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Forum Archive :
Books
Munchkin: Gambling Wizards
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Raccoon's comment about being away from the game for several months
and having a lot to catch up on made me think of a book I just
finished reading: Gambling Wizards: Conversations with the World's
Greatest Gamblers by Richard W. Munchkin. (~300 pages, midsized
softcover format, $20 + shipping, available from CJC's store)
Munchkin is Jake Jacobs's brother (I don't know why the name
difference, probably a story in itself) and a backgammon player going
back in the 70's, although (I think) exclusively West of the
Mississippi. He interviews eight successful pro gamblers who discuss
their many (some wild) experiences in blackjack, poker, backgammon,
horse betting, sports betting, slots (yes, you can be a favorite), and
their lives both before and since achieving success. Anyone who enjoys
any of these games, and particularly anyone who ever thought s/he
might want to make gambling a profession will like this book.
Munchkin is an excellent writer. He explains the terminology (and
there's a lot of it) as the words are introduced, has footnotes at the
end of each chapter (a "chapter" is an interview of a single person
and covers from 20 to 40 pages) where he goes into detail on some
points, particularly detailing lives of some secondary characters
(e.g. Magriel) and also explaining some of the finer points for those
who are unfamiliar with some of the details of how these games are
played.
I particularly like the amount of BG stories in this book. (It's rare
to find much written about backgammon people.) There is a chapter on
Mike Svobodny and another on Stan Tomchin (top BG pro back in the 70's
and early 80's), and he asks other players (e.g. poker pro Chip Reese)
about their BG experiences as well, although most of the backgammon is
in the Svobo and Tomchin chapters.
In general, these people really open up and you get a good feel for
what kind of people they are (e.g. integrity) and what kind of
qualities it takes to be a success. IMO there's quite a bit of general
knowledge you can get from reading this book.
A couple things from the Svobodny chapter are worth detailing here.
One is a question about how to stay on top of the game. Svobo talks
about how a particular individual (who name isn't revealed) was one of
the top players before computers came along but now isn't because he's
failed to take advantage of all the new information available. You
also see this kind of thing discussed in other parts of the book,
particularly in regards to poker.
Most of these people come across as pretty 'straight-laced' outside of
their primary fields, but the Svobodny chapter has some pretty
outrageous stuff. In one case he experiments (actually the
idea/hypothesis was his friends) about how one's BG performance can be
affected by outside influences. He plays backgammon while having sex
(his BG opponent is NOT his sex partner). Don't try this at home!
(Well, OK, if you're going to try it at all, better that it be at
home.) His mind is actually so distracted that he moves the checkers
backward without even realizing it.
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Books
- Bagai: Classic Backgammon Revisited (Gregg Cattanach, Feb 2002)
- Bagai: Classic Backgammon Revisited #100 (Raccoon, Nov 2004)
- Bagai: Classic Backgammon Revisited--Errata (Jeremy Bagai+, Apr 2005)
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- Ball: Alpha Backgammon (James Takahashi+, May 1994)
- Ballard & Weaver: Backgammon Openings Book A (Marty Storer, Jan 2008)
