Lucy Sante’s 1991 book Low Life is a survey of life among the underclass of New York City in the nineteenth century - a life that was oft described as “sporting,” which is to say one filled with sex, booze, and gambling. It’s a brilliant work of research and writing that feels decidedly un-academic and poetic, yet still tells many tales long forgotten by many historians. Joining me to discuss Low Life is Peter Alson, author of the books One of a Kind, The Only Way to Play it, Take Me to the River, and our latest book club pick, The Vig: Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie. Presented by InGame.com

Read “Rozier Among 34 Snared In Federal NBA Game-Fixing, Poker Conspiracies” at InGame.com

Buy Low Life by Lucy Sante

Buy The Vig by Peter Alson

This week’s book is a potboiler of a memoir of one young woman’s time in the trenches of the biggest illegal bookmaking operation in the United States. Joining me to discuss it is writer and professional gambler Gina Fiore. We have a wide ranging conversation that touches on everything from sweepstakes casinos to fantasies about hockey players. Presented by InGame.com

Read “Polymarket May Not Be Able To Relaunch In US Until Shutdown Ends” at InGame.com

Listen to “Gina Fiore, the Belle of the Blackjack Ball” on Gamblers

Subscribe to Gina’s substack “The Advantage Player”

Buy Dangerous Odds: My Secret Life Inside a Billion Dollar Sports Betting Operation

American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This week we once again venture into the realm of the World Series of Poker and read The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death by Colson Whitehead, a memoir of the 2011 WSOP which has the dubious distinction of possibly being the worst book ever written by the greatest living American writer. My guest is Ian Frisch, author of the new book Inside the Cartel. Presented by InGame.com.

Buy The Noble Hustle by Colson Whitehead

Buy Magic is Dead by Ian Frisch

Buy Inside the Cartel by Ian Frisch

Read “My Mother, the Poker Shark” by Ian Frisch

Read “Kalshi Same-Game Parlays Make $1,762 In Fees On First Day — While $7 Billion Wiped From DraftKings, Flutter Market Caps” on InGame.com

American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

And we’re back! This week I am joined by Blackjack Hall of Fame member Richard Munchkin to discuss Ken Uston’s messy and outrageous debut book, The Big Player. For most of the 1980s Ken Uston was a celebrity for beating casinos at blackjack. He wrote countless books, his picture adorned magazine covers and video game boxes, he appeared on national television and hung out with stars. And The Big Player was the book that started it all. Munchkin tells me about what it was like to deal to Uston, what the blackjack faithful really thought of him, and how people still make a living playing blackjack today. Presented by InGame.com.

Buy The Big Player by Ken Uston

Buy Gambling Wizards by Richard Munchkin

More books by Huntington Press Publishing

Join American Bettors Voice

Read “Arizona Warns Regulated Operators, Via Letter, Against Offering Prediction Markets” at InGame.com

American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This week the television writer Ursula Lawrence joins me to talk about Deadwood creator David Milch’s memoir Life’s Work. We talk about addiction, ego, generational trauma, prestige television, meat raffles, and so much more. Presented by InGame.com.

Read “CNN Failed To Tell ‘The Whole Story’ Of Sports Betting Expansion” by Jill R. Dorson at InGame.com

Buy Life’s Work by David Milch

American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This week I discuss Al Alvarez’s classic The Biggest Game in Town with writer and poker-chronicler-du-jour Lance Bradley. The book details the British poet and critic’s month spent in downtown Las Vegas covering the 1981 World Series of Poker for The New Yorker, and it continues to be celebrated to this day as one of the greatest books on poker ever written. We discuss the romanticism of gambling, Texas outlaws and hit men, and Sylvia Plath. Presented by InGame.com.

Buy The Biggest Game in Town

Buy The Pursuit of Poker Success

Subscribe to The Overlay

Read “X Account ‘Powered By’ Kalshi Veers Into Hate Speech, Company Severs Ties” at InGame.com

American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This week’s episode is recorded in a hotel room in downtown Vegas, which is fitting because I discuss the book Vegas: Memoir of a Dark Season by John Gregory Dunne. Joining me is Haley Mlotek, author of the acclaimed book No Fault: A Memoir of Romance and Divorce. We talk about Las Vegas, love, divorce, fiction, fantasy, debauchery, empathy, and, of course, Joan Didion. Presented by InGame.com.

Read “Ex-MLB Player Warns of Future Microbet Scandals” by Brant James at InGame.com

Buy No Fault: A Memoir of Romance and Divorce by Haley Mlotek

Buy Vegas: Memoir of a Dark Season by John Gregory Dunne

American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This week we travel to 69 Atlantic in Brooklyn to watch a magic show and then discuss The Magician and the Cardsharp - the story of the world’s greatest magician in search of the world’s greatest card cheat during the Great Depression - with none other than the author of the book himself, Karl Johnson. We discuss the intersection of magic and gambling, the history of wide-open gambling towns in the twentieth century, and much more. Presented by InGame.com.

Buy The Magician and the Cardsharp

Become a paid subscriber and enter to win a signed copy by clicking here

Visit Art of Play and 69 Atlantic

Read ‘Banning Pro Props In Ohio Won’t Stop Match Fixing But Will Imperil Bettors’ at InGame.com

American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Eclipse Award-winning journalist and author Ryan Goldberg joins me for a day of racing at Aqueduct to bet on some horses and discuss former union organizer-turned-horserace handicapper Len Ragozin’s memoir The Odds Must Be Crazy: Beating the Races With the Man Who Revolutionized Handicapping. Presented by InGame.com.

Buy Bird City by Ryan Goldberg

Read “The Fanatics Difference? It Doesn’t Need Sports Betting” at InGame.com

American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

America’s foremost gambling journalist Michael Kaplan joins me to talk about the 1975 book Fast Company: How Six Master Gamblers Defy the Odds and Always Win, a collection of work by the man once dubbed “the Indiana Jones of magazine journalism”: Jon Bradshaw. Presented by InGame.com.

Read “Why Fantasy Sports Ruling Could Cost Democrats Young Male Voters” at InGame.com

Buy The Ocean is Closed by Jon Bradshaw

Buy Advantage Players by Michael Kaplan

American Gambler is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.