Gambling Books

Cash Games (How to Win at No-Limit Hold'em Money Games) Vol. 1

Dan Harrington, Bill Robertie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The first years of the poker boom were fueled by the interest in no-limit hold em tournaments. Recently, however, players have been gravitating to another, even more complex form of hold em no-limit cash games.

In Harrington on Cash Games: Volume I, Dan Harrington teaches you the key concepts that drive deep-stack cash game play. You ll learn how to tailor your selection of starting hands to your stack size, how to recognize the increasing deception value of supposedly weaker hands as the stack sizes increase, and how to use the concept of pot commitment to your advantage as the size of the pot grows. After laying out the general concepts behind deep-stack cash game play, Harrington shows you a complete strategy for post-flop play, and then teaches you the difference between post-flop play against a single opponent and post-flop play against multiple opponents. If you play no-limit hold em cash games, you need to read this book.

Dan Harrington won the gold bracelet and the World Champion title at the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold em Championship at the 1995 World Series of Poker. And he was the only player to make the final table in 2003 (field of 839) and 2004 (field of 2,576) considered by cognoscenti to be the greatest accomplishment in WSOP history. In Harrington on Cash Games, Harrington and two-time World Backgammon Champion Bill Robertie have written the definitive books on no-limit cash games. These books will teach you what you need to know to be a winner in the cash game world.

Harrington on Cash Games, Volume II: How to Play No-Limit Hold 'em Cash Games

Dan Harrington, Bill Robertie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Finally a cash game book! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book along with the first volume are the only books that I found to give in-depth coverage aimed specifically at NLHE Cash Games. The biggest thing going for the books is that they're thorough. Around 800 pages of strategy, quizzes, examples, and some light mathematical explanations. Thankfully, not a page wasted on teaching you how to play. Even the English is quite good! (Most poker books are near unreadable.) I reread this before every game to tighten up and remind me to be aggressive and I've certainly improved. I actually ENJOY reading it, too.

The only downside might be that the examples seem sometimes inconsistent, such as recommending a raise 80% of the time in one situation and 70% in another where it seems the recommendations should be reversed, though who am I to judge? Harrington's playing style is very tight and very loose players might find too few recommendations on how to act in situations with poor hands.

Neither of the above gripes is enough to knock these books down from a 5-star review. In short, you'll enjoy reading this book and play better afterward. Definitely get the first volume, too.

Internet Texas Hold'em: Winning Strategies from an Internet Pro

Matthew Hilger

List Price: $29.95 By: Dimat Enterprises, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $14.49

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

As Internet poker exploded, thousands of players turned to Internet Texas Hold'em to help them become winning players. Today, Internet Texas Hold'em is now the most successfull book ever on Internet poker. Internet Texas Hold'em is an excellent tool for beginning to intermediate players to be successful at limit Texas Hold'em with specific topics focused on Internet play. The book's reputation has superceded its title as many players now recommend it for live play also. A comprehensive overview of Texas Hold'em is presented including general poker concepts such as probability and odds, bluffing, raising and check-raising. Various deceptive tactics are also discussed such as free cards, slowplaying, and inducing bluffs and calls. You'll learn the correct strategies for starting hand play as well as playing on the flop, turn, and river. You'll learn the intricacies of playing on the Internet and the differences in strategies between Internet and live play. Finally, you'll be able to practice all of these strategies on over 200 actual Internet hands. Poker is a fun game, but it is even more fun when you win. This is a book for players who want to improve their game to win more money. If you only play a few hours a week or strive to take your game to an advanced level, this book should serve as a reference for many years to come.

Online Ace: A World Series of Poker Champion's Guide to Mastering Internet Poker

Scott Fischman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Good book for both experienced and inexperienced players 4 out of 5 stars.
13 of 15 people found this review helpful.

Scott Fischman is a guy who was once a dealer who went on to win a couple of World Series of Poker bracelets including one for the HORSE event. This interested me. (Yes, I used to play basketball and remember Bob McAdoo of the Lakers who was a deadly shot at HORSE, about whom it was said--by Michael Cooper--"You do, McAdoo.") But I digress.

