If you are in AC in a game of Texas Hold’em with someone who knows only half as much as Bellin, don’t play it all the way to...
An inveterate poker player madly devoted to the insidious card game presents tales from the world of scarred and victorious veterans wrapped up in a technical hornbook on some of the fine points of play and a primer of the philosophy and practice of gambling. Serious poker players will find the illustrative anecdotes apt and instructive. Dilettantes, however, should take the savvy lessons with a grain of salt, since they may not be easy to apply at the table. For the complete card doofus, Bellin still provides mild over-the-shoulder entertainment. Sketching the evolution of the game and its history in Vegas, he explicates the clues gleaned from players’ tics (“tells”) and the signs of panic playing (“tilts”). Don’t look at the deal, he advises, but watch the players who are watching the “flop.” Bellin writes of memory, of creating a “book” on regular opponents, of ways to bluff, of methods of cheating and (why not?) of sex. Probability and game theory, statistics, and other inexorable laws of poker and nature make obligatory appearances, along with helpful tables and charts and a glossary.
If you are in AC in a game of Texas Hold’em with someone who knows only half as much as Bellin, don’t play it all the way to the river. You’re drawing dead. He wins. Cash in your chips and go home with a good book about poker—like this one.Pub Date: March 10, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-621066-6
Page Count: 300
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2002
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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