Card Games Books

As a Reiki Master who practices Shamanic soul retrieval, I find that every card a client draws has just the right information to help with issues brought forth from the session. The information on each card rings true from the psychological standpoint, angelic information and common sense. You can't ask for a better guide to help yourself awaken to the eternal loving compassion within. You may use the cards as a Tarot spread; or draw one singly as a daily guide.

If you want to do the inner work, these cards can help you to unite with the angelic presence within you to access guidance from realms of the heart. Kimberley has drawn wisdom from her own spiritual unfoldment and has mastered the understanding of healing the inner passages that allow deep connection to our eternal selves. This is by far, the most cohesive and timeless information available for our human development. I would invite all to see for themselves, by using the cards daily for inspiration and intuitive understanding of one's own direction.

Angel Blessings is without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read. I work part-time in a bookstore, so there is great availability of reading material for comparison.

Marooney channelled for 44 different angels and there is none of her own ego in this book. Just the angels' words. She is clear in the beginning of her book to advise you to insert your own spirituality (since the book is written from a Christian's standpoint - but that is what she is), so those of other religions need not be "turned off" by the content. The message is what is important.

The book comes with 44 beautiful cards of angel art from throughout the ages. She offers several spreads and I have obtained information from my readings _every time I read_... What comes from this book is perspective about your own self and the situations in your life.

Please buy this book - it is a book that keeps on giving...

-Lea

Beat the Players by Bob Nersesian, a Nevada lawyer who represents advantage players against the casinos, starts his preface with three stingingly dramatic words, "Nevada hates you...." - and the rest of the book attempts to prove why those three words have the ring of truth.

The casinos of Las Vegas, and by extension, the casinos throughout the United States have a love-hate relationship with their players. Most casino players don't realize this since most casino players are only thinking about one-half of the casino equation - the half they are on.

The casinos love the losers - who make up maybe 99.99+ percent of all the players, whose towering losses make casino gambling a multi-billion dollar industry - but the casinos hate the advantage players, those Davids who by skill and intellect have found ways to turn the tables on the casino Goliaths, beating those monstrous Goliaths at their own games. Goliaths don't like to lose to slingshot carrying Davids - that is for sure.

Nersesian's book goes through many of his cases, as well as other cases, where advantage players were mistreated and at times abused by casino security and even law enforcement personnel - even though these players were doing nothing illegal. Sadly casinos can ask players to stop playing and/or leave their properties even though the players are doing nothing illegal but the casino personnel are often not content to just do this - as the book brutally shows.

You'll read about phony charges of players cheating which are totally discredited by the security cameras; phony "eye-witness" reports that are totally discredited by the security cameras; and depositions where the security personnel and the police offer explanations that would be very funny in a National Lampoon movie, but are downright terrifying when you realize these are being made to hurt honest America citizens doing nothing wrong. Imagine a hero who fought for America in our wars; or one who rushed into the World Trade Center in New York after the terrorist attack to save those poor souls trapped therein, being told he can't play in an American casino because "you are too good" or, worse, being escorted to or being dragged into the "backroom" to be illegally detained. Disgraceful but it has happened - far too frequently.

The book is an eye-opener and a page-turner from start to finish. If you are a card counter, a shuffle tracker, a hole card catcher, or dice controller; even if you are only a smart casino gambler taking your best shot at the house - this book makes for enlightening and frightening reading.

Nersesian has done all of us who love to play the casino games a great service by showing us what has happened to some of our unfortunate fellows who have the temerity to be "too good."

Casinos use mathematics and intelligence in trying to beat the players. Their games are normally fair, but mathematically skewed so that they will win over the long run. Yet, may casinos abhor players that try to use their own intelligence and legal skills to win at the games of chance that the casinos offer. Some casinos take it way too far and illegally abuse these players. This is when attorney Bob Nersesian steps in. Nersesian represents players who are playing legally who have been unfairly and illegally treated by the casinos, casino security and possibly the police force as well. In Beat the Players, Nersesian writes about some of these situations and cases, many showcase the amazing stupidity of casino security forces and the police force. He also gives advice to players on how to act and what to expect in the casino security offices (the backroom), including when it is appropriate or inappropriate to use an alias. This book should be read by all smart gamblers simply to prepare themselves for what could happen.

