."If your screen is kind of fuzzy, and you don't normally stare at it for excessive periods of time, you may want to consider upgrading to a new monitor. Gawking at fuzzy images for hours at a time is draining,"...
And if you want more examples of what you are in for buy the book and read the whole thing. Once again to emphasize...YOU WILL NOT BETTER YOUR GAME BY READING THIS BOOK, IT IS A WASTE OF TIME.
Helpful for two beginners.......2005-03-29
I met one of the authors at a dinner, and he was so articulate and enthusiastic about online poker that I became interested in it-although before that, I had never once thought about online poker in my life (seriously). Later I mentioned the conversation to my 77-year-old dad who had been playing "some" online bridge when he wasn't crashing AOL, and he decided to try it. Well, long story short: while I got this book to see what I've been missing all this time, and read it just for fun (and it was fun, too, written with a sense of humor, and full of information), my dad was getting extremely frustrated and starting to hate the whole idea. After hearing him grumble more times than I could count, I went over to his house, sat down with him, and-completely based on what I'd read in this book-got him up and playing comfortably on a site in about an hour and half.(While reassuring my mom over my shoulder at the same time...) He's been playing ever since, but I'm still too chicken, having played a lot more Yahtzee than poker growing up. Anyway, the book was very helpful for two beginners: a non-poker-playing, computer-confident woman and her un-computer-savvy father who's been playing cards for more than six decades.
A good, if very basic, introduction.......2005-03-11
Sometimes when I read--and I use that word with some restrictive license--a "Dummies" or an "Idiot's" guide to a subject, I find myself thinking, "how aptly named!" This book is no exception. However--and really this is what is important--if you're new to online play, this is the book you want to peruse. It's very basic, almost painfully so in some respects, as all "Dummies" books are; but whether you are a neophyte poker player or an expert, this book will give you everything you need to know to begin playing online.
Notice I am not talking about reading the book from cover to cover. As the authors say in their introduction: "Read any chapter at any point. Feel free to skip around." They do a good job of giving the links and naming the sites--playing sites and sites associated with online poker. They explain how you can deposit money and they alert the reader to some of the dangers of online play. They even give advice on how to play. However, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this might not be the best book to buy if you are interested in becoming a better player. What advice they do give is generally good although not of world class quality.
Here are a couple of examples that the causal player might want to skip:
[First, there's their analysis of a hold'em hand they observed being played at the $3 & $6 level (p. 138). I won't rehash the hand, but will observe that their conclusion that "Player 1 may have had A-K, or a large pocket pair, but dropped the hand when the other players clearly showed the board had paired" is faulty in several places. One, of course, is that the board had not paired. What they mean is that the bet, raise and re-raise action after the flop of 9s 10s Qd indicated that at least one of the players had a queen in hand and therefore had a pair. The fact that Player 1, with 17 bets in the pot, giving him 17 to 2 odds on his money by calling the raise and reraise, did NOT call strongly suggests that he did not have AK, since if he had he would have had two overcards and a draw to the nut straight, which has something like a 40% chance of improving on the river to a hand that could very well win the pot. It's hard to say what he had. It looks like he misplayed his hand. Furthermore, the authors don't give us the full story. At the showdown they reveal that the winner had AQ and won with just a pair of queens and the top kicker. They remark that the site folds the caller's cards because "the runner-up doesn't show." That's correct, but if you are in the hand and refer to the record of the hand that is sent to your computer on sites like PartyPoker, it will show all hands still in play at the showdown, and you could find out what the runner-up had.]
[Another example is on page 190 in the box discussing 2-2 vs. A-K. They say that it's a 50/50 proposition, but then contradict themselves by pointing out what most players know, namely that the deuces are a slight favorite head-up. Then they muddy these waters by saying, "The true odds vary from 50.3 percent versus 49.7 percent in favor of the pocket deuces to 53.2 percent versus 46.8 percent for the deuces, depending on the suits involved." Note that this is quote, unquote. It's a little unclear exactly what they are saying, but trust me the deuces are always the favorite. Their point (apparently) is that if the deuces are in the same suit as the aces, then, should four of either of those suits fall on the board, the deuces will always lose, thereby lessening their small advantage. However since one can never know until the hand is over just which suits the other player is holding, the proper way to figure the odds is to ignore the suits, since the distribution is not only unknown, but evens out over the long run. Furthermore, they are relying on the calculator at Card Player's Internet site, which is a Monte Carlo simulation, not an actual calculation of the odds. For most purposes, a simulation of a few thousand hands is sufficient. However, the real odds can only be figured out mathematically, which nobody these days, it appears, bothers to do. Well, I'm sure David Sklansky still figures his odds.]
