Gambling Memoir

Centered around multi-million dollar stakes and a series of nationally televised poker tournaments, Fading Hearts on the River offers a story of odds - the odds of a newborn surviving severe jaundice, the odds of Congress passing a law that renders one's online gambling income inaccessible, the odds of drawing the right card on the turn or the river.

In 2006, Johnny's pie-in-the-sky dreams of becoming world champion were dashed when his kings ran into aces in the World Series of Poker Main Event. But lady luck was with him when he met Amy, the woman of his dreams, who soon became his wife. Like many players, he drifted away from the game after Congress passed a law later that year that cut off funds to online poker and harkened the decline of the game. But even as Johnny returned to the working world, the itch remained.

Do you have to be lucky to win a lottery jackpot prize? My biggest win was just under thirty thousand dollars! My following two jackpots hit for a combined total of over twenty-four thousand dollars! I hit the 8 Spot with the bulls-eye on California’s Hot Spot Lottery game. It’s the Golden State's version of Keno! Now that I’ve found my rhythm, I’m staying on beat. Let’s take a trip down memory lane as I share my tips and tricks on this complex, exciting, eclectic game of numbers, odds, and strategic moves where timing is everything!

Rich's life is spiraling out of control. Consumed by addiction to alcohol, opioid prescription drugs, and gambling, his attempts to drown out the darkness and reality of a troubled childhood will lead to unimaginable trials for his family. His wife, Sue, struggles to help him, but fears all hope is lost. In an instant, a horrific diagnosis after a sudden traumatic brain injury could end it all.

After fighting off physical indignities that would keep a lesser woman in her recliner, Pat Dennis sets out on a solo journey to experience the loves of her life - Las Vegas, gambling, and all-you-can eat buffets. Pat travels the 2000 miles alone from Minnesota to Sin City by car, train and greyhound bus. Pat's ability to take an honest and often hilarious look at aging, declining health, out-of-control gambling, and a myriad of nueroses, make this inspiring, funny, and enjoyable. 

Stuart Wheeler went to Eton and Oxford. He was an officer in the Welsh Guards, a barrister, an investment banker, and a major donor to the Conservative Party. You might think that he has led a life of impeccably conformist upper-class respectability. You’d be wrong. For Wheeler is also an illegitimate child adopted at the age of two and a devoted gambler who has been thrown out of more than one Las Vegas casino. He gave William Hague’s Conservatives £5 million (still the biggest political donation in British history) before being expelled from the Tories and joining UKIP.

Most of us think of bowling as a "sport" in quotation marks, and bowling alleys are places with disco balls, matching shirts, and funny shoes. But in the 1960s, New York City was the center of "action bowling", a form of high-stakes gambling in which bowlers - often teenagers - faced off for thousands of dollars every night. When money like that is changing hands, you can bet the pressure is on (and the balls are rigged), and losses come with dire consequences.

Explore the fascinating and frightening world of organized crime! Are you fascinated by the Mafia? Have you always wondered how these groups operate? Do you want to know the ugly truth about the Mafia’s serial killers? You'll learn about the most influential and famous organized crime groups in the world. You’ll also discover why the Italian mafia was invited to help the Italian government! And why that turned out to be a very, very, very bad idea.... 

After a trophy-laden and record-setting club and international career, England’s greatest ever goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, could rightly look forward to an equally successful post-playing career. But a gambling habit forged in his playing days soon spiralled into a gambling addiction: a silent, self-destructive and ruinous obsession that destroyed relationships, his mental health and very nearly himself.