Play to win. Play like a champion.In Winning Fantasy Baseball, Larry Schechter discloses the secrets of his proven methods. Packed with commonsense, easy-to-use strategies for beginners through experienced players, Schechter supplies readers with a toolkit to achieve the most important thing in fantasy ball--winning! Some have called Schechter one of the best fantasy baseball players in the world. He is the only two-time winner of the CDM Sports national salary-cap challenge, having defeated 7,500 competitors in 2002 and 6,000 in 2005. He is also a five-time winner of the renowned Tout Wars experts league and a member of the USA Today-sponsored League of Alternative Baseball Reality (LABR).Readers will learn directly from the champ everything they need to know about:- how to project player stats;- how to convert those stats into a specific value;- strategy for snake drafts, and mono-league and mixed auctions;- selecting teams using a salary cap;- playing in keeper leagues;- and performing in-season management.Although the book is primarily about fantasy baseball, many of the concepts also apply to fantasy football and other fantasy sports.

    If you're like most players, you struggle with nearly every aspect of the game: offense, defense, execution and combos, and generally having a game plan that is more complex than just mashing buttons at every opportunity. A Road Map Toward Improvement Street Fighter is a game that requires practice, finesse, and knowledge. Unfortunately, most players don't have any guidance on where to begin when learning the game which leads to lots of frustration and losses. This guide is designed to give you a road map for improving your skills so that when SF5 drops you can hit the ground running!Lots of players are under the misconception that since SF5 is a brand new game, there's no point in playing SF4 and improving. While it is true that there will be lots to learn in SF5 such as new engines and characters, this is not a reason not to improve on your Street Fighter fundamentals in the meantime. The Importance of a Solid Foundation Like anything else worth doing in life, developing a foundation of solid fundamentals is the key to improving. Even though SF5 will have brand new characters and mechanics, the core elements of Street Fighter remain the same throughout the franchise. Execution, footsies and space control, combos, punishing, and resource management are important in all Street Fighter games and this guide will show you how to use SF4 to improve on these aspects of your game. Who is gootecks and why should I bother? I've played Street Fighter competitively since 2003, starting with Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and continuing with Street Fighter 4. I've traveled to compete in tournaments around the world, including places like Japan, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and Europe.A lot of people may know me as the co-host of Excellent Adventures of gootecks & Mike Ross, or perhaps from my work on Cross Counter TV, the entertainment network for fighting game fans.Recently, I've begun training players just like yourself through Cross Counter Training, where players like EG.Justin Wong, EG.K-Brad, Alex Myers are available for helping players of all skill levels improve. Through working with my students, I've developed what I believe to be an extremely effective method of learning how to play Street Fighter. This method is based on the idea of learning one tiny aspect of the game at a time through the eyes of the poster boy of Street Fighter, Ryu. "But Ryu is boring, gootecks!" I know, I know, you think Ryu is boring and everybody plays him and you want to play a cool, flashy character so you can style on people on stage at Evo someday. Unfortunately, you'll need to learn how to walk before you can run and there is no better investment of time as a new player than to learn Ryu in order to build a strong foundation.Taking this time now to develop your fundamentals will serve you well as you transition to Street Fighter 5. Ryu is definitely different in SF5, but the tools and concepts you'll learn in this guide will give you a leg up on the competition when SF5 drops.

     Chess is one of the world’s most popular board games, and is played by millions of people from all walks of life in parks, homes, online and tournaments. This two-player game is played on a checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight by eight grid called a chessboard. The game begins with each player possessing 16 pieces, 8 pawns, two rooks (sometimes called castles), two bishops, two knights, a queen and a king. The different player’s pieces are colored differently and are usually either black or white, though colors may vary. Regardless of the color variation though, each ‘team’ is referred to as either black or white. The objective of the game is to ‘checkmate’ the opponent’s king by placing it in such a position that it cannot escape capture. There are other methods to winning the game, such as when an opponent forfeits or resigns from the match. Forfeitures are normally as a result of the opponent losing too many pieces, or if a checkmate is seen as inevitable. There are also circumstances where the game ends in a draw for various reasons, meaning that neither player wins. The first official world chess championship was held in 1886 between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukerfort. The victor and thus the first official World Champion was Wilhelm Seinitz. Since the creation of the World Chess Federation in Paris in 1924, the best chess players in the world have been awarded the title of Grandmaster, which is the highest accolade a chess player can get apart from world champion. The latter half of the 20th century saw computers being programmed to play chess, with many home computers now being able to play with such a high level of sophistication that they can outwit some of the best human players. The first computer to ever beat a reigning world champion was the computer Deep Blue, which beat Garry Kasparov in a match in 1997. What You're Going to Learn: Origins and History of Chess Rules and Notations Movements in the Game The Pieces, Their Movements and Values Chess Strategy and Tactics Tips for Beginners What Not to Do More Tactics ...And Much More! Ready to Play Like a Pro ? * * * DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY TODAY * * *

