Tournaments Books

Provides and awesome in depth history of how Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones put Augusta on the map, and along with this, formed one of the most powerful clubs in the world.

Also gives strong accounts of the history of the US Masters tournament.

If you've read the Clifford Roberts book and are an ardent follower of the tournament, you will be disappointed. What I was expecting versus what was delivered were 180 degrees apart. Mr. Eubanks would have done better to explore more of the relationship between the National and the residents and town of Augusta. Eubanks needed to delve more into more recent tournament history (post 1980) as opposed to dedicating more to the period from 1933-1960. I'll be attending my fifth Masters Tournament in 1998 (4th in a row) and I hope to talk with some residents/patrons who have attended many tournaments throughout the years.

If you've read the Clifford Roberts book and are an ardent follower of the tournament, you will be disappointed. What I was expecting versus what was delivered were 180 degrees apart. Mr. Eubanks would have done better to explore more of the relationship between the National and the residents and town of Augusta. Eubanks needed to delve more into more recent tournament history (post 1980) as opposed to dedicating more to the period from 1933-1960. I'll be attending my fifth Masters Tournament in 1998 (4th in a row) and I hope to talk with some residents/patrons who have attended many tournaments throughout the years.

It seems there's a new "unprecedented" book on Augusta and the Masters coming out every April these days, but this one was the first of its "investigative" ilk and it remains the best. Anything I had ever read in book form about Augusta/the Masters before this read like so much puff because they were written by authors who wanted to remain friends with Augusta's secretive powers-that-be. Eubanks examines and explores Augusta National with a lot of gusto and tells me dozens of things I didn't know about this place. Like the hush-hush shooting incident involving some black youths who had trespassed on the course just so they could take a dip in one of the ponds. Or how the myth surrounding Charlie Sifford's alleged exclusion from the Masters field by racist manipulators assumes facts Eubanks proves wrong. Or Bert Yancey's real obsession with the course itself. Or the suicide by the ticket scalper in 1997. There's also a lot of nice stuff about Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, as well as a chapter devoted to Ike and how his presidency was pretty much launched in the inner bowels of Augusta National's clubhouse. Buy this book--it's wonderful!

There was a mix up on the part of my seller, but as soon as I inquired about it he was very prompt about getting the book to me. I am very satisfied about the seller's professionalism. Thanks

The title of this book is misleading. It talks more about baits and how to rig them than it talks about strategies. I wanted more information about what strategies to use for fishing tournaments. The booked explained flipping and pitching, spinnerbaits, etc but did not talk about how to spend your time in a tournament. I feel the book was nice to read but did not help answer any question on strategies.

In this book, Brauer doesn't really talk about his tournament strategy. He mainly talks about how he fishes various lures and why he chooses those lures and how he uses them on different types of cover and structure. It is an easy read but if you consider yourself to be an advanced bass fisherman, don't bother with this book.

This si one of the most informative books I have ever read, and I have read a bunch of them. There isn't a lot of "bull" just to take up space. Anyone using this book as a guide will definitely catch more fish. I did!

Great book on how to put yourself in the proper mind set to win. Although aimed towards games, the book is written at a high enough level that the ideas can be applied to competition in general - business, etc. This book will not give specific strategies for anything, rather, it describes a "winner" and what traits one should have to one.

To get the most out of the book, you should have experience with a good repertoire of games across genres. Specifically, the book references Virtua Fighter, Street Fighter, StarCraft, Counter-Strike, and Magic: The Gahtering. I could imagine some parts of the book being confusing without playing the games, especially Virtua Fighter and M:TG.

I enjoyed this book immensely. If you consider yourself a gamer then this should be an enjoyable read. Highly recommended!

Sirlin's Playing to Win is to competitive gaming what Machiavel's The Prince is to politics.

Just as Machiavel laid down a surprisingly logical and through guide for how to get what you want in politics, David Sirlin writes in a clear, direct style what competitive game players can do to get what they want (winning!). Playing to Win is fairly short (131 pages) but cuts straight to the heart of the matter: showing how competitive players see the world of games, how they act within it, and why they act that way. It's surprisingly easy and fun to read, and yet there's a lot of information in it.

