5 comments about The Book of Bluffs: How to Bluff and Win at Poker.

1. I HAVE NOT FINISHED BUT I WILL. SO FAR IT IS HELPING I CAN SEE THAT IT WILL IMPROVE MY GAME.
   
   YOU MUST READ THESE BOOKS MORE THAN 1 TIME 2 GRASP ALL OF THE CONTENTS
   
   
   KINGAR1



2. This book still has not been shipped to me. Thanks for the opportunity to tell folks how pitiful you are. I ordered it several months ago. I think you are supposed to ship it in another month. It is available now at many other places.



3. Just tells about a lot of bluffs using examples from actual hands. Problem is I have seen the same situations where it didnt work.



4. I enjoy reading it, and it helped me a lot. Now I can do more bluffs than ever!



5. The author of this book, Matt Lessinger, is in the same class as Lou Krieger (who praises the author in a blurb on the back cover) and Mike Caro, who wrote the foreword. Which is to say, he's a poker *writer* first, and a poker *player* second. So Lessinger makes a lot of ordinary poker moves sound like they're great. Example from the end of the book: Bobby Baldwin versus Crandall Addington at the 1997 WSOP main event. Baldwin pushes all-in with a 10-high on the turn and gets Addington to fold ... 8-high. Of course this happens all the time in NLHE, when someone thinks he is bravely bluffing with nothing, and his opponent makes a "great laydown" ... with an even lower nothing!
   
   But this sort of overselling of unextraordinary moves is a specialty of the "writer first, player second" type of advice you can expect from poker journalists like Lessinger and Krieger and Caro. You can see this coming, though, since the book starts off with the "bluff of the century" by that one-hit wonder, Chris Moneymaker. Thank heavens this book was published in 2005 before we could be regaled with the "brilliant moves" of the 2006 WSOP winner, Jamie Gold.
   
   There are some interesting ideas in the book, as we might expect. When you first sit at a table in Hold'Em, you are required to post the amount of the big blind. Lessinger suggests you do this when the button is to your immediate left, and recommends you then raise to steal the 2.5 bets in the pot if the action folds around to you. I confess I had not thought of this before, since this can only occur once per session.
   
   Most of the book concerns Limit Hold'Em, although many of the examples can be adjusted for No Limit Hold'Em if you give some thought to appropriate bet-sizing. But there are many No Limit examples, too. There were a few non-Hold'Em examples from which perhaps a thing or two could be learned, but I generally skimmed those examples.
   
   I would not recommend this book to any expert players, nor would I recommend it to beginners, either. It is for intermediate players who won't mind the low price of the book and feel that learning a couple of new things from any inexpensive source to be worthwhile. Some of the advice is contradictory, and the attitude overall is that bluffing is much easier than it really is, but for those for whom bluffing is not in their arsenal yet, perhaps this book will encourage them to experiment and learn.
   
   Two better books on "making moves" in NLHE are: Harrington on Hold'Em Volume Two and the Little Blue Book by Phil Gordon.

4 comments about Simon & Schuster Super Crossword Book #10 (Crossword Series , No 10).

1. These crosswords are well thought out and challenging for crossword addicts. Highly recommend each in the series. They are so clever that I keep checking to see if #11 is available.



2. These crosswords are well thought out and challenging for crossword addicts. Highly recommend each in the series. They are so clever that I keep checking to see if #11 is available.



3. What makes the Simon & Schusters Super CrosswordBook stand out among the rest is the ease of use. The pages are perforated for convenience and a higher quality of paper is used. It is a smoother paper, making the printed word stand out and it making the writing stand out more clearly.



4. After having purchased my second of this series (and exhausted the first) I just ordered another four of these excellent compendia from amazon. If you're the kind of person who dreams in Latin and does six or seven of these an evening, you soon run into the notion that you want more bang for your buck. These are hard puzzles, but why bother otherwise?
   
   It is supremely satisfying to complete one of these gems. I don't claim to do this for every puzzle in these books, but I get better and better, and give these puzzlers credit. The perforations are great, especially if like me you like to put individual puzzles on a clipboard for some serious attention.
   
   Because I ordered these books from amazon, I got a discount, saved shipping, saved sales tax, and saved the gasoline I would have expended for a desperate emergency bookstore visit.

5 comments about Secretariat, Updated Edition.

1. On Oct. 4, 1989 the evening news shows carried the story that Secretariat had been euthanized. I cried my heart out. Called in sick to work the next day. My personal hero had left us. The current generation of Barbaro-worshippers can't understand what it was like to watch The Red run. You knew you were watching history unfold, as much as when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. Secretariat lifted up an entire nation, kissed it and put it back down. We were sick of Vietnam, sick of Watergate, sick of being the trashcan the world kicks down the street. Secretariat, the most magnificent assemblage of bone, muscle, brain and heart walked out in front of us and said, "watch me." Simple and to the point. Bred in America. Homegrown and hardworking. And setting the gold standard for perfection. This book simply reminds everyone how he was and how he made us feel. Nearly 20 years later I still cry my heart out on October 4th. But I look at his photos and read the stories about him and I am grateful to have been a witness to something that defies description.



