A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market

by Edward O. Thorp

As part of an orchestrated PR follow-up, a Las Vegas Sun editorial of April 3, 1964, assured us that “Anybody who has been around Nevada very long knows that [casinos welcome] players with a system.” “Edward O. Thorp…obviously doesn’t know the facts of gambling life. There has never been a system invented that overcomes…the advantage the house enjoys in every game of chance.” And for the clincher: “ ‘Dr. Thorp may be qualified at mathematics, but he is sophomoric on gambling,’ is the way Edward A. Olsen, Gaming Control Board chairman, put it.” In a nonconfrontational vein, Gene Evans of Harrah’s Club explained that “…the club believes the player may have a better chance when the deck is shuffled every time, because all the Aces and face cards could come up on each deal.”