Playing to Win tries to apply to all competitive games, so naturally the book's examples aren't too specific or technical, but it helps the reader a thousandfold to actually know some of the landmark competitive games discussed in the book, like Starcraft or Street Fighter. Someone who has never played a competitive game will most likely be lost while reading Playing to Win. But if you have even a little experience about playing against your peers, then you'll find that even though the lessons in the book are very general, almost philosophical ones, they can actually change the way you see games and play them - for the better.

First and foremost, Playing to Win is meant for people who like competitive games. If you are a game designer, then it can also be interesting, if only to learn a lot about a worldview different from what you might be used to. I know of no better book about competitive gaming than Playing to Win - it really is a landmark title in its category.

If you neither play competitive games nor design games, though, the book's razor-sharp focus will probably mean that you won't really get anything out of it. That is how you should interpret my 4-star rating: I wholeheartedly recommend this book to competitive players and game designers, but not to my mom and sister who know next to nothing about competitive games.

Playing to Win is meant to be a guide for how to excel in any sort of competitive game or environment, from classic board games like chess to video arcade games like Street Fighter. Since I haven't played chess in years, I was much more interested in the 2D fighting game aspect of the book (as I'm sure most of the book's readers will be, given Sirlin's reputation in the fighting game community).

In that context, Sirlin's book is thorough and easily applicable. He takes the reader from the very foundations of competitive gaming (what differentiates good competitive games from bad, competitive games from non-competitive games, and "scrubs" from non-"scrubs"), all the way to more advanced tactics taken straight from Sun Tzu's Art of War.

That said, if you have been playing fighting games for more than a couple of years, almost none of this will be new to you. In fact, anyone who becomes serious about fighting games will discover all of the book's principles through their own experience, even if they cannot articulate their lessons as well as Mr. Sirlin.

The one exception is the player biography section, which gives short overviews of the play styles of various chess and Street Fighter players. This section, while entertaining, did not improve my game.

So who is this book for? It's for people just starting out with competitive games, who want a quick introduction to some of the ideas they will be grappling with. To this group, I can 100% recommend this book. As for more advanced or seasoned players, I'm not sure the book will really improve your game at all, but at the very least, it'll organize and fully articulate some of the ideas you already have.

This book is full of useful charts that outline in clear, concise detail the findings the author has gathered over time playing no-limit tournament poker. His Hold'em Times Table is the piece of information no tournament poker player should be without, that alone is worth the price of the book.

I was a little skeptical about a none professional player giving advice, but because of this he seems to look outside the box and explains/backs up his views that are sometimes contrary to other popular poker books.

Thank you Mr. Winter for writing this wonderful book, and sharing your style of play, "the hold'em times table", and your many other brilliant insights, with the rest of us. There is no doubt in my mind that this book will improve anybodys texas hold'em play, no matter how many other poker books they have read. The book is so well written and to the point.... I find myself reading it over and over again! Thank you Bruce!

Bruce Winters strategy book, "The Next Level" provides an amazing insight into his complex understanding of Texas Hold'em Poker. The book uses simple language with `down to the point' information making it an excellent read. His complete statistical analysis of the game is inspiring; with the results proving that the ideologies he takes with him to the poker table are effective and also profitable.

Unlike most other poker books, Bruce does not waste time talking about irrelevant hands he has experienced throughout his poker career, instead drawing conclusions from statistics, giving the reader a clear insight to the basics and complexities of probability. He encourages the reader to justify decisions based on trends and statistics, whilst also giving fundamental advice on other key aspects of the game.

Some of the information Bruce presents conflicts with the information quite commonly found in other `big name' poker books. At first, you admire his will to take on some of poker's biggest names, however once applying his precise mathematical theories, it is evident why Bruce has become a very successful poker player.

Since purchasing Bruce's book, I have noticed a rapid increase in my finishing position at multi-table Hold'em events. I realized some of the bad habits I had developed, and identified problems in my game play. After taking the information from the book, and applying what I believed to be relevant to my playing style, I achieved some of my poker goals that I never really had ambitions of achieving.

The Next Level, by Bruce Winter is `well worth the read'. His vast understanding of the game will be a worthwhile addition to your poker arsenal. This book is a highly recommended purchase for beginners and advanced players alike, providing both a basic and an advanced poker strategy.

Don't be misled, as I was, by the other customer reviews. This is a terrible book. I don't normally write negative reviews, but felt the situation warranted it.

