More Book Reviews

Best Selling Poker Books of 2014How did the new books compare to the old classics? Well, we will let the data speak for itself. Take a look at the list of the best selling poker books of 2014.Deal Me In and Eat Professional Poker Players Alive ReviewedThere isn't a clear path by which people become professional poker players. There aren't any good courses at the local vo-tech for a person to study. The road to becoming a poker pro is inevitably difficult, circuitous, and filled with setbacks. Deal Me In is a book describing the course by which twenty top poker players became professionals. Poker Winners Are DifferentThere is a big difference between what's typical human behavior and what is called for to play poker at a high level. There aren't a lot of people for whom maximizing their expectation in poker games comes naturally. Poker Winners Are Different by Alan Schoonmaker examines this conundrum.

Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour and Greed

by Jeff Burbank

Las Vegas Babylon is a lively, photo-filled, and entertaining compilation of stories chronicling decades of celebrity scandals, mobsters, true crimes, and decadence in the most notoriously sinful city in the world. Using new information from recently released FBI documents, Burbank brings to life the Vegas mob in its hey-day, recounting never before heard tales of the Vegas mobsters who made Vegas what is today.

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How to Spot a Liar

by Gregory Hartley

Author Greg Hartley is a decorated military interrogator who has used the techniques in How to Spot a Liar for 16 years to get the truth from enemy combatants. He has successfully applied them to project management and in contract negotiations, to resolve conflict and prevail. Now he shares this scientific process with you so you can use it every day. Who needs How to Spot a Liar? Anyone with a cheating spouse or manipulative boss. Anyone conducting job interviews or cold-calling prospective customers. Lawyers who need to 'read' witnesses or jurors. Anyone trying to survive the dating scene or faced with a string of business meetings with clients. Anyone who has teenagers at home or works on Capitol Hill. Anyone whose success and happiness depends on clear interaction with others. And, most importantly, anyone who wants to become just a bit more inscrutable at the poker table!

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Dark side of Vegas, magic, lying; three new titles arrive at Gambler's Book Store

by Howard Schwartz

Three unusual, but fascinating books have arrived at Gambler's Book Shop in Las Vegas: Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour and Greed by Jeff Burbank (280 pages, hardbound, $21.95); TheHoward Schwartz, the "librarian for gamblers," is the marketing director for Gambler's Book Club in Las Vegas, a position he has held since 1979. Author of hundreds of articles on gambling, his weekly book reviews appear in numerous publications throughout the gaming industry. Howard's website is www.gamblersbook.com <a rel='nofollow' href='http://www.readybetgo.com/phpadsnew/adclick.php?n=abcc77e6' target='_BLANK'><img src='http://www.readybetgo.com/phpadsnew/adview.php?n=abcc77e6' border='0' alt='Advertisement'></a> Glorious Deception (The Double Life of William Robinson, also known as Chung Ling Soo, The Marvelous Chinese Conjurer) by Jim Steinmeyer (481 pages, hardbound, $27) and How to Spot a Liar by Gregory Harley and Maryann Karinch (263 pages, paperbound, $14.99).

Burbank, who also wrote License to Steal, which tells the story of some of the most controversial figures ever encountered by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, including cheaters, here concentrates on high profile mobsters, movie stars, entertainers, casino owners, incidents and politicians in 32 juicy chapters. Well-illustrated and with a nine-page detailed index, it'll be an eye-opener for those unaware of Las Vegas' colorful, unorthodox history. Names named include Bugsy Siegel, Moe Dalitz, Marilyn Monroe, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Jayne Mansfield, John F. Kennedy, Lenny Bruce, Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, Sonny Liston, Phyllis McGuire, Harry Reid, Kirk Kerkorian, Benny Binion, Steve Wynn.

There's nothing really earthshaking about the book. It's written well, culled from a variety of previous resources. It's a quick, easy read for those planning to move to, or visit Las Vegas for the first time. Besides, Las Vegas is perennial hot subject--constantly in the limelight for its constant changes, bizarre incidents and its believe-it-or-not approach to normality.

The Glorious Deception focuses on one of magic history's greatest and oddest stage performers. Even Houdini was awed by this man’s feats, which included an act called Defying the Bullets, an effect in which he caught marked bullets on a porcelain plate. It was a time (1918) a New York when a boy could successfully reinvent himself as the world's greatest Chinese magician. Illustrated and well-indexed, it is written by an author who himself invented many of the famous illusions used by leading magicians from Siegfried & Roy to Ricky Jay. Steinmeyer also created David Copperfield's vanish of the Statue of Liberty.

How to Spot a Liar (Why People Don't Tell The Truth and How You Can Catch Them) is designed for individuals who conduct job interviews; who has a cheating spouse or manipulative boss; someone who is trying to survive the dating scene; who work in politics. Co-author Hartley has worked as a military interrogator.

The book should come in handy for casino human resources personnel during recruitment or for those who seek a job, helping prepare for those "curveball questions" often tossed unexpectedly at applicants.

Although this might be a stretch, the book has some angles a poker player might wish to adopt to counter ploys by opponents seeking to find out if you've been bluffing, why you remain calm or stoic or to try to force you into a "tilt" mode.