Its one thing to be a frequent player in casinos, and it is quite another to understand deeply what is going on when you play. One way to help separate the champs from the chumps is to know how the games being played in casinos work. And to understand more than the simple rules, one needs to have a grasp of the math behind them. And thats where The Mathematics of Games and Gambling comes in. This book will help you understand how to mathematically analyze games of chance and determine if you've got a chance of beating the house or not.
We all can get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of casinos out there. Which ones are the ones to head to, which have the best deals, which have the best party-scene, the best food, and so on. Where do we go to game?!?! Its enough to make your head spin.
Thankfully we have guide books to help us make these tough decisions, and The Ultimate Casino Guide is a great one. Here's the editor's blurb:
The Ultimate Casino Guide is a complete directory of the finest casinos from around the world. Cambodia, Las Vegas, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean-and wherever else the winds of chance may blow-this exciting guide gives travelers all of the information they need about any casino in or around their travel destination: * Casino Name * Address * Phone Number * Website * Email Address * Brief Description * Type of Entertainment * Restaurants * Accommodations * Family Amenities * Poker * Admission Charge * Dress Code * Bonus Whether a dedicated gambler or an armchair traveler looking for a local hot spot, the Ultimate Casino Guide compiles all of the information readers need in one easy reference guide.
We don't konw if we would call The Winner's Guide to Casino Gambling the "gambler's bible", but it is a decent book for learning about the various games you can find in a casino, and for learning good strategies to play them.
Here's the publisher's snippet:
The definitive guide to the best strategies at the gambling table-now in a fully revised and updated fourth edition Long recognized as the gambler's bible, The Winner's Guide to Casino Gambling has been completely revised and expanded to include new rules and strategies for every major game in the casino, including several popular new ones. This entirely updated fourth edition remains the most authoritative and comprehensive book in its field, bringing gambling expert Edwin Silberstang's professional secrets and expertise into the twenty-first-century casino.The Winner's Guide to Casino Gambling can literally replace a shelf full of guides to individual games-each chapter is a book of its own. Silberstang shows readers the best strategies to beat multiple-deck blackjack, including simple but powerful card-counting methods how to exploit the free-odds wager in craps to minimize the house edge ways to win at the most popular video poker games the secrets to the new casino games, such as Three Card Poker and Let It Ridereg; what games to play where for the best oddso a winning approach to thinking as a gambler, worth the cost of the entire book.
A Guide Book That Pays for Itself, American Casino Guide 2007
There are plenty of casino guides out there. And surely all of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. Few however, can say that they can guarantee that they will pay for themselves. The American Casino Guide '07 can, and its a sure-thing. No, its not some crazy betting scheme, or some rigged game they tell you about. Its simply some great coupons that you can get inside.
Published annually since 1992, the 2007 American Casino Guide, with $1,000 in casino coupons, is jam-packed with detailed information on every casino/resort, riverboat and Indian casino in the U.S. with useful advice from top gambling experts on how to play and win at the most popular casino games.
Handy directory of all casinos in the U.S.
The American Casino Guide is the #1 best-selling casino directory with names, addresses, phone numbers, games, room rates, and more for more than 700 casinos in 37 states. The Guide comes complete with maps of all states showing where the casinos are located, plus detailed maps of Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, and the Mississippi resort towns of Biloxi and Tunica.
Expert gambling strategy and advice.
The new 496-page 2007 Edition features stories by America's top gaming writers on how to play all casino games including blackjack, craps, roulette, baccarat, slots and video poker machines - plus - detailed reports on which casinos offer you the best odds in every major gaming jurisdiction in the U.S. See the list of chapters.
You'll get four charts that lay out the expert strategy for playing blackjack, plus four more charts that show you how to use the proper strategies on video poker machines.
The guide comes with plenty of tips on how to get the most for your money when visiting a casino by taking advantage of casino promotions and fun books. A must for everyone planning a visit to a casino!
Over $1,000 in casino coupons!
The American Casino Guide is the only casino gambling book that includes casino coupons to save you money when you visit the casinos.
Even if you use just one coupon you could easily recover the purchase price of the book. Use them all and you can save more than $1,000! See the listing of 187 coupons in this year's book.
