The book provides a great amount of beginner information, for someone who has no knowledge of horseracing. Not for the advanced horseplay.

Very good, easy read that clearly and concisely explains the basics of the various casino games. I found it very useful as it is filled not with just facts, but advice that is meant to keep you out of harms way, which is after all exactly where the casinos would like you to be. For less than the price of your first bet, it's an easier decision than whether to place your bet on the pass or don't pass line

Whether this book would be helpful to you, the potential NFL bettor, depends largely on what kind of information you are looking for. Beat the Sports Books is primarily devoted to teaching the reader how to handicap his/her own NFL games -specifically, how to make your own lines. The author, Dan Gordon, has over 20 years of experience handicapping and betting on NFL games and gives the reader the benefit of this experience. He explains, in considerable detail and with many examples, how to calculate your own lines and power rankings and how to determine which bets are worth making. This is an in-depth course in line-making and takes concentration and persistence to fully absorb. The author also devotes one chapter to pointers for betting at different stages in the NFL season, which is simpler and might be worth considering even if you don't intend to make your own lines.

62 of the book's 165 pages are appendices. Appendix 1 follows one NFL team through an entire season in order to illustrate the finer points of calculating a team's power ranking over the course of a season. The second Appendix contains a full season (1996) of bets that the author made with explanations of why he made each bet. Included are some bets that he didn't make and reasons that he passed on those. The appendices could prove to be invaluable references if you intend to get serious about NFL betting, especially betting over the long haul.

There is some information in this book that is not about handicapping. The title of the book's first chapter is: "How Pro Football Is Bet and How the Point Spread is Set". It includes explanations of different kinds of bets (spreads, over-under, parlays, parlay cards, reverses, teasers) and explanations, with examples, of how the Las Vegas Sports Consultants set their lines each week. In chapter 2, the author goes on to explain how the media can affect betting, how touts work... These chapters contain a lot of interesting information that would be useful to both serious and casual NFL bettors.

Beat the Sports Books is really dedicated to teaching you how to determine what bets to make. There isn't much advice on precisely how to place those bets beyond the author's emphasis on trying the get the early lines and shopping for a fair price on your bet. There are no lists of sports books or internet casinos or instructions in how exactly to communicate what you would like to bet once you've found one. The information in Beat the Sports Books would seem to be intended for the relatively experienced bettor.

I'll risk repeating myself here, just to be clear: Beat the Sports Books is a lesson in handicapping NFL games with an overwhelming emphasis on making your own lines. Dan Gordon provides the reader with detailed instruction in the methods that he uses to calculate lines, based on over 20 years of experience as an NFL bettor. There is relatively little advice on other methods of handicapping. If you would like to be able to calculate your own lines in order to exploit the errors of the lines the sports books use, this is the book for you!

I had been playing competitive bridge for about 10 months when I started reading this book. This book was ideal, as it didn't waste any time with the basics (e. g., the opening one-bid) and went straight into intermediate to advanced concepts. The ideas were clearly explained with examples and quizzes. I really enjoyed this book because Bergen promotes a very aggressive bidding style. The only drawback I can think of is that it was written over ten years ago, so it may not be quite as complete as one would hope.

MANY YEARS AGO I PURCHASED THIS BOOK...BASICALLY ITS ROOTS PHILOSOPHY ON GAMBLING. HE GIVES SOUND ADVICE, THEORIES, AND WHAT WERE ONCE CURRENT TRENDS....ITS AN EASY READ AND A GAMBLERS DELIGHT, BUT ITS NOT A BOOK ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE..SO SPORTS BETTING MUST BE YOUR CUP OF TEA..

I like this book. I consider it a good book for a beginning counter. The intermediate player may be able to glean a few helpful tips from it as well. But the advanced counter will gain little, if anything, from reading this book. As with Wongs other books, there is some information that is still useful in todays game and there is other information that is totally antiquated. If you can't discern between the two then reading this book can lead you in the wrong direction and wind up costing you a lot more than the cover price. This game is extremely difficult to beat. It takes a lot more than reading a few books and practicing on a computer simulation.

The book in general is very good in giving a overall view of Casino games. But what makes it a Classic is the Chapter on BlackJack. I've read many books and articales on BlackJack and the chapter in this book is as good as it gets. The Basic Stragety for two decks is reinforced by the Giants of BlackJack. ( Thorp Braun Humble ) I first read the book 20 plus years ago. And have not seen anything that summarizes what you need to know about playing BlackJack any better.

I am currently in the start-up of a new casino. It is a new jurisdiction with a wealth of inexperience. The book plays a very practicle role in this setting and would probably be used best as a reference. The other side of the book serves as a basis for discussion among those people "in the know".

It is always nice in an opening to have someone walk around asking the right questions, making you think of the "small things". This book does just that(save for walking around).

I have not read all the chapters, but what I have read I would recommend.

Some of the essays here are no longer relevant, particularly the section, "The Computer Age" and some of the primers on Poker, i.e. Five Card Draw and Lowball Draw. Conversely, this book will start to teach you how to think about gambling and positive expectation. It is a good introduction to how some concepts of probability are manifest in gambling. The most notable example of this is Caro's Conception, which is rather simple but certainly counter intuitive for most of us at first sight. The article on Poker: Some Things to Consider is also quite good for giving clues as to how to discipline your thought for making decisions while playing.

Don't confuse this book with the multiplying "Complete Idiots" and "Dummies" guides currently flooding the market. Darwin Ortiz's take on the ins and outs of popular casio games is highly readable in the best "you are there" style. He completely demystifies table games for people like myself who may have seen scared away from plucking down our chips due to the mistaken belief that you have to be a math whiz to figure out Craps. With the skill of travel writer who daps about plenty of color, Ortiz repeatedly hammers home that most casinos offer exotic bets that are a complete waste of your wallet. Just skip the bells and whistles and play to form. While the book is lacking in illustrations, each chapter consistantly does the job of taking you from Vegas chump to wordly shark (or the belief thereof).