    It covered jazz, of course, but it also included Davis’s ruminations on race, politics and culture. Fascinated, Hef sent the writer—future Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alex Haley, an unknown at the time—back to glean even more opinion and insight from Davis. The resulting exchange, published in the September 1962 issue, became the first official Playboy Interview and kicked off a remarkable run of public inquisition that continues today—and that has featured just about every cultural titan of the last half century.To celebrate the Interview’s 50th anniversary, the editors of Playboy have culled 50 of its most (in)famous Interviews and will publish them over the course of 50 weekdays (from September 4, 2012 to November 12, 2012) via Amazon’s Kindle Direct platform. Here is that first Interview with Miles Davis.

    Then they did what any red-blooded teenagers with mountains of cash and no responsibilities would do: They partied like rock stars, transforming themselves from Internet nerds with zero life skills into legends, at least in their own minds.In Ship It Holla Ballas!, Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback trace the rise and fall of Internet poker through the eyes of its most unlikely stars: A group of teenage college dropouts, united by social media, who bluffed their way to the top of the game.

    You know tilt costs you money, but do you know how to make it go away? You know position is important, but do you really know how to profit from that knowledge? Elements of Poker is the distilled wisdom of a master. Published in 2007, this book is praised by poker pros worldwide as a timeless classic.

    . . think again. And whatever you do, don’t sit down across a gaming table from Jon Finkel, better known as Jonny Magic. Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids is his amazing true story: the jaw-dropping, zero-to-hero chronicle of a fat, friendless boy from New Jersey who found his edge in a game of cards–and turned it into a fortune.The ultimate bully-magnet, Finkel grew up heckled and hazed until destiny came in the form of a trading-card game called Magic: The Gathering. Magic exploded from nerdy obsession to mainstream mania and made the teenage Finkel an ultracool world champion. Once transformed, this young shark stormed poker rooms from the underground clubs of New York City to the high-stakes tables online, until he landed on the largest card-counting blackjack team in the country. Taking Vegas for millions, Finkel’s squad of brainy gamers became the biggest players in town. Then they took on the town’s biggest game, the World Series of Poker, and walked away with more than $3.5 million.Thrilling, edgy, and ferociously feel-good, the odyssey of these underdogs-turned-overlords is the stuff of pop-culture legend. And David Kushner, acclaimed author of Masters of Doom, masterfully deals out the outrageous details while bringing to life a cast of characters rife with aces, kings, knaves . . . and more than a few jokers. If you secretly believe every player has his day, you’re right. Here’s the proof.From the Hardcover edition.

    The success of the book quickly spread around the world and is currently translated in eight different languages. Are you ready to look at poker in a different way and transform your own game? What "secret" separates top poker players from poker wannabes?Is it zen-like mind-reading skills, a computer-like brain or thousands of hours of play? No. It is a series of established approaches and behaviors that enables these experts to bring their "A" game to the table session after session, regardless of short-term results.In this groundbreaking book, Taylor and Hilger lay bare the secrets of the Poker Mindset seven core attitudes and concepts that ensure you have the optimal emotional, psychological, and behavioral framework for playing superior poker.The Poker Mindset deeply explores vital topics that most poker books only touch upon: - Tilt: What it really is, why and when you are most prone to it, and how you can avoid it.- Bankroll: A complete examination of bankroll management from a technical, but more importantly, from a psychological and emotional viewpoint.- Opponents: How to determine your competitors' mental and emotional processes so that you can dominate, out think and outplay them.- Downswings: Every poker player experiences them, but you will truly understand and be armed against low ebbs when they occur.- Bad Beats: The Poker Mindset will enable you to overcome the trauma of bad beats and losing big pots.Poker is a fun game, but it is even more fun when you win. The Poker Mindset may be the most valuable poker book you will ever read. Embrace its concepts and you can overcome the unseen obstacles that are limiting your success at the table.When you make the Poker Mindset your mindset, you will take control of your game and walk away a winner.

    Tough, revealing and hilarious - this is long-awaited life story of poker legend Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott. The most successful British player in poker history, and one of only a few to crack America. He takes us on the rollercoaster ride of a pro-gambler's life, never dodging the dangers, failures and fights. From a council estate in Hull to a penthouse suite in Las Vegas; from cracking safes to parties at the Playboy mansion; and, from losing $700,000 in a day to TV's Late Night Poker triumph. Devilfish has seen it all, done it all, survived defeat, tasted victory, walked through fire, and still come out cracking jokes. And over five million quid ahead. Welcome to the high life and high times of the Devilfish.

