Don't Play the Slot Machines (Until You've Read This Book) should be titled Don't Buy This Book. This is the most useless book on gambling ever written. The only good thing that you can say is that the book is only 128 pages and you can read the whole thing at lunch, sans desert. The author provides such valuable insights as - most players lose and a few win. And, the plastic thing that casinos give you to carry your coins is a cup. Or, the place where coins fall is called a tray. Or how about this one - if you win a lot of money, the casino will pay you by hand. The back cover says the author's job is to answer customer questions in a South Dakota casino. If this is the type of advise he thinks South Dakotans need, he does not think much of the good people of that state. I would sell my copy, but it is not worth the postage. Save your money and put it in a slot machine.

With all due respect to Marten Jensen, he does not deliver the simplification and consolidation promised in the book. I bought the book for 2 reasons: (1) I'm a new Las Vegas resident who wants to enjoy the casino scene, but I want to play intelligently; and, (2) having graduated with a degree in Mathematics, I am curious how the odds and payouts work in these machines.

I will focus my comments exclusively on Jacks or Better Video Poker content (my game of choice, and as far as I read, once I realized the shortcomings of the book. )

Mr. Jensen identifies play strategies based on the various payout amounts of machines, collapsing 12 possible payout schemes to 2 strategies (excluding the Not Recommended to play strategy.) After an hour of analysis, I concluded the two play strategies are identical -- the only differences that I found are that the same hand is given different descriptors between the two strategy charts (what is described as JQ, JK, QK and JA, QA, KA as 2 separate hands in one strategy is simply described as 2 High Cards in the other, each with the same play strategy), and that he omitted a possible hand in one of the strategies (he describes what to do with a 4 card Inside Straight with 3 or 4 high cards, but he neglects to offer advice for any other type of 4 card Inside Straight.) My conclusion -- if Mr. Jensen recommends a Jacks or Better machine at all, he really means to tell me to play them all the same.

He further advises taking his book to the casino with you to match payout schemes on the machines to the charts in his book, rather than taking the time to reduce the various play/no-play strategies to a simple list of questions. I was able to reduce 12 charts to 3 simple questions to determine if (using his approach) you should play a machine or pass on it.

Finding such puzzling omissions and inconsistencies in this book makes me question the fundamental validity of his numbers and his strategies. He may be absolutely right (I'm not going to bother to do the math to double-check his assertions,) but I am left with enough lingering doubt that I'll pass on his advice and buy a different book and see what it says.