This book should also be read by casino personnel and cops. Along with giving advice to players on their rights and what to expect, Nersesian also gives advice to the casinos and cops on what not to do and the misconceptions that they may have. Card counting is legal. Hole carding due to dealer's mistakes is legal. Abusing, illegally detaining and illegally searching patrons is not legal. In the short run, the bully casino security force may get some satisfaction, but in the long run, the casinos (and in these corporate days, their shareholders as well) suffer in paying out losses in court cases.

Although I am not a lawyer and much of this book deals with the law, I still found it very readable. This is due to the way Nersesian wrote the book. Anyone will find it readable and easy to understand. I recommend this book to all gamblers who play in casinos, and especially those that think they can win.

"The casino hates you."

That's the first sentence of the first chapter. Direct. Powerful. Compelling. Unambiguous. Authoritative. Easy to understand.

Just like the rest of the book.

This 320-page book should be read by everyone who patronizes, or is in any way associated with casinos in Las Vegas. A fascinating read by a Las Vegas attorney who is THE authority on the tactics and abuses casinos apply towards blackjack players they think is winning too much of "their" money.

The chapter titles are:

Your Money or Your Liberty;
Scary Cop Statements;
They'll Take Your Liberty Anyway;
Gaming Agents Speak;
The Take of the State;
Rules for Casino Patrons;
Gambling at the Legal Limits;
Cops Hate Card Counters;
Griffin Investigations;
Casinos Cheat With Impunity;
A Judicial and Government Overlay;
Finding a Nickel Brings Trouble;
Names and Aliases;
The Security Office and Surveillance Functions,
Casinos and Cops.

Learn your rights and what a casino can and cannot do to you and what you can do to do to protect yourself and substantiate your claims if you initiate a future lawsuit.

Learn of the cozy relationships between the casinos, the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and the Las Vegas Metro Police Department.

If you work in casino management or security or Surveillance, the NGCB, or Metro, learn the law (!) and how to protect yourself from those pesky lawsuits.

It's all here. It's scary. It's real. You need to know it.

As an Intermediate player, I still find this book useful. As a beginner, you would find it INVALUABLE. Penick uses a combination of simple description and illustrations to make bridge accessible to everyone.

The descriptions are compelling and understandable, and the illustrations make it memorable. I heartily recommend this book for anyone wanting a solid grounding in bridge fundamentals. It comes with quizzes to reinforce your learning.

This is the book I hand out to anyone that wants to learn bridge from scratch. Very easy to understand, beautifully illustrated with cartoons, it is also very accurate: I still use this as a reference for looking up basic Standard American bidding. It deals very well with ALL aspects of basic Standard American, including overcalls, take-out doubles, etc. There are a few chapters that deal with the basics of play and defense. This book is more than sufficient for all aspects of beginning bidding. For play and defense, I recommend people start here, and then go to "Introduction to Declarer's Play" and "Introduction to Defender's Play" by Edwin Kantar.

Easy to understand instruction for someone learning to play Bridge. Using this book I was able to begin playing Bridge in just a few weeks. This game cannot be mastered in just a few weeks, but you will have the basics necessary to begin.

good service, true to ad thanks

These four basic strategy cards fit in your shirt pocket yet contain everything you need to optimize your odds under virtually all table conditions. Cards work for 1, 2, and 4-8 deck games covering most variations of house rules. Give yourself the best chance to beat the casino. Use these cards and experience how much fun blackjack can be when you play like the pros.

Las Vegas has a saying, "players depend on luck, casinos depend on math". Well, here's your chance to almost even those odds to within 1/2%. These blackjack strategy cards (all 4 for 1, 2, or 4-8(2) decks) do the math for you and stretch your money a long, long way. You will get your money back in the first hour of play and wish you had had them a long time ago. If you play blackjack, this is the one item you should take with you. And you don't even have to think, pretty nice ugh.

Victor Mollo's books are simply the most entertaining Bridge books available. The reader is able to identify and relate to each of the characters. Everyone knows a Hideous Hog, Rueful Rabbit, Secretary Bird, and Walter the Walrus. We see these characters every day during Bridge sessions. Mollo has quite the knack for bringing out all of the human qualities expressed at the Bridge table. These series of books are a great read and will forever be considered classics.

