Get Free Ebook Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, by George H. Devol

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Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, by George H. Devol

Get Free Ebook Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, by George H. Devol

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Product details

Paperback: 316 pages

Publisher: Pierides Press (August 1, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1406795828

ISBN-13: 978-1406795820

Product Dimensions:

5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

3.4 out of 5 stars

29 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#10,112,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Even today,George Devol's "biography" is a fun read. Devol writes about the glory days of riverboat (and train) gamblers, around the time of the Civil War. The book jumps around in time and place, and you can just as easily start in the middle, since each chapter is a anecdote often set off by random thoughts or remembered friends. Devol presents himself as a professional gambler, or perhaps as a gambling entrepreneur. One of the major themes is that cheating in one form or another was standard in the life of professional gamblers. Devol doesn't spare himself in his stories and admits quite openly to cheating people of large sums of money. He is quick to also point out his virtues, including returning money to victims who couldn't spare their losses. Devol's morality is summarized simply as "If you would have taken my money, you can't complain if I took yours", and even in our modern legalistic society it still has some power. Fair warning: This is an uncensored work by someone who spent many years in the South around the time of the civil war. The N world is used, and Devol's views of race relations are brutally simple. Devol doesn't defend slavery for the most part, but he doesn't condemn it either.

By total chance this title caught my eye in the UNLV library when I was walking by. I ended up buying it on Amazon when I got back home. Very glad I did (although I hear the Free Kindle version is just as good). This is not so much a book narrative his life as it is a collection of anecdotes and stories from that life, broken up in one to two page sections. What a life. Duval ran away from home as a young boy and worked on a ship. There he learned how to deal cards and also, how to cheat. The thing they say about cons, at least 19th and early 20th century cons, (read The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man if interested) is they never worked on an honest mark. Almost all of them depended on presenting low but illegal hanging fruit in front of a greedy man and then parting him from his money while he grabbed at it. One of Duval's most successful was to conspicuously mark a card in his deck and deal until he knew the victim had spotted the pattern. He'd wait until the man placed a huge bet, certain to win with his inside knowledge, and then deal him a losing hand. Duval seems to have been the embodiment of Roosevelt's expression about walking softly but carrying a big stick. He'd always give some of the winnings back if it was all the loser had in the world, or if he'd bet his wife's jewelry and lost, Duval would send it back to her stateroom later that night. But if they wouldn't take their turn of the cards with some dignity he had no problem fighting or draw his pistol (which he called Betsy Jane but never used). In fact, his favorite weapon was his head, and the book must detail 20 instances where he wins a fight with a solid headbutt. There is a lot of great history in here since he experienced the South both pre, during and post-Civil war (was actually imprisoned by the occupying Union forces for nearly a year). My only criticism is that after about 150 pages the stories all seem to blur together. You can only hear about an overconfident guy falling for a trick and then fighting about the money he lost so many times. But if you read it sporadically or non-linearly it's an excellent book to have.

Devol was NOT a gambler. He was a CHEAT, and he isn't shy about it. Some of these shams still exist today. Sure enough they have moved off public transportation. Can you even imagine a card shark on an airplane? No. They've moved to the Internet. The best value of this book to me was the historic perspective and actual glimpses into life centered around the golden age of Mssissippi River steamboating. The socialology of the time comes through subtly but that is the most interesting part of the whole work.

If you are interested in a gambler's life on a Mississippi riverboat, this could be for you. It is written by a shrewd gambler who spent most of his life going up and down the river, with tale after tale of how he eyed up characters for his gaming table and the success and failures he had. It is repetitive somewhat, being that each story results in someone being cheated out of his money. It would be a good read along with Life on the Mississippi, by Mark Twain. I enjoyed it because my ancestors owned plantations near Vicksburg during the 19th century and I want to learn more about this era.

This book is about the life of a gambler on the Mississippi and it's really a good read. It's not very big, and broken up into a lot of small sections so you can sit down and get a good story with only a few minutes to spare. And, each of the sections / stories is made up of an anecdote in Devol's life, which can be quite interesting.After reading this book you'll really get a feel for how life was on the Mississippi. Only bone I'd pick is as it's written to be a lot of small stories, he can tend to repeat himself, and sometimes you kind of wish the writing was tighter.Still, you can't beat the experience for the price!

Great read - very interesting and a fantastic snapshot of that time period. I have used my Kindle dictionary to highlight several words (typically never have to do this) that were "1800's period" words and the Kindle dictionary covered them all. I thought it was fascinating how much money was bet - won - lost during a time where I thought no one had any money. Being from Louisiana, I really enjoyed reading about New Orleans, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge and the Mississippi River during that time. Like me, I wouldn't doubt that you are inspired to look-up some of the games and set-ups that are mentioned in the book. I have even watched a couple YouTube videos on how to play Faro and Euchre.

I read a lot of older books because they are free. Most are worth exactly what I paid for them. Usually the language is stilted and difficult to read. This one however wasn't bad. The authors adventures as a riverboat gambler were pretty exciting at times and he was a decent writer. Some of the stories seem unbelievable but he writes them well enough that it doesn't matter. A nice glimpse into times past. For the price you can't go wrong.

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