Here's advice on playing pocket Aces pre-flop:

"Slow playing can be highly dangerous if six or seven players stay in the pot. Don't go all-in against a cashed up opponent. When you bet all-in you don't want any callers, and someone with plenty of chips, might call you!" (page 62)

Here he speaks about a player who went all-in with AJ.

"That person went all-in, when a substantial bet would have achieved the same result. In these particular instances the player was called, just as that person would have been called had the bet been only $1000."

Here the problem is not with the advice, but with the lack of specifics. What was the position of the guy who went all-in? How many chips did he have? How many chips did his opponents have? What were the blinds? How many opponents were there? What was his table image? What were the playing characteristics of his opponents? These are routine questions that any decent poker player would be asking, and he doesn't provide any of these details. Also it's nuts to talk about betting $1000 without any context. At least he could tell us what the blinds are.

I did learn a valuable lesson, however, which is to make sure there are more than 2 customer reviews when I buy a book, and to consider those reviews more carefully than I did.

if you have thought of going pro this book is for you,its sort of like the 99% rule,99% of athleats(pro sports,fishing, poker)
are not as good as they think they are,hey I am a fine fisherman
but ill keep my day job, this book go reprinted and I for one am glad it did,one thing, youll only enjoy this if you fish

This book is a perfect representasion of being a bass pro
it goes through the money,fame,comrodery,fortune, ups and downs of competitive fishing.

The book is a third party account of a season of tournament bass fishing mostly focusing on three distinctly different full time tournament fishermen. There are the haves (Rick Clunn), the want to haves (Randy Blaukat) and the have nots (Randy Mosley). The reader is exposed to just how important sponsorship is and the monetary implications to big time professional fishing. You get to see that it ain't just all fishing. Much time is spent in describing their mental approach to fishing and in particular Clunn's "Zen" approach he takes to achieving mental perfection. The book broadly covered the tournament preparation that each angler made without going into very much detail. Not much was written on why the anglers chose certain lures or why they selected specific areas to fish. Too much detail to this may be boring to the recreational fisherman but I would have liked to have known the ins and outs in hopes of improving my own fishing techniques. I found the descriptions on how pro's view their competition personally very insightful.

Having enjoyed fishing local bass tournament on and off over the last decade, I enjoyed the some of the parallels I found have in common with the pros. It was nice to see that some days even they don't have a clue. It is also obvious that not much (except for the money) has changed over the last 12 years since the book was written.

This book is an entertaining read and will give insight to the world of professional bass fishing to the casual fisherman. Hard core or amateur tournament fisherman may find it a little lacking in tips and tactics that they can personally use.

The main character is a man of the sea named Jim Nielsen. He grew up on boats and served in the American Navy during the Vietnam War. He was stationed on a hospital boat and worked as a door gunner for medivac helicopters. When he came back to the U. S. he was disconcerted, spending years with no apparent direction. He finally decided to make a life for himself, so he entered the investment business and was successful. However, he felt there was still something lacking with that career so he ends up back on a boat in a deep-sea fishing tournament being held in the Bahamas.
Kirkeby does an excellent job in setting the stage for this climactic event. When Jim was in his late teens, he rode out a hurricane with Inez, the daughter of the owner of a boat he was working on. They have a short and torrid affair, and his love for her remained, even though he lost track of her. His passion is rekindled when he learns that she is also at the Bahamas during the tournament. Inez is now married, although Jim has every reason to believe that it is not a happy union. While Jim tells her that he still burns for her, and it is clear that she still has some emotional attachment to him, the sparks are not completely rekindled.
The conclusion of their involvement is something that you rarely see and is very well handled. They do not run passionately into each others arms, Inez then divorcing her husband and the both of them living happily ever after. Somehow, they agree to keep their love alive in a more distant manner, and they part after a night of simply holding each other. This is a difficult way to conclude a love story, but Kirkeby pulls it off quite nicely. In a secondary plot line, Jim's boat catches the prize fish of the tournament, although they encounter too many problems while doing so. That aspect of the fishing plot line could have been scaled back without the story suffering in any way.
This is primarily a love story with a happy, albeit different ending. I liked it; the love story is set up well and in no way rushed to a conclusion.

