Product Description
There are plenty of books about M.I.T. whiz kids who have beaten blackjack and won big money but those math geeks don’t have a clue about the business of running a casino or how Las Vegas coaxes guests into gambling away more than $7.6 billion every year. A good pit boss, on the other hand, can tell you exactly why the house always wins. Pit bosses supervise the dealers, identify con artists, approve insanely high wagers, and (more than anything else) protect the casino’s money. In Casino Confidential, a licensed pit boss reveals how casinos stack the odds in their favor and how you can improve your own chances of winning. You’ll discover tricks and traps used to disorient players (there’s a reason you won’t fi… More >>
Casino Confidential: Secrets for Winning Big from a Casino Pit Boss
This book was such a dissapointment. I have read almost all of the books about comps, casinos and gambling. He tells you to leave after you lose 3 hands of Blackjack in a row. That’s fine if you live near a casino, but I travel 2000 miles to go to Vegas. Rating: 1 / 5
at first glance this book looked good. It explains how the casino makes its money off all the suckers. A lot of information on why people lose, and things he has seen. But this guy recommends a simple progression to make money, like the hundred other books out there, which doesn’t work due to choppy streaks, where you always lose your biggest bet. The biggest blunder he makes is saying that if you lose 3 in a row, you should leave the table, and if you are up, and then lose 3 in a row, you should go home. He says to win or lose 3 in a row happens every 7 hands on average. So if you followed his advice, you would last about 5 minutes at the blackjack table. You might get a lot of exercise table hopping, but not practical for someone who just wants to sit down and play some blackjack. Overall I liked it and it was fun to read. Rating: 1 / 5
I see that this book has taken some beatings in other reviews. Key point with 3 and out — don’t sit at a table and lose lose lose lose lose lose lose. Get up and find a new table / game. It really comes down to a simple choice: Are you going to the casino for entertainment or to improve your chance of winning money at the expense of playing all day?
Anyway, here is the redeeming quality of this book, if you can get past the three and out argument which is present in this and many many other books. If you are heading to Vegas (or elsewhere) and you don’t understand a decent basic strategy for any of the common games, this book will give you the basics. I’ve read thousands of pages of gambling books, and the material gets much deeper than this book presents. But until you are ready for that level of detail, let me tell you that the basic strategies recommended here should give you the best chance to win, minimize losses, or at the least play competently. Rating: 4 / 5
This is a good book on how to come out ahead at the tables. It doesn’t claim to make you millions, just how to play so that you can improve the odds of winning and that you aren’t blindly handing over your hard earned dough to the casinos. There is a lot of insights into the inner workings of casinos and how to tilt these to your favor. From which dealers are picked to work which tables, to finding out which dealers are hot and which are not. Worth the price right there.
Unfortunately the PREVIOUS reviewer mis-read or mis-understood the “get up and leave” after three losses rule. While the author does advocate leaving a TABLE and going to a different table after losing three hands in a row, the “leave the casino after losing three hands in a row” rule, kicks in ONLY after you have gone on a winning streak and ARE UP over your original stake. The idea being leave with winnings, rather than handing it all right back. We rationalize that behavior by saying that we are playing with the houses money. We don’t call getting a raise at work paying with the rent with the bosses money do we?
HUGE difference. Rating: 4 / 5