The first half of the book is essentially a biographical account of the author's entry into the world of fiction writing, and his experiences in the trade. While this section of the book is not an instructive piece on writing, there are many insights to gain from the author's down to earth discussion of his own experiences. The second half of the book covers the usual topics regarding the craft of fiction, but in a very readable and direct way. Silberstang cuts through the reems of often confusing material in such craft books by concentrating on the salient points and driving them home. Overall, a very interesting and helpful book for any writer at any stage.

Fantastic book! Edwin Silberstang offers a lot of helpful and useful tips and advice, including his own personal experiences, and encourages writers not to give up, no matter how many brick walls they encounter. I, too, have returned to my dream of writing and have read tons of so-called guidebooks. This one is the best of the best. He puts out the finest work he can and doesn't let anyone, including publishers or editors, take the wind out of his sails. He has a tendency to be a bit self-righteous, but then hey, he's been published and I have yet to be.

Here is the thinking person's guide to gambling. The author, a professional gambler, offers virtually foolproof methods of gambling to win.
This book covers all aspects of what to do and what not to do in a wide range of gambling situations.

I purchased this book while attending a wedding in Las Vegas. I saw it in the hotel gift shop and did the touristy thing-- I bought a book about gambling in Las Vegas. I'm glad I did.

Silberstang has written an easy to follow primer on the most common gambling games that you will find in a casino. His book covers the classic table games-blackjack, craps, roulette (both American and European versions), baccarat, and keno. He also explores recent casino additions-Caribbean Poker, Let It Ride, and video poker. Slot machines, casino operation, and credit are even discussed.

Unlike some of the drivel I have read about gambling, Silberstang dispels some of the myths associated with gambling "systems." He clearly explains the games with examples, and gives the odds and demonstrates which bets favor the house (and by how much).

This was an interesting and enlightening read.

This book is explained in a way that even a trained monkey can undestand it. The secret to winning on any gambling game is "money managment". Silbertstang goes into much detail on how to accomplish this as well as other critical factors that could make you a winner. Don't go to Vegas without taking this book with you.

I bought this book because I wanted to learn how to play table games in casinos for recreation. After buying, reading and returning many other books on gambling, I realized that this is the only gambling book one needs. Silberstang covers game rules in detail, plus he clearly makes his point: all casino games have a house edge, which can't be overcome. Therefore to win, you can only choose games and bets with the smallest house advantage: blackjack, craps and baccarat. He provides solid strategies on how to play these games to minimize the impact of the house edge and take advantage of winning situations. Finally he explores the topic of money management in great detail and provides the most important advise: leave a winner.

My only complaint is that the book is a little outdated: it's nearly impossible to find single-deck blackjack in casinos. Additionally I learned that some variations of Video Poker can give a player an edge with perfect play, however the author doesn't cover these variations of the game.

I think that this book will help you find a game and a strategy, which best suits your playing style. I personally like his aggressive craps strategy for wrong bettors, although I think the strategy can be made more concervative by placing hedge pass bets without odds each time.

This book recommends only bets which give the casino the smallest advantage possible, which any responsible book on the subject should do. It does not lose credibility, as other craps books do, by recommending high-vig proposition bets as part of a "hedge" system. The only negative is that the book is now 20 years old and spends a lot of time discussing strategies for casinos that only offer single-odds on their craps games. All casinos have offered at least double-odds for quite some time (which is covered here as well.) Highly recommended, but time for a revision too!

The book is very well written. I have followed the method he teaches, and either played the pass or don't pass lines according to how cold the table is playing, and I walked away a winner. He also stresses that if the way you are playing does'nt work, you probably are having a choppy table, and should walk away. If you work the system when someone is rolling a hot hand, the chances of winning increases. He stresses that walking away a winner is important. If after an hour at the table, walk away. It is very important to have an attitude that you are playing to win. I have reread the book to enforce the techniques so they become natural. I have recommended this book to my friends.

I knew a few basic craps bets and had played a half dozen times. But this book really explained the game, the bets and all the odds. And it points out which bets give the house the least advantage.

I went to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut where I tried the recommended basic winning strategy in chapter 10, which is a simple way to place up to 3 simultaneous bets that are least favorable for the house. It's based totally on the mathematics of the game...no gimmicks.

My fist session at the $10 craps table lasted 30 minutes and I won $150. My second session was at the $5 table. I played for almost 2 hours and lost $100. (Not too bad given how long I played.) But my third time, I went back to the $10 table, played for about 90 minutes and won a whopping $1,050!!! I never won that much in my life! Granted, the table was hot, but I believe my betting gave me the extra edge to take advantage of some hot rolls while minimizing any losses.