    Next Level Magic is a comprehensive course on realizing your goals in playing Magic the Gathering.

     At twenty-four, Josh Axelrad held down a respectable and ominously dull job on Wall Street. Adventure was a tuna fish sandwich instead of the usual turkey for lunch. Then one night, a stranger at a cocktail party persuaded him to leave the nine-to-five behind and pursue an unlikely dream: the jackpot. The stranger was a blackjack card counter, and he sold Axelrad on the vision of Vegas with all its intrigue, adventure- and cash. "Repeat Until Rich" is Axelrad's taut, atmospheric, and darkly hilarious account of ditching the mundane and entering the alternative universe of professional blackjack. Axelrad has one thing in common with his team: Jon Roth, the leader and a former options trader; Neal Matcha, a recovering lawyer; Aldous Kaufman, a retired math Ph.D. candidate. They all thrived in the straight world, found success boring, and vowed to make life more exotic. Axelrad adopts Roth's philosophy-"repeat until rich"-and from his strategy and skill spring hasty retreats across casino floors, high-speed car chases, arrests on dubious grounds, and the massive cash paydays that make it all worthwhile. Along the way, he unveils the tactics and debunks the myths of professional card counters. In team play, he's either the "big player," who bets the big money, or the "controller," who subtly coordinates the team's betting while wagering only the minimum himself. Counting is not illegal, and it's less intellectually daunting than its MIT-level mystique suggests. With clarity and wit, "Repeat Until Rich" proves the old gambler's maxim that "if you can tip a waiter, you can count cards." But it also proves how zealous, even forceful, casino bosses can be in "backing off" counters-seeing past their undercover methods and banning them from the tables. Josh soon grows to love all this trouble, and discovers, more than the money, what he needs most of all is the rush. Filled with actual bad guys, chase scenes, and high stakes, "Repeat Until Rich" offers an intoxicating, unprecedented view of the dangerous allure of living off the cards and one's wits.

    This task would be impossible if a player had to actually think about every other hand in his range, but by understanding theoretical sound poker, he can quickly design balanced ranges using the proper bet-sizing while playing. Applications of No-Limit Hold 'em teaches theoretical sound poker, and thus the ability to create the bet-sizings and ranges which will beat the better players. The theory in this book is not designed to be complex or abstract, but rather it's intended to be applied immediately producing better overall results.Many confusing concepts such as overbetting, balancing multiple bet-sizing ranges, donk betting, and check-raising as the preflop raiser are crucial to a player's strategy despite few players implementing them or talking

    Yet his return to stasis is fraught with peril as a rogue AI - last legacy of the war that ended life on Earth - slaughters the crew.Once inside the game he realizes his troubles have only begun. Unable to destroy the ship, the hostile intelligence has invaded Argos.Partnered with the most powerful human player, the rogue has introduced a new mechanic: true death. With no way to leave stasis and regain his administrative controls, Michael Hobbes must quest, conquer, and gain allies to take on a seemingly unstoppable guild.Hobbes is no leader and ill-suited to become one, yet the fate of the human race rests on his shoulders, and his only hope of victory is to follow a unique and seemingly impossible quest chain.The Divine Koan.

    Poker's biggest players, such as Phil Ivey (2009 WSOP Main Event Finalist), Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu give first-person accounts of their personal journeys and the key moments in their rise to the top of the poker pantheon. These stories will teach, inspire and make you laugh. Deal Me In humanizes the larger-than-life personalities, allowing the reader to understand more about poker strategy through the trials and errors of the best players in the game. Each poker legend tells his or her own story in the book including: Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Annie Duke, Johnny Chan, Chris Jesus Ferguson, Carlos Mortensen, Chau Giang, Jennifer Harman, Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, Chad Brown, David Devilfish Ulliott, Layne Flack, Scotty Nguyen, Annette Obrestad, Tom Dwan and the 2008 Main Event winner Peter Eastgate.

    Entertaining and accessible.” —USA TodayJournalist and poker fanatic Andy Bellin takes readers on a raucous journey into the shut-up-and-deal world of professional poker. From basement games to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, you'll look over his shoulder as he learns to count cards, read a legendary player's body language, hang in there when the chips are down, and take his beatings like a man. Even if you don't know the difference between a flop and a river card, Bellin keeps you in the game with his portraits of the colorful players, dreamers, hustlers, and eccentrics who populate this strange subculture. Along with learning what goes on behind the scenes in illegal poker clubs, you'll get great advice on how to play Texas Hold'em, today's game of choice for big-money players.