5 comments about Limit Hold'em: Winning Short-Handed Strategies.

1. I am not a limit guy at all, but knowing the short-handed game in general is a major goal of mine so that is why I picked up this book. A ton of the players I know have been talking about and making posts regarding Winning Short-handed Strategies for the past month. Just about everything they said has been really positive. So, I took a chance on it. As there seem to be delivery problems with this edition (at least here in the states), I got it quickly from one of the z shops instead of ordering it from the central warehouse. I have just finished it and the one thing I have to say is that it lives up to its hype. The authors tell you just about everything you need to know about short-handed limit. The game itself is a product of online play and that is where you will need to log in if you want to perfect your craft. Incidentally, this is the best D&B book I have ever read. They seem to be a company on the rise. This offering is as good as what the masters, Two Plus Two, normally put out.



2. There is more to this book than how to play the game well. It also covers key concepts that many books just scratch the surface of.
   
   Things like, Player Modeling, Table Selection, Statistics, Standard Deviation,
   
   If any of those above concepts are alien to you, that alone is reason to click the "add to cart" button.
   
   It also has a section for "super-short" games, where the game only has 2-4 players in it. It is almost impossible to find information on games like this. And yes, the game changes drastically as the players lessen at the table.
   
   It's 362 pages of jam-packed poker goodness that will pay itself off for you(as it has me many times over within the span of 2 months)
   
   The only bad thing about this book...is that it ends.



3. I found this a valuable addition to my poker library (25+ books). Very good presentation of the material and a good choice (or substitute) prior to tackling "Winning in Tough Hold 'em Games: Short-Handed and High-Stakes Concepts and Theory for Limit Hold 'em".



4. As soon as I started reading this book I knew that would be a good one. Terry immediately gets you interested, it's as if he's talking to you face to face like a coach.
   I feel as though the knowledge I gained from this book was worth 500 hours of playing. Terry discusses every day limit holdem hands and situations that occur regularly, and discusses various moves that you can make for these situations.
   He explains all this with the utmost common sense leaving you feeling as though your learning something new all the time. Not only that but he explains how you can use tracking tools to give yourself an edge and other things like rakeback and poker psychology. It is great all-round.
   I believe Terry has put years of experience into this book. It is a piece of work and I have gained more knowledge from this book than any other I have read so far, which include all of Harringtons. If Terry ever writes a book again i'll be first to buy it.
   I hope I never play anyone who has read this book at the tables.



5. Most of the games i play in, are full table games, till the last table, and that's where this book is really helpful. The people who wrote this book, are very knowledgeable, thanks for all your hard work. JK.

2 comments about Keiko's Ikebana: A Contemporary Approach to the Traditional Japanese Art of Flower Arranging.

1. This book is a pleasure to read and look at even if you don't do flower arranging. The illustrations are beautiful and the writing is clear and direct. I bought multiple copies and gave them to clients for holiday presents, and it was very well received.



2. Nice book, explains various techniques used in this flower arranging art.
   I liked the techniques of creating decorations using more than one vaze side by side and the ways they are connected with flowers.

5 comments about A Course in Game Theory.

1. This book is a decent alternative to the Gibbons text (which I personally prefer). You could say this book is much more comprehensive and much more mathematical than Gibbons, though. My own opinion is that much of the game theory as described in this book is not general audience and sometimes very tedious if you are only interested in theory and not so much interested in real analysis.
   If you find Gibbons to be too easy or way below your level, this book is one option. The more ideal option, though, would just be to start reading academic papers - as you are obviously ready to do so. That way you could get the knowledge first hand and wouldn't need to spend time on a very detailed second hand review of areas that may not be exactly what you are looking for.



2. This book is well organized in to the topics, one of the better books on game theory and explains it in a pretty easy to follow manner.



3. This book was assigned for a graduate economics class I'm taking. It's very good, very complete, introduces all of the important game theory concepts in a very sophisticated way and covers a lot of material, but it's very dense, it doesn't take a long time to explain things. It tell you how it is and moves on to the next topics. I like a lot of the examples, they're entertaining, but they don't do a lot of showing you how to solve games. For someone who is learning game theory for the first time, I liked a book that was used for teaching undergrads by Dixit and Skeath, I think it was called Games of Strategy. But for a more advanced coverage of the material, this book is very good.



