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[FloridaPhil]

I have read my share of these books. Most have a few good points and the rest is conjecture. Someone hits it big or a long string of wins and they become an instant expert. I read a book two years ago that claimed the way to profit was to keep increasing your bet until your won big enough to recover. Along with this sage advice the author recommended moving to ever higher variance games as you lose. There has never been a bankroll big enough to survive this tactic. Thankfully, this book was not a best seller.

Bob Dancer writes good books. He tends to be a little technical for some people, but his books have stood the test of time. I wish he would write some books aimed at players who play negative games. With positive games disappearing at a rapid pace and comps being reduced, a lot of players are looking for help. Maybe he's getting tired and doesn't wish to start up any new campaigns? It happens.

[Eduardo]

Mr Dancer is not a Recreational player. I would never want to read a book by him on the subject given his stated opinions on recreational play. He only has one or two things to say on the subject and they have already been said.

People should write about what they know. Bob knows advantage play... so he should write about that (and he does!)

Leave other subjects to people who are actually interested in them.

I wish you would stop making demands about what people should write about or what "the forum" should talk more about. Everyone can talk about or write about what they want. If there is another subject you want discussed, just start a topic about it!

[FloridaPhil]

I wish you would stop making demands about what people should write about or what "the forum" should talk more about.

I never make demands about anything. Mr. Dancer knows the best way to play negative VP games is to not play them. He is a very smart man. His math shows if you are going to play negative games, playing them less saves money. This fact does not sell books. Who wants to read a VP book that says the more you play the more you lose?

What we could use are some books that talk about the games 99% of us have to play. That would be better than a pile of books about playing games that are out of reach for most of us.

It wouldn't be that hard to do. You could explain the benefits of playing small. You could talk about comped rooms, free lunches and more free stuff than you can carry away. Instead of trying to beat the casino, why not learn to play the game with as little cost as possible? Unfortunately, book buyers want to read about million dollar wins and living large off the casino instead of things that would actually help them.

I actually think Mr. Dancer could write an excellent book about Recreational VP. I know I would buy a copy.

[OTABILL]

Scarne has long since been exposed as a fraud. He literally just made stuff up. Once computer simulations became common, many of his plays were shown to be way off. He advocates sticking on all 16s vs 10s. It's a very common hand and playing it his way will cost serious money. He actually accused Ed Thorpe of wearing xray glasses and insisted card counting doesn't work.
He was a charlatan, a self promoter who wrote books littered with horrible advice which is also forty years out of date. It's a fun read, especially if one understands math and how he misapplied it.

This is the Recreational Forum. You are an individual whose life revolves around gambling. I brought up Scarne because of his advice to recreational gamblers who go to a casino for a night of entertainment. He explained the rules, etc. about various casino games at the time of publication. He discussed how to budget spending money for someone in that category. I am not talking about AP strategy related to a particular gaming activity. Math has nothing to do with my post. I repeat this regarding recreational, not AP, subject matter.

Yes, Scarne was wrong about Thorpe and counting cards. But to call him a discredited Charlatan because of that is way over the top. He, like many of us made a mistake. However, the man educated hundreds if not thousands of servicemen and others about cheaters saving many from financial ruin. If someone wants a short read about Scarne and the work I cited, read the following review of his accomplishments (BTW I read the original complete guide when it came out in the early 1960s).

https://wizardofvegas.com/articles/peop ... bling-two/

[olds442jetaway]

I could write a book myself on what I call carnival people the only place you see them is carnivals Walmart or the casino my recent post on this thread listed a couple of them of course it’s not the same writing about them and seeing them in person I may just do it though I’ve already written three books 2 before I was 14 The third one is a science-fiction novel I’m still working on I never went to a publisher with any of them just had copies made for friends and family

[olds442jetaway]

Sorry about the lack of punctuation and capitals was serious if I had time I would fix it

[billryan]

Scarne has long since been exposed as a fraud. He literally just made stuff up. Once computer simulations became common, many of his plays were shown to be way off. He advocates sticking on all 16s vs 10s. It's a very common hand and playing it his way will cost serious money. He actually accused Ed Thorpe of wearing xray glasses and insisted card counting doesn't work.
He was a charlatan, a self promoter who wrote books littered with horrible advice which is also forty years out of date. It's a fun read, especially if one understands math and how he misapplied it.

This is the Recreational Forum. You are an individual whose life revolves around gambling. I brought up Scarne because of his advice to recreational gamblers who go to a casino for a night of entertainment. He explained the rules, etc. about various casino games at the time of publication. He discussed how to budget spending money for someone in that category. I am not talking about AP strategy related to a particular gaming activity. Math has nothing to do with my post. I repeat this regarding recreational, not AP, subject matter.

Yes, Scarne was wrong about Thorpe and counting cards. But to call him a discredited Charlatan because of that is way over the top. He, like many of us made a mistake. However, the man educated hundreds if not thousands of servicemen and others about cheaters saving many from financial ruin. If someone wants a short read about Scarne and the work I cited, read the following review of his accomplishments (BTW I read the original complete guide when it came out in the early 1960s).

https://wizardofvegas.com/articles/peop ... bling-two/

My life revolves around gambling, does it? Why would you possibly say something so ignorant?
Scarne died long before player loyalty clubs were common so what could he possibly tell us about how to best play in todays casinos. You recommended an outdated book by a huckster. Would you recommend someone pick stocks from a book written fifty years ago? After years of knocking Thorpe and card counting, in his later days Scarne actually tried to claim he published a brochure that was distributed to GIs in WW2 that featured card counting. Thirty years later, not a single copy has ever surfaced.
In the 1960s, he was regarded as a leading expert. Then computers proved he was way off base on many of his strategies. Even his claims to educating hundreds of thousands of GIs is highly exaggerated.
Charlatan is the perfect word for him- a self proclaimed expert on all things gambling. He did have incredible hand skills and amazing dexterity but being able to make cards jump out of a deck doesn't make you an expert on gambling. Would you take gambling advice from Chris Angel?
There are hundreds of outstanding books on todays games and conditions. Why send someone to a fifty year old book written by a pretty sketchy character?

[olds442jetaway]

Sounds like I should read it just for entertainment if nothing else. Though I have forgotten more than Vman knows now, I would like to see his take on things. Well anyway, here’s one for my as yet unwritten book. I call him the cigar ash or ass guy as you prefer. He never dumps the elongated ash. Waits until it falls on his shirt then leaves the remants there. He gives new meaning to Tie Dyed Shirts and sometimes it even burns a hole in his shirt or Jeans. Now that part might interest the younger set who relish paying a premium for jeans that we used to cut up and use to check oil in our hot rods.

[olds442jetaway]

By the way, the cigar ash guy is a fat old bald guy. Does that surprise anyone?

[FloridaPhil]

Why do people write books? I suppose you could put gambling books into the "self help" category. If you are going to help video poker players, why write books that only help a few fortunate individuals? Why wouldn't you want to help the majority of players who only have access to negative games? Does the author think helping those poor jerks who are paying his bills is beneath him? Maybe he wants those players to lose more money when they are told higher denomination games pay better? A negative game is still negative, only the damage is worse. I'm sure that makes the casinos happy.

The truth is the same VP strategy that produces a profit when playing positive games can be used to reduce the cost of playing negative games. The only thing that changes is the math. One of the factors is reversed. Playing bigger or longer on a negative game costs more money. Playing negative games smaller saves money. Everything else that the experts tell you to do is valuable to a Recreational Player. Why don't the books just spell this out instead of saying "Don't play negative games"? Your guess is as good as mine.