These quibbles aside, Harlan and Derossi's book is well worth the investment, especially if you are a total newbie. They cover just about every aspect of the experience that a beginning online player would want to know about. Here's an example of their guidance under the subheading "Grappling with the Psychological Basics" on page 70: "From a psychological point of view, the biggest differences between online play and the brick-and-mortar world include the radical increase in the speed of play and a heavy (mental) disassociation from the money you put in play."
The plain fact of the matter is that when the dollars seem like virtual dollars (although they are not) there can be a tenancy to bluff too much, to play too loosely, and perhaps to play at a higher game than one can afford.
Another good (and very different) introductory book on cyberspace poker is John Vorhaus's Killer Poker Online, which I also recommend.
Incidentally, if you really are a beginner at poker, I recommend you buy a computer game and practice with that for a while, and then--as the authors recommend--play at the "play money" games that the online poker sites offer before you risk any real money.
Buy it to "burn-proof" your online poker debut.......2005-03-05
I started online poker before I had this book, and... call me a dummy... I managed to blow 50 bucks in appallingly short order. I'd failed to understand some fundamentals of how online poker is different from my neighborhood games, and got burned. If only I'd had this book earlier!
The best advice in the book has to do with the psychology of online poker relative to table games. Understanding this is critical for people like me who migrated from neighborhood games to online, because I was totally baffled by the style of play, and its a huge mistake to assume that what one is seeing has to do with an increase in players' skill. This alone can shred quite a few hard-earned bills. On top of that, there are some "gotchas" in the mechanics of internet game play that the book explains (like thinking you're calling $1 when in reality its $100, or playing like a video-game zombie). Buy this book BEFORE you waste your bucks.
Amazon.com
Card Games for Dummies bills itself as "the fun and easy way to play and win your favorite card games." The book is broken down into different sections that broadly encompass the types of card games available: card-swapping games (gin and rummy), trick-taking games (whist and euchre), games where you try to score as many points as possible (pinochle), and games where you don't want to score any points at all (hearts). Each chapter starts with the fundamentals--the definition of a "trick," for example--and builds from there, progressing from the simplest games in each category to the more complex.
Written by journalist Barry Rigal, Card Games for Dummies is a nice companion piece to the more staid Complete Hoyle's Games. Unlike Hoyle's, Card Games for Dummies not only explains game mechanics, but gives you useful tips for play, provides the lowdown on strategy, and warns of the boneheaded blunders that you'd undoubtedly make if you'd been taught the rules and nothing more.
So if you've always wanted to learn cribbage, but never wanted to ask a friend for a tutorial, this is the book for you. One word of warning: if you want to learn how to play bridge, you won't find much here other than a synopsis of the rules and a recommendation for Bridge for Dummies. --Matthew Baldwin
Book Description
Card games offer loads of fun and one of the best socializing experiences out there. But picking up winning card strategies is a bit of a challenge, and though your buddies may think that picking up the rules of the game is easy, winning is a totally different story.
With Card Games For Dummies, Second Edition, you’ll not only be able to play the hottest card games around, you can also apply game-winning strategies and tips to have fun and beat your opponents. Now updated, this hands-on guide shows you everything you need to know—the basics, the tricks, and the techniques—to become a master card player, with expanded coverage on poker as well as online gaming and tournaments. Soon you will have the card-playing power to:
- Pin down your opponents in Texas Hold’em
- Show off your power in Stud Poker
- Hit wisely in Blackjack
- Break hearts ruthlessly in Hearts
- Mix up the night with Gin and Rummy
- Build yourself a victory in Bridge
- Send them fishing in Go Fish
This straightforward, no-nonsense guide features great ways to improve your game and have more fun, as well as a list of places to find out more about your favorite game. It also profiles different variations of each game, making you a player for all seasons!
Download Description
The card shark's favorite-now revised and expanded with 30 percent new content, including lots more poker coverage Card games, especially poker, are more popular than ever. This fun and easy guide not only explains the rules of favorite card games-from blackjack, bridge, and gin rummy to euchre, hearts, and spades-but also maps out the strategies players need to win! For this new edition, professional card player Barry Rigal offers expanded coverage of poker games, including favorites like Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Stud, and Draw. The book also includes a revised and expanded section on children's games, complete with tips for parents on teaching kids how to play responsibly. Barry Rigal (New York, NY) teaches bridge, plays it professionally, and writes about the game for newspapers and bridge publications.
