Gardena Poker Clubs: A High-stakes History


Book Description

"Poker capital of the world"--Page [4] of cover.




Poker & Pop Culture


Book Description

Introduced shortly after the United States declared its independence, poker’s growth and development has paralleled that of America itself. As a gambling game with mass appeal, poker has been played by presidents and peasants, at kitchen tables and final tables, for matchsticks and millions. First came the hands, then came the stories – some true, some pure bluffs, and many in between. In Poker & Pop Culture: Telling the Story of America’s Favorite Card Game, Martin Harris shares these stories while chronicling poker’s progress from 19th-century steamboats and saloons to 21st-century virtual tables online, including: Poker on the Mississippi Poker in the Movies Poker in the Old West Poker on the Newsstand Poker in the Civil War Poker in Literature Poker on the Bookshelf Poker in Music Poker in the White House Poker on Television Poker During Wartime Poker on the Computer From Mark Twain to “Dogs Playing Poker” to W.C. Fields to John Wayne to A Streetcar Named Desire to the Cold War to Kenny Rogers to ESPN to Star Trek: The Next Generation and beyond, Poker & Pop Culture provides a comprehensive survey of cultural productions in which poker is of thematic importance, showing how the game’s portrayal in the mainstream has increased poker’s relevance to American history and shaped the way we think about the game and its significance.




Poker Essays


Book Description

This text contains essays written from 1991 through early 1996. Topics covered include: General Concepts, Technical Ideas, Structure, Strategic Ideas, In the Cardrooms, Quizzes, Erroneous Concepts, and Something Silly. In addition, advice is offered on handling rushes, moving up, poker skills, simulations, maximizing your expectation, betting when first to act on the river, whether limit hold 'em, should have two or three betting levels, playing the overs, adjusting to the big ante, how to play well, low-limit hold 'em, how many hands you should play early in a tournament, chopping the blinds, cardroom theory, and much more.




Poker Unchecked


Book Description

Welcome to "Poker Unchecked," the first book written by Russ Georgiev, a World Class Professional poker player who has spent 40+ years in the poker trenches. This book is for all players who want to play better poker but have never found a book that really teaches them how to win. Here is the 'straight talk' you require to becoming a better player. "Poker Unchecked" will show you how to become a winning, and more importantly, a profitable poker player. It gives you the specifics - how you can win today, starting hand requirements, proper betting amounts, how and when to bluff, and exercises to improve your game. It tells you how to Play AK and Heads-up. And you get a little history about poker when it made Gardena, CA the poker capital of the world. Do you want to know if TV is portraying the game accurately? And what about those poker-playing robots the online sites use as props? How do scammers cheat you? Get the answers. Who is Russ Georgiev? He is a high stakes professional who started as "Seattle Russ" and is well known in the Brick & Mortar poker worlds of Europe and the United States. He's been invited to private games from Beverly Hills to Monte Carlo. And he is well versed in online play and your favorite sites. Get his insights in "Poker Unchecked."




Snakeskin Shamisen


Book Description

From Summer of the Big Bachi to Gasa-Gasa Girl, Naomi Hirahara’s acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction’s most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly L.A. gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler. Few things get Mas more excited than gambling, so when he hears about a $500,000 win–from a novelty slot machine!–he’s torn between admiration and derision. But the stakes are quickly raised when the winner, a friend of Mas’s pal G. I. Hasuike, is found stabbed to death just days later. The last thing Mas wants to do is stick his nose in someone else’s business, but at G.I.’s prodding he reluctantly agrees to follow the trail of a battered snakeskin shamisen (a traditional Okinawan musical instrument) left at the scene of the crime…and suddenly finds himself caught up in a dark mystery that reaches from the islands of Okinawa to the streets of L.A.–a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder.