HORSE in poker stands for Hold'em, Omaha hilo, Razz, Stud, and stud Eight or better. It's spread in some clubs, but you can almost always find some limit games at PokerStars and other places on the Internet. A round is played of hold'em and then a round of Omaha eight or better, then a round of razz, which is stud lowball, and then a round of regular stud and then stud hilo, and the cycle is repeated. You have to be a pretty good all-around player to be successful at HORSE, and anybody who can beat that game regularly earns my respect.

This book, like many others published in the wake of the TV- and Internet-turboed rise of poker, is directed at beginners or near beginners. The "Mastering Internet Poker" in the subtitle is justified however because Fischman reveals a lot about his overall approach to the game of poker, especially his psychological approach. For Fischman the most important psychology in the game is self-psychology.

There is plenty of strategy presented throughout the book and some explanations given on how to play various hands in various situations; but mainly Fischman concentrates on his overall approach to the games. In a sense this is a hybrid book: part "how-to" and part "how-I-did-it."

Fischman is not a deep strategic master of the game or a mathematical whiz. He is a "by the seat of your pants" player with a wealth of experience both online and in the brick and mortar clubs. His advice on tournament strategy, especially online Sit-N-Go's is excellent. He divides the tournament, one-table or otherwise, into three "seasons," the beginning when blinds are small relative to stacks; the middle, when the size of your stack begins to dictate decisions; and the endgame, when many or most decisions will involve all your chips and your tournament life.

In the "beginning" he likes to "look for spots where I can safely--or as close to safely as poker allows--double my stack. Otherwise, I've got no business being in the hand." (p. 71) In the middle he likes to start making small raises often with the idea of picking up the blinds from his now very careful opponents. In the endgame, Fischman becomes super-aggressive. One excellent idea of his is that near the bubble when many players start to play very carefully you can steal a lot of pots. He believes that in Sit-N-Gos you should aim to finish first, not just in the money because of the big difference between first place money (usually 50% of the prize fund) and third place (usually 20%). So he advises, don't be afraid of finishing fourth and out of the money. A first and a fourth are better than two third-place finishes.

Also interesting is Fischman's take on "multi-tabling" online. He believes that playing several tables at once not only allows the expert to win more money, it allows the expert to get into the zone and become "the Robot," as he calls himself when he is just one with the decisions, one after another in front of him on his computer screen. His idea is that because multi-tabling is so demanding on your attention it forces you to focus. You don't have time to worry about bad beats or time to over-analyze. You are a Robot, focused, decisive and unemotional. Yes, you miss subtleties and some opportunities, but you don't try to do too much and you go with your first instinct which is often right.

Fischman tends to the superstitious, which of course is NOT recommended. However he justifies it from a psychological point of view by noting that if something makes you feel confident that will help you win. So it's okay to depend a little on that lucky shirt, and yes it may very well be the case as you drive into the club and see all those license plates with the poker hands on them, "KAA 555," etc., that yes you ARE going to be lucky today!

Some of Fischman's recommendations on how to play specific hands in specific situations go against the grain of the conventional wisdom. But here again I found his ideas interesting. Sometimes he seems clearly "wrong" or maybe just doesn't make himself clear. For example on page 125 he writes about tables being broken down later in a tournament as players are eliminated. He notes that he doesn't like being moved to a new table after having made some rebuys because "I want to have the chance to win back the chips I have lost. I can't do that if the players I've been kind enough to 'loan' my chips to are suddenly scattered throughout the tournament. There's nothing worse that rebuying 10 times, having your table broken down, then finding yourself at a new table where no one has purchased a rebuy."

Unless I'm missing something, this seems plainly illogical because it doesn't matter from whom he wins chips. He still has the same number of chips and the same relative chance of winning the tournament. I think what he must mean is that while losing those chips he picked up some valuable information about those players and now can't use that information.

What is obvious from reading this very readable book is that Scott Fischman is one heck of a good poker player and that his strength is in his overall approach to the game, some of which comes shining forth from these pages. I think both experienced players and beginners will find something of value here.