- Ballard & Weaver: Backgammon Openings Book A (Mislav Radica, Nov 2007)
- Ballard & Weaver: Backgammon Openings Book A (Rob Adams+, Oct 2007)
- Ballard & Weaver: Backgammon Openings Book A (Gregg Cattanach, Oct 2007)
- Ballard & Weaver: Backgammon Openings Book A (Neil Kazaross+, Jan 2005)
- Ballard & Weaver: Backgammon Openings--Volunteers needed (Nack Ballard, June 2007)
- Barr: Barr on Backgammon (Walter Swan+, Feb 1996)
- Becker: Backgammon for Blood (Gus, Mar 2003)
- Becker: Backgammon for Blood (PTaber+, June 1999)
- Becker: Backgammon for Blood (Michael Fuhrmann, Aug 1997)
- Becker: Backgammon for Blood (Daniel Murphy, July 1997)
- Becker: Backgammon for Blood (Durf Freund+, May 1994)
- Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube (&Atilda;˜ystein Johansen+, Apr 2006)
- Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube (André Nicoulin, Oct 2000)
- Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube (David Montgomery, May 1999)
- Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube (Peter Bell, Aug 1998)
- Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube (Jacques Torrione, Feb 1998)
- Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube (Robert Scibelli, Dec 1997)
- Bell: Winning with the Doubling Cube (Kevin Bastian, Nov 1997)
- Bray: Backgammon for Blood (Chris Bray, Sept 2007)
- Bray: Backgammon to Win (Chris Bray, June 2007)
- Bray: Backgammon to Win, second edition (Chris Bray, Aug 2012)
- Bray: Backgammon--An Independent View (Chris Bray, May 1998)
- Bray: Backgammon--An Independent View Revisited (Chris Bray+, Jan 2005)
- Bray: Second Wind (Chris Bray, May 2007)
- Bray: What Colour is the Wind? (Chris Bray+, June 2002)
- Bray: What Colour is the Wind?--Rerelease (Chris Bray, Sept 2006)
- Brooks: Backgammon's Best Openings and Replies (Chuck Bower+, Dec 2004)
- Clay: Backgammon Winning Strategies (Michael Strato, Nov 1999)
- Clay: Backgammon Winning Strategies (Gary Wong, Jan 1998)
- Cooke & Bradshaw: Backgammon--The Cruelest Game (Chuck Bower+, Aug 1998)
- Cooke & Orléan: Championship Backgammon (Timothy Chow+, Apr 2011)
- Cooke & Orléan: Championship Backgammon (Marty Storer, Sept 2004)
- Cooke: Paradoxes and Probabilities (Neil Kazaross+, Sept 2004)
- Cooke: Paradoxes and Probabilities (Peter van Arkel+, Sept 2002)
- Cooke: Paradoxes and Probabilities (Donald Kahn, Dec 1998)
- Cooke: Paradoxes and Probabilities (Stephen Turner, Apr 1996)
- Corbett: Backgammon Problems (Stick+, Jan 2008)
- Deyong: The Playboy Book of Backgammon (Shuman Lloyd Lee, Aug 1991)
- Dwek: Backgammon for Profit (Bob Stringer, Sept 2002)
- Euler: Everyday Errors in Checker Play (BaronGossettEulerPhD+, June 2012)
- Garal: Fair Backgammon Tournament Rules (Jakob Garal, June 2007)
- Heinrich & Woolsey: New Ideas in Backgammon (Douglas Zare, Mar 2003)
- Heinrich & Woolsey: New Ideas in Backgammon (Craig E. Groeschel+, Sept 1998)
- Heinrich & Woolsey: New Ideas in Backgammon (David Montgomery, May 1997)
- Heyken & Fischer: The Backgammon Handbook (Martin Fischer, Sept 1998)
- Heyken & Fischer: The Backgammon Handbook (Marina Smith, Feb 1998)
- Hickey & Storer: What's Your Game Plan? (Timothy Chow, May 2011)
- Jacoby & Crawford: The Backgammon Book (Patrick Wilken, Aug 1991)
- Kansil: The Backgammon Quiz Book (Daniel Murphy, July 1997)
- Kansil: The Backgammon Quiz Book--Five problems (Chuck Bower, Oct 1997)
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- Kennedy & Papazian: Backgammon Master Games (Ben Fairbank+, Apr 1999)
- Kershaw: Backgammon Funfair (Tom Keith+, July 2012)
- Kershaw: Backgammon Funfair (Peter Bennet, May 2012)
- Lamford: 100 Backgammon Puzzles (Harold Simon+, Oct 2001)
