In a remarkably different approach from every other poker book, and a book that is written by a typical player for a typical player (not penned a TV pro) the author explains how he played hands badly, why he made those decisions, and afterward, why the plays were wrong and how they should have been played. Hesse has been charting his mistakes for 30 years as a tool for increasing his profits and avoiding bad plays in the future. This book is a result of the author’s painstaking effort. Readers learn from the thousands of dollars of mistakes and years of wrong moves made by Hesse and how they can avoid these struggles and instead, quickly get into profitable territory. As the author says, he wishes someone else had written this book so he wouldn’t have had to learn the hard way.

Michael Hesse has been a consistent winner at poker for three decades. A professional analyst of mathematical systems and a graduate of UCLA and MIT, Hesse became a part-time professional online and live poker player when he realized how much money could be made at the tables. For the last 35 years, he has been teaching professional poker players and other gamblers on how to increase their edge using systems he’s developed.

Edward Raymond Miller (August 10, 1979(1979-08-10)) is a professional poker player and an author of books about poker. He wrote Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play with David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth in 2004. In 2005, he completed Getting Started in Hold 'em, a beginner's book. In 2006, he co-wrote No Limit Hold 'Em: Theory and Practice with David Sklansky. Miller is also co-author of the book Professional No Limit Hold 'em with Matt Flynn and Sunny Mehta published in 2007. His most recent book is Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em co-authored with Sunny Mehta, and Matt Flynn. Miller also writes an online poker column and manages a poker discussion forum. He is part owner and produces educational poker videos for Stoxpoker, a subscription fee based poker coaching site. 

After prepping at New Orleans, Louisiana's prestigious Isidore Newman School where Miller was a standout performer on the school's renowned forensics team and in the same graduating class as noted author Christopher Rice and American Idol finalist Judd Harris. He was a member of the U.S. Physics Team. Ed Miller received degrees in both Physics and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. Initially, Miller worked as a software developer for Microsoft. After many months of poker playing in the Seattle area, Ed moved to Las Vegas in 2002 where he met Dr. Alan Schoonmaker, the author of The Psychology of Poker . Schoonmaker introduced Ed to David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth of Two Plus Two Publishing, LLC.[3] Ed married Elaine Vigneault in 2005. In 2006, Miller was made over by the Fab Five of the Bravo television show, Queer Eye.

 The Queer Eye summary: "You can't be in Vegas without running into a card shark and Ed is that card shark. But you wouldn't know it by looking at him. The wild hair, the overgrown beard, and the overall unkempt look keeps Ed from looking like the high roller that he is. He has a nerdy look but nerdy can be cool. Unfortunately, Ed hasn't gotten the 'cool' part. Even more unfortunate, Ed's parents lost their home during the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. This is a great time for our boys to 'make better' Ed and throw a poker tournament benefiting the relief efforts in New Orleans."

After living in Manhattan for two years,  Miller now lives and works in Las Vegas.

David G. Schwartz, the Director of the Center, has been at the University of Nevada Las Vegas since 2001. 

As Director of the Center for Gaming Research, he oversees the acquisition of new materials for the Center and seeks to encourage its utilization by scholarly, media, government, and industrial researchers. He also created and maintains this website, gaming.unlv.edu.

Complementing his work at UNLV, Schwartz is a writer, and consultant on gaming and related issues. He has consulted with law firms for prior art in gaming patent cases, delivered expert witness testimony about casino history, and helped casinos research and share their own company histories.

As a speaker, he talks to a variety of audiences, from visiting classes to convention groups, who enjoy his wide-ranging, fast-paced introduction to casino topics, including his "Seven Things You Should Know About Casinos" presentation.

Born and raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Schwartz earned his bachelor's degree (a double major in anthropology and history) as well as his master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania before seeking his doctorate in US History from UCLA.

He became the youngest Ph.D. in recent memory from UCLA's history department, filing his dissertation and receiving his Ph.D. at the age of 26 in early 2000. His dissertation, Suburban Xanadu,charted the evolution of the casino industry on the Las Vegas Strip from 1945-1978. It is now a published book, the first of three currently available. 

After completing his graduate studies, Schwartz worked in the surveillance department of an Atlantic City casino resort and taught casino history, communications, and hospitality courses as an adjunct professor, before coming to UNLV. In his current work, he combines his "real world" experience in the casino industry with his academic expertise. 

For more information about Dr. Schwartz's creative and professional activities, including his speaking, executive seminars, and consulting work., visit his website: http://www.dieiscast.com. 

Schwartz has written three books and numerous articles. His books include Suburban Xanadu: The Casino Resort on the Las Vegas Strip and Beyond, Cutting the Wire: Gaming Prohibition and the Internet, and Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.  Suburban Xanadu is a look at how casinos began and developed on the Las Vegas Strip in the years after World War II, and how they changed late 20th century ideas of gambling.  Cutting the Wire looks at how the Wire Act, the culimation of a half-century's effort to contain interstate bookmaking, ended up being used to prosecute legal online sports books in the early years of the Internet.  Roll the Bones is a comprehensive history of gambling, from the dawn of civilization to roughly 2 AM, April 28, 2005, incorporating cards, dice, lotteries, horseracing, and several other forms of gambling.  He also writes regularly for Casino Connection, Vegas Seven magazine, and Las Vegas Business Press.  - For Casino Connection, Schwartz writes a monthly Atlantic City history column. - For Vegas Seven, Schwartz pens the weekly "Green Felt Journal" gaming and tourism column and occasional essays and feature articles. - For the Las Vegas Business Press, Schwartz writes bi-weekly opinion essays on the past, current, and future state of Southern Nevada's gaming industry. 

The eight essays in Gambling, Space, and Time use a global and interdisciplinary approach to examine two significant areas of gambling studies that have not been widely explored--the ever-changing boundaries that divide and organize gambling spaces, and the cultures, perceptions, and emotions related to gambling. The contributors represent a variety of disciplines: history, geography, sociology, anthropology, political science, and law. The essays consider such topics as the impact of technological advances on gambling activities, the role of the nation-state in the gambling industry, and the ways that cultural and moral values influence the availability of gambling and the behavior of gamblers. The case studies offer rich new insights into a gambling industry that is both a global phenomenon and a powerful engine of local change.