Hold’em Hands I Played Badly, Lem Banker’s Book of Sports Betting and more
By T. Dana Smith (for Howard Schwartz) - Gambler's Book Shop Las Vegas
If you won a gold bracelet at this year’s World Series of Poker or if you bet thousands in the Big Game at the Aria, don’t buy Michael Hesse’s new book, Hold’em Hands I Played Badly (288 pgs, $19.95). But if you love playing limit hold’em in your favorite casino—and you want to start making some real money at the game—this is the book for you! Relying on math, strategy and instincts, Hesse shows you how you too can win more money than you ever thought possible. How? By learning from the mistakes he made on his way up the ladder.
This new angle on winning—by eliminating common mistakes—is a powerful teaching tool. After clearly showing you how to determine your outs (his Rule of 42 is strong stuff), he gives you illustrated hands he has played and then asks “What Should I Have Done?” The answers are “The Lessons,” each designed to teach you how to avoid costly errors. Who is this Hesse, you ask? He’s a 30-year veteran, semi-pro player of limit hold’em cash games, and a professional analyst of mathematical systems with degrees from UCLA and MIT.
Chapters include Playing Drawing Hands, Playing Raising Hands, How to Play Tricky Hands. Using 31 real-life, illustrated game scenarios, he shows you How to Correct Mistakes in Judgment. The final chapter includes 70 hands that illustrate the winning principles of limit hold’em. “Three skills make you a successful poker player,” he says. “Knowing the math and strategies of the game, observing everything and everybody at the table, and using psychological insights to your advantage.” While the Marines are looking for a few good men, you’re looking for a few good hands in the right situations. Hesse expertly shows you how to find and play them for the maximum profit. This one’s a keeper!
Although it was originally published in 1986, sports betting icon , writtLem Banker’s Book of Sports Bettingen with co-author Frederick C. Klein, (182 pgs spiral bound, $29.95) is still a classic in its field. Endorsed by Mort Olshan of Gold Sheet fame, the book covers football, basketball, baseball and boxing, with timeless tips on money management and betting the early line.
Banker, who has made a fine living for years as an expert sports bettor, gained national recognition with his syndicated columns and appearances on TV with his weekly tips, which he delivered with a savvy insider’s gift for gab. “People ask me how they can do what I do. I tell ‘em to work at it 70 hours a week, like me,” he says. He typically bets between $3,000 and $20,000 a game on a dozen or more football games, not your average bets, but “if you go about it right, you can come out ahead and have a lot of fun,” he says. The trick is going about it right, but no problem—he guides you with his best advice in a conversational style that entertains while it educates.
Lost in Las Vegas (400 pgs, $26.95), Avery Cardoza’s new novel about two rubes on a weekend junket to Sin City who get themselves into a hornet’s nest of trouble, makes a unique holiday gift for your gaming friends. It’s a LOL romp through the underbelly of Vegas, with the usual suspects: a gorgeous yet dangerous vixen, mean Mafia types, crooked poker players, and seedy guys lurking in dark alleys.
These books are available at Gambler's Book Club in Las Vegas. You can order them at www.gamblersbookclub.com or phone the store at 1-800-522-1777 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific time. Opened in 1964, GBC is located at 5473 S. Eastern between Tropicana and Russell, just a short drive from the Strip. View the store's complete line of books, CDs, videos and software at the web site.
