Books On Gambling, Fiction and Non

Great topic!

When I first started playing Texas Hold'em, I thought of ordering a book by Doyle Brunson. I think I checked out a few on Hold'em and blackjack at the library. As far as slots, the "strategies" I have found out on the net are not really strategies but just common sense guidelines.

Here are a few books by Doyle Brunson:

Doyle Brunson's Super System: A Course in Poker:

http://www.amazon.com/Doyle-Brunsons-Super-System-Course/dp/1580420818

This looks like a fun one, along the lines of what you might be looking for. It is called, "Deal Me in Mini e-Book - Chapter 1: Doyle Brunson: Twenty of the World's Top Poker Players Share the Heartbreaking and Inspiring Stories of How They Turned Pro:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003V1WXGO/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3/192-17...

One more, for now:

Trademark Poker Wisdom of a Champion by Doyle Brunson (Instructional):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016050P8/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_...

Telling Lies and Getting Paid: Gambling Stories:

http://www.amazon.com/Telling-Lies-Getting-Paid-Gambling/dp/1585747416

Telling Lies and Getting Paid: More Gambling Stories:

http://www.amazon.com/Telling-Lies-Getting-Paid-Gambling/dp/0929712730

Murder in Vegas: New Crime Tales of Gambling and Desperation: (This one is fiction, I believe, and a short-story compilation by different crime writers):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765353652/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_...

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AQY05Y/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_...

It's actually fun to research this. Some of these are looking so good to me, that I might have to order them or see if the library has some of them available.

This website lists some books and each book's synopsis:

http://www.onlinecasinoselite.com/best-gambling-books.html

The Greatest Gambling Stories Ever Told. This book: (Thirty-one Unforgettable Tales of Risk and Reward)
Says, ".....mix of stories ranging from distressing to hilarious."

http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Greatest_Gambling_Stories_Ever_T...

If you scroll down on the page, there is a "related books" section, and you can scroll through them to see if anything else looks interesting to you.

One last book, too interesting of a title to resist adding, that was in the "related books" section, lol!

The Man with the 100,000 Breasts and Other Gambling Stories:

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Breasts-Other-Gambling-Stories/dp/0929712722

This should get you started (again, I love researching, lol, and I get on a roll to the point I cannot stop myself haha!). It is also looking like there is a GREAT wealth of books to choose from on this topic!

Let us know if you end up finding and reading ones that you really like. 🙂

Oh, and the last book I listed looks like it has very good reviews on Amazon, too.

'Slim and CL-Ed, what do you think about books like this?

This one is called, "American Roulette: How I Turned the Odds Upside-Down - My Wild Twenty-Five Year Ride - Ripping Off The World's Casinos" by Richard Marcus. I am often skeptical of these types of books, because if some of these "winning strategies" or even their "cheating strategies," they insist made them their millions were true, then everyone would be doing it, right? I mean a basic strategy book, like Brunson and others write, I can understand, but the books that make claims that they have the answer to constant and consistent winning, seem very far-fetched and even dangerous in the wrong hands.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312336012/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_...

I read the first review on the same page, too, and I don't really understand their cheating method.

I'm sure there are people who have cheated casinos and won loads. But do you have the brass balls big enough to walk into a casino these days and try it? I certainly don't!

From memory Richard Marcus was a guy who used to place similar coloured chips on the table in a stack - lets say a $500 chip was red and a $5 chip was also red (but slightly different). So he would bet $505 and if he lost, he would pastpost swap it with two $5 chips so he only lost $10. But if it won - he would point out that it was a $505 bet if they paid him incorrectly. The genius of the scam was that the casino wouldn't bother checking a losing bet (so long as they didn't notice the swap) and if they checked a winning bet with the camera they would see it was there the whole time.

I haven't read it but "Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People" is supposed to be good. If it has the story in it about the time he beat a Chinese table tennis champion at ping pong for a bet, it would be worth it!
http://www.amazon.com/Amarillo-Slim-World-Full-People/dp/0060542357

Wow. That makes total sense, CL-Ed, that they would not question the losing bet! Do you think casinos are on to a lot of the scams that are already out there, like that one? I bet scammers think up new ones as quickly as they do, of course. Do they specifically train dealers and other staff what to look for as far as scams go?

I used to think it would be fun to deal blackjack, but I would be afraid of making a dumb mistake or having a scammer get one over on me! 😢

The casinos are on to the scams that they know about and that is why they have hundreds of cameras all over the place. And yes I believe they train the dealers on things to look out for, and also other things like how to card count so they can identify skilled blackjack players. But I am sure there are scammers that are always inventing new ways to cheat (not that card counting is cheating). Its like an arms race.

Did you find any good books, 'Slim? Let us know if you have any you end up reading and can recommend, k? 🙂