This book critically examines the psychology of gambling in Hong Kong and Macao. Covering the history of gambling and its development in the two jurisdictions, it highlights the prevalence and status quo of problem gambling, the theoretical perspectives on the etiology of gambling disorder, and the treatment of problem gambling. The book also introduces a personality and pathways development model of Chinese problem gamblers and concludes with outlooks on the future of gambling in Hong Kong and Macao.

Man is not a born gambler but when he experiences playing the slot machines he acquires a fascination for the element chance. With all the advertising we're to believe that it's ok for the lottery to rob us blind because so much of the money is going to good causes like education. Gambling is neither an immoral nor a noble exercise it is motivated by both a desire to win big and foolishness. "During my career as a gambler I began to notice that people would win and two hours later lose it all." There are three kinds of machines - good, bad, and indifferent. The good will give you some money back, the bad will hardly pay, the indifferent are the ones that malfunctioned and you are out of luck, no money. Studies generally consider a person a problem gambler if they report at least five problems associated with gambling. Those problems range from lying about gambling and having to steal, having to borrow money, losing jobs, dumping your kid at the entrance to a casino so you can play the slots, and being unable to cut down or stop gambling. A recent report from the state task force of compulsive gambling estimates New Mexico has anywhere from 90,000 to 108,000 problem gamblers, compulsive gamblers that is. I do go to the casino at times and without a doubt it is questionable whether many of the gamblers I see playing the slots should be there at all. Compulsive gambling is like any other addiction (drinking or smoking). It is arrested only by total abstinence and cannot be cured. Compulsive gamblers live in a fantasy world that tells them the big wish is around the corner and they will be set for life, all debts will be paid, and life will be good again. As we see today, when they don't win there are disastrous effects and heartbreak that are caused by compulsive gambling every day.

During the early twentieth century, professional gamblers were such a scourge in the smoking rooms of trans-Atlantic passenger liners that White Star Line warned its passengers about them. In spring 1912 three professional gamblers travelled from the USA to England for the sole purpose of returning to America on the maiden voyage of Titanic. "Kid" Homer, "Harry" Rolmane and "Boy" Bradley (Harry Homer, Charles Romaine and George Brereton) were grifters with a long history of living on the wrong side of the law, who planned to utilize their skills at the card table to relieve fellow passengers of cash. One swiftly fell under suspicion of being a professional "card mechanic", and was excluded from some poker games, but other games continued apace. This new book, the result of years of research by George Behe, reveals the true identities of these gamblers, their individual backgrounds, the ruses they used, and their ultimate fates after tragedy struck, as well as providing an intriguing insight into a bygone age.

"You're Gonna Like TheWay You Win" is a candid report on how Charlie G. plays and wins. Whether or not you play the same as he does is up to you. If you do, you too will win. The strategies herein are certainly not the only ways to win but they stand as being the most reliable ways to win. The elements of chance and error that befall most methods are non existent in these strategies. These pages methodically walk you through each of the four more popular games in the casino, Blackjack, Baccarat, Roulette and Craps. You will not only have learned how to win at each of these games but will have settled into a new approach to gambling totally different from that which you have ever used before. This new way of attacking the casinos is unique only to Charlie G.'s approach to casino gambling. "You're Gonna Like The Way You Win" is designed to make you win and you will.

Ask Dr. BlackJack By Sam Barrington What do the Readers Think of "Ask Dr Blackjack"? "I struggled to stay even playing Blackjack and thought I could be a better player. After reading "Ask Dr Blackjack" my game really picked up when I instituted the extra plays in the book." Phillip Cuffman - Attorney "I have travelled all over the world gambling with my husband. We have both played professionally and done well, thought we knew all there was to know about Blackjack. After reading "Ask Dr Blackjack" we discovered plays that only enhanced our winning experiences. This book is well worth the price." Margaret Hinson - Midtown Billiards, Since 1940 (Owner) "Blackjack is a hobby of mine. I enjoy the game but had trouble grasping some of the methods involved. After reading "Ask Dr Blackjack" I understood why I was supposed to make certain plays. Barrington's logic was a big boost for my game." Dustin Monday - Computer Systems Engineer "As a recreational Blackjack player, Barrington's insight on the correct plays has made a great difference in how far my gambling dollars go when I visit a Casino. I just wish I would have found this book sooner." Greg Pumphrey - Architect "This book was extremely helpful in advancing my Blackjack winnings but the inside stories about the Casino activity is what made the book." Owen Ross - Retired Banker This book would bot have been possible without all the hard work of Billy Mathys and Arkansas Graphics, Inc.

Everyone who plays pool knows that it is "mostly mental," but the conventional wisdom about the mental game is about as accurate as the idea that the earth is flat. Until now, no one with any expertise on how the human mind works has bothered to write about pool. In Pleasures of Small Motions, Bob Fancher, a psychotherapist and pool columnist, breaks new ground by applying good science to the mental game of billiards.This book does for pool what Timothy Gallwey's bestselling "The Inner Game" books did for golf and tennis. Fancher explains how the conscious and unconscious mind work together, prescribes drills to help players improve, advises on mastering emotion and developing rhythm, explains the difference between concentration and focus, and gives invaluable insight on competitive play. (6 x 9, 160 pages, illustrations)Bob Fancher's column, "Dr. Bob, Pool Shrink," appears monthly in The American Cueist. He earned his Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University and practiced psychotherapy in New York for fourteen years. His acclaimed book Cultures of Healing has been used in classes at Columbia University, Princeton, and many other schools, and is writing has appeared in The Washington Post and other publications. He lives in Austin, Texas.

