10.) Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling
By David Schwartz
This is the definitive tome on the gambling's lost history. It traces gambling roots from its ancient beginnings in Africa and Asia to its current incarnations on the Internet, and details everything in vivid and captivating prose.
9.) Dead Man's Bluff
By James Swain
The lone fiction book to make our list is a classic mystery novel that focuses on a blind poker player named Skip DeMarco, who attempts to scam the world's largest poker tournament in Las Vegas.
8.) The Greatest Gambling Stories Ever Told: Thirty-One Unforgettable Tales of Risk and Reward
By Paul Lyons
This is a compilation of 31 gambling stories that end in both success and failure. It's an easy read and covers an entire range of gambling activities that date all the way back to ancient times.
7.) The National Football Lottery
By Larry Merchant
Before Merchant became famous as an HBO boxing broadcaster, he wrote this classic gambling book back in 1973 about the life of a professional gambler betting pro football. Despite all of the changes in both the NFL and the world of sports gambling, it remains an entertaining and worthwhile read.
6.) Take Me To The River
By Peter Alson
The crafty Alson, whose "Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie" could have also made our list, takes you on a fascinating first-person journey as he goes on a grand finale-type of trip to Las Vegas to play in the 2005 World Series of Poker before settling down and getting married.
5.) The Smart Money
By Michael Konik
A whirlwind portrayal of a freelance writer's association with the Brain Trust, a sports-gambling network that uses him as a "beard" to place its bets at an assortment of Vegas casinos. It's a non-fiction gem that reads like a fiction novel by entertaining the reader with captivating characters and compelling storylines.
4.) The Odds
By Chad Millman
Millman chronicles the lives of three distinctive professional gamblers during an entire season of betting on college basketball. The trials and tribulations of this trio are presented in an alluring style by Millman, who brings out the best and worst of all three characters.
3.) Bets, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Offshore Sports Gambling Empire
By Steve Budin
Anyone with even a slight interest in the gambling world will be enthralled with the story of Budin, a pioneer in the industry who was the owner and founder of SDB Global, one of the world's first sportsbooks to open up shop offshore.
2.) Bringing Down the House
By Ben Mezrich
The amazing tale of a group of MIT students who, back by investors, take on Las Vegas by communicating with gestures and card-counting code words at the blackjack table. If the forthcoming movie, starring Kevin Spacey, is as riveting as the book, Oscar nominations are sure to follow.
1.) Super System
By Doyle Brunson
The bible of all poker books. It was published more than 20 years ago, but this is a simply a must read for Texas Hold'em players of all levels and it's written by one of the game's legends.
