All In is the story of the greatest tournament in the world--the World Series of Poker. It began in 1970 as a mere gathering of Texas road gamblers who rendezvoused at Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas each spring. Today it has become a cultural phenomenon, attracting exhaustive national television coverage, legions of fans, and thousands of players, from legendary professionals to amateurs with little experience outside of their home games. And with good reason. The prize money for the 2005 tournament was more than the purses of the Masters, the Kentucky Derby, and Wimbledon combined. Professional poker players themselves, authors Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback combine interviews, firsthand accounts, and extensive archival research into a comprehensive and highly entertaining look at this incredibly unique experience, recounting its history through the breathtaking and sometimes brutal hands played at the Horseshoe's tables. They introduce colorful and seemingly fearless characters who, over the tournament's thirty-five-year history, have been lured by huge paydays--and the chance to play against the best in the world, including the legends: · Veteran road gamblers like Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim, whose success at the tables helped push poker into the national spotlight · The troubled poker savant Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, who would eclipse his unlikely debut at the World Series with an even more improbable comeback · And many others like "Poker Brat" Phil Hellmuth, who proved that you didn't need to be old or from Texas to master the game, and Chris Moneymaker, the man with the impossible name who parlayed $40 into $2.5 million All In is a no-limit look at the phenomenal transformation of poker from a vice hidden in shady back rooms into the hottest game on the planet. Where some of the World Series's simple charms have been lost, they have been replaced by a complicated human drama, huge in scope, where luck and skill forge an exciting and unpredictable intersection. Simply put, there is nothing else like it in the world. "If my old pal Benny Binion were still with us, he'd wet his britches seeing that his little publicity stunt in 1970 between a few Texans became a tournament with over $25 million in prize money. If you've ever played a hand of Texas Hold'em, you won't want to miss this book." --Amarillo Slim Preston, 1972 World Series of Poker champion and author of Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People "Reading this book is like having Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, and every single one of the World Series of Poker champions over to the house for dinner, a beer, tall tales, and a fine game of No Limit Texas Hold'em." -- Phil Gordon, coauthor of Poker: The Real Deal and cohost of Celebrity Poker Showdown

All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker

Humor & Entertainment

Reback, Storms

Grotenstein, Jonathan

Puzzles & Games

Thomas Dunne Books

Who were the Ship It Holla Ballas? 
Arguably the most successful poker crew of all time, they took advantage of the online poker boom to win tens of millions of dollars before most of them were old enough to set foot inside a casino. 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.

Ship It Holla Ballas!: How a Bunch of 19-Year-Old College Dropouts Used the Internet to Become Poker's Loudest, Craziest, and Richest Crew

St.Martin's Press

To be a kid in 2006 meant growing up with the Internet. A group of smart, resourceful teens used it to master the game of poker. Taking advantage of online poker's lightning-fast pace and lackluster efforts at age verification, they earned, in just a few months, the kind of professional gambling experience that used to take a lifetime.
The Ship It Holla Ballas were the most successful cards crew to come out of this new world order. With handles like Good2cu, Apathy, and Raptor, they communicated through message boards and online chats, comparing hands, sharing advice, and working together to develop new strategies. Emerging from dorm rooms and basements in places like Fort Worth, Texas; Okemos, Michigan; and Toronto, Canada, they joined up in Vegas, parked themselves in a mansion, and stuck it to the poker establishment―winning tens of millions of dollars before most of them were old enough to set foot inside a casino. Along the way, they did what any red-blooded teenagers with mountains of cash and no responsibilities would do: partied like rock stars, transforming themselves from Internet nerds with zero life skills into legends.
This is the twisted and incredible true story of the rise and fall of Internet poker, seen through the eyes of its most unlikely stars: teenage college dropouts, united by social media, who bluffed their way to the top of the game.

Biographies & Memoirs

St. Martin's: Griffin

A lot has been written about the time contractor Raymond Davis spent in a Pakistani jail in 2011. Unfortunately, much of it is misleading-or downright false-information. Now, the man at the center of the controversy tells his side of the story for the very first time. In The Contractor: How I Landed in a Pakistani Prison and Ignited a Diplomatic Crisis, Davis offers an up-close and personal look at the 2011 incident in Lahore, Pakistan, that led to his imprisonment and the events that took place as diplomats on both sides of the bargaining table scrambled to get him out. How did a routine drive turn into front-page news? Davis dissects the incident before taking readers on the same journey he endured while trapped in the Kafkaesque Pakistani legal system. As a veteran security contractor, Davis had come to terms with the prospect of dying long before the January 27, 2011 shooting, but nothing could prepare him for being a political pawn in a game with the highest stakes imaginable. An eye-opening memoir, The Contractor takes the veil off Raymond Davis's story and offers a sober reflection on the true cost of the War on Terror.

The Contractor: How I Landed in a Pakistani Prison and Ignited a Diplomatic Crisis

Davis, Raymond

Leaders & Notable People

Tantor Audio

In Farha on Omaha, Sam Farha, the world's greatest Omaha player, and Storms Reback, a noted poker writer, offer those new to the game of Omaha poker simple strategic tips that will help transform them into winning players. The authors provide strategies on how to beat the three most popular forms of Omaha—limit, eight-or-better, and pot-limit—in both cash games and tournaments. Providing practical advice and advanced strategy tips, and discussing specific hands from his victories at the World Series of Poker and high-stakes cash games in which millions of dollars were on the line, this book promises to turn beginners into winning players and winning players into champions.

Farha on Omaha: Expert Strategy for Beating Cash Games and Tournaments

Farha, Sam

Triumph Books

A lot of people have made up their minds about Rachel Doležal. But none of them know her real story. In June 2015, the media outed” Rachel Doležal as a white woman who had knowingly been passing” as Black. When asked if she were African American during an interview about the hate crimes directed at her and her family, she hesitated before ending the interview and walking away. Some interpreted her reluctance to respond and hasty departure as dishonesty, while others assumed she lacked a reasonable explanation for the almost unprecedented way she identified herself. What determines your race? Is it your DNA? The community in which you were raised? The way others see you or the way you see yourself? With In Full Color, Rachel Doležal describes the path that led her from being a child of white evangelical parents to an NAACP chapter president and respected educator and activist who identifies as Black. Along the way, she recounts the deep emotional bond she formed with her four adopted Black siblings, the sense of belonging she felt while living in Black communities in Jackson, Mississippi, and Washington, DC, and the experiences that have shaped her along the way.

In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World

Dolezal, Rachel

Community & Culture

BenBella Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Reback, Storms. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Reback, Storms

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Reback, Storms. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker

Ship It Holla Ballas!: How a Bunch of 19-Year-Old College Dropouts Used the Internet to Become Poker's Loudest, Craziest, and Richest Crew

Ship It Holla Ballas!: How a Bunch of 19-Year-Old College Dropouts Used the Internet to Become Poker's Loudest, Craziest, and Richest Crew

The Contractor: How I Landed in a Pakistani Prison and Ignited a Diplomatic Crisis

Farha on Omaha: Expert Strategy for Beating Cash Games and Tournaments

In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World