Customer Reviews

The Book Casino Managers Fear the Most!

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Even if youve never been in a casino, youll find this inside view of casino gambling fascinating. In America, casino gambling ploys are subtle and plentiful. Most people never figure out how casinos get you to part with your money and they dont care. Author Karlins is a psychologist and a university professor whose extra curricular sport is gambling. I would describe him to be a mid-range bettor who prefers dealer games.

Karlin believes that if you understand how casinos hook you, its possible to know how to use them instead of being one of the sheep. Following are a few of his insights on casino gambling. So whats different about casino atmosphere other than the heavy tobacco smoke? A lot. Casinos are carefully designed to make you lose; to entice you in and keep you there as long as possible because the longer youre there, the more you lose. Fact: Youve never seen a wall clock in a casino and you never will.

Then theres the powerful currency-devaluation ploy. You spend freely at casinos because you feel your money is worth less. How? Through the use of chips and easy credit. You forget how much you put down when its in the form of a chip. Everybody loves a party and casino operators manufacture gaiety. Bells ring when theres a winner; and theres sympathetic solace for losers with a reminder: Next time. Of course theres usually live, happy music around, not to mention attractive female employees handing out free drinks, and shills gambling freely with house money. Freebies range from T-shirts to expensive, paid junkets for high rollers.

The second half of this revealing book outlines strategies you can use to win more than you lose. Here are a few of them. If you play dealer games, get the dealer on your side because directly or indirectly they can help you win. If you understand the built-in traps casino operators present, you can avoid them. Never walk into a gambling establishment on impulse; know which games pay the most and play them. Dont spend long lengths of time in a casino; after a couple of ours, fatigue sets in and you make more mistakes. Know in advance how mulch money you can afford to spend and leave when its gone. Included in the book is a handy chart on how to figure out which games pay the most in each casino. Play only those games you understand and that offer the best payoffs. Karlin labels this as dumb, dumber and dumbest: Increasing your bets to recoup when you are losing. Reduce your betting level if youre losing or leave. Gambling, according to the author, is a stimulant and you cant let it get out of hand. Casinos are designed to encourage excessive levels of stress. Your gambling performance is best when you experience *moderate* levels of arousal.

This is not a book of systems and strategies as much as it is a book of valuable insights into the psychological warfare that casinos use against the players. Dr. Karlins has a unique ability to cut through the psychological traps that the casinos dig for the players. When you play casino games, two contests are actually taking place. There is the game of odds and strategies and systems. That's the math game. The casinos usually have the best of that one. But there is also an interior game, the "psych" game. Karlins is the master of the psych game and it is in this game where players can determine their own fates (to a degree). I enjoyed this book very much and I highly recommend it.

I was excited that this book would offer some real insight but was dissappointed. It seems poorly organized and offers few tidbits that may be useful beyond common sense.

The only good thing about this book is the title "The book casino managers fear most". It was enough to get me to buy the book but after a very painful read you will find that you agree with the casino managers and will describe this book as "The book you fear most" No information is provided in this book that will help you to improve your chances in Vegas. Anyone who has ever been to a gaming establishment one time will already know what this author took 30 years to learn. Don't waste your valuable time or money on this book.