Amazon
Category:
Biography
Publisher: Springer
ISBN-10: 9783319634
Type: Fiction
Pages: 380
Copyright: November 19, 2017
ISBN-13: 9783319634852
Price: $27.99 (eBook)
Renowned probability theorist Edward O. Thorp revolutionized the casino industry by developing card counting systems for the casino game of blackjack. Les Golden, the celebrated blackjack, roulette, and craps columnist for Bluff Europe, Gambling.com, iGaming Business, GamblingOnline, and Jackpots Review magazines, tells Thorp’s incredible true story of lucrative applied probability with charm, wit, and humor.
Whether you visit casinos for fun, dinner money, or a living, or whether you’re simply interested in a story of romance and casino intrigue, this lively biographical novel will capture and delight you.
I found the story tremendously entertaining, with a pantheon of compelling characters such as gambler Ed Thorp and bookie Manny Kimmel taking us from the casinos of Nevada to those of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Les Golden’s novel is a triumph begging for adaptation to the screen.
Lana Wood
Television and Film Producer, Actress (“Diamonds Are Forever”)
Best-selling Author, Natalie, a Memoir
Excerpt
Thorp has successfully defended his Ph.D Dissertion:
“Okay. The surgeon and his team are operating on this guy. The surgeon says to the resident, ‘Dr. Jones, how’s the blood pressure?’ ‘Fine,’ he says. He says to the anesthesiologist, ‘Dr. Smith, how’s the oxygen level?’ ‘Fine,’ he says. He says to the intern, ‘Dr. Reed, how’s the spleen?’ Dr. Reed says, ‘Spleen!? Spleen!? I didn’t know we had to know spleen!’ ”
Oakley’s laugh was the loudest of the loud laughter of the four of them. He was now fully relieved that he had passed.
“Thorp, I hope you never have students like that,” said Professor Selfridge. “By the way, do you know how can you tell the most recently hired assistant professor?” The others exchanged glances, this joke not being familiar. “He’s the one without the knife in his back.”
The raucous laughter continued.
Vivian didn’t have to place her ear next to the door to hear the laughter. She pushed Allan aside.
“That’s it,” she exclaimed. “I don’t care who they are or how badly he did. They’re not going to mock him.”
She strode to the door and grabbed for the knob. Before she could open it, the door swung open. Oakley walked out, with Professor Taylor’s arm wrapped around his shoulder.
“Edward!” Vivian cried out.
“It’s dim sum lunch for all,” said a beaming Angus. “And it’s on the department.”
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