Editorial Review:

From one of the game’s most dynamic young champions, the definitive guide to online poker. Click here and start winning . . .

Nearly two million players go online each day to test their poker skills at virtual tables with real money. Few have made the transition from Internet poker to live tournament play as successfully as two-time World Series of Poker champion Scott Fischman, and in Online King he shares his expert insight, money-making wisdom, and priceless strategies for playing the game well. The first instructional book written by a renowned poker champion for Internet players (as well as those hoping to make the transition from computer games to live play) Online King gives readers invaluable instruction that can be put into practice immediately on his popular website, thefishtank.com. No matter what skill level you have now, Online King will raise your game.

Blackbelt in Blackjack : Playing 21 as a Martial Art

Arnold Snyder

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Cardoza Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $8.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

awesome! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is so informative. I am learning the ins and outs of the game of blackjack. Also, the price was much less that going to the store to buy. It was shipped in a few days and I am very pleased overall.

excellent book for starters 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

good book written by a great person who had a lifelong experience in counting.

Editorial Review:

In the spirit of Doyle Brunson's Super System, Arnold Snyder's Blackbelt in Blackjack is an underground gambling classic written by one of the grand masters of blackjack and a legend. This newly revised and updated edition is now made available for the first time to a national audience. This is blackjack as a martial art, targeted for serious and professional players looking to win real money at the game. Snyder reveals tips and tricks used by the pros-shuffle tracking, team play, multiple deck camouflage techniques so that the casino can't detect that the player is using winning techniques, and much more. 21 powerful chapters include a complete course on beating blackjack: the devastating red 7 count, the hi-lo count, the zen count, the true count, and so much more.

Inside the Poker Mind: Essays on Hold 'em and General Poker Concepts

John Feeney, David Sklansky

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Poker is a game of many skills and to become an expert poker player you need to master them all. This includes concepts such as hand selection, position, proper image projection, and reading hands. However, there are many players who have mastered most of these skills yet they still do poorly in the games — at best they are only small winners. And when they step up in limit and challenge the better players, they almost always fail. You see, knowing the concept is one thing, putting it all together is another.

As the text will show, winning poker is a process that requires a lot of thinking as well as a thorough and systematic approach to the game, and that is what this book is about. Topics include "Playing Too Many Hands," "Self-Weighting Cold Calls," "Short-Handed Play: Don’t Miss Out," "The Strategic Moment in Hold ’em," "Countering a Good Reader," "A Poker Player in Therapy," and "Thoughts on the Effects of the Poker Literature." Those of you who are serious about your game should find much of this material to be extremely valuable.

Blackjack Counter Basic Strategy, 4-8 Decks

Hal Marcus

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This new Blackjack Counter (as in "Card Counter") Basic Strategy card for 4-8 Decks is a blackjack card counter's dream come true. The laminated, six-panel, tri-fold card with rounded corners devotes four panel sides to covering the possible rule combinations of allowing or not allowing doubling down after a split, and the dealer hitting or standing on soft 17. Thus the card contains four playing strategies to allow you to choose the correct playing strategy for the rules that are in effect where you play.

The strategies display color-coded decision cells in addition to showing the text of the decision so you can choose which way you learn best. Also, each strategy panel is section-coded to facilitate learning the most important decisions first. Surrender is included among the decisions, and footnotes provide alternatives when decisions are not allowed. The 3.5" x 5" panel size makes possible larger text than on other strategy cards and three-letter (not confusing one-letter) decision abbreviations, yet the card still fits in your pocket.

End panels, which contain slits, are designed to fold in both directions and to lay flat to make it easy for you to quickly refer to the strategy you wish to use. One panel contains a pithy, insightful discussion of the playing decisions to help new players learn how to play the game; another panel provides a table which shows the Player Edge for each of four rule combinations.

By using this Blackjack 6·7·8 Counter Basic Strategy Card, card counters will be able to get an even greater edge over the house.

