REVIEW
Over
the last two decades, David Sklansky has
been one of the most prolific as well
as one of the most engaging gambling writers.
During this time, little in the gambling
world has escaped his attention. Nowhere
is this more evident than in Getting the
Best of It. In this book Sklansky covers
an exceptionally broad range of gambling
topics including, but by no means limited
to, poker, blackjack, horse racing, and
even keno.
Sklansky's
first section covers mathematics. Most
of these topics are pretty elementary,
but if the reader doesn't understand them,
they'll have a hard time making any money
gambling. As Sklansky point out, even
the math adverse would be well advised
to expend the energy to understand the
essays in this section. Two of the essays
are likely to be of interest even to someone
who already understands basic probability
theory. One of these essays covers Bayes'
Theorem, the other is titled "An Interesting
Dice Proposition".
In
the next section, Sklansky covers what
most folks would consider his forte, the
game of poker. In my opinion, this set
of 12 essays represents some of the best
brief ideas ever written about the game.
I don't agree with absolutely every detail
Sklansky writes about here, but every
essay contains at least one, and usually
more than one, engaging thought. In my
opinion, these essays are excellent in
promoting "thinking practice" among readers.
If one uses these essays as examples of
how a player can think about situations
they encounter, I would all but guarantee
that this would bring about significant
improvement in one's play.
Section
three covers blackjack. Again, I mostly
agree with everything Sklansky has to
say. At this point, most, but not all,
of these topics have been discussed in
other sources in the gambling literature,
but that doesn't mean that this information
isn't worthwhile. Of the six sections
in this book, the one on blackjack is
probably weakest, but I still found it
worthwhile. Section four covers other
casino games, including the only significant
analysis of "crapless craps" I can recall
seeing in print, and, believe it or not,
some worthwhile keno information.
Next,
the author discusses sports and horse
betting. While this isn't a comprehensive
coverage of handicapping or wagering,
there is important information here. I
believe Sklansky correctly outlines just
how difficult these games are to beat.
If a given method which claims to overcome
the vig at sports or race betting doesn't
specifically address the issues that Sklansky
discusses in this section, I'd be willing
to bet that the strategy in question won't
be a long-term winner. The last section
covers "General Gambling Concepts". It
includes two of my favorite Sklansky essays,
"The Law of Averages and Other Fallacies"
and "Another Gambling Paradox". If a significant
percentage of casino patrons deeply understood
these two essays, it would profoundly
affect the profitability of casinos everywhere.
There are a few essays in this collection
that miss or are no longer as relevant
as they once were, such as the author's
essays on progressive slot machines. I
would also understand if a reader who
had a narrow gambling focus (on blackjack,
for example) was hesitant to pay this
much money when they're only interested
in a small percentage of the book. However,
anyone with a general interest in gambling,
or anyone who wants to learn to think
deeply about any wagering endeavor would
be well advised to read Getting the Best
of It. Note that many of these essays
are from a column Sklansky wrote in the
80s for the magazine Gambling Times, so
if one has a complete collection of his
articles there, it may not be worth the
cost of acquiring this book, even for
the updates and section introductions.
Getting the Best of It is now in its second
edition. There are some updates, but the
differences in the two editions are definitely
not significant enough for one to want
to upgrade their first edition.
Capsule:
Getting
the Best of It is a collection of some
of David Sklansky's best writing. In this
book, Sklansky writes provocative and
valuable information about a wide variety
of gambling topics. While it may seem
a bit broad for those gamblers who have
a very narrow focus, it's chief benefit
is as a model for how gamblers looking
for an edge can think more effectively
about how to approach casino games. In
this respect, it succeeds handsomely.
Nick
Christenson
Gambling
Book Reviews
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