The 4th dimension is the human factor in bridge. This book is the funniest book on bridge and one of the best books I have ever read (including non-bridge too).

A true classic of contract bridge fiction. Not only will you be entertained but you will learn something as you peek into the world of Mollo's mythical bridge club. All the players in the book are animals but easily connected to personalities you have seen first-hand at the bridge table. The Hideous Hog (master, know-it-all), the Rueful Rabbit (he knows his skills are not the best, but somehow he always manages to do the right thing -- even for the wrong reason), the Secretary Bird (enforces the letter of the law, usually to his own downfall), Walter the Walrus (so caught up in point count that nothing else matters), plus many more. You will find yourself and your partner in this book somewhere. A great read and a great gift for your bridge playing friends. Mollo is my favorite bridge author.

This book is for advanced players that are willing to make it into the championship level. Describes not only probabilities, but also odd changing, vacant places, chance combination and more.

Highly recommended.

I've read several of Kelsey's books, and the problems he gives are often rather difficult. Those in this book are usually easy, however. And that is how it should be. Most decisions at the bridge table are pretty easy. You just need to make the right ones consistently.

After a brief introduction to basic probability theory, Kelsey tells us about the odds for distributions of missing cards. The next chapter is on how to play various card combinations in a suit.

After that, we practice combining chances as a declarer. We learn to play for a drop in one suit before taking a risky finesse in another, and so on.

Next is a chapter on care of options. Sometimes, the opponents will remove one of your options. Sometimes, you will remove one of theirs. We learn to make some straightforward plays that take all this into account.

Of course, one elementary aspect of bridge is that the odds change as the hand is played. If an opponent shows out of a suit, or gives you other information about the distribution of cards, the odds can change. And Kelsey expresses the change in odds by the number of "vacant places" that remain undetermined.

The final elementary concept in bridge odds is generally referred to as "restricted choice." Kelsey finds this term confusing, so he calls it "freedom of choice." A simple example is when you have nine trumps, missing the Queen, Jack, five, and four. With the Ace and King in your hand, you try the Ace. Your left-hand opponent drops an honor! Before that happened, you would have played for the suit to split 2-2. But you now realize that there are only two kinds of hands your opponent could have started with: a singleton honor or both honors. There are two hands where your opponent has a singleton (singleton Queen and singleton Jack). And only one hand where your opponent has both honors. So the odds are nearly 2 to 1 in favor of finessing on the next round of trumps. That's a basic concept one has to know in bridge, and Kelsey gives some more examples of it.

This book is easy to read but teaches some valuable lessons. There is only one statement I seriously disagree with in it, and naturally, it is not about bridge. Near the start of the book, Kelsey asks about the probability of a "tossed coin" to come down tails if it has come down heads nine times running.

Kelsey is trying to explain that the chance of tails is not greater than 50%. After all, the coin has no memory. It is not going to come down tails just to even the odds! Kelsey says that each toss of the coin is a separate 50% chance.

Well, that's not quite true. The chance of it coming down tails is not 50%. After all, there is only one chance in 512 of a fair coin coming down heads nine times running. The chance may be considerably greater if the coin (or the toss) is not fair. If the coin is two-headed, the chance of nine straight heads is 100%.

Clearly, the chance of tails on the tenth throw is less than 50%.

I recommend this book.

While the calculation of the odds is interesting this is a practical book as well as a methematical one. Theer are numerous problems where teh reader needs to improve their chances by combining plays. Such as playing AK of a long suit to see if the Q drops before taking a finesse.

Not only is the information useful, its well presented adn enjoyable to read.

The math is not especially dificult and if you want to become a good player you should be aware of this. I put it under "knowing your fundamentals"

I liked this a lot more than the Vivaldi book. The Terence Reese book "Master the Odds" was ok, this was better.

Find it and GET it. You will find deals and material not found elsewhere, and G.Coffin is -da- master of endplays!
Terminology will sound weird, but your game will improve a lot. Warning -> Advanced players only. Do not hope that you will understand anything if you are a beginner: Coffin has no mercy!