Customer Reviews:
Extremely confusing for beginners.......2001-04-05
Simply put, this is absolutely one of the worst instructional books I've read. If you know nothing (or next to nothing) about card games -- like I still don't after reading this book twice -- avoid this very confusing book.
Let's look at an example. The following is taken from the first page of the chapter on Hearts:
"The game [Hearts] revolves around tricks. In a trick, everyone takes turns playing one card. Whoever plays the highest card in the suit led (the suit of the first card played) picks up all the cards played. The person who wins the trick leads anything he likes from his remaining cards to the next trick, and the process repeats itself until all the cards have been played."
I simply could not understand this paragraph no matter how many times I read it, until I consulted a friend good at Hearts. This is typical of the arcane writing throughout this book. It's simply not easy for a dummies. In fact my friend was totally lost when he read this paragraph. The way he described it to me was just so much clearer.
The book does cover a wide range of card games. Unfortunately it does a very poor job at teaching you how to play these games. Often the author discusses strategies without even explaining what things are and what the rules are, leaving you totally clueless and obfuscated.
I haven't read a book as frustrating as this one in a long time. I highly recommend you stay away from it.
An overall look at some great games.......2000-05-20
This book has some fun games! It has popular games like Hearts, Rummy, and Cribbage. It also has games that I have always wanted to learn how to play, like Euchre and Canasta. In all, the book discusses over twenty games.
The layout of the book is a discussion about games. Even if you have felt confused before in reading through card game rules, this book is an excellent introduction to playing card games. It goes over everything that happens in the game, from the rules, to strategy and tips, to history of the game-a fascinating book.
Because it goes in-depth into each of the games, you will not find one place in the chapter that has a concise list of the rules. The rules are scattered throughout the discussion of the chapter. I found it useful to check a book of rules from the library to read along with this book.
Great book!.......1999-03-31
This book covers the basics for understanding simple to hard card games. Having a baptist upbringing and being an only child I've missed out on learning how to play card games. This book is very easy to understand and now when I play card games on the computer like Hearts, I now know how to win. The rules for card games have been updated to what average people now currently play.
cool!!!!!!!1.......1999-02-07
get this book!!!!! it rules!!!
Product Description
On-the-go Instrction Because your time is valuable... All Audio All on the go! Beginning level instruction is presented in an all-audio format on 4 digitally-recorded CDs. You have the opportunity to learn on the go, taking advantage of time normally wasted. Study in your car, while exercising, doing yard work anywhere you can safely listen to a CD player. No accompanying books are needed to help you complete the lesson activities. Why can t learning be fun? It can! Linguaphone has chosen to present the allTalk series in an entertaining, soap-opera format. No dry old teacher with a monotone voice putting you to sleep, you follow the adventures of a visitor to a Spanish-speaking country as she interacts with individuals in a variety of interesting situations, learning the language and beginning to understand the culture. Actually learn the language Tired of spending money on language courses that don t work? Did you ever think the problem could be with the course and not you? With Linguaphone s unique learning sequence: Listen, Understand, Speak, you will find yourself actually using the language in no time at all! You are presented with a unit of the language, it is then broken down and explained to you, then you put it back together with greater understanding than just repeating what you may not have understood in the first place. . . . and learn it well! The all Talk methodology not only teaches well, but will have you speaking and understanding basic spoken Spanish in no time at all. Other popular all-audio courses require four times the cds, four times the money and four times the time to do what Linguaphone s allTalk Basic does with 4-one hour CDs.
Book Description
The glitter and excitement that tourists associate with casinos is only a facade. To the gaming industry's front-line employees, its dealers, the casino is a far less glamorous environment, a workplace full of emotional tension, physical and mental demands, humor and pathos. Author H. Lee Barnes, who spent many years as a dealer in some of Las Vegas's best-known casinos, shows us this world from the point of view of the table-games dealer.