ABC-CLIO's Contemporary World Issues series comprises comprehensive, balanced, one-volume reference handbooks on important topics related to science, technology, and medicine; the environment; society; politics, law, and government; criminal justice; and gender and ethnicity.

Each volume offers:
-- An authoritative introductory essay on the subject
-- A chronology of events, legislation, movements, and initiatives
-- Biographies of activists, advocates, and legislators
-- A compilation of relevant facts in the form of tables, figures, and documents
-- A directory of leading organizations and agencies
-- An annotated list of print resources
-- An annotated list of valuable nonprint resources, such as computer databases, information available on the Internet, and audiovisual materials
-- A glossary of relevant terms
-- A comprehensive subject index
-- Well suited for circulating collections as well as reference shelves

A New York Times bestseller

In a remarkable career, Edward O. Thorp rose up from nothing to become a professor at MIT, invented card counting and the world's first wearable computer, beat the casinos of Las Vegas at blackjack and roulette, then became a bestselling author and a hedge fund heavyweight, ushering in a revolution on Wall Street. Now he shares his incredible life story for the first time, revealing how he made his fortune and giving advice to the next generation of investors. An intellectual thrill ride, replete with practical wisdom, A Man for All Markets is a scarcely imaginable tale of ludicrous success.

Investing in College Basketball provides a comprehensive set of tools and techniques for successfully wagering on college basketball. It shows how the returns - winnings -- from investing in college basketball can be far greater than investing in stocks and bonds. These returns can be achieved by anyone with an interest in basketball, basic mathematical skills, and a computer with spreadsheet programs and Internet access. The power of the methodology is demonstrated by actual investing results for the 2003-2004 season of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The book includes an analysis of investment outcomes for the A-10 Conference, the working papers for assessing each team, and the analysis of each game for which an investment was made. There are extensive examples of how theory is applied in analyzing actual games and showing how good analysis consistently pays off.

A cabin boy in 1839; could steal cards and cheat the boys at eleven; stock a deck at fourteen; bested soldiers on the Rio Grande during the Mexican war; won hundreds of thousands from paymasters, cotton buyers, defaulters and thieves; fought more rough and tumble fights than any man in America and was the most daring gambler in the world. George H. Devol was the greatest riverboat gambler in the history of the Mississippi. Born in Ohio in 1829, he ran away from home and worked as a cabin boy at age ten. At Fourteen he could stack a deck of cards. Over the years, he bilked soldiers, paymasters, thieves, cotton buyers and businessmen alike. He fought more fights than anyone and was never beaten. This is his story. Nobody was ever bored by it. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Pierides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

The most fun you can have learning Texas Hold'em (and we ain't bluffin') Playing Texas Hold'em is about the most fun you can have with two cards in your hand. Navigating the slang, rules, and intricacies of the game can be challenging, though. With Texas Hold'em For Dummies, 2nd Edition, you'll learn the tricks you need to know to win your first online or in-person game. From ranking the various poker hands to applying betting strategies, this book helps you build the skills necessary to achieve poker room success. In Texas Hold'em For Dummies, you'll learn to: Improve your chances at casinos and in online poker rooms Participate in a poker tournament with confidence Bluff, bet, raise, and fold in the right way at the right times The perfect handbook for beginning poker players who want to play in-person or online, Texas Hold'em For Dummies is also an essential companion for more experienced players looking to brush up on the fundamentals and improve their skills.

Calculated Bets describes a gambling system that works. Steven Skiena, a jai-alai enthusiast and computer scientist, documents how he used computer simulations and modeling techniques to predict the outcome of jai-alai matches and increased his initial stake by 544% in one year. Skiena demonstrates how his jai-alai system functions like a stock trading system, and includes examples of how gambling and mathematics interact in program trading systems, how mathematical models are used in political polling, and what the future holds for Internet gambling. With humor and enthusiasm, Skiena explains computer predictions used in business, sports, and politics, and the difference between correlation and causation. An unusual presentation of how mathematical models are designed, built, and validated, Calculated Bets also includes a list of modeling projects with online data sources. Steven Skiena, Associate Professor of Computer Science at SUNY Stony Brook, is the author of The Algorithm Design Manual (Springer-Verlag, 1997) and the EDUCOM award-winning Computational Discrete Mathematics. He is the recipient of the ONR Young Investigator's Award and the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stony Brook. His research interests include discrete mathematics and its applications, particularly the design of graph, string, and geometric algorithms.

This book is designed to provide valuable insight into how to improve the return on your investment when playing the lottery. While it does not promise that you will win more often, it does show you how to improve the odds of winning larger amounts when your numbers do come up. So, when you do win that million-dollar jackpot, you will be less likely to have to share it with anyone else.

Among the intriguing topics covered are the most popular (and the most foolish) combinations of numbers, why it is impossible to improve the odds of any legitimate lottery, how popular (and thus unprofitable) an attractive-looking ticket might be, why not to follow the suggested numbers from so-called "expert advisors" and why it is important to avoid winning combinations of past drawings. With this book and a little luck, the dream of winning millions might just come true.