This plot goes much deeper (no pun intended) than the offshore fishing which is brilliantly described and technically accurate. It is a story of letting go of one's past, of moving forward, and, as a result, getting one's life back. High fives for "The Tournament"!

A Vietnam vet, who is now a successful stockbroker, takes a client and his son fishing in the Bahamas. At the tournament they have entered, he runs into a former lover from his teens, now married. The old flame is rekindled but his success in the tournament does not lead to anything but high fives from his client. I was hoping for more, but the author's description of the Bahamian captain, preparation of baits, and fight with the marlin was accurate and made for a good read.

The glossy pictures and year by year review is good. However I thought I wanted to buy an indepth tennis book. Anyone who is thinking in the same line may not try to buy this book.

This is an impressive book on the history of the US Open. Full of highlight photos of players in action, this very comprehensive piece of writing on the the final Grand Slam tournament of the year will keep the reader's eyes glued to the pages. The year by year section on the Open is a great chronological collection of photos of the champions with annotations. The chapter on the great matches of the Open provides details of some of the historical moments of the tournament since the inception of the US Tennis Championships. A must-read for all tennis fans and players alike!

This book is Superb bound Quality printed on High Gloss paper containing some very rare and beautiful pictures ranging from turn of the century to Pete Sampras. The text that accompanies is thoughtful though somewhat terse. A must-have compendium of US Open Highlights that will delight anyone who has ever picked up a tennis racquet.

This book - originally written by Nimzovich, and translated by Marfia - is one of the greatest books of all time. Nimzovich helped author the "hyper-modern" movement. He was one of the strongest players of his day, second only to Alekhine. And his writings have now helped shaped generations of chess players.

It is said that Petrosian - when he was young - was greatly shaped and influenced by the ideas of Aron Nimzovich. GM Bent Larsen felt that "My System" was the most influential book that he had ever read. I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the idea. (I also feel that Nimzovich was a powerful force in my development as a chess player.)

Perhaps the ONLY criticism that I could offer of this book is that the openings look a little dated, a player who wants to see ONLY modern games should skip this one. But this book is a bargain, and if you want to study some great chess, and {also} be influenced by the writings of Nimzovich, then grab it!

This book isn't even the best book that Nimzovich himself wrote.

It appears to be a straightforward account of the 1929 Carlsbad tournament.

However, Nimzovich, in the course of this book, assails Capablanca for adopting the true "hypermodern-restraint-blockade" course of play that Nimzovich felt was his patent.

Pure sour grapes on Nimzovich's fault.

If you don't mind reading a tournament book intermingled with polemics, this is the book for you.

The reader might view this aspect of the work as antiquatedly charmful (Imagine Anand assailing Shirov in book form!) but I view it as petty.

The book itself is adequate enough, though perhaps a tad less detailed in its variations then other contemporaneous books.

However, I would steer the general reader towards other tournament books such as Zurich 1953 by Bronstein, New York 1924 and/or 1927 by Alekhine, and Wijk aan Zee 1975 by Kavalek ahead of this book.

Readers interested in reading more of Nimzovich's material beyond "My System" and "Chess Praxis" should likewise skip this book until they've read "Blockade" by Nimzovich and "Aron Nimzowitsch: A Reappraisal" by Keene.

There are better tournament books out there. There are better books about and by Nimzovich out there. This book is not essential reading, unless you must have everything Nimzovich.

