Customer Reviews

The Casino Gambler's Guide

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I read this book in the mid 70's after which I lent it to someone and never saw it again, much to my regret because in my opinion this is the best written book that I have ever read on Casino gambling and, as a one-time world-roving BJ player and habitue of Las Vegas' "Gamblers Bookshop", I have read quite a few.

In its coverage of blackjack and particularly so-called "card-counting" this book shows its age (1965) - as these were early days in the evolution of effective blackjack strategies.
But, being that the subject of Blackjack has since been exploited to death, this is not a serious criticism.

Where this book really excels (and nobody has ever done this better) are the chapters on "systems" and "gambling fallacies" in which Allan Wilson (who I believe is a real live "rocket scientist") expertly and lucidly analyses and takes-down many of the foolish irrational ideas which the great majority of (losing) gamblers - not to mention many dealers and pit-bosses - thrive on.

But the most unique part is his coverage of the rarely-if-ever mentioned subject of exploiting the statistical bias of many Roulette Wheels. The several chapters on his student exploits in the Reno of the early 50's is a fascinating and entertaining story the likes of which has never been repeated.

Even though this all happened 50 years ago, much of this is still secret knowledge and I therefore absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in casino systems, strategies and fallacies, or those who just want to read an amazing and exciting casino tale which also happens to be 100% scientific.

It is very pleasing to see this book back in print.
I picked up my copy circa 1980 and it remains my
favorite book on the mathematics of gambling. Why?
It is mathematically rigorous, it is comprehensive
and yet it manages to be very readable and even
entertaining. It assumes a familiarity with
elementary probability theory. Anyone who is
already familiar with the first few chapters of
Feller volume I can easily understand the theory
in this book. And those who don't can still understand
the strategies and be entertained by the author's
gambling stories. Epstein's book is also very good
(my second favorite)and more encyclopaedic and has
lots and lots of data tables but Wilson is the best
place to start.