If you count cards and vary your bet with the count, or plan on so doing, using the Counter (as in "Card Counter") Basic Strategy card results in winning about 20% more money than using regular Basic Strategy (the Counter Basic Strategy card shows a table with the Player Edge). There are no count indexes to memorize. Counter Basic Strategy is simply a variation of regular Basic Strategy except that Counter Basic Strategy utilizes a card counting method (such as the Hi-Lo or K-O) to determine when and by how much to vary your bet with the count. The playing strategies on the Counter Basic Strategy card are based on a bet range of 16 to 1, but the card can be used with virtually any bet range and any counting method.

Blackjack 6-7-8 strategy cards are also available for Basic (Playing) Strategy for 1 Deck, 2 Decks, and 4-8 Decks. The titles of the four different cards are color-coded (red, purple, blue, and green) so you can easily and quickly distinguish one card from another.

Omaha High-Low: Play to Win With The Odds: Play to win with the odds

Bill Boston

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Just the Facts MAM 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Bill Boston has done the Omaha/8 player a great favor by systematically and exhaustively tabulating the results of playing each possible starting hand.

Another reviewer downgraded his rating because Boston's discussion could be more complete. My take is just the opposite - the extensive tables in this small volume are most valuable when the user studies them to arrive at his own understanding of what works and what doesn't in Omaha/8. For example, Boston shows that any hand with a 7, 8, or 9 is a loser over time. His tables also show that all hands with X as the second low card are also losers over time. I'll leave it to the serious player to study the tables Boston provides to determine the rank of X.

And there's more, but you'll have to dig into this treasure trove of research data to find it.

Could I pan the book because of how the data was collected? Sure. The author made certain assumptions about the types of opponents and my opponents play somewhat differently. He didn't consider suitedness in some situations where I'd like to know more (i.e. AdKd4h2h).

If you are looking for a source that gives you an exhaustive list of conclusions this book is probably not for you. But if you're looking for the raw research results that you can study to draw your own conclusions without doing the tedious work required to generate it I highly recommend this one.

Editorial Review:

This is the only book that shows you the chances that every one of the 5,278 Omaha high-low hands has of winning the high end of the pot, the low end of it, and how often it is expected to scoop all the chips.

Winning Casino Craps, 2nd Edition (Winning Casino Craps)

Edwin Silberstang

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Puzzles & Games Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $8.08

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

This levels the playing field 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Or at least gets it as level as you can. The advice and systems are easy to follow and will help you minimize your losses and maximize your profits at what is easily the funnest game in a casino. Used it to run $40 up to $800 at the Union Plaza one afternoon and it was the best time I've ever had in Las Vegas (results may vary.....).

Great Advice 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My experience playing Craps has been hit nor miss and mostly frustration. This book has resulted in a more consistent and satisfying playing style. Using the recommended strategies, of the last six times to the casino I've won 4 times, even once and lost once. The one loss would have been a win if I remembered to follow the advice to leave when you're ahead. If you're a Craps player I highly recommend this book.

Editorial Review:

The second edition of Winning Casino Craps has been updated to cover changes in how the game is played and how casinos treat their players. This entertaining and informative guide includes:

• Instructions for playing craps, including illustrative examples from actual games
• Explanations for the basic betting combinations
• Dos and don'ts for making bets
• Aggressive winning strategies

More Hold'em Excellence: A Winner for Life

Lou Krieger

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Sage Advice from a Long-Time Player 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This book is not for the beginner. Any beginning hold'em book will do for beginning players.

This book contains nothing but good advice in the card room. I've only played in card rooms a few times, but I've won consistently. Kreiger's books contains essays on how to deal with maniacs, table image, table selection -- the sorts of things a non-beginner will find valuable.

If you already know the game and know how to play tight and aggressive, this book is for you. It contains lots of anecdotal advice on how to deal with the situations that inevitably come up in card rooms.

Editorial Review:

This is a new expanded edition which goes beyond the basics; it takes you into the mind and decision-making processes of professional poker players by providing solid information and advice on a broad spectrum of sophisticated topics. Krieger covers the importance of proper decision-making; why patience and position are vital; the flop; early, middle, and late position; common mistakes; how to play in loose, aggressive games; tells and much more. Includes the Lou Krieger full color "Start Chart", showing which hands are playable in which situations.