More Book Reviews
Best Selling Poker Books of 2014How did the new books compare to the old classics? Well, we will let the data speak for itself. Take a look at the list of the best selling poker books of 2014.Deal Me In and Eat Professional Poker Players Alive ReviewedThere isn't a clear path by which people become professional poker players. There aren't any good courses at the local vo-tech for a person to study. The road to becoming a poker pro is inevitably difficult, circuitous, and filled with setbacks. Deal Me In is a book describing the course by which twenty top poker players became professionals. Poker Winners Are DifferentThere is a big difference between what's typical human behavior and what is called for to play poker at a high level. There aren't a lot of people for whom maximizing their expectation in poker games comes naturally. Poker Winners Are Different by Alan Schoonmaker examines this conundrum. 
Madness of March
by Alan Jay Zaremba
For the hoops bettor, March Madness is THE wagering season. Zaremba brings the opening days of the college hoops madness to life in an engaging analysis of the the history of the tournament, the background of sports betting, and a little betting of his own, He raises the question of whether this subculture of March Madness is a blessing or a curse-and what, finally it all means by immersing the reader in the action. 228 pages, paperbound, 2009.
'Madness of March' Captures Basket Ball Betting Colorfully
In 1991, Chad Millman penned a book about basketball betting titled The Odds. It is now out of print and sadly so because it's painfully rare today that we see any book devoted to basketball betting,
Howard Schwartz, the "librarian for gamblers," is the marketing director for Gambler's Book Club in Las Vegas, a position he has held since 1979. Author of hundreds of articles on gambling, his weekly book reviews appear in numerous publications throughout the gaming industry. Howard's website is www.gamblersbook.com much less this phenomenon of March Madness-the NCAA tournament. This year we're in luck, though. Alan Jay Zaremba, an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northeastern University, has captured the excitement, the color, the flavor and craziness of college basketball betting in Las Vegas in his new book, The Madness of March (228 pages, paper bound, $19.95).
Subtitled Bonding and Betting with the Boys in Las Vegas, this book covers six straight days of betting with the wise guys, amateurs and madmen who calculate, guess, second-guess and went wild from March 13-18, 2007. It deftly shows what it is like to be among the crazies who fly to Las Vegas like swallows returning to Capistrano annually for their migration and ritual of betting, sweating, getting plastered, second-guessing, meeting other fanatics while wives and girlfriends, for the most part, wait elsewhere for their return from madness and hopefully with some money.
Zaremba listened, observed, took notes (no tape recorder was used) visited many sports books and even counted TV sets, chairs, observed the zanies, the hopefuls, listened to their logic and stood on line with the best and worst of them. Basketball betting has its own colorful language to decipher-seeds, brackets, lumber, vigorish, push, the under, the money line, teaser, proposition bets and Zaremba covers it all. He talks about specific clientele that gather at each hotel and discusses how many of these visitors believe they have "insider" information or a "hunch" about the impact of a defense against certain offenses or how they'll wager because of a key injury. Some bet early, some bet late, depending on whether they are favorite or underdog bettors. (On occasion, emotion can be so strong it made one character toss in shoe through a sports book television set because of a "bad beat" then peel off $1,000 to cover the damage.)
Zaremba met all these guys-the "system players," those who have photographic memories beyond belief, and those with notes and notebooks resembling War and Peace, the "masters of the f-word" and wearers of bizarre t-shirts reflecting strange ideologies.
This book itself is like a travelogue of places, people, concepts, conspiracy theories and if Hunter Thompson were alive today, he'd embrace the author, who captures the moments and rides the roller coaster of emotions with the bettors.
Zaremba sat through 48 basketball games from one end of The Strip in Las Vegas to the other. He must love the game. Many do. I love the book-it's timely, colorful and informative. Treat yourself. Enjoy.
Howard Schwartz, the "librarian for gamblers," is the marketing director for Gambler's Book Club in Las Vegas, a position he has held since 1979. Author of hundreds of articles on gambling, his weekly book reviews appear in numerous publications throughout the gaming industry. Howard's website is www.gamblersbook.com much less this phenomenon of March Madness-the NCAA tournament. This year we're in luck, though. Alan Jay Zaremba, an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northeastern University, has captured the excitement, the color, the flavor and craziness of college basketball betting in Las Vegas in his new book, The Madness of March (228 pages, paper bound, $19.95).Subtitled Bonding and Betting with the Boys in Las Vegas, this book covers six straight days of betting with the wise guys, amateurs and madmen who calculate, guess, second-guess and went wild from March 13-18, 2007. It deftly shows what it is like to be among the crazies who fly to Las Vegas like swallows returning to Capistrano annually for their migration and ritual of betting, sweating, getting plastered, second-guessing, meeting other fanatics while wives and girlfriends, for the most part, wait elsewhere for their return from madness and hopefully with some money.
Zaremba listened, observed, took notes (no tape recorder was used) visited many sports books and even counted TV sets, chairs, observed the zanies, the hopefuls, listened to their logic and stood on line with the best and worst of them. Basketball betting has its own colorful language to decipher-seeds, brackets, lumber, vigorish, push, the under, the money line, teaser, proposition bets and Zaremba covers it all. He talks about specific clientele that gather at each hotel and discusses how many of these visitors believe they have "insider" information or a "hunch" about the impact of a defense against certain offenses or how they'll wager because of a key injury. Some bet early, some bet late, depending on whether they are favorite or underdog bettors. (On occasion, emotion can be so strong it made one character toss in shoe through a sports book television set because of a "bad beat" then peel off $1,000 to cover the damage.)
Zaremba met all these guys-the "system players," those who have photographic memories beyond belief, and those with notes and notebooks resembling War and Peace, the "masters of the f-word" and wearers of bizarre t-shirts reflecting strange ideologies.
This book itself is like a travelogue of places, people, concepts, conspiracy theories and if Hunter Thompson were alive today, he'd embrace the author, who captures the moments and rides the roller coaster of emotions with the bettors.
Zaremba sat through 48 basketball games from one end of The Strip in Las Vegas to the other. He must love the game. Many do. I love the book-it's timely, colorful and informative. Treat yourself. Enjoy.