Small Stakes Hold 'em


Book Description

For today's poker players, Texas hold 'em is the game. Every day, tens of thousands of small stakes hold 'em games are played all over the world in homes, card rooms, and on the Internet. These games can be very profitable -- if you play well. But most people don't play well and end up leaving their money on the table. Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big with Expert Play explains everything you need to be a big winner. Unlike many other books about small stakes games, it teaches the aggressive and attacking style used by all professional players. However, it does not simply tell you to play aggressively; it shows you exactly how to make expert decisions through numerous clear and detailed examples. Small Stakes Hold 'em teaches you to think like a professional player. Topics include implied odds, pot equity, speculative hands, position, the importance of being suited, hand categories, counting outs, evaluating the flop, large pots versus small pots, protecting your hand, betting for value on the river, and playing overcards. In addition, after you learn the winning concepts, test your skills with over fifty hand quizzes that present you with common and critical hold 'em decisions. Choose your action, then compare it to the authors' play and reasoning. This text presents cutting-edge ideas in straightforward language. It is the most thorough and accurate discussion of small stakes hold 'em available. Your opponents will read this book; make sure you do, too!




The Intelligent Guide to Texas Hold'em Poker


Book Description

This concise, comprehensive guide, on Texas Hold'em Poker is packed with tips and information that players need to know. For beginners, it explains the rules of Texas Hold'em, basic strategy, and how to play in a cardroom. More advanced players, benefit from statistical charts, vignettes from actual poker games, and detailed information on how the social and psychological aspects of the game determine strategy. Readers also learn the unique view that an expert chess player brings to analyzing poker, as author Sam Braids compares and contrasts the two games. As a special bonus, the book includes an analysis of online poker, instructions on how to use a computer to play Internet poker, and explains the strategic adjustments necessary to succeed online.




The Magician and the Cardsharp


Book Description

A famous magician's journey to find the greatest cardsharp ever evokes the forgotten world of magic where Americans found escape during the Great Depression It has the nostalgic quality of an old-fashioned fable, but Karl Johnson's The Magician and the Cardsharp is a true story that lovingly re-creates the sparkle of a vanished world. Here, set against the backdrop of America struggling through the Depression, is the world of magic, a realm of stars, sleight of hand, and sin where dreams could be realized - or stolen away. Following the Crash of '29, Dai Vernon, known by magicians as "the man who fooled Houdini," is tramping down Midwestern backroads, barely making ends meet. While swapping secrets with a Mexican gambler, he hears of a guy he doesn't quite believe is real - a legendary mystery man who deals perfectly from the center of the deck and who locals call the greatest cardsharp of all time. Determined to find the reclusive genius, Vernon sets out on a journey through America's shady, slick, and sinful side - from mob-run Kansas City through railroad towns that looked sleepy only in the daytime. Does he find the sharp? Well, Karl Johnson did - after years of research into Vernon's colorful quest, research that led him to places he never knew existed. Johnson takes us to the cardsharp's doorstep and shows us how he bestowed on Vernon the greatest secret in magic. The Magician and the Cardsharp is a unique and endlessly entertaining piece of history that reveals the artistry and obsession of a special breed of American showmen.




Poker


Book Description

If you have never heard about poker, then you must be wondering... "What's the big deal?" Poker is an sport out there which is purely based on skill... That over 100 million people are interested in... These people gather offline and online and play this game with real money... The guys who play it skillfully make so much money that they literally never have to work again... It is possible to join this world instantly and play with these people... What makes poker truly amazing is that it is more than just an addictive strategic game, it is an art. In poker you don't just play the cards, you actually play against another person. Once you learn the game, you can come up with many clever ways to outsmart your opponents. The fact that you can make so much money defeating a player, just adds to its appeal. Once you learn how to play poker like a pro, you won't believe how many easy players are out there who have zero poker skill simply because they think poker is a game of luck. This is actually also one of the reasons why winning money in poker is so easy. With so many players playing poker for fun, or simply so many players just having no clue how to play the game strategically, it makes easy picking for sharks who know what they are doing. With the Advanced Concepts of Poker, that you will learn in this book, we continually earn the kind of money most people can't imagine.




The Poker Face of Wall Street


Book Description

Wall Street is where poker and modern finance?and the theory behind these "games"?clash head on. In both worlds, real risk means real money is made or lost in a heart beat, and neither camp is always rational with the risk it takes. As a result, business and financial professionals who want to use poker insights to improve their job performance will find this entertaining book a "must read." So will poker players searching for an edge in applying the insights of risk-takers on Wall Street.