Here's a list of all the coupons you can get in the '07 edition posted by the Casino City Times:
Wether you are an aspiring casino operator, or just a joe whos interested, this book will lay out all you ever wanted to know about how a casino functions as a business. Here is the editor's review:
Complete guidance to the ins and outs of gaming operations
Management personnel need a thorough understanding of the business side of the casino industry to ensure profitsâand to avoid losses. It's a sure bet that Casino Operations Management, Second Edition will help current and future gaming management professionals better serve any casino.
Written by experts with over 65 years of combined experience in the field, this Second Edition offers all the critical skills and know-how to equip gaming and casino operators with the knowledge needed for the management office, cage operations, and table game and slot operations.
This updated edition features detailed coverage of:
* Current high-roller marketing tactics and their effect on profitability
* The effect of popular money management systems on casino profits
* The initial development process of an Indian casino
* Studies designed to identify the patronage motives of gamblers, including those of riverboat customers
* Slot club design: player rating issues, point accumulation schemes, and more
* Principles of casino floor design: managing table game and slot location
* Studies designed to measure the profit contribution of popular slot promotions
Casino Operations Management, Second Edition uses simplified mathematics and statistics throughout, and provides readers with a thorough understanding of all aspects of the casino industry business. It is a must-have reference for students and casinos that develop managers internally.
Check out Casino Operations and Management at Amazon
This time around, we are looking straight into the eyes of fate. We are staring down the double barreled shotgun of a call. Do we think we have it? Do we think SHE has it? We've applied our vast knowledge of poker tells, but she is as readable as stone before us, and we aren't geologists! No, this time its going to come down to sheer odds and probabilities. Thankfully, we've had Texas Hold'em Odds and Probabilities on our summer reading list, and we have the evidence we need to make an informed decision.
Here's Amazon's blurb:
- How often does each starting hand win against a specific hand or random hand? - What are the odds of your opponent holding a pocket pair when he raises? - What is the probability that an over-card will flop when you hold JJ? - How do you determine if drawing is profitable or not? Texas Hold'em Odds and Probabilities answers all of these questions and more. Every single decision you make at the poker table is in some way related to odds and probabilities. Whether you are deciding to bet, call, fold, raise, or even bluff, odds and probabilities are an integral part of the decision-making process. Texas Hold'em Odds and Probabilities covers all forms of the game, including limit, no-limit, and tournament situations. This book does more than just show you how to calculate the odds - more importantly, the focus is on how to apply odds to make better decisions. Hilger's approach shows that you do not need to be a math wiz to be successful in poker. Simple concepts and strategies that anyone can learn will have you matching wits with the top players in no time. Some of the topics include: raising draws for value, backdoor draws, facing all-in decisions before the flop, protecting your hand, the impact of stack sizes, and much more. In addition, the most comprehensive collection of Texas Hold'em charts and statistics ever put in print is provided as reference. Poker is a fun game, but it is even more fun when you win. Expert players understand the simple math behind every decision they make - now you can too. Matthew Hilger is also the author of the best-selling Internet poker book, Internet Texas Hold'em and is coauthor, with Ian Taylor, of The Poker Mindset.
Phil Gordon has put together a nice collection of little books to help guide you to upping your poker playing potential. All of you know that Phil is a world-class player, and he doesnt hold back in his set of books. You can get each one individually if you like, but we like this little box set on our library shelf.
The black book begins with the basics, but with some sound observations from the poker pro. Then the green book guides you into being a better player overall, with its methods for staying ahead and profitable. The blue book brings it home, helping you turn from amateur to pro. Deffinitely a must have in your poker library
If you dont know the difference between the nut and a push, then this is the book for you. The Casino Dictionary will lay out all the terms and phrases that you hear whizzing past your head while you're drunk on the joys of a modern casino. Pick up a copy, and carry it with you on your Vegas trip, or just peruse it when you get back home and have a burning question. Alternatively, you could impress your poker buddies by starting to spew out the terminology like a pro! No gambling book shelf is complete without it!
This time around, we bring you a book you can skim through while you're sitting by the pool, or hanging out at the beach. Or, since its the middle of November, maybe you can read it while looking at a picture of the beach. Super Casino: Inside the "New" Las Vegas is the kind of book that entertains while it educates. Its a look at Vegas and its inner workings, as well as all of its players. It has an excellent history of the the town, with all its grit and glory, and without centering on the mob, it explains how things got to be the way they are today in Vegas. It doesnt get overly dramatic with its character stories, but they are there, and they add a nice level of depth to the history lesson you are already getting. All in all, this is a book for anyone interested in Vegas. Operators, Players, Vacationers, and anyone who is just looking for a light read while passing the time.
