Beat The House: Sixteen Ways to Win at Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat and Other Table Games [Paperback]

Frederick Lembeck (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 183 pages
• Publisher: Citadel (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806516070
• ISBN-13: 978-0806516073
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,278,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Was this book written to dupe gamblers?, September 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Beat The House: Sixteen Ways to Win at Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat and Other Table Games (Paperback)

DO NOT BUY...

Frederick Lembeck's "Beat the House" claims to have 16 ways to beat the casinos. Unfortunately, he fails to mention that they all rely on luck. All of his gambling systems will lose money over the long run, however Mr. Lembeck suggests throughout his book "that some tables might actually be rigged"(17). Already Mr. Lembeck is offering you a reason, why you're going to lose. It's not because of his systems, it's those dirty casinos. All of Mr. Lembeck's examples that feature a "profit" don't accurately reflect the odds of receiving a win, or conveniently place the wins where they'd be most beneficial. A true analysis reveals these systems to be flawed.

As well Mr. Lembeck must of had problems coming up with content, because he continually deviates and discusses his grandiose visions about philosophy. He even states, "What I'm really interested in is something extremely different[from gambling systems]: a universally acceptable definition of sin" (122). I'm not sure how this will help me beat the house, but unfortunately I continued to read.

In the closing chapter Mr. Lembeck has a stroke of genius and offers his only system that has a remote probability of working. "The ultimate system is to get God on your side" (177). Wow. Not only is this method unverifiable, but our fellow agnostics and atheists are out of luck.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pure drivel, August 22, 2004

By 

James - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beat The House: Sixteen Ways to Win at Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat and Other Table Games (Paperback)

This book looks interesting at first but after reading and re-reading it and studying and testing the various systems offered I can honestly say the book is worthless and you will lose a lot of money if you try Lembeck's systems at a casino, which the author admits he doesn't even do himself. Furthermore his assertions of "rigged" tables and that "you must stay invisible" and hop from table to table to place each bet are as ludicrous as his systems. The casinos have enough of a mathematical edge to all their games that they have no reason to rig anything, and I personally have sat with pad and paper at the roulette and baccarat tables hundreds of times taking notes and openly playing systems in full view of the players, the dealer, the pit boss and eye in the sky; short of using a computer or cell phone, the casinos could care less what you do at the roulette and baccarat tables because they are not worried about you beating them with a system, at least that has been my experience where I gamble in CT.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Almost useless, April 27, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Beat The House: Sixteen Ways to Win at Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat and Other Table Games (Paperback)

The author takes the old D'Alembert system (he doesn't even spell it right)and lists various bet choices in casino games where you can try it. What's remarkable is that he recommends NOT trying many of the variations he suggests in the book. He then goes on to admit that this system, which has been proven over and over to fail (like any other progression), actually doesn't work in a real casino, and then tries to blame casino cheating! That, combined with his religious rantings that have nothing whatever to do with the subject at hand, lead me to seriously question this guy's grip on reality. In fact, one wonders why someone who is so worried about Satan and evil is encouraging gambling in the first place. His "Mathematical Analysis" sections contain neither math nor analysis. Send me your money instead and I'll recommend much, much better books.