I first read of Curacao in Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games, one of my first chess books, and quickly learned the names of these titans of Chess that Fischer clashed with at other times in his seminal book (one of the best chess books of all time--the old one, not the mistake-ridden revised one). But Timman at last supplies some real light on what was the great Paul Keres' last run for Challenger to the World Champion (2nd place--4 times!), and also about the politics and intrigue that went on that Fischer complained about and later was proven to be for the most part true. Some photographs of the event--a rarity indeed (a young Petrosian, and a young Kortchnoi who's intense glare hasn't changed in a half-century of play) with a human touch about the players, albeit a so short biography of them outside of chess (some complained about the conditions, mostly of the Caribbean heat, not the playing hall). I don't think Timman included all the games (there were many arranged draws) and only a few games are analyzed in great detail (he is spare in using analysis of other players' analyses such as Fischer & Tal & Kortchnoi who did publish selected games from Curacao), but he managed to find critical quotes and notes from the Patriarch and others observing the games and players, brief and insightful as they are. This is not a deep book, but it was entertaining and more revealing about some the greats. These were real people, though to me they are not mere heroes, but the real gods of Caissa's folklore as they fought amongst themselves for the privilege of playing for Zeus's (Botvinnik's) crown. But it left me wanting more: more on the intrigue, more about the players' thoughts, likes & dislikes about each others and their situations (Benko had been stateless as a refugee--a little known fact), and something more of a 'where are they now.' or since (Keres died in 1975, Petrosian in 1984, Geller I thought was one of great innovators in opening theory particularly the Sicilian and was a second for Karpov. Fischer descended into tragedy after becoming World Champion, Tal's health problems plagued him throughout his life--he died in 1994, and Kortchnoi had the career of Odysseus--and presently gives the new generation of Grandmasters 'lessons' on what candidate level play should be.) This is a good historical tract and game collection.
Now if Timman could take on Portoroz, 1958 ... some sequels (pre-quels?) can succeed the first attempt (Spider-Man & Spider-Man II, some argue Godfather II is better than Godfather). Go to it, Jan!

First and formost I congratulate Jan Timman for his efforts to make a book about tournament which was played 44 years ago (wau!). It must have been a great tournament in that respect!?
Well, possibly or possibly not. We now know about a plot to draw games between themselves involving Petrosian, Geller and Keres. And we know about Tal health issues which forced him to finaly pull out from the tournament, and he was out of form anyway, with just a few very good games. So we can almost exclude half of the games played from serious analysis.
Benko and Filip were slightly below the strenght of the others at the tourney, with occasional brilliances, which are very worth of study. So I must say that, basically, we are left with Fisher and Korchnoi here.
I would personally have a very hard time writing a book in that circumstances.
Since Curacao was played so long time ago, I doubt if not for Timman now and here, that anyone could or would write this kind of book in the future.
I like Timmans commentary on analyzed games, he is at least on paar in this book with his usual analitical skills. I like many fotos in the book too, most of them I didnt saw untill now.
It is a pitty that Timman didnt anotate a single drawn game. I doubt there were no some good fights in there.
To conclude: To be honest, Timman pulled a great job covering the tournament which was not so great by itself. Nevertheless its a worth of looking into some stories and many good games which today constitute a skeleton of modern chess opening theory. Lot of Sicilians, Spanish, English and Reti for fans.

I had low expectations for this after reading a couple of reviews on other sites. But I have to say that I really enjoyed it.

Bridge is certainly not my area of expertise; I know how the game generally works, can bid my way into losing 7NT contracts with virtually no effort, and I've even played a hand once or twice. So don't let a lack of bridge knowledge stop you from reading this.

While it's about bridge (and "serious" bridge is a surprisingly cut-throat arena) it's really more about people, and specifically John Swanson's experiences preparing for and playing in Bermuda Bowls during the 1970s.

The Bermuda Bowl, which you've probably never heard of if you don't play bridge, is sort of the World Series of Bridge. Played every two years in random 2.5-star hotels around the world, top teams from around the world get together to slug it out in duplicate contract bridge. (It's called the Bermuda Bowl because the first one was in Bermuda, not because everyone wears Bermuda shorts and sits in a tiny punch bowl.)

And, of course, a few competitive cut-throat bridge players try to cheat. About the only way to cheat at Bridge (other than utterly crass methods such as peeking at hands or stacking decks) is, as the engineers would say, "out of band signalling"--various and sundry methods to tell your partner what your hand is while the bidding is going on.

While they had introduced "bidding screens" in the 1975 event to try to prevent this, no one had considered the possibility of... foot contact.

Well, read the book. It's an interesting, sometimes amusing look at a weird little world, and I think presents the author's viewpoint fairly and reasonably. It's not a "perfect" book--there are a few spelling errors and odd grammatical constructs--but it's really worth a read.

I liked the coverage of cheating in high level Bridge.

Good coverage of some of the strong players of the authors era.
- the sections on Walsh were great
- the author pokes fun at himself
- I think Bobby Hamman has a funnier section on Lew Mathe in his book At the Table


A reasonable selection of hands that went down, were misbid, or well played. Plus a few questions for the reader "How would you play this on a club lead?"