Repeat Until Rich

February 15, 2010
Axelrad was a Columbia graduate with a boring Wall Street job until he met a guy who knew a guy and became a professional card counter, playing blackjack in casinos across the country as part of a well-oiled team made up of counters, spotters, gorillas (players who dont count cards), and BPs (players who also count). No math whiz, Axelrad took awhile to learn how to keep the running count in his head, but he got there eventually and, with his elevation to BP, became one of the teams stars. His account of winning more than $700,000 for the team in about four years is fascinating, both for the insider details (especially the back and forth between counters and the casinos, who do their best to ban pros from the tables) and for the repartee between teammates (imagine a real-life Elmore Leonard caper novel). The tale turns more serious, however, when the blackjack run ends following 9/11 (too hard to carry large amounts of cash on planes), and Axelrad turns to online poker and becomes dangerously addicted. A fine portrait of the highs and lows of the gambling life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)