12 Recommended Gambling Books

My goal with this post is to recommend a few books which should be on every gambler’s bookshelf. If you’ve read these and understood the lessons within them, you’ll have a better shot of being a winner than most gamblers.

These are in no particular order.

1. How to Make $100,000 a Year Gambling for a Living by David Sklansky

How to Make $100,000 a Year Gambling for a Living changed my way of thinking about gambling in multiple ways. The thought process involved in getting the best of it on such a regular basis that you can actually make a living at it is fascinating.

It doesn’t hurt that the author has made his living as a gambler, too. In fact, David Sklansky has all kinds of interesting essays in multiple books about his experiences on both sides of the real money gambling industry.

2. Getting the Best of It by David Sklansky

In Getting the Best of It, Sklansky tackles 6 big topics:

• Math in gambling
• General concepts
• Sports/horse betting
• Poker
• Blackjack
• Other casino games

Some of these are covered in detail in ways you won’t find in other books or on the internet. The discussion of the math behind gambling is as detailed as you’d ever need such a discussion to be. Even if you hate math, the writing is clear enough you can handle it.

If you don’t understand concepts like expectation, this is the book for you. I also enjoy the discussion of how there are only 8 basic mistakes in poker.

3. Beat the Dealer by Edward Thorp

This is the original advantage player book. You’ll find more up-to-date strategies in newer blackjack books, but Thorp’s explanation of why card counting works is still as good as any.

Also, Beat the Dealer was the start of card counting in blackjack as know it today, so you can consider this a foundational text

4. Blackbelt in Blackjack by Arnold Snyder

This is as good a book on getting an edge at blackjack as you’ll find. It presents the Zen count, which is a solid counting system that anyone should be able to handle. The discussion of casino conditions is dated but can easily be applied to 21st century casinos. It’s the thought process that matters most, anyway.

If you’re new to blackjack and serious about winning, read Blackbelt in Blackjack.

5. Hold’em Poker by David Sklansky

If you’re new to Texas hold’em, you could do worse than to start with this book. It claims to be “definitive,” which is overstating the case. It is, however, excellent as a starting point. The starting hand rankings you see all over the internet start here.

It does include a how to play section, essays on the importance of position, semi-bluffing, free cards, slowplaying, check raising, and hand reading.

6. Super/System: A Course in Power Poker by Doyle Brunson

The original version of Super/System has one of the easiest-to-read strategy guides for no limit hold’em that you’ll ever read, although it does include lengthy anecdotal stuff that distracts from some of the specific advice. On the other hand, it’s not a dry read at all.

Also, some of the games covered in the original edition of Super/System are now obsolete. The revised version, Super/System 2, is a little better, but it’s still practically an antique, now. It was published 15 years ago, and the original was published even earlier than that, in 2002.

7. The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky

I’ve seen The Theory of Poker described as the best book ever written about poker. That might be true. I’m not sure I’m qualified to judge.

I am confident that The Theory of Poker is excellent and will change your game for the better. Unlike most poker strategy books, it doesn’t focus on a specific game, instead covering concepts that apply to almost all types of poker games.

You can read this book at any point in your poker career and benefit from it.

8. Comp City: A Guide to Free Las Vegas Vacations by Max Rubin

Casino conditions have changed since Comp City was written, but the book still provides valuable insight into how to get the most from the casinos in terms of comps. Keep in mind that it does cost money to get comps, and this book explains how much it costs and what kind of risks are involved.

If you combine the information in Comp City with information you get from other gambling books, you’ll be a force indeed as a comp hustler. Don’t overdo it, though. Not everyone can get away with the kind of chutzpah that Rubin has.

9. Caro’s Book of Poker Tells by Mike Caro

You’ll find newer books on poker tells, but I’m not convinced that any of them are better than Caro’s Book of Poker Tells, which is the original authority on the subject. It features dozens of photographs as reference material. If you can get past the datedness of the photos, you can learn much from this book.

Of course, poker tells are individual, but the concepts in this book are indispensable and will do more to get you started than you could ask for anywhere else.

10. Sharp Sports Betting by Stanford Wong

If you’re looking for a clear explanation of how real money sports betting works along with examples of how to get an edge while betting on them, Sharp Sports Betting is your starting point. As far as I know, no other sports betting book comes even close to offering so much accurate and useful information.

11. Million Dollar Video Poker by Bob Dancer

Bob Dancer turned a $6000 bankroll into $1 million playing video poker in Las Vegas. Million Dollar Video Poker is his memoir of that experience. It’s more about the swings in fortune he experienced on his quest to win this money than it is a how-to book, although he does provide insights and tips any video poker player can use to increase his chances of winning.

Million Dollar Video Poker put Bob Dancer on the map. All his self-published strategy guides are worth reading, too.

12. The Frugal Gambler by Jean Scott

The Frugal Gambler is like Comp City for people on a budget. It’s dated now, too, but like Max Rubin’s book, it offers mindset tips and lessons that will always apply to anyone interested in getting the most for their gambling dollar at the casino.

Conclusion

Those are a dozen of the best books about gambling I’ve ever read. And I’ve read a bunch of gambling books, too – some of which were terrible.

Look for a companion post soon which lists some of the worst gambling books I’ve ever read.