“It’s not a career for anyone who needs or values security. It’s a career for gamblers. Every time you write a book you roll the dice again” – George R.R Martin
“Gambling and Writing go hand and hand”, this might sound the most ridiculous statement of all time but after you go through this article, you will definitely agree with this. Well, most gambling games are all based on luck.
You might always need your lucky charm or a horseshoe to increase your luck but after reading these books, your luck is bound to increase by the means of knowledge.
Casino games have always been derived from the knowledge of mankind. History has always pointed out that books have shown us the past, present, and future. Similarly, gambling books have always been there as a root of change for the current progressive world of gambling.
These books have been deemed the greatest gambling books of all time. Without further ado let’s get right on it.
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Bringing Down The House
“Bringing down the House” written by Ben Mezrich, published in 2002 is about the story of Six M.I.T. students who won millions in Vegas. The story gives an insider about a professor and his students who devised the counting card strategy which took down the casino.
The M.I.T. Blackjack Team earned $10 million by creating a smart “spotting” approach that enabled them to predict when the decks were “ready” and cards could be tallied. This is one of our favorite gambling books since it combines scientific information with tales.
Author Ben Mezrich has maintained close to the original plot, just extending it for the sake of the occasional joke. This is the book for you if you want to know how math mavericks managed to defeat the house and leave it smarting for years.
A Man for All Markets
Written by Edward o. Thorp is an all-around gambling book that narrates cleaning from gambling to trading on an overall basis published in 2017. The narrative is about a mathematician who trained himself to count cards in blackjack, forecast stock trends, and use his grasp of how the universe turns into a fortune.
Thorp contends in his book that personal prosperity is not necessarily the result of chance, citing several real-life examples to back up his claim. He amassed an estimated $800 million by betting, gambling, and trading.
And what does it all comes down to? Education, according to Thorp, has spent a significant amount of time studying mathematical constants, and patterns, and gathering non-specialist information that has helped him make the right decisions in the long run.
“A Man of All Markets” is a source of inspiration for everyone interested in trying their hand at gambling.
The Confidence Game
Konnikova’s last book, “The Confidence Game: The Psychology of the Con and Why We Fall for It Every Time,” came out before “The Biggest Bluff.” You might argue that this is about poker, but it is much more than that. Konnikova is well-versed in behavioral science and understands how readily our minds can be duped.
When a friend offers you “the opportunity of a lifetime,” you should do a self-check to ensure that what you’re getting into is worthwhile. According to Konnikova, this cautious orientation to the world positions you as a successful individual regardless of your talent for poker.
The book is not ideological; it conveys the story in a way that is light, unobtrusive, and extremely useful to the careful reader. You might argue that this is a gambling book but bear in mind that it concentrates on how our minds function and why we like to choose the easy way out.
Gambling frequently gives options that appear simple and possibilities that have the potential for enormous enrichment. However, below the smoke and mirrors, things appear to be different. “The Confidence Game” exposes the raw spirit of our collective naiveté.
Kevin Cook’s Titanic Thompson
Kevin Cook’s “Titanic Thompson: The Man Who Bet on Everything” published in 2010 looks at an unlikely individual who has been romanticized and talked about time and again.
His story begins in the early 1920s, when he ended up taking on the New York underground establishment, betting and gambling away millions in an effort to obtain just as much back.
Titanic Thompson has been many things, and his extraordinary life is a representation to us all not to take gambling too seriously; however, the man’s successes are undeniably true.
He won numerous money from sports betting, despite the fact that he orchestrated many of the events from which he actually got his money back.
The goal of Thompson’s participation in any sports betting tournament was not to win honestly. Making certain that the games were rigged in his favor was what spurred him ahead.
He’s a peculiar figure, but Cook’s narrative is one of the most fascinating depictions of the man and, by all accounts, a good gambling book.
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Squares & Sharps, Suckers & Sharks: The Science, Psychology & Philosophy of Gambling
Some people are suckers, while others are sharks. Gambling’s fortunes are perilous, and this is just what Joseph Buchdahl’s book states. The author of “Squares & Sharps, Suckers & Sharks: The Science, Psychology, & Philosophy of Gambling” delves into the psychology of gambling and why some of us are better at it than others.
While chance plays a significant impact on the result of whatever we do, particularly gambling, Buchdahl emphasizes behavioral norms that predetermine certain behaviors and make us sensitive to acting in one way or another.
The book uses gambling as a powerful argument that readily impacts the human brain and discusses how to avoid specific tripwires.
Squares and Sharps, Suckers and Sharks is a wonderful little reflection of how we should handle gambling, without being unduly orthodox and while yet providing relevant scientific knowledge.
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
Annie Duke’s widely regarded book “Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts” sets out to investigate the institution of betting and how you might strive to achieve trustworthy results with imperfect knowledge.
The ideas Duke teaches, however, are relevant across the board, and The New York Times referred to Thinking in Bets as a model for modern investment.
According to one evaluation, these are all challenging domains, but Duke finds a way to propose answers when “faced with various conceivable outcomes,” adds another.
Thinking in Bets, like any excellent gambling book, addresses gambling from a variety of perspectives, including behavioral, strategy, and business literature. The book can serve as a guide to becoming a successful gambler, investor, or both.
Duke provides a comprehensive method that should be seen as a whole rather than as separate stabs in the dark. “Thinking in Bets” is a fantastic book regardless of your proclivity for the occasional flutter.
Trading Bases
Joe Peta left Wall Street to dominate the world of fantasy baseball, and he was successful. Peta tells you all about it in “Trading Bases: How a Wall Street Trader Made a Fortune Betting on Baseball,” while keeping some of the finer points of the game to himself.
Some may argue that he is a little cautious with the information he presents, which is correct, but there are no easy answers, as the author explains in his book.
It took him an MBA from Stanford and years on Wall Street to finally give in to his fantasy baseball obsession.
However, the book is also encouraging. It doesn’t say you’ll never make it unless you’re a sports or math whiz, but it does encourage you to always explore and enhance your grasp of a pastime you plainly like.
Conclusion
To overview, these books were written by the biggest people whose hearts, souls, and life were always at stake. The passing of knowledge is a boon for us. Whether it’s gambling, trading, or betting, they were always at risk and the consequences would be very difficult for us.
So, if you truly call yourself a gambler or casino enthusiast, you should definitely read these to know what it takes to reach the top.