Playboy&rsquos Illustrated Treasury of Gambling &ndash Copyright (Catlett, VA)

Playboy&rsquos Illustrated Treasury of Gambling &ndash Copyright

Local pick-up preferred but will ship at the buyer s expenseKingston Books 4 IMG_1140 1141 1142 1143Editor-In-Chief Jerry Mason Editor Adolph Suehsdorf Project Art Director Harry Brock Associate Editor Ronnie Peltzman Associate Editor Joan Fisher Art Associate Nancy Mack Art Production Doris Mullane Picture Research Marion GeisingerPublisher Crown PublishersIntroductionLife is a gamble. The odds against making it to a womb in the first place are staggering. Once there the chances of emerging are scarcely 100%. The fourscore years that follow are a continuing contest against fate s shifting odds played with disconcerting knowledge that the house must win in the end. Lose say the iron rules of probability. Man must lose if he sport at a game of life or a game of chance. And lose over the long run he most invariably does. What is most interesting about it all is that forearmed with knowledge of his own fate man continues to gamble at both life and games with undiminished vigor as if it is not the outcome that ultimately matters but the spirit of the play.Man is thus a gambling animal the only one we know. He gambles everywhere. Always. It may not be on a lottery ticket or a horse race. The mountain climber risks his life with each Himalayan ascent the speculator his cash on every new investment. In this book however we are interested in a specific sort of gambling. It is the staking of something valuable with consciousness of risk and hope of gain on the outcome of a game of chance.If this book has fallen into your hands by choice you must be interested in a specific sort of gambling. If you re interested in gambling chances are you ve gambled once or twice. And if you ve gambled well you know it can be complicated affair.But why I don t mean why is it complicated we ll get on to that later. But why do you and I and he and she why do we all risk our precious dollars on the random spin of luck s wheel There are of course the deep dark reasons the secret innermind provocations the sexual insinuations of poker bids the Oedipal overtones of twenty-one. We ll get to these too. But for now let s investigate the less sticky motivations.Like for instance the fact that everybody likes to get something for nothing (and corollary to this statement which explains why we so often retire losers that you can t get something for nothing ). This is as good as good a reason as any especially for those of us from the push-button society. Press a button the toast pops. Press a button the car window drops. It s a split-second world a perfect environment for the practice of gambling for the psyche of the bettor is based on the promise of instant results. What a man can make in his entire life at his job he can hypothetically earn in an hour at the roulette wheel. Gambling is the perfect occupation and preoccupation of the impatient.Then again it s exciting. Life on the whole one must admit is often a slow affair. There are the highs and the spins yes but these aren t as common as the shampoo commercials would have us believe. As a rule it s the daily pace nine-to-five ennui. Some how the spaces must be filled. Some of us do it by racing fast cars others by solving chess problems. And some gamble. We gamble because it s fun. because it produces the kind of electric thrill we once felt a long time ago the first time we stole a candy bars from the dime store. It s a kick intoxicating romantic dangerous exhilarating exhausting fearsome abandon despairing and euphoric all rolled into one not many experiences offer such a broad spectrum of emotions There s another reason obvious but important winning. We like to win. We like kewpie dolls and door prizes. And even more we like money. When all is said and done gambling is about money. But here is the big question will we ultimately come out ahead if we gamble The odds say no. To gamble over the long term is to lose. Nonetheless the gambler is undaunted. Because being basically a mystic he believes the cold steel of statistics affects only the other guy. For the real believer there s a big kiss from Lady Luck just around the corner a secret gift of luck headed his way amid the slings and arrows of outrageous randomness. The genie of wheel and dice whispers to the gambler that he he HE is special that he alone is above the laws of chance that bind all others. Did he win the last time out You see that proves it Did he lose Never fear. Tomorrow his luck will change.Like an abiding pleasure gambling has a thousand faces some sensitive some appalling. It brings out the best it brings out the worst. It is an outlet for ambition aggression and dreams an instructor in possibilities prudence and silence. It tests us amuses us and sometimes breaks us. It teaches many useful things if we care to listen things concerning the private and sometimes the very surprising facts of our own very human weaknesses and strengths. In the final analysis gambling is all about ourselves.Illustrated Color and Black-and-White PicturesContents by ChapterWhere the Action Is Cards and Card Games Blackjack Poker Baccarat Gin Rummy Pinochle Craps Harness Racing Slot Machines Bingo Keno Chuck-a-luck Bix Six Wheel of Fortune Roulette SportsDice Games On Your Guard Cheating The Horses Casinos and Arenas Gambling to Win Hardcover 255 pages ISBN 0-517-53050-3