One of top books on play. Ranks with Master Play and Play of the Hand. Needs updating and editing, and would be a best seller again.

If you ever get a chance to buy or borrow this book, do so. I would say that this is an intermediate text, but it covers everything from the basics to simple endplays and squeezes. This is a better and more comprehensive book on play of the cards than any other I've read. If you get a chance, pick up anything by George Coffin.

What could be more fun to an aspiring pirate than to build his or her own ship? This wonderful building kit comes with many different cards with clever designs that enable you to connect and create all the parts of a pirate ship. The finished product is pretty darn amazing, and kids will be thrilled with their work.

The best part of this toy is that you don't just finish it once. These cards are of the "mix and match" variety and you can use them to create other ships -- LOTS of different ships!

This is an absolutely wonderful toy because the possibilities are endless for creative play as your young pirate figures out all the incredible ways that he can put these cards together! Kudos to the company that designed this toy, because parents really get their money's worth here.

All the building cards sets are amazing. Fun to use with children to build all types of ships.

My 8yo son really likes this. He got it as a gift last Christmas and has rebuilt it a few times. He also uses it for imaginary play. It is just the right level of difficulty. He builds it by himself. The cards are sturdy and it makes a great project.

Prolific game collector and author Sid Sackson branches out into card games and the result is fantastic. Going beyond the typical "Hoyle" type games, you will find the rules for fun and exciting card games that have not been published anywhere else (including Sid's own CARD STOCK MARKET game, a fun simulation of the stock market using a standard 52 card deck). If you know how to shuffle a deck of cards, then you need this book.

This is a terrific compendium of card games from all around the world, as seen through the eyes of the Dean of American Game Designers, Sid Sackson. This book also contains a few original games by Sackson, including the wonderful Card Stock Market game, which was later sold in boxed form as Black Monday. This inexpensive volume would be worth its price if only for that!

This is a great collection of card games from all around the world, as seen through the eyes of the noted American Game Designer, Sid Sackson. This book also contains a few original games by Sackson, including the wonderful Card Stock Market game, which was later sold in boxed form as Black Monday. This inexpensive volume would be worth its price if only for that!

My name is Dennis J Barmore. I am the Founder of The National Card Sharks, Inc. Bid Whist Organization. We represent thousands of Bid Whist players throughout the USA. ...

I have just finished reading this book, and it is a must for beginning and advanced players of whist. The narrative is written in clear concise words that are easy to understand.

The sample hands in the book are excellently crafted and are legitimate teaching aids that can enhance the skills of players on all levels.

There have been many times when people have asked our Bid Whist players, "How Do You Play Whist? Needless to say that is an impossible question to verbally answer. Thank goodness there is a book out there that we can now point to.

If you are at all interested in learning the game, or purchasing a gift for that whist playing friend or relative, this book will serve as a unique gift idea.

"WIN AT WHIST" by Joe Andrews is the most complete book on the game of Whist since Edmund Hoyle first wrote about the game in the 1700's. This book covers all of the bases with a nice history of the game, and then continues with a full reference to the many variations which have evolved. There is generous mention of the popular "Kitty with Jokers" Bid Whist Tournament game which has been promoted by Dennis Barmore and his "sharksinc" live event tour. Mr. Andrews has listed a full glossary of terms and definitions, and finishes his book with a sampling of several illustrative hands. Each hand has a teaching/instructional theme. Although there are a few other published Whist pamphlets/books out there which are quite good, "WIN AT WHIST" is at the head of the class. If you want to excel in high-level competitive play, by all means check out this book!

My bridge Partner and I decided that we wanted a new challenge of learning a different card game. We learned that there was a Bid Whist tournament being played in Atlanta and we had only one day to learn. We sat down and began reading the book together. It was so well written...so clear to understand...that within 24 hours we played in that tournament. We paid a $40 entry fee and felt confident enough about what we had learned. We did not win the tournament but we had an above average score and had a marvelous time.

The next time I played was in a foursome in my home -- I played with a stranger and we won!!!

An Excellent book for anyone wanting to get started playing Bid Whist or for someone wishing to sharpen their skills.

I have already personally delivered copies of this book to players and would recommend it to any card playing addict.