2. I bought this book as a Secretariat and general thoroughbred racing fan. I discovered it in a book store in St. Petersburg, FL a couple of years ago, and just recently purchased it for my very own through Amazon. At that time, I remember seeing it on the shelf and with wide-eyes, removing it to sit on the floor cross-legged and look at the beautiful array of photographs. I couldn't believe that a coffee table book had been put together about my favorite champion.
   
   And that's still how I feel. If one is looking for photos and photos and more photos of this red legend, this book is the one to own. I am just now getting around to the text, as I have read two Secretariat biographies already, but that is also well written and captures major and interesting details about this horse's life.
   
   Thank you Raymond G. Woolfe Jr. for composing a book that is worthy of our 1973 hero.



3. This book is a beautiful book, with great photos to supplement the text. It will be of interest to all.



4. This book is great and chock full of beautiful, rich, and colorful photos; Secretariat almost looks real in some of them. It has just as much accurate information as Bill Nack's "The Making of a Champion," but doesn't go into the tedious detail of related bloodlines and the syndicate deal made for Secretariat. I found this book to be better than Nack's because of that, the pacing, and the gorgeous photos.



5. I was quite pleased with this book, especially the expanded edition, which includes information about his offspring. I wish it had more photos, but the photos that are there are choice. Wolfe did his research. And interesting read and a must have if you're a fan of Secretariat.

5 comments about Mental Floss: Cocktail Party Cheat Sheets.

1. If you do not know mental_floss the magazine, you are in for a treat with this little book. Not only is the information fun and facinating, it is very well organized and you could almost actually use it at a cocktail party!
   
   No mere cataloge of trivia, the editors and contributors engage you while they dispell common myths and give you the actual facts.
   
   Finally, if you are a loyal reader of mental_floss, this book is for you as well, while you may remember some sections from magazine articles, it sure gives you your mental_floss fix until the next mag comes out. Perfect to take to the beach!



2. For some reason, this slim volume reminds me of the old TV commercial for Silly String which featured a room of yawning guests as a naval officer showed off his ribbons and said, "This is from the Boer War." It's always a good idea to have something up your sleeve to break the ice with strangers that doesn't have to do with the latest edition of People Magazine. After all, you want to have some semblance of an intellect on display to make that right impression.
   
   This is yet another quick-read book from the editors of Mental Floss Magazine, a bimonthly launched in 2001 and targeted to aspiring Trivial Pursuit masters. This particular one, "Cocktail Party Cheat Sheets", is a clever series of possible conversation-starters that will hopefully make one's deep well of knowledge seem impressive without being intrusive. There are 44 topics, a chapter a piece, somewhat random in variety except a certain level of erudition. Each has a brief summary of what it is, an appropriate context in which to bring the topic up, some intriguing trivia facts to boost your interest, and actual suggestions for starting the conversation.
   
   Topics are all over the map though there seems to be a predominance of historical figures covered from Attila the Hun to Miles Davis to Samuel Johnson to the Brontë sisters. The Rosetta Stone, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Magna Carta are included here, and so are the Dutch East India Company and the martini. Of particular interest to me are much-needed snapshots of James Joyce's "Ulysses" and the Qu'ran (Koran). I think it would have been more helpful had there been a better sense of organization about the information, for example, the creative way the editors used school subjects to divide the topics in another of their books, "What's the Difference?". Nonetheless, this is a fun read and well worth it for the hidden facts some of us actually crave.



3. Somehow they really hit the nail on the head with this one---there are limited topics covered, but they seem to be exactly the topics you think you SHOULD know about but really don't---the Hundred Years War, Samuel Johnson, Virginia Wolff and other like that! The coverage of the topics is light but not just fluff--you really do learn some history, but also learn tasty little facts that really would be fun to use at a party. I read straight through the book and enjoyed it all.



4. Pretty typical Mental Floss book. Nothing like extremly cocktail about the book, but it the book is still entertaining none the less.



5. My husband likes this for the bathroom. I like it for the waiting room at the doctor's office, standing in line at the DMV, etc. There was so much stuff I didn't know! I bought it because I really wanted some fodder for conversations at events and fundraisers. I think it will come in very handy!

3 comments about Once More Around the Block.

1. I pull this book out every time I start a new project. It offers great blocks with 5 different size options. That was the sell for me, math is not my thing! I've owned this book for years and I still love it. I have all of my quilting ladies buying it, because they love what I come up with.



