{{Short description|American gambler, pit