Here's what Publishers Weekly has to say:
For a portrait of razzle-dazzle Las Vegas, this is a curiously sober book. Earley, an Edgar and Robert F. Kennedy Award winner (Circumstantial Evidence), gained the cooperation of Circus Circus Enterprises, owners of the new pyramid-shaped Luxor super casino, to write an awkward hybrid of a work: part business history, part vignettes of life in Las Vegas. The first segment, more than one third of the book, tells the history of Circus Circus. It's a solid account of the rise of corporate casinos by Earley, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, but as Vegas tales go, there's nothing hugely dramatic in the Circus Circus story. The book's sprightlier but diffuse second part describes episodes inside the Luxor and the individual characters who populate it: a casino boss, a showgirl, a security guard, etc. Earley showcases some unflattering scenes, such as a security guard's beating of a homeless man, and picks up some only-in-Vegas anecdotes, like the many ways casino dealers have tried to hide stolen chips (e.g., in a brassiere). But only one of these characters is compelling: a young prostitute who opens up to the author to a remarkable degree; surviving the Las Vegas jungle, she trains as a blackjack dealer and ultimately leaves town. Earley does not comment directly on the broader moral issues of gambling: halfway through the book, he quotes a cabbie who says the city is based on greed, but near the end, he cites a Luxor manager who asserts that it's a place "where people come to forget their problems."
So pick up a copy, and when Turkey Dat rolls around, and you're so full turkey and stuffing that you have that warm, drowzy feeling overtake you, you can curl up with this book in front of the fire, and transport yourself to good ole' Las Legas.
The holidays are fast approaching, and that means is a chance for us to bring the world of Casinos into a loved one's life! We've got a handle on the holidays and some great ideas for gifts you can get even the most difficult to buy for on your list. So grab that holiday list, and prepare to shop till you drop as we present to you the Casino Snob Holiday Buying Guide!
Theres one thing a casino snob loves, and thats playing anytime, anywhere. Check out these home-casino items that would look great jammed in an oversize stocking, or wrapped up for giving!
We begin with a selection of Felt Tops. These are sure to warm the heart of any home gamer. And if you're a regular reader of the site, you may even be able to win a few from the house when they host their first game. And what could be nicer in the holidays than taking it from the house.
Here we have a Caribbean Stud Poker felt top. The opposite side also has a Texas Hold'Em trainer, though we've never had use for that side.
For those who prefer the Blackjack world, we can reccommend this Black Jack Felt Top. Its got all you need to hit or stay from the comfort of your parlor. Does anyone even have a parlor anymore?
As we've discussed before, Baccarat is so easy, even a drunken monkey can play it. And the best part is, folks think its sophisticated, so help them look like the coolest gamers around, and get them this Baccarat Mat.
And of course, what home casino would be complete without a sweet craps setup. You're loved one can shoot the bones all night, and if you're extra nice, you can play the stick person.
So, you get the felt tops all right, but what about the other accessories they'll need? No problem. Here is a set of essentials that every home gamer will want.
First and foremost, any card game will need cards. And the best cards around are Kem cards. A solid set of Kem Cards will last you for a very very long time. They are more expensive than regular cards, and thats because of the quality of them. We've raved about these cards before, and we stick by 'em.
Now that you have picked up the cards, you may want to also pick up an 6 deck shoe. This will help you deal those cards in the slickest way possible. Its ideal for blackjack dealing, but its also handy for any card-dealing game your loved one may want to play. The kids even like to play go fish with it.
That may take care of the card players, but what about those craps accessories? Not to worry!
First off, we have the dice themselves. Now sure, any dice will do in a craps game. But if you want to let your casino snob show their casino style, then you have no choice but to get some profesional craps dice. You can grab a small set of five, or if you have a whole army of snobs (or one really forgetful one), you can pony up and get the brick of 400!
And now that you have all those dice, you'l want to get your snob the wooden bowl to hold them in! This bowl looks attractive on the table, and helps keep the spare dice separate from the dice that are in play.
