Gambling

How to Make $100,000 a Year Gambling for a Living is a great title for a new book. First of all, everyone knows that it is a mathematical impossibility to beat the odds against you in gambling. And if you could do so, why stop at a hundred grand? Well, the doyen duo of gambling writers, David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth, have come up with the answers. In their new book, they run through the games and the ways you can win in gambling, and the games you cannot beat.

Games you can beat (if you handle them properly) are listed as blackjack, sports, horse-racing, slots and poker machines, casino tournaments and poker. Games which are listed as (usually) unbeatable are roulette, craps, keno, baccarat and other casino pastimes. "Gambling is fun!" they say. What's more they have both made serious money at it for many years, in addition to publishing a variety of first-rate titles, mainly on poker.

So why write the new book? These days, the gaming environment in the US (more gradually in Britain) has radically changed:

1. There has been a huge increase in the number of American casinos.

2. Opportunities for horse-race betting have grown.

3. Progressive slot machines and ultra-liberal poker machines have proliferated.

4. Gambling tournaments for nearly all casino games now exist.

5. The public perception of gambling has so changed that people now accept it as a legitimate pastime.

On the other side of the account, success in gambling, as in any other occupation, is not achieved without constant effort. This includes, as the authors advise, both study and practice. It also requires a fundamental personal decision on whether you have the patience, willingness to travel, and temperament - to stand bad swings, the sometimes lonely life, unsocial hours and sacrifice of your time - plus, of course, a sufficient bankroll. Most people, after all, gamble for relaxation. Once a leisure activity turns into a business, it tends to lose its savour. The authors say the main reason they gamble, besides making money, is because they love it. They make a good case.

`Gambling for a Living' is available from Two Plus Two Publishing, 226, Garfield Drive, Henderson, Nevada 89014, $24.95 plus postage.