4. The book is not that good for learning, notation very confused and the examples are not very good. It is an excellent reference because it has all the main results, but not a good book for a beginner.



5. If you are seriously interested in Game Theory, this is definitely a good book. Don't expect a light-reading, dummies oriented book.

5 comments about Learn Chess Tactics.

1. My young chess player says this book gives a great overview of each chess tactic. It begins the lessons with easy tactics and advances to harder and more difficult lessons rather quickly. A person who has been playing for about a year would find this book helpful. This book is not really for more experienced players. It will help the beginner become a better chess player (if you manage to work through all the exercises). And peeking at the answers without working through the problems won't do the trick.



2. This book give numerous tactical themes and plenty of exercises. Very highly recommended.



3. John Nunn's style is one of those we can name moralizing and lecturing. It's helpful in the way that it makes a man think of his / her every move. There's a plan of the game, tactics, strategy, and your personal goal as to the game. The book provides you with lots of information about the opening, middle game and endspiel routine, but the most important is how YOU would like to move in this or that position. You and the book become a union, which then helps you to escape the possible blunders.



4. In Nunn's Learn Chess Tactics the exercises are organized by theme. Each section has an introduction where the theme is explained, a few examples are given, and then a series of tactical puzzles organized in order of increasing difficulty is provided.
   Most sections, and certainly the most relevant ones (like the ones on pins and forks), provide a wide array of puzzles that ranges from beginner level to challenging (for me at least - a class C player). The solutions are clear and as far as I could see with no omission of major lines. The last section is a very good collection of puzzles of every theme, excellent for training your tactical vision.
   The breadth of the themes that are presented not only strengthened my overall tactical vision (and my rating), but helped me pinpoint my blind-spots (for example, troubles spotting possibilities of trapping pieces, or tactical moves that are defensive in nature) and work on them.
   I recommend this book without hesitation.



5. I have quite a few books on tactics and if I had to start all over again I would start by this book. Not that this book presents a huge collection of problems, which it does not, but because it explains the concepts behind tactic motifs very well.
   Each chapter starts with a clear explanation of what the tactic motif is. Quoting: "Like the fork, the discovered attack is a way of creating 2 threats at the same time. Unlike the fork, the discovered attack involves 2 attacking pieces".
   After the explanation there are a series of real life examples, mostly taken from GM games, all of them very instructive. Diagrams start very simple with chessbase-style threat arrows, clearly showing the combination principles, and then going into harder and harder to find combinations in diagrams without arrows. Solutions are given with nice verbose explanations, leaving nothing behind if you didn't find the complete solution at the diagram.
   The chapter introduction is followed by 50 exercises about the tactical motif. Again, diagrams start VERY simple (I would say beginners level) and slowly migrate toward VERY difficult positions (I would say over ELO 1800). Each problem was picked from real life and has an interesting call (example taken from a Fork exercise: Should Black regain the sacrificed piece with 11...f6 or 11...h6?). Unlike most tactic books, sometimes the combination goal in the harder exercises is only a positional plus or a pawn and I found this particularly interesting. The solution to each exercise is also very instructive for instead a short line Nunn takes time to explain what should white or black have played (sine lines included when the solutions allows it) and the what happened in the tragedy of real life (pretty funny sometimes... just like my ICC games).
   Finally, a scramble chapter (66 diagrams with side to move) where you are in the dark and have to found the correct tactical motif(s) and/or combination of them in the correct order.
   The book itself is of high quality, as all other GAMBIT books around. So far I could not find a typo or analysis error, the diagrams are of excellent quality and the book biding lets it open easily without leaving pages on the floor. Not the cheapest book around but the book material worths the price.
   I give 5 stars for the didactics and quality of the contents. 5 stars for the book itself. 4 stars for the problem collection (as all greedy chess readers, I would love to have a bigger problem collection, specially so well explained as the ones already presented).
   
   If you never studied tactics, pick this book first, then go elsewhere find other problem collections.

5 comments about Zen and the Art of Poker: Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Game.