Finally for that craps lovin' casino snob, the best of all craps accessories, the stick. They can run around and beat things like its a riding crop, or they can just handle the dice like a pro, and keep their home game cooking into the wee hours. And because size DOES matter (the size of the table silly!) you can choose from a selection of sticks including 24, 30, 36, 42, and 48. For the record, we reccommend the 42, but only because its the answer to life, the universe and everything.
If they are someone you REALLY like. And if they do have just everything, then why not give them the real deal. This is a multi game video poker and slot machine. Just imagine your snob and their pals huddled around this baby cheering on as the bings abd boops whail on. Hmm.. Now that we think about it.You may want to get a set of earmuffs while you're at it, so you can sleep at night.
If you still need more ideas, why not check out the following articles. They have some books that may interest your casino snob, and help them improve their game when they head to the casino for fun.
We hope we've set you on the right track for your holiday gift giving extravaganza. If you are looking for other gift ideas, you can always browse the rest of the blogpire, listen to our podcast, and see what other ideas spring to mind!
Lean back in your easy chair and buckle that safety belt. Its time for the Casino Snob October Wrap up!
Blogpire News
We had more podcasts this past month. If you havent heard them yet, you can listen to yours truly, and Jay Brewer wax rhapsodic about all the blogpire has to offer.
Casino Snob Book Club
We kicked off a new category with a look at the perennial casino book: Bringing Down The House. Its a fine read, and you should deffinitely check it out.
And finally in style, we took a great look at Old Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, and took an overview of the best of the Vegas Music CDs of that classic crooner.
Casinos The Battle of Connecticut began, with our look at the two big casinos in CT, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. The battle still rages on, and we're excited to see round 2, but for now you can check out the Tale of the Tape.
Entertainment
THe big news was of course our look at all the stuff going on for Halloween in Vegas. We are thinking that next year we will have to schedule a trip there for just the week of Halloween, as nowhere else can we slide on our Marilyn Manson costume and potentially win twenty thousand dollars.
One of the things we always get asked by readers is what we think about certain books. There are literally thousands of casino-related books out there that cover the gamut from strategies, systems, and rules to real-life stories and just plain fiction.
In order to help spread the word about the books we have taken a look at, we are starting up a new category here at Casino Snob, which is the Casino Snob Book Club. We will take a look at any kinds of books that have anything to do with casinos, be they real or fictional, and give you our observations and opinions.
And what book kicks off this new category? Why none other than one of the most famous casino books ever written: Bringing Down the House.
Another busy month here at the Casino Snob, and the time has come to do the September Wrap Up, so warm up some apple cider, and in this early October, let's remenice about the September just past.
On the gaming scene, the first thing we did is take an in depth look at BlackJack with another in our "all about" series. We covered the basics of the game, as well as a few products that we though could enhance your black jack experience.
We also took a look at some sweet products for your home casino with the high quality Kem Cards and your very own slot machine.
In addition, we reported on our happy experiences with the Winning Bid slot machine we found at Mohegan Sun.
Well another month has gone by, and its time to look back at August on the Casino Snob.
In the casino entertainment world we took a closer look at Cirque du Soleil and their odd blend of wonder and performance. We also let folks in on the hilarious and amazing duo of Penn & Teller, and how they can catch them perform in Vegas
In the Casino and Gaming section, we took some time to check out Baccarat, that high-brow game thats so simple even a secret agent can play it while on duty. We also spent some time with the Ponies at Rockingham Park. We even "touched down" on the sports bet scene when you have the inkling to bet on the NFL.
Texas Hold'em Took some of our attention, as we looked at a bunch of books that promised to help you win at the tables. And while technically It was back in July, we can't help but mention our post on craps, mainly because we just love the game that much.
In the Cuisine area, we kicked off CasinoCocktailFriday in style. Thats one series we just KNOW we are going to enjoy posting on for ages to come :)
All the while, the news ever flows onward, we did our best to give you the highlights of the Casino world. A look back at the gulf coast a year after Katrina, the talk about the largest casino in the world, and of course the current debate of the legality of Online Gaming.
Yes-sir-ee its been a good month here at Casino Snob, and we're glad to have you here with us! We hope you enjoyed you're summer, and now we're looking forward to Fall, and to all the casino-y goodness that awaits us!
The Mathematics of Games and Gambling
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