Product Description

Is there really such a thing as a professional gambler? The answer is an unequivocal yes! The authors of this book are but two examples. The truth is that there are many thousands of people around the country who make a good living exclusively from gambling. It is not easy but it can be done. The key ideas are to understand which games are beatable and how to beat them.

David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth have both spent many years writing about the finer points of poker, blackjack, and other beatable games. (As you will see in the book those other "games" are horses, sports, progressive slots and video poker, casino tournaments, and special promotions. They don’t include craps, roulette, keno, or baccarat for reasons explained herein.)

This book, however, was written for the not-quite-as-experienced aspiring gambler. It shows you everything you need to learn and do if you want to gamble for a living both from the practical and the technical standpoint. The rest is up to you.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #265864 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 305 pages

About the Author
About David Sklansky

David Sklansky is generally considered the number one authority on gambling in the world today. Besides his ten books on the subject, David also has produced two videos and numerous writings for various gaming publications. His occasional poker seminars always receive an enthusiastic reception, including those given at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

More recently, David has been doing consulting work for casinos, Internet gaming sites, and gaming device companies. He has recently invented several games, soon to appear in casinos.

David attributes his standing in the gambling community to three things:

1. The fact that he presents his ideas as simply as possible (sometimes with Mason Malmuth) even though these ideas frequently involve concepts that are deep, subtle, and not to be found elsewhere.

2. The fact that the things he says and writes can be counted on to be accurate.

3. The fact that to this day a large portion of his income is still derived from gambling (usually poker, but occasionally blackjack, sports betting, horses, video games, casino promotions, or casino tournaments).

Thus, those who depend on David’s advice know that he still depends on it himself.

About Mason Malmuth

Mason Malmuth was born and raised in Coral Gables, Florida. In 1973 he received his BS in Mathematics from Virginia Tech, and completed their Masters’ program in 1975. While working for the United States Census Bureau in 1978, Mason stopped overnight in Las Vegas while driving to his new assignment in California. He was immediately fascinated by the games, and gambling became his major interest.

After arriving in California he discovered that poker was legal and began playing in some of the public cardrooms as well as taking periodic trips to Las Vegas where he would play both poker and blackjack. In 1981 he went to work for the Northrop Corporation as a mathematician and moved to Los Angeles where he could conviently pursue his interest in poker in the large public cardrooms in Gardena, Bell Gardens, and Commerce.

In 1983 his first article "Card Domination — The Ultimate Blackjack Weapon" was published in Gambling Times magazine. In 1987 he left his job with the Northrop Corporation to begin a career as both a full-time gambler and a gambling writer. He has had over 500 articles published in various magazines and is the author or co-author of 12 books. These include Gambling Theory and Other Topics, where he tries to demonstrate why only a small number of people are highly successful at gambling. In this book he introduces the reader to the concept of "non-self weighting strategies" and explains why successful gambling is actually a balance of luck and skill. Other books he has co-authored are Hold ’em Poker For Advanced Players, written with David Sklansky, and Seven-Card Stud For Advanced Players written with David Sklansky and Ray Zee. All the "advanced" books are considered the definitive works on these games.

His company Two Plus Two Publishing has sold over 400,000 books and currently has 22 titles to its credit. These books are recognized as the best in their field and are thoroughly studied by those individuals who take gambling seriously.

Customer Reviews

How to lose your bankroll

I won't try to comment on most of this book because I'm an expert on only one type of game -- video poker -- so let's take a look at their "Jacks-or-Better Strategy Tips" on pages 145 - 146. Here's all I have been able to derive from their nine tips -- hold the first type of hand that appears in this table:
Straight Flush
4-card Royal Flush
High pair (jacks or better)
4-card Flush or 3-card Royal
Low pair
4-card Straight
3-card Royal
3 high cards (but no Ace)
2 high cards
1 high card
3-card Straight Flush

Obviously we can assume that a pat Royal Flush should be at the top, but this leaves us wondering:

Is a 4-card Flush higher than a 3-card Royal? (No, it's lower.)

Why is the 3-card Straight Flush at the bottom? (It should be above "3 high cards".)

Is a 2-card Royal draw ever playable? (Yes, it sometimes is.)

Should we ever break a pat Straight or Flush for a Straight Flush draw? (Yes, quite often.)

Where do we put a 4-card Straight Flush, or the various inside Straight Flush draws?

If this is typical of the advice on other games, then this book would be more aptly called, "How to lose your bankroll with gambling experts' tips." These authors should stick to writing about the subject they know -- medium limits poker.

The Worst 2+2 Publication I've Seen.
This is a cursory introduction to gambling and I've very skeptical about it making anyone a lot of money. Yes, David Sklansky is a great man, but no, this is not a great work. I agree that it is rather shallow and an illustration of a little bit of knowledge being dangerous (which is what it provides readers with as opposed to the knowledge of Sklansky and Malmuth which is quite deep). Anybody dumb enough to pursue a career in sports or horse handicapping after reading it is in serious trouble. The first fifth of the book is devoted to blackjack but I don't think it has much application to the current state of the game as the six to eight deck shoes are very hard on counters and the continuous reshuffle machines will leave anybody relying on blackjack to pay their bills destined to an address in debtor's prison (lol). With the poker section, there are about a million sources better than this one and I would hope that prospective gamblers read them carefully before embarking upon careers as professionals. Dated and superficial is a good way to describe this book and I wouldn't bother with it personally. I'm not surprised that they plug so many of their 2+2 books in these pages because they're all superior to this one.

Good introduction to gambling
This book gives the reader a good review of general gambling concepts and the different games available. To make 100k a year you'll need to get more specific material on the the gambling venue(s) of your choice.