1. This is a great book for the beginner to middle player skill level. It starts off like it may be for advanced players but with its redundant reminders of how to play certain types of hands and what to do in case scenarios it drills it into the player. Making it much easier to retain the information.



2. This is the one book that I can read time and time again, and always learn something new depending on where I'm at in my poker career and my life. It's not a poker instructional book by any means. It's about you and who you are at the poker table -- but really, it's about who you are in your every day existence.
   
   If you like to look inside and make yourself a better person, then this book addresses core issues that can help you excel. Let's face it, life is poker and poker is life. Larry Phillips encapsulates this beautifully. It will help you play better and it will help you live better, if you are willing to do the work and look at yourself honestly.
   
   It's a quick read with much thought provoking insights on just abou every page. It is written very well.



3. This is not the best book to buy if you are just learning how to play poker (try Sklansky or Harrington), but if you are an advanced beginner or intermediate player, this book offers a whole new approach to the game that will radically improve your play. Most beginning players find themselves playing too many hands, and with disastrous results (hitting top pair with a weak kicker, or hitting second pair). This book's advice (Poker Rule #3) is that "If you've been folding a lot, for a long time in the game, and you're starting to think that maybe it's time you got in a played a few hands again... Keep folding." It counsels patience, emotional detachment, and selective confrontation. In a world of big egos, players on tilt, and WPT wannabees, this book will help you find a calmer, more profitable path.



4. Im not a big fan of poker books. They tend to be very dry and difficult to apply the specific theories to the game. This book is simply explains another way to look at the game. It is very easy to apply to the game after reading. It is mostly a book about folding and how to fold well. When youre folding well, youre playing well. Folding well implies betting well. The book states this much more clearly. Overall a great book for any poker player.



5. This book focuses on one of the hardest (if not the all time hardest) things to learn at the poker table-- keeping your cool and staying in control of yourself, it brings up lots of very interesting points and reads like a story-book, I enjoyed reading it very much, a great book for any poker player.

No comments about Dot Mania: Extreme Connect-the-Dots Puzzles.

No comments about Hangman Lift-a-Flap: 2009 Day-to-Day Calendar.

No comments about Eternal Empire: The Ottomans At War (Field Of GLory).

5 comments about Commonsense Bidding: The Most Complete Guide to Modern Methods of Standard Bidding.

1. The most modern and complete guide to the language of bidding. Bill's simplified approach will teach you how to value your hand and modify the value as the bidding progresses. Gives illustrative examples on how to handle almost every situation. 1986 Bridge Book of the Year - already regarded as a classic.



2. In another review about a book by the same author, I remarked that reading his books is like chewing sawdust. This basic fact has not changed. However, I now maintain that Bill Root has written the best books on learning the game in all its aspects.
   
   This book is not about plain point ranges as another reader has already claimed; the book is logical, methodical, clear, but there is a catch: this is to be read like a text book; I have taken notes, underlined, and made crib sheets out of it. If you slow down enough your reading speed and do not read it casually like a novel, you will be amptly rewarded.
   
   An example of the terseness of this book is that the headings in this book need to be read and fully understood before reading the respective sections; most of us tend to skip the headings, don't we?
   Before I have used this terseness as a con in Root's books, but I have come to realise that this is the best possible format: no distractions, just pure essence.
   
   I am tired of these books that are full of anectodes, pretend to ease you into the point they are trying to make, and then ... KABOOM, here is the point as dry as ever.
   
   Root's books have the guts to be pure bridge, no filler, no gimmicks, JUST EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW WITH NO HOLDING BACK OR TRYING TO SPREAD THE INFORMATION OVER SEVERAL BOOKS.
   
   Root headed out to teach with no compromise, but following a standard of completeness and clarity.
   
   It took me quite a time to realise his sense of integrity and charisma, but I did. I am sure that any absolute beginner will initially resist buying his books, but he or she will inexorably gravitate to them and appreciate their wealth of information.
   
   It is this wealth that will make you go through them slowly; the other authors have spoiled you and have put the emphasis on easy reading.
   
   A page by Root is worth easily 20 by the other authors.
   
   5 stars!!!



