This book gives a quick overview of making money, or losing money more slowly, at various games of chance. Thorpe was best known for "inventing" a system of card counting for blackjack and basic strategy. He wrote the 1962 book "Beat the Dealer" which spawned a whole genre of win-at-gambling books that continue to this day.

"The Mathematics of Gambling" is quite different from those other books. For instance, it does not focus on just one game like most of the others. In fact, it barely explains a game at all. Instead, it describes the mathematical methods that might be used to win at the game more consistently. Think of this book as a starting point to understanding gambling theories.

The book starts with Blackjack, of course, and gives a very brief overview the game and betting strategies. This is mathematically heavy and many details are left out. It is followed by a counter-point of Baccarat which Thorpe concludes mathematically has much less room for winning strategies.

At this point, the book is just getting started. Although most gambling books focus on card games, or just casino games; Thorpe also gives mathematical insight into Horse betting and Backgammon. There are no clear-cut strategies forced upon the reader, just a general pointing in a direction that might prove helpful.

And that is the whole issue with this book. If you are looking for the one-true-path to gambling winnings, look elsewhere. If you want, instead, to read about mathematics applied to betting games this is the book to start reading. The writing is precise and clear and the math is not too horrid. Especially helpful is the time Thorpe spends setting up the underlaying math to working out a potentially successful strategy. Also, the final section on money management is excellent even if your game of chance is the stock market. A game Thorpe also wrote about in "Beat the Market".

Among the best books I've ever read. It's about gambling, fate, literature, plays, and life generally. Written by a once-famous playwright. His wit and intelligence shine through on every page, and his writing is better than that you will read by almost any other prose writer--this despite his being a playwright and writing no other prose (that I know of). A must read

The book that first inspired my interest in gambling, this is the best text ever written on gambling by an Englishman. Black details methods to win at roulette by locating mechanically imperfect wheels, at poker by skill and mathematics, and at blackjack and baccarat by the application of "card-counting" techniques. He also debunks gambling fallacies. Throughout the work, Black displays a perceptive knowledge of the mathematics of gambling, which he conveys simply and with genuine enthusiasm. For those people who think "you can't win at gambling", this book might be a real eye-opener.

This is a gambling book that looks at gambling in a realistic fashion. The first thing it does is to divide the games into those you can win in the long run (Blackjack (Barely), Poker, Sports Betting, etc) and those that you must lose in the long run (roulette, craps, baccarat, etc). It then explains each game in detail. It explains why progression betting systems don't work long-term, and why money management is psychological, not mathematical. For all the simple games (baccarat, roulette, etc) it provides all you'll ever need to know. For more complicated games like poker and blackjack, it provides all that most people will ever need to know and a firm basis for the serious student.

In the world of BS gambling books, this is a breath of fresh air.

Editor Roy Finamore has dished up a gem of a book with PARLOR GAMES. Made up of past-times from the days of your grandparents, PARLOR GAMES reads like a guide to the home entertainment systems of the Victorian era. No nintendo here, instead we have riddles and conundrums, pantomimes, and games with pencil and paper and brains. Its like having a number of board games in one book. Readers of Dickens and Austen will love this title, for it reflects a far more genteel time than our own and is written in a charming, literate voice. All that said, none of the FUN of any of these games is the least bit dated. They are sure to amuse young and old alike. Buy PARLOR GAMES and spend some wonderful evenings with the people who matter in your life.

I use these jokes at the game now and love this little collection. Poker players take being drawn out on way too seriously as it is. Rib a loser in West Texas , they may shoot you but, hey, laughter is the best medicine.

Bought it for a friend...cheated...and read it before giving it. What at first appears to be a coffee table picture book is actually a well written, informative and lively account of various poker facts and stories. If you love poker you'll definitely enjoy this book

A concise, colorful history of the first 120 winners of America's most famous horse race. A short page story accompanies each lovingly done portrait. This lady knows how to draw horses--she doesn't pretty them up, she shows them how they are, beautiful enough without having to add any artificial ingredients. The stories are fascinating if you are a racing fan or like to read biographies of people and animals. The book is relatively inexpensive for art and history of this quality

No other book tells the real story of what the modern slot machine actually is. All modern slots are computers. Other books talk about the Random Number Generator as the "mechanism" by which the slot machine program "picks" the winning events. No other book, however, tells the reader what the RNG actually is, and how it really works, and why this is important. No other book actually shows the inner workings of the modern slot machine, because no other author has been allowed to publish this information. Royer's book is the ONLY book that tells the truth of the reality of the slot machines, including video slots, and how and why they work the way they do, and how to play them to win. This information is EXCLUSIVE to Royer, and to this book.

Royer also shows the reader which are the best slots, and why, as well as how to find them in the actual casino, and how to exploit them for profits. Because of Royer's "insider" knowledge of not just the slots themselves, but also of the casino's slot mix floorplans and marketing strategies, Royer is able to show the reader precisely what to look for in the casinos to find just precisely where the really good slots are, and why they are there. Royer also explains where the "bad" slots are, and why they are placed there. Royer shows the reader how to tell the good from the bad, and how to make this knowledge pay.

No other book on Blackjack tells the real truth of how the game is actually being played in the casinos of the 21st Century. Every other book relies more on the "theory" of Blackjack, rather than on the reality of what the players will actually find in the casinos when they get there and try to play it. All other books look at the game of Blackjack from the "old thinking" perspective, by teaching the game with the methods and strategies that used to work 10-20 years ago, but are all but useless in the real world of today's casinos.

Other books talk about "card counting" as if this was the only and surefire means to winning, but don't tell you how hard it is do actually do it -- IF you can still find a casino that will allow you to do it, and if you can still find a game whose rules and methods of dealing allows this to work to anything more than merely a better guess. Other books talk about Basic Strategy, but then force the reader to learn tables upon tables of modifications for this and that and so on, creating a mess of information that not even experts can easily digest.

Victor H. Royer's book tells the truth of the real game of Blackjack as it actually exists in the casinos where the readers will go to play. He teaches the theory, shows the "traditional" methods, and explains why they work and don't work, and under which conditions. He gives the reader a Modified Basic Strategy, that incorporates all of the various "modifications" and makes an easy-to-learn strategy and hand-decision chart that allows anyone to play Blackjack to as close to an even game as it can get.

Additionally, Royer provides the reader with a clearly defined "session event strategy," a method of playing Blackjack successfully by using the MBS along with a tiered wagering and fractional differential principles for utilizing group-event methodology of blackjack play. For the more adventurous reader, Royer invites them to also read his book Powerful Profits from Winning Strategies for Casino Games.