I heartily recommend this book.

ed it's me tyler my love how you been sorry for the disappointments your book is a star sweet bee

For a beginner, this book is a good starting point to casino poker. Most of the in-depth material is on Hold'em and 7 card stud, but the book does skim over some lesser-played games too. If you're curious about getting into the game, the price is right.

This is an excellent book. It contains a great deal of information about what to expect when you enter a casino, the games to play and those to avoid, ettiquette etc. In addition to all this casino-based information it also has a wealth of knowledge on the games themseleves (hold-em, 7 card-stud, Hi-Lo variations, omaha and more) and at this price it is an absolute bargain. Perhaps the only area in which the book needs improvement is its information on tells and psychology.

For the beginning player, this book may not be a bad choice, because it contains charts for different rule variations of the game. Also, basic counting strategies. For the serious player I would recommend Lawrence Revere or Ken Usted. The strategies in this book wouldn't hurt a casual player though, who doesn't have time or desire to invest in learning a professional level system.

If you want to give card counting a try in Atlantic City, you can play well enough to scare the casinos after reading this book (and practicing). Even if you don't want to count, the basic strategy charts make this book worth purchasing. If you play like most people I see in Atlantic City, it will pay for itself in your first 10 minutes at the table. I've never played in Vegas so I can only recommend it for the Atlantic City game.

Ive purchased this book over a year ago and it has done wonders for my play at BlackJack.It's a simple system that makes sense for every logical move and straight to the point.And it works.My last trip out to Atlantic city at the Trump Taj Mahal I started with $200 at the beginning of the shoe.. Was me and the dealer one on one in a multiple deck game since there is a no midshoe entry rule at the Taj.Half hour later at the end of the shoe I walked away with $1,300 for a profit of $1,100.You dont need a complicated "professional" system to be one up on the game and casinos'.Anyone who wants to learn the game and not spend alot of money on "complicated professional systems" that are usualy not proven to be consistent winning strategies and want to learn a winning system should buy this book.I highly recommend buying and reading this book.

This book has very limited utility. Much of the 220 pages of information could probably be summarized in about 5 pages. I could only recommend this book to a complete novice who is too cheap to spring for one of the $2X books.

Much of the book describes what to do when a particular set of cards are on the board in a heads up situation. While Silberstang's advice in these situations may be correct the book is terrible at explaining why a particular situation is good, bad, or middle of the road. It would seem that stictly following the advice would make you prone to be dupped by more sophisticated players. Without any indepth discussion of position, pot odds, varing your play, etc. you will only be someone performing the 'correct' moves, not knowing if the situation really calls for that play. Therefore, this book should be called 'Basic Poker for the Complete Novice". It is hardly for 'serious' poker players, and most likely not 'The ultimate money-making guide' as espoused on it's cover.

If you buy this book, be ready to quickly move up to one of the more indepth books, such as Sklansky or Brunson. Good luck, unless I'm at your table ;).

Title says most of this. I learned VERY little from Silberstang. I'm on my third read.

Silberstang has a habit of showing examples without showing IDEAS. He says "If I had this hand, and that fell, I'd do this." Well, that settles that. But I'd like to learn a few concepts, to go with my facts.

I mostly play low-limit games, where the tables are loose. YMMV, but I found Silberstang useless and poorly written.

This book takes a lot of pages to say very little. Also, he assumes that you are familiar with a lot of poker lingo that he doesn't define (some of them I still don't know). There is a small glossary in the back, but most of the terms he uses are not in there. The book also lacks an index.

Probably the biggest drawback is that mostly he gives specific examples than general guidelines. For instance, if you have Ace-Ace-ten, here's what you do. These examples will rarely occur, and he needs to give general principles instead.

Dreadful advice coupled with lousy pop psychology and too much fluff. The author crams 10 games into one tiny book and gives them all short shrift. This book will wind up costing you far more than the cover price.

After reading this book I didn't get even one thing out of it. there are much better books out there try the others.

After watching the recent movie "Rounders" I was inspired to take up and learn poker. This book gives full rules, how-to-play instructions, and good strategy for ten different games. It also includes general definitions and poker information, a glossary of terms, and insight into bluffing and psychological aspects of the game. After an hour of reading up on Texas Hold'em I ended up tripling my profit on my first home six hour session.