Review of Gambling for a Living
- Title:
- How to Make $100,000 a Year Gambling for a Living
- Author:
- David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth
- Publisher:
- Two Plus Two
- Date:
- 1997
- ISBN:
- 1-880685-16-7
- Pages:
- 304
- Price:
- $24.95
January 14, 1998
David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth have produced some of the most
important and thought provoking books ever written on gambling.
Whenever they produce a new work, I almost invariably buy it
sight unseen. This book works as well, although it's not quite
what I expected.
I really expected the book to cover what the professional gambler
would need to know in order to profit in their profession on a day
to day basis. For
example, I thought I might find advice on what times of the day
the loosest middle and upper limit poker games would be played, how
specifically to sacrifice a little expectation to lower variance, how
to deal with W2G forms and gambling taxes, etc.. I really expected the
book to be aimed at the already skilled gambler who is considering
making this a full time occupation.
Instead, the book aims a bit lower. It is not assumed that
the aspiring professional blackjack player already knows how to count
cards, or even basic strategy. Nor is it assumed that the aspiring
professional poker player knows how to calculate pot odds or knows
what a good Texas Hold'em starting hand looks like. I understand the
editorial decision to include this information in this book, but it
means that there's a lot less meat here than one would expect.
I sure wouldn't have minded a paragraph at the beginning of the blackjack
chapter, for example, that said, "First, go read two of the following
books, then come back and read this chapter," and then less background
and more new material, but I guess that isn't good business.
The first section is on blackjack. To be honest, there isn't a lot new
here that doesn't already appear in other sources. Some of the information
is made more up to date here, which is good, but the well read blackjack
player won't find any new deep secrets here.
The next two sections, which I'll lump together here, are on sports
and horse betting. Admittedly, these are subjects I know little about,
so the information here was interesting to me, although it
may be well known to those who participate more often. The authors focus
not on
traditional handicapping techniques, but what mathematical
circumstances might indicate when a particular team, horse, or
combination might be undervalued by the oddsmakers. I don't know if this
information by itself is sufficient to make money at sports or
horse wagering, but it is interesting nonetheless.
Section four is on slot and video poker playing while section seven is
on casino tournaments. Again, nothing new is here and aspiring pros
would be much better served by reading other definitive works in this
area. There is an interesting description of how modern slot machines
work, but as far as the professional gambler is concerned stating, "One
can't know what the true odds are of any slot combination coming up,
therefore one can never know when one might have an advantage, so the
professional gambler should never play slot machines," is sufficient
as far as the topic of this book is concerned.
Sections five and six are on usually unbeatable games and casino
promotions. These sections are about mistakes the casinos make in
calculating payouts, how to recognize them, and then how to take advantage
of them. While material like this has been presented elsewhere, it
has never been presented definitively, and these sections make a good
addition to what has already been written. If one wants to take advantage
of these situations, one does have to keep their eyes open. Nonetheless,
taking a second look at a game's payout takes little time, and there
might be a pleasant surprise.
The eighth section is on poker, the subject the authors know best. Even
though both Sklansky and Malmuth have been generally successful as gamblers
at many games, this is their bread and butter. Unfortunately, the section
reads more as an introduction to their other fine books than as any new
contribution. There's little more to be written on how to play
various poker games, the authors have already written pretty definitive
works on these topics, so I would have liked to have seen more advice on
how to be successful at poker when you're not playing. What should one
look for in a game that makes it good? What should one be doing away from
the table to help improve one's game? These are issues that have not
been dealt with definitively, and this book could have benefited from
a thorough discussion of them.
The book ends with a section titled, "Putting It All Together", an
appendix on probability and a second appendix on suggested reading. There
are some interesting topics in this last section, and, frankly, I wish
more of the book had been like this. The appendix on probability is
obligatory and serviceable. The appendix on recommended reading is
good, in my opinion the recommendations are quite sound.
As a whole, the book is good and worth reading, but I can't help but feel
a little disappointed. If viewed as an outline on what one needs to
learn before one can become a professional gambler, it works quite well.
However, there's another book that can be written covering some of the
more fundamental questions about how one goes about pursuing this enterprise
on a day to day basis. I have to admit I was hoping this book would have
been it.
Capsule:
Aimed at the individual who enjoys gambling and is thinking about becoming
a professional but hasn't studied the games seriously, this book, while
far from the best efforts of Sklansky and Malmuth, is satisfactory. I
would have like to have seen the book be more of an operational handbook
for the professional gambler and less of a study outline for what one
ought to know. The well read gambler will find enough information of
value here to make the purchase of the book worthwhile, but might feel
a little bit disappointed in the lack of depth.
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