Early Editions

24/7: Living it up and Doubling Down in the New Las Vegas
by Andres Martinez, Villard Books, 1999.
ISBN 0375501319, 352p (Hard), $25.00.

Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss
by Frederick and Stephen Barthelme, Houghton Mifflin, 1999.
ISBN 0395954290, 224p (Hard), $24.00.

What do these two books have in common. Well, both sets of authors end up losing a lot of money. Both show signs of having serious gambling problems. Finally, and most importantly, both books came to me in pre-release editions within a month or so of each other--both are scheduled to be available in November. This review is based on the unedited proof copies I received.

There seems to be a whole new genre of gambling book defined over the last several years. I think it may have started with ConJelCo's Las Vegas Blackjack Diary by Stuart Perry (but I may be wrong about this) which follows the playing sessions of a mid-stakes "pro" as he spends eight weeks playing blackjack in Las Vegas.

I recently reviewed another book of this genre: Barry Meadow's Blackjack Autumn which follows Barry as he attempts to play one hand of live blackjack in every casino that offers the game in Nevada.

Now comes Andres Martinez, who somehow managed to talk his editor at Villard into giving him a $50,000 advance on this book with the understanding that he would use said advance to spend a month living in Las Vegas and gamble it away (unless, of course, he won.) Martinez is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and attorney, and he has written a fun book to read--even as you seem him gamble at levels way above his bankroll.

Each of the chapters of the book covers his stay at a different hotel for part of the trip. We see him get seduced by the comp system. He is honest with us about the psychological highs and lows he goes through. We also meet characters such as Roger, a reformed compulsive gambler, and Peggy, a middle-aged woman who had been the "ultimate comp" in her heyday. Ultimately we end up disappointed, though that like many gamblers he does not know when to quit. I won't give away the details of how he ends up, but suffice it say that it is not a fairy tale ending. (Well, maybe a Grimm fairy tale ending!)

The other new book I'm covering this month is Double Down by the Barhelme brothers. Those of you who have read my column since it's inception may remember a review of the book Bob the Gambler, by Frederick Barthleme. At the time I thought it felt very autobiographical. It turns out that it was. This book covers the brother's descent into compulsive gambling, following many of the same steps that Bob did in the fictional work. Of course there is a twist here...the Barthelme brothers eventually get trespassed at the Grand Casino at Gulfport, and find themselves eventually indicted for violating state gambling laws...a felony. This episode was written up in the New Yorker earlier this year. If they were violating gambling laws I'd be extremely surprised as they were both big losers over time. They overplayed their bankrolls (big understatement), picked lousy games to play, and rejected basic strategy at blackjack because it was too boring.

This is an extremely literate treatement of the subject of compulsive gambling. However, it will win no friends among those of us who enjoy recreational gambling. I've already seen this book used to debunk the idea that gambling is good for a community. It is unforuntate that the Barhelme brothers convey the downside to the gambling dream so well.

(c) 1999, Charles B. Weinstock, All Rights Reserved.