Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi [Paperback]

George Devol (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1996

George H. Devol was the greatest riverboat gambler in the history of the Mississippi. Born in Ohio in 1829, he ran away from home and worked as a cabin boy at age ten. At fourteen he could stack a deck of cards. Over the years, he bilked soldiers, paymasters, cotton buyers, thieves, and businessmen alike. He fought more fights than anyone, and was never beaten. This is his story. Nobody was ever bored by it.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

As the title to this 1887 volume reveals, Devol was a riverboat gambler who made fortunes, and even if only half of his many tall stories are true, he lived a remarkable life. He begins the story at age ten when he ran away from his Ohio home to join the crew of a riverboat. There he learned not only about being a sailor but how to cheat at cards. Though it should be taken with a grain of salt, this nonetheless makes for fun reading.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Applewood Books; Reprint edition (February 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557091102
• ISBN-13: 978-1557091109
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,880,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Mississippi

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars transported me 150 years into the past while I laughed, April 15, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (St louis, Missouri) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi (Paperback)

Loved the book, understand why the author has such a big ego- He lived in an awsome time and was at the top. Historic details filled in alot of gaps to my understanding of the mid 1800's. learned many things about the lives of people living in the Steamboat Era and was grandly entertained. laughed outloud.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining stories about gambling on Miss.river boats, May 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi (Paperback)

Highly entertaining stories about gambling
in the mid 1800's on the Mississippi River.
The life of George Devol as gambler,fighter
& con artist & his insights into the men &
their character is also an insight into the
man himself. He was a master at
manipulating mens greed & vanity.The
accounts of his bare knuckle fights were
truly amazing

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome title, Awesome book, February 17, 2011

By 

Ryan C. Holiday (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi (Paperback)

By total chance this title caught my eye in the UNLV library when I was walking by. I ended up buying it on Amazon when I got back home. Very glad I did (although I hear the Free Kindle version is just as good). This is not so much a book narrative his life as it is a collection of anecdotes and stories from that life, broken up in one to two page sections. What a life. Duval ran away from home as a young boy and worked on a ship. There he learned how to deal cards and also, how to cheat. The thing they say about cons, at least 19th and early 20th century cons, (read The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man if interested) is they never worked on an honest mark. Almost all of them depended on presenting low but illegal hanging fruit in front of a greedy man and then parting him from his money while he grabbed at it. One of Duval's most successful was to conspicuously mark a card in his deck and deal until he knew the victim had spotted the pattern. He'd wait until the man placed a huge bet, certain to win with his inside knowledge, and then deal him a losing hand. Duval seems to have been the embodiment of Roosevelt's expression about walking softly but carrying a big stick. He'd always give some of the winnings back if it was all the loser had in the world, or if he'd bet his wife's jewelry and lost, Duval would send it back to her stateroom later that night. But if they wouldn't take their turn of the cards with some dignity he had no problem fighting or draw his pistol (which he called Betsy Jane but never used). In fact, his favorite weapon was his head, and the book must detail 20 instances where he wins a fight with a solid headbutt. There is a lot of great history in here since he experienced the South both pre, during and post-Civil war (was actually imprisoned by the occupying Union forces for nearly a year). My only criticism is that after about 150 pages the stories all seem to blur together. You can only hear about an overconfident guy falling for a trick and then fighting about the money he lost so many times. But if you read it sporadically or non-linearly it's an excellent book to have.