For most, a pair of dice is associated with friendly parlour games (Monopoly, Sorry! et al), while others see "money" and flashy Las Vegas neon signs when shown these magically dotted cubes. The scientific roots of the magic behind the cubed die, as ingenious as it appears is purely mathematical. First grade students learn the "rule" regarding where exactly to place the respective "numbers" on the cube (top and bottom always adding to 7). The countless symbolic and logical aspects of dice are outlined in this engaging text. A fierce opponent of gambling, I nonetheless respect the research and well explained findings in Ricky Jay's book. An intriguing scientific read!

Ricky Jay is a magician, and a historian of magic, in addition to being a stage and movie actor. He has produced a couple of large books having to do with the history of magic and showmanship, but this is a small book, square like a face of a die, as are the color close-ups of the afflicted dice. "In the attempt to acquire empirical knowledge, I have accumulated thousands of dice over a period of decades," Jay explains. They are of all sorts of colors and patterns, but most of them are made of celluloid, the same celluloid whose decay has robbed us of countless early movies. Rosamond Purcell specializes in photographing the entropy that overcomes inanimate objects, like a book eaten by termites or rusting objects from the junkyard. Most of the large photographs here show the dice larger than life. The styles of their degeneration are diverse. The transparent ones show cracks through their mass, as if they have been dropped from a height. Some of the faces have crystallized, so that they look as if they have been sugared. Greenish mold seems to grow on some of them, while others seem to be bubbling from inside. Some of them have become as floppy as Dali's pocket watches, while others cleave crisply, leaving cubic fracture lines. Sometimes the spots are preserved, and sometimes it is the spots that have been attacked by time. They are certainly more interesting and more photogenic than they would have been when they were first manufactured.

It is to be expected that the text, in twelve small chapters numbered by pips on the dice, reflects Jay's wit and erudition. Here you can learn a lot of dice history, tales of loaded dice found in Pompeii, or of the conjuring dwarf who had no arms or legs, but manipulated dice in subtle ways. You can read about how God has struck down sacrilegious gamesters. Here is the legend of the Scandinavian kings throwing dice for territory, each throwing repeated boxcars until a surprising stroke (consistent with these pictures) gives a throw that beats a twelve. These are all good stories of the importance which many have felt for dice and their outcomes, and they are made poignant by the handsome photographs of just how chance and time have overtaken these humble cubes.

Mr. Sklansky is a very astute gambling mathematician and he paints a broad swathe across the entire gaming industry and shows you what games can be worked and what games will work you. I would like to see him apply some of his knowledge to the investment arena and see what assessments he can come up with. I recommend all of my brokers read this book. For any gambler this book is a necessity for your success. Good luck and put this on your shelf.

Sam Bennett feels he lives the ideal lifestyle. He loves running a Reno casino and deeply cherishes his spouse Azia. However, heaven crashes when Azia dies in a camping accident. Five years later, Sam still has not gotten over his grief nor his guilt. However, Sam tries another new start when he takes over managing the new Sand Dollar Casino and Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi.

However, Sam was not ready for the restart of the beating of his heart. When he first sees his assistant Abby Thompson, Sam is stunned. He realizes for the first time since Azia died, he finds a woman attractive and fascinating. Surprising herself after a disastrous affair in Nevada, Abby reciprocates Sam's feelings. As they fall in love, a hurricane threatens to destroy their casino. Besides needing to overcome the specter of their previous relationships, they also have to surmount danger from a real sentient being out of their Nevada past.

THE JOKER'S LOVE TUNE provides readers a feel for the new Mississippi as the author brillainatly describes the clash of cultures between casinos and the old-time Gulf Coast residents. The subplots are quite interesting and add to the contemporary romance by providing the readers with glimpses behind the scenes of a casino and the terror caused by a pending hurricane. Abby and Sam are a perfect pair from the first moment they met even though they have a lot of baggage to recycle. Rolling a seven, Sidney Rickman proves he is no joker when it comes to scribing a warm, exciting tale.

Harriet Klausner

Beyer first introduced his speed handicapping concept in this book, and he shows how to compute the now famous Beyer speed figures. Even though they're available in the Form, its still good to know how they were derived.

At the time Beyer wrote this book, he focused most heavily on speed handicapping, and he would more thoroughly embrace other factors such as pace or trip handicapping later in his career. But he does at least touch on all facets of handicapping in this book, and either a beginner or expert will find it a informative and amusing read.

Enjoy!

I deducted one star simply because I would have preferred a larger book, with more statistical proof to validate the approaches mentioned. I also felt that the discussion of abbreviated wheeling systems was, well, abbreviated; there are a number of templates - hundreds - and while these could have been included, Prof Jones would prefer to sell them to you as a separate product advertised in the back of the book. Still, he does include several commonly used templates, and explain their use.

Actually, there are a number of products advertised in the back of the book, most of them sold by Prof Jones. While I normally prefer my books to be advertisement free, I felt that including advertisements for products very likely to be of great interest to the purchaser probably isn't a huge sin. So, in this case, I chose not to deduct a point. To his credit, there isn't any evidence to indicate that Prof Jones has edited his book in such a way as to make purchase of additional items mandatory. While the products advertised will make the methods described in the book easier to implement, the book does stand on its own.

There are no examples in the book of how odds improve using his methods. There is also no discussion as to whether his methods will improve your odds enough to break even or show a small profit; but, given that there are absolutely no specific financial claims mentioned, it would not surprise me to discover that you'll still lose money by gambling. Whether you'll lose less using the methods in this book is by no means clear.

The book is by no means an exhaustive exploration of the topic; it is more like a 300 MPH overview from 10,000 feet. What it does do is provide the beginning gambler with a basic introduction into choosing numbers which may be more likely to hit. It will stimulate thought, and give the number crunchers something to keep them crunching away into the wee, small hours of the night.

Aside from its brevity and lack of concrete examples and statistical proof, there's really nothing wrong with the book. It's a quick and easy read; it does have specific step by step examples on choosing numbers; and if you believe that statistical analysis will improve your lottery results, then this book is not a bad place to start.

Good luck!