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New: A Reading List for Poker and Casino Fans
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Casino Novels: why we write about gambling in books
Some of the greatest scenes in literature happen at a gaming table. Dostoevsky dictated The Gambler in under a month to escape a ruinous contract, drawing on his own nights at the roulette wheel. Ian Fleming built James Bond's first mission around a single game of baccarat. Hunter S. Thompson turned a magazine assignment into the wildest Las Vegas book ever written.
Casino Novels is our section on that tradition. It covers the classics, the best poker and blackjack books, practical advice on writing a believable casino scene and a reading list for poker and casino fans. Whether you play cards every week or simply love a story with high stakes, start there.
Five famous games in literature
| Book | Author | Game | The stakes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Queen of Spades (1834) | Alexander Pushkin | Faro | A secret of three winning cards |
| The Wild Ass's Skin (1831) | Honoré de Balzac | Roulette | A young man's last gold coin |
| The Gambler (1866) | Fyodor Dostoevsky | Roulette | A family fortune and a love affair |
| Casino Royale (1953) | Ian Fleming | Baccarat | A Soviet paymaster's survival |
| Positively Fifth Street (2003) | James McManus | Texas hold'em | A seat at the World Series final table |
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Latest posts
23 posts
A Reading List for Poker and Casino Fans
From Pushkin's Queen of Spades to Graham Greene's Monte Carlo and Maria Konnikova's year at the poker table: our curated list of the best books for casino and poker…
How to Write a Believable Casino Scene
Readers who play will spot a fake card game at once. How to research casino scenes, get the rules and odds right, avoid the classic mistakes and keep the tension…
Las Vegas in Fiction: From Fear and Loathing to Fools Die
Las Vegas has inspired gonzo journalism, mob sagas, love stories and tragedies. A guide to the city in books, from Hunter S. Thompson and Mario Puzo to Joan Didion…
The Best Poker and Gambling Books: From Fifth Street to Thinking in Bets
A journalist who reached the World Series final table, a champion on decisions, and the MIT students who beat blackjack: the best poker and gambling books,…
Casino Royale: Ian Fleming, Baccarat and the Birth of Bond
James Bond's first mission is a single high-stakes baccarat game. How Ian Fleming's wartime nights at Estoril shaped Casino Royale, and why the films switched to…
Dostoevsky's The Gambler: Roulette, Debt and a 26-Day Deadline
Dostoevsky dictated The Gambler in about 26 days to beat a ruinous contract, drawing on his own roulette losses in German spa casinos. The story behind the…
Author Quotes: Honoré de Balzac
Balzac on love, plus the story of The Wild Ass's Skin, which opens with a young man losing his last coin in a Paris gambling house. Who Balzac was and why he still…
Banned Books: A Chronological History
From Lysistrata to The Satanic Verses: the long history of censorship told through famous banned books, with where and why each one was banned or…