3. Another of Bill Root's comprehensive bridge primers, "Commonsense Bidding" is about as close to a bible of modern Standard American bidding as is available in the literature today. Root examines every aspect of bidding methods from a perspective that is in line, for the most part, with modern club players. There are some exceptions, especially in the emphasis of strong twos (weak twos being an afterthought) and neglect of the now virtually universal Jacoby transfer. However, for someone wanting to understand what comprises "standard" in the modern era, there is no better book. With appropriate adjustments, it is a great read for beginning to intermediate players.



4. Actually, it would be 4 1/2 stars, because this is a really thorough guide to bridge bidding. It is not dated, because it only discusses the standard, which hasn't changed much. Of course, if you want to know about the conventions, you should get Modern Bridge Conventions by the same author. Both very thorough; if you read them (and undersatnd and remember them) both, there are little situations where you will not know what to do



5. this book is fine, but not my favorite, and not one i regard as essential. the BIGGEST flaw in all of the root books is that there is no INDEX!!! this is so important for research (when comparing different books and systems) that i cannot believe they left it out, and it often means i don't find out what root's take on a given issue is!
   
   his system is unusual, and quirky, and it's not quite my style. but, this is a personal issue i think, and it may be great for others.

5 comments about Knockdown Knits: 30 Projects from the Roller Derby Track.

1. Roller Derby and knitting? What an awesome pair! This book is fun, witty and the pictures are great. The patterns are truly original and I can't wait to try them out.
   
   P.S. Support your local roller derby league. The ladies of roller derby are truly some of the coolest people you will ever meet!



2. How can you go wrong with a book like this? It has more action than any 'craft' book I have ever read before. It gives readers/knitters a great insight on the girls of the Tornado Sirens/Naptown Roller Girls league as well as some really awesome knitting crafts. I am a Fresh Meat knitter myself and it didn't leave me in the penalty box for finishing a project! There are projects for all levels of knitters.
   Even my mother-in-law loved the vast variety of projects offered and the great insiders viewpoint on Roller Derby! It did however, concern her a bit about my safety when she saw all the slings, pillows and crutch pads! Knit & Skate on!



3. This is so different from the knitting books I remember from 30 years or so ago, when they were boring patterns that assumed everyone lived a Ken and Barbie life. They remind me a little of the Alice Starmore knitting books and especially the Celtic collection in that they explaini a little of the culture in addition to offering knitting patterns from that culture. With the Starmore books I own, they're all wearing apparrel and sylistic. With these, I've got some things to wear and a few things to knit for practical uses.
   
   I'm no roller girl, but I am over 50 and I can see lots of practical uses for some of those injury-related knitting projects. I wish I'd had that pea bag pattern when I had knee surgery a couple of years ago.
   
   To quote a friend of mine who doesn't knit or like roller derby but who read the book: What a fun book!



4. What a great book. I don't knit but my wife does. In any case, KDK is something special for Roller Derby fans. And ff you aren't a fan there are pages dedicated to explaining Roller Derby. Most people have preconceived notions that it's just WWF on skates (It's REALLY NOT!)
   Each project in the book is modeled by a member of the Naptown Roller Girls Tornado Sirens. Each girl is also treated to a small informative bio too. (who knew Kitiara was a silver medalist in the World Police and Fire Games!?)
   For those of you looking for unique and interesting knitting projects this IS the the book for you. Sweaters, hats, mittens and a beverage holder with a built in glove to keep the drink cold and the hand warm!
   Fun stuff! For all of its content, this book is a steal!



5. WOW! Being a huge fan of knitting, and the various social off-shoot knitting circles that evolve from one of the most unlikely of fiber skills, I naturally had to scoop this one up. And I am so glad I did!
   
   This book was great for two reasons:
   
   1) the knitting of course, the patterns are fun and quirky (ex. frozen peas, a fun knit icepack cozy to wrap around boo-boos.) but really well done. Joan of Dark and her Roller girls takes their knitting seriously but enjoy every stich.
   
   2) The entire aspect, a general history and cultural signifigance of Roller Derby is explained in such a way I was aching to dig out my old skates and join up!
   
   Seriously, this book was so much more than I expected. A fun knittng book and a fun Roller Derby book successfully rolled (no pun intended) into one, as unlikely as that may be.