Told in the voices of dozens of dealers, male and female, young and old, Dummy Up and Deal takes us to the dealer's side of the table. We observe the "breaking in" that constitutes a dealer's training, where the hands learn the balletic motions of the game while the mind undergoes the requisite hardening to endure long hours of concentration and the demands of often unreasonable and sometimes abusive players. We discover how dealers are hired and assigned to shifts and tables, how they interact with each other and with their supervisors, and how they deal with players - the winners and the losers, the "Sweethearts" and the "Dragon Lady," the tourists looking for a few thrills and the mobsters showing off their "juice." We observe cheaters on both sides of the table and witness the exploits of such high-rollers as Frank Sinatra and Colonel Parker, Elvis's manager. And we learn about the dealers' lives after-hours, how some juggle casino work with family responsibilities while others embrace the bohemian lifestyle of the Strip and sometimes lose themselves to drugs, drink, or wild sex. It's a life that invites cynicism and bitterness, that can erode the soul and deaden the spirit. But the dealer's life can also offer moments of humor, encounters with generous and kindly players, moments of pride or humanity or professional solidarity.
Barnes writes with the candor of a keen observer of his profession, someone who has seen it all-many times-but has never lost his capacity to wonder, to sympathize, or to laugh. Dummy Up and Deal is a vivid and colorful insider's view of the casino industry, a fascinating glimpse behind the glitter into the real world of the casino worker.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant writing and an insiders pov at gambling.......2002-11-04
This wonderful collection of non-fiction accounts on the other side of the table is a true and accurate look at what makes the casinos tick: not the people who come with the money, but the people who take it. Lee Barnes has a gift and it is to conjure so many voices into one cohesive book. It is funny, sad, and terrible. If you ever wanted to know who lives in Las Vegas, read this.
Talented author without heart.......2002-10-20
Though the writer is obviously gifted, and the stories are without a doubt amusing and accurately detailed, the author seems distant from his characters.
The author seems to stay un-involved and to coldly inspect his subjects as though they were fireflies in Mason jars, or butterflies on pins.
The writing is superb, but the lack of involvment in the characters inner workings and lives, leaves these stories sounding like a girlfriend repeating a soap opera in the office, to someone who missed an episode.
I'll lay off with these last words. The author should look into his own heart and write real, breathing characters, not try to bring to life cardboard cutouts. No matter how excellent it is, it must heart. This book does not have heart, though it does have plenty of good writing.
Average customer rating:
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A Full Deck of Double-Dummy Problems: A Book of Bridge Puzzles
Terry M. Badger
Manufacturer: Oldcastle Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Bridge
| Card Games
| Puzzles & Games
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Puzzles & Games
| Entertainment
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| Books
Puzzles
| Puzzles & Games
| Entertainment
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Look Inside Entertainment Books
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ASIN: 0932529585 |
Book Description
Check out Magic: The Gathering, Heroclix, and more
Explore popular games like Legend of the Five Rings, build decks, and trade online
Whether you're already hooked on trading card games, want to understand what your kids are into, or are just curious to see what all the fuss is about, you've come to the right place. Here's the scoop on the hottest games, secrets of successful collecting, tips for customizing your dream deck, and ways to make your hobby pay.
Discover how to
* Get started with the VS System, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, and others
* Identify basic types of cards
* Buy and sell online -- wisely
* Play around with collectible miniatures
* Safely store and transport your collection
Download Description
A step-by-step guide through the wild and wildly popular world of collectible gaming Here's the perfect guide for anyone interested in this fast-growing hobby, as well as for parents who'd like to know a little more about what their kids are into. In trading card games, players build a deck through purchases and trades, then compete for ultimate hands or points. This book explains how the games work, defines key terms like starters, boosters, draft packs, anthology sets, and sealed tournaments, and covers some of the most popular games, including Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Lord of the Rings, and others. John Kaufeld (Fort Wayne, IN) operates a card and board game shop. An officer of the Game Manufacturers Association, he is currently Press Liaison for the Origins International Game Expo.
Product Description
Improve your game- the entertaining way ! All the puzzles in this book contain hands that you might hold in your next game. Tackle them as though you were sititng around a bridge table and could see only your hand. Then bid and play as both declarer and defender. Not only will you have fun, but you'll learn a great deal about bridge in the process !
Books:
- Brothers in Arms (Dragonlance: Raistlin Chronicles, Book 2)
- Building Professional Services: The Sirens' Song
- Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em (Championship Series)
- Chess Openings for White, Explained: Winning with 1. E4 (Alburt's Opening Guide, Book 1)
- Chess Tactics for Kids
- Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Supplement)
- Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen (Dungeon & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Accessory)
- Dumbstruck: A Cultural History of Ventriloquism
- Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)
- Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)
Books Index
Books Home
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