- Lamford: 100 Backgammon Puzzles (Mark Driver, July 2001)
- Lamford: 100 Backgammon Puzzles--Snowie analysis (Michael Schell, Oct 2001)
- Lamford: Improve Your Backgammon (Alef Rosenbaum, May 2003)
- Leet: Winning Backgammon (Ryan Long, Apr 2002)
- Leet: Winning Backgammon (MW Book Review, July 1999)
- Lortz: Double ... now: An Authentic Cube Remedy (Chuck Bower+, Jan 2004)
- Mabardi & Luce: Vanity Fair's Backgammon to Win (Paul Tanenbaum, Feb 1998)
- Magriel: Backgammon (Baldo+, Mar 2004)
- Magriel: Backgammon (Neil Kazaross, July 2003)
- Magriel: Backgammon (Chuck Bower, Nov 1999)
- Magriel: Backgammon (Dean Gay, Sept 1999)
- Magriel: Backgammon (David Montgomery+, Aug 1997)
- Magriel: Backgammon--2004 Edition (Tom Keith+, Dec 2004)
- Magriel: Backgammon--GnuBG evaluations (Randy, July 2008)
- Martyn: Phillip Martyn on Backgammon (Steve Brorens+, Nov 1996)
- Munchkin: Gambling Wizards (Chuck Bower, Aug 2003)
- Obolensky & James: Backgammon the Action Game (Edward D. Collins+, Oct 1999)
- Reese & Brinig: Backgammon: The Modern Game (Al Mirpuri+, Sept 2011)
- Robertie: 501 Essential Backgammon Problems (Paul Epstein, July 2005)
- Robertie: 501 Essential Backgammon Problems (Albert Silver, Nov 2002)
- Robertie: 501 Essential Backgammon Problems (Tore Fredriksen, July 2002)
- Robertie: 501 Essential Backgammon Problems (Erik M Sørensen, May 2000)
- Robertie: 501 Essential Backgammon Problems (Daniel Hollis, May 2000)
- Robertie: 501 Essential Backgammon Problems #75 (Hardy Hübener+, Nov 2005)
- Robertie: Advanced Backgammon (Doni+, Jan 2005)
- Robertie: Advanced Backgammon (Scott Steiner+, Sept 2002)
- Robertie: Advanced Backgammon (James Eibisch, Jan 1998)
- Robertie: Advanced Backgammon (Allen R. Adams, Nov 1995)
- Robertie: Advanced Backgammon #165 (Peter Grotrian+, Mar 2005)
- Robertie: Advanced Backgammon--Errata (Matt Senecal+, Nov 2004)
- Robertie: Advanced Backgammon--JF rollouts (Øystein Johansen, June 2001)
- Robertie: Advanced Backgammon--JF rollouts (Alexander Nitschke, Feb 1997)
- Robertie: Advanced Backgammon--JF rollouts (Peter Fankhauser, Jan 1996)
- Robertie: Backgammon for Winners (Carl Tait, Aug 1998)
- Robertie: Backgammon for Winners (Gerry Tesauro, Oct 1993)
- Robertie: Modern Backgammon (Mattias+, Apr 2003)
- Robertie: Modern Backgammon (Gregg Cattanach, Oct 2002)
- Robertie: Modern Backgammon (Frank Mazza+, May 2002)
- Robertie: Reno 1986 (AH+, Aug 2007)
- Shiina: Cube Action 1000 (Mochy, Feb 2013)
- Steed: Backgammon: The Meanest Game (Albert Steg, Aug 1998)
- Stern: Backgammon: The Quick Course to Winning Play (Mark Driver, May 2001)
- Storer: Backgammon Praxis (Chase+, Apr 2007)
- Storer: Backgammon Praxis (Marty Storer+, May 2004)
- Thorne's Backgammon Tactics (Reprint) (Sam Sloan, July 2012)
- Tremaine: Amazing Book of Backgammon (Jim Wallace, Feb 1998)
- Trice: Backgammon Boot Camp--2nd edition (Jeremy Bagai+, June 2007)
- Tzannes brothers: Backgammon Games and Strategies (Mark Driver, Apr 2001)
- Tzannes brothers: Backgammon Games and Strategies (Albert Steg, May 1994)
- Tzannes brothers: How Good Are You at Backgammon? (Mark Driver, July 2001)
- Wiggins: Boards, Blots, and Double Shots (Ned Cross+, Mar 2004)
- Williams: Backgammon Live in London (Sean Williams+, June 2008)
- Woolsey & Beadles: 52 Great Backgammon Tips (Paul Epstein+, Dec 2007)
- Woolsey & Beadles: 52 Great Backgammon Tips (Mislav Radica+, Oct 2007)
- Woolsey & Jones: Understanding Backgammon (Jon Nall+, Feb 2004)
- Woolsey: How to Play Tournament Backgammon (John Bazigos, Oct 1994)
- Woolsey: The Backgammon Encyclopedia Vol 1 (Dean Gay+, Feb 2004)
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