Overview

David Spanier studies the psychological motivation of gamblers, those who beat the system and those beaten by it, portraying the personalities and legends of the gambling world of the time. Spanier ranges widely over his subject, considering the motivations of gamesters, stressing the physical sensations they experience, the percentages and chances, heuristic principles, the differences in European and American gambling, and the criminal element in U.S. gaming, but concentrates primarily on the human side of gambling rather than the mathematical or theoretical. While he is comfortable discussing Freud's analysis of the compulsive gambler, his real emphasis is on the individuals: the mathematician who devised a way to beat the house advantage at blackjack; the London man-about-town who ran games for the upper class; the cleric who founded the British Gamblers Anonymous; the physician who established a ""gamblers' hospital"" in Brecksville, Ohio. This is an insider's analysis of the thrills, action, and intense emotional involvement that makes up the world of gambling.

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9781843440291

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A fascinating insider's analysis of the thrills, action, and intense emotional involvement that makes up the world of the gambler.

Author Information

David Spanier was a journalist on The Times where he had a long and distinguished career, from 1957 to 1982 as Diplomatic Correspondent, later changing careers to become a broadcaster with LBC. But it was his love for Chess and Poker which were the major influences on his professional life during the past two decades. His other books include Total Poker, The Gambler's Pocket Book , All Right, Okay, You Win: Inside Las Vegas and at the time of his death he had recently completed a new poker book, his memoirs, The Hand I Played.

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