2. There are so many original blocks in the this book with many patterns I've never seen before. The beginning of the book has the colored pictures of the blocks, and the next section has each block's instructions in 6 different sizes. I refer to this book often.



3. This has a lot of very usable patterns and easy to follow instructions, the pictures leave a little to be desired but it is overall a very good resource for beginning quilters as well as those with more experience.

1 comments about Mage Silver Ladder (Mage the Awakening).

1. Finally, after waiting this long we have the fifth of the Order books detailing the 'leader' faction for Mage: the Awakening. And it's about time! As with the other Order books, this one serves to flesh out the Silver Ladder, who seek to ultimately guide humanity to the powers that are their birthright. As opposed to the other Orders, the Silver Ladder (at its best) believes magic is inherent to humanity. Wonderfully, it expands them beyond their stereotype of 'leaders' and emphasizes their heritage as priests, viziers and philosophers of the Awakened, giving players and STs alike lots of new possibilities for using this Order.
   
   The book opens with the history of the Silver Ladder, from their early days as the philosopher-priests of Atlantis and the Five Kings who (they claim) established the Paths, to their embrace of the British Empire during the age of colonialism. From there, it goes on to explore the role of the Silver Ladder in different corners of the world, from businessmen in Brazil to progressive Muslims in the Middle East to humanitarian aid in Africa. The second chapter explores the beliefs and practices of the Silver Ladder, including the Elemental Precepts, their political structure, magical law, roles and status within the Order, and Path roles. It also explores the Silver Ladders relations with other Mages and, more importantly, mortals! Better, it includes rules for Cryptolopolies (secret societies under the Order's influence), new Proximi rules, and even Sivler Dynasties (entire families of Proximi!).
   
   In chapter three, we are given information about the Silver Ladder's recruitment, initiation and even conversion of other Mages, including the tests and lessons that neophytes must learn. In addition to some more info on Proximi, we also get more detailed looks at Status within the Silver Ladder, members relationships to their community and fellow Mages, and more specifics on the other Orders. This chapter also looks at the other things that lurk in the World of Darkness... Vampires, Werewolves, Changelings, even Prometheans and Hunters, with details for incorporating them in chronicles as either enemies or allies. It also includes some very nice details on what Mages know (and THINK they know) about other supernaturals.
   
   The next chapter gets into factions like the Powerbrokers (self-descriptive), Theurges (religious Thearchs) and Ascended (who dedicate themselves to Ascension), as well as sample Cryptolopoly cults used by the Silver Ladder. Then there are Legacies... lots of them, ranging from the Bene Ashmedai (another Legacy of Mastigos demonologists, opposeed to the Clavicularus), Keepers of the Covenant (Thyrsus who uphold deals with spirits), Sisterhood of the Blessed (Acanthus women blessed with good luck), and even a new Left-Handed Legacy. This is all good stuff leading up to the magic of the Silver Ladder, which includes details on the Arcana, Rote Specialties, sacraments used by the Order, and a whole host of new Spells and Imbued Items (some of which are a bit over the top, but what the hey). Finally, we get an appendix full of NPCs, which can be used in just about any chrocicle featuring the Silver Ladder, or as concepts for creating your own characters.
   
   All in all, this book follows the tradition of the previous Order books. While it isn't nearly as groundbreaking as some of the others, its still a great book for fleshing out and expanding the Silver Ladder beyond the stereotypes. Furthermore, the details on Mage political and legal structure will be useful for any Mage games, not just those involving the Silver Ladder. The same can be said of the new (and expanded) rules for Proximi (and Proximi Dynasties) and the Lex Magica. Those alone will make it essential for any Mage games. But the rest of the material is just as good too, and will no doubt give you some ideas for your next Mage: the Awakening chronicle...

5 comments about From Gutterballs to Strikes.

1. This book is really helpful and well organized. It's easy to find topics you need to read/reread!



2. Step by step with pictures for the beginner as well as the intermediate bowler. I have improved my recent consistancey with the timing & release sectiions. Well worth the time & money to analzye your current bowling techniques.



3. Most of the people that previously reviewed this book gave it a good rating and that's ok. I found the section on how to practice informative but for the most part the author just rants about topics that are of no importance to the reader. I read Bowling Fundamentals before reading and there is no comparison between the two. Again there a couple of sections that are ok but for the most part this book is poorly written. He should have just written a how to instead of listing 101 most common mistakes that he thinks people make, don't waste your money on this book.



4. Purchased this for my wife for obvious reasons. She is enjoying it and says it is informative. Results? Will have to wait a bit longer.



5. My wife bought me this book for Christmas and it took me a few weeks before I picked it up and read it. Boy, what a great Christmas gift! This book has helped me correct most of the mistakes I made naturally and now I am consistently obtaining scores of 200+, I was rolling a 153 average before I started to apply the techniques described.
   
   This book isn't really written for the beginning bowler, which I found refreshing and suited me perfectly.

5 comments about Myst III: Exile: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

1. Don't even waste your time getting this hint guide. The online/unofficial guides much more accurate and are always being updated



2. Won't you pleeease help me-....this book will get
   you going again!
   I was stuck in the game and so frustrated.
   Bought this... on Amazon and am enjoying the
   journey again.



3. My kids and I had to rely once or twice on cheats. The puzzles are not so hard - but there are some problems with not doing things in the "right" order in Exile. Online free sites provided the answers. The walkthroughs, like the one in this book, are empty and utterly spoil the game. Don't buy this book.



4. This book SAVED ME!!!! i am a BIG myst etc. fan. I think the puzzles in exile are harder than in riven or myst, so i was STUCK IN J'NANIN!!!! luckily, my dad bought this book! so I was saved. it's actually a very interesting book to read, weather you're on exile or not.



5. Came within a week after ordering in perfect condition.

5 comments about The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy.

1. Irving Chernev is, along with Fred Reinfeld, Edward Lasker, and Al Horowitz, one of the great popularizers of chess. None of these fine chess writers have much to teach the elite classes of players rated 1900 and above, although even strong players will enjoy the sparkling wit and breezy style for which these authors are admired. What these writers offer is their infectious enthusiasm, and their talent to entertain, inform, and instruct painlessly.
   
   It has been pointed out by other readers that this book falls short in the accuracy and bias of its annotations. If accuracy and unbiased annotation is what you need, then perhaps you should pass on this title. But, if you are like me and enjoy a little drama and color and yes, even one-sided praise for the winner, then this book should delight you.
   
   Monsieur Chernev writes for the average player, and he understands the fine art of chess annotation. He doesn't burden his reader with deep ramified variations. Such ponderous analysis tends to do little more than suggest to the reader that the Master is omniscient. Instead, this author strives to present only the salient points; the strategic themes, the immediate tactical considerations, and sometimes the missed opportunities in the game. By sticking to the main ideas, the reader is better able to grasp the material and to enjoy it, for enjoyment is the real point, and Chernev never loses sight of that fact.
   
   The games in this collection are chosen especially for their strategic instructional value. Strategy implies a closed game (usually a d-pawn or hypermodern opening). Consequently, these games are not fulminating with wild tactics and dazzling combinations. The tactics tend to lie under the surface but nonetheless influence the play. To call any of these games boring is to miss the whole point. From a strategic viewpoint all these games are beautiful, exciting, and instructive. The introductory text for each game gives a sense of the human element; a mix of history, personality profiles, time, place, and event, and an overall description of the struggle about to commence. I have a lot of games collections in my chess library, but I have not been able to finish many of them. I couldn't put this one down. Have fun while you improve. Read this book.



2. I am partial to Chernev, perhaps because he is such a good writer and has such an engaging and entertaining style. But bias or no bias, this is a sparkling collection of games with a generally positional flavor, though that's perhaps a bit of a simplification as there are great endgames and much, much more.
   
   This is a book to savor slowly, not gobble quickly. I recommend taking quite some time to go through each game, even if it takes months to complete the book. Spending a week or more on a single game (say 30-60 minutes at a session for five to ten days) is not out of line, if you want to get deep understanding. Using a computer alongside might help; if you look around the internet you can quickly find PGN for all the games. Now, given the positional nature of many of the games and the lesser positional ability of most computer programs, you need to use the computer with care, but it will help you step through the moves and explore variations to your heart's content --- which is exactly what to do and how to get the maximum benefit from this fine book.
   
   Bottom line: the book combines good instruction with excellent entertainment, and puts us in touch with the sheer beauty of chess.... a welcome break from examining White's 9th move alternatives in the Yugoslav, for instance!



3. Beautiful collection of games and also shows that good chess instruction need not cost a fortune. The ideal rating for the students is from 1200-1500, though anyone who likes reading good chess literature will enjoy it. In descriptive notation which means that you can learn to be "bilingual" and be able to comfortably read both descriptive and algabraic notations. This gives you the flexibility to buy any chess book out there because not all of them will be written in algebraic notations.



4. This is one I first read about 35 years ago and re-read every few years. I would have to say this is one of the books that helped me to become a master. (2227 USCF and 2217 Canadian Federation -2388 ICC) But better then that it helped me to understand how to plan in what seem like slow or dull positions. I have given copies of this to anyone I know who asks how to improve. The thought process is clear and explained well. This book is geared to players from just starting out to even average club players who just forget basic ideas and how they work together. A deal at $10 too!!!



5. Excellent book to analyze. It has descriptive writing, so, it keeps a classic printing view.

No comments about Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).