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Thread: Scoblete Book a Good Read

  1. #1
    I just finished reading Frank Scoblete's "I Am a Dice Controller," and I really enjoyed it. Scoblete has a dry style, sort of a Hemingway rhythm with some Hunter Thompson sensibilities.

    The thing is, I bought this book as a gift for my craps enthusiast friend, Al. I know absolutely nothing about craps -- I haven't ever played the game. Not once. But that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book at all. That's what was impressive -- you can know nothing about craps and totally "get it."

    The other interesting element to this book is that I buy the narrative -- I believe the author. Some people (and some on this forum) have occasionally leveled charges at Scoblete regarding his craps narratives, but this comes across as pretty much genuine. Yeah, he doesn't spend as much time on his losses as his wins, but you get the feeling he's mostly a straight shooter (little double entendre there, folks).

    Anyway, it was an intriguing book that you can blow through in a couple of sittings, and I can almost guarantee that you'll be entertained.

    I have a writing background, and I'm a bit of an oldster, so just a couple more comments. The hardest thing in writing is to make everything look effortless, and Scoblete pulls this off. If you are 50+, you may remember something called The Fog Index, which was used to measure "ease or difficulty of reading" back in the 50's and early 60's. Scoblete manages to have a very low Fog Index while still being relatively sophisticated. Tough to do.
    Last edited by redietz; 12-09-2015 at 12:05 PM.

  2. #2
    Originally Posted by redietz View Post
    The Fog Index, which was used to measure "ease or difficulty of reading" back in the 50's and early 60's. Scoblete manages to have a very low Fog Index while still being relatively sophisticated. Tough to do.
    Yet, he ends up in the fog of gambling bullshit.

  3. #3
    Originally Posted by Bill Yung View Post
    Yet, he ends up in the fog of gambling bullshit.
    You should read the book. It has plenty of dirty laundry.

  4. #4
    I wasn't advocating dice control -- how would I when I've never played craps? I was reviewing the book.

  5. #5
    Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson View Post
    You should read the book.
    A long time since I read any book. Everybody and his neighbor has a book out anymore.

    Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson View Post
    It has plenty of dirty laundry.
    That sounds so 70-ish. I wonder what a gambling book a hundred years from now will look like.

  6. #6
    Originally Posted by Bill Yung View Post
    A long time since I read any book. Everybody and his neighbor has a book out anymore.

    That sounds so 70-ish. I wonder what a gambling book a hundred years from now will look like.
    Does this answer your question??
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  7. #7
    Jeez---this should at least get me a "post of the week" award from Alan.

  8. #8
    Regnis' post of Rob Singer's book cover earns him POST OF THE WEEK!!!!

    CONGRATULATIONS.

  9. #9
    Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson View Post
    POST OF THE WEEK!!!!
    How about deal of the week. Cheaper than toilet paper, at "25 used & new from $0.75."

    Stock up now. Or re-gift it to those special AP friends.

  10. #10
    Redietz, thanks for your review. You made my day.

  11. #11
    Of course my first book will be around a hundred years from now. Thanks Regnis!

  12. #12
    Originally Posted by Rob.Singer View Post
    Of course my first book will be around a hundred years from now. Thanks Regnis!

    Yeah, as fireplace kindling.

  13. #13
    It'll take time, but in the years to come every gambler will come to realize that "AP" VP was nothing more than a self-confidence-building state of mind, used simply as ongoing feel-good justification for both gambling addiction and playing/losing far more than one should in order to be able to talk smack about their nasty habit.

    In short: a MYTH. The Undeniable Truth has been the only book bold enough to tell that story, which is why it will last well into the future.

  14. #14
    By the way, I reviewed Frank's book in a fair amount of detail when it was first published and there is a thread on it here:
    http://vegascasinotalk.com/forum/showth...=scoblete+book

  15. #15
    Originally Posted by Rob.Singer View Post
    Of course my first book will be around a hundred years from now. Thanks Regnis!
    I hope your grandkids will still be collecting the royalties.

  16. #16
    Originally Posted by Rob.Singer View Post
    It'll take time, but in the years to come every gambler will come to realize that "AP" VP was nothing more than a self-confidence-building state of mind, used simply as ongoing feel-good justification for both gambling addiction and playing/losing far more than one should in order to be able to talk smack about their nasty habit.

    In short: a MYTH. The Undeniable Truth has been the only book bold enough to tell that story, which is why it will last well into the future.
    When I finished undeniable truth I placed it in the round file for future reference. You know....the garbage can.

  17. #17
    Think of it this way mickey: 100 years from now I'll have an enduring two books, great great grandchildren who'll be proud to be told how their great great grandparents were part of a very happy & successful family that were their ancestors, and that oh yes....great great grampy BA was also an author who exposed the myth of the vp "ap".

    And then there's you: you'll leave behind the legacy of someone who never had a job or a family and went broke gambling in Nevada, so he ran off to the laughable state of Montana where he could drink and smoke and collect welfare while making up stories of wildly successful gambling where they have the dumbest people and dumpiest run down bars with the most trashy machines in the country. And the footnote will say, with a chuckle or two, that mickey somehow figured out how to eat with a mouthful of rotted-out teeth--just like his foul-mouthed beast of a mother living in Alaska.

    That's some future you're looking at!

  18. #18
    I was actually hoping for the third book on how to win - but I suppose it was summed up in his very last VP Truth article.

  19. #19
    Originally Posted by Rob.Singer View Post
    Think of it this way mickey: 100 years from now I'll have an enduring two books, great great grandchildren who'll be proud to be told how their great great grandparents were part of a very happy & successful family that were their ancestors, and that oh yes....great great grampy BA was also an author who exposed the myth of the vp "ap".

    And then there's you: you'll leave behind the legacy of someone who never had a job or a family and went broke gambling in Nevada, so he ran off to the laughable state of Montana where he could drink and smoke and collect welfare while making up stories of wildly successful gambling where they have the dumbest people and dumpiest run down bars with the most trashy machines in the country. And the footnote will say, with a chuckle or two, that mickey somehow figured out how to eat with a mouthful of rotted-out teeth--just like his foul-mouthed beast of a mother living in Alaska.

    That's some future you're looking at!
    Maligno Robbie! All alone and in bad company. Everything your kids and grandkids will turn out to be they will owe to you. Perhaps they will send you a penny to square the account. A half-wit gave you a piece of his mind and you held onto it. Anyone who told you to be yourself couldn't have given you worse advice. Are you always this stupid or is today a special occasion? Are your parents siblings? Calling you stupid is an insult to stupid people. Did the mental hospital test to many drugs on you today?
    Last edited by slobdinger; 12-16-2015 at 02:06 AM.

  20. #20
    First Sciblete book I've had the pleasure of reading. Just in the 1st chapter but can already tell he's a very good writer. Now, can he convince me that dice control works. We'll see.

    On a lighter note, when I was playing poker at Sandia in Albuquerque in 1995 they installed two craps tables. They hired Las Vegas crews to run the games. The tables lost money for three months. Why? Well, it had something to do with the guys in surveillance being some untrained boys from down on the reservation. For three months they had no clue what was happening on those tables. Lets just say the Las Vegas crews were some sharp hustlers. The tables didn't start making money until they fired the Las Vegas crews and hired someone to train their own people.

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