Saturday, February 16, 2008

Converting Cake files into word

I'm starting to try to write a word document on how I play Omaha 8 and my strategies during specific hands. When I pull up the cake history and copy and paste the document into word (I am using word for the Mac if that makes any difference) the betting history and pot size is accurately documented (albeit in a word format) but the hole cards and the board cards disappear. Any ideas??

If these hand histories are not easily copied, any preferred formats that you have seen in books and magazines for how to present a hand. I kind of like the card player columns titled hand to hand combat for those of you that have seen them, but this format is a bit too detailed for what I had in mind.

6 comments:

Sushi Cowboy said...

Are you talking about copying from a hand history file or from the web page? I would start by pasting from the actual HH file for now and then worry about swapping in graphics for the hole and board cards later.

You should also start thinking about exactly what format you want to publish in as well. Dead tree printing? Web based? Black and white or color? Full color or two color? If you are going to print to paper you should decide on what size pages you will be printing on first and format your pages for that from the beginning or else you will face a lot of work later. Also, Word files have in the past be notoriously poor for a publishing so if you are going to be serious about this I would find out from a publisher how you should be setting up files.

Personally I think you would be better off trying to do a website and rely on selling advertising on the site. I believe it will be fare easier and cheaper to self-publish that way.

jason said...

Thanks Martin.

At this point I am just creating content to see:

If I enjoy writing (so far so good)
If I can create interesting analysis (you guys can be the judge of that)
If this idea has merit.

I am leaning towards full color dead based tree printing. This is where the void is. In Barnes and Nobles you can find exactly one book on Omaha 8 and while it has good analysis the writing is dry and dull. There are few narrative story books about poker, Positively Fifth Street is the only one I can think of.


Off to the pool and the beach. Zihuateanejo is beyond beautiful

royalbacon said...

Hey Jase — The site that Marsh was talking about before, on-demand book printing, can be found here:

Lulu

Not sure what they say about full-color vs. black & white, but you get the idea.

Also, I’m open to helping you design the book, if you want my help. Of course it would have to be in exchange for something — my expertise in design doesn’t come completely for free, or out of the kindness of my heart. We can talk about ways to compensate me for my help. But only if you want it! Just let me know.

Sushi Cowboy said...

Since I have two different books from B&N covering O/8 in my book bag right now I'm going to have to disagree with your count.

Jason, I've been involved in many aspects of print production and I really suggest that you look into costs before you decide on your format. Full color printing is way more complex and expensive than two color printing. Unless you have other compelling imagery other than paint cards I think four color process is going to be overkill for a poker book. Just so you understand, the *cover* of the book can be full color while the insides can be just black and white or two color.

jason said...

Thanks guys, short break then back to the beach.

For the inside of the book I was thinking about 2 colors black and red. I like the way hands are presented in Card Player with the suits in the correct color. I don't know how much more complicated black and red is vs. just black, any insight would be helpful. Still just writing some content, then I can use any insight into format.

Maybe my count is off, but the selection is very thin at B & N. None of the 08 books have detailed analysis on any specific hands and none tell a good story. My story is somewhat interesting and will be more interesting if I continue to be successful.

I hope to be able to post some content on Sunday when I return. Then we can have some good dialogue about whether the content is interesting and insightful.

Royal, thanks for the offer and I have thought about approaching you for your help. I may very well take you up on the offer, but need some more groundwork to be done before I decide whether or not to go full throttle.


Sun awaits, see you guys on Sunday.

Sushi Cowboy said...

OK, that explains it. Jason, in the world of printing, black and red is considered two color printing (black and red), not full color. If you are going to go with color printing then I think red and black are obvious choices for a poker book. If you are using Lulu and doing on demand printing I would assume that it is going to be the same or similar costs to do red/black as full color due to the printing process but I don't know for sure. If you are talking traditional offset press printing then two color is going to make the book a ton more practical.

If you are talking about narrative O/8 books then yeah I'd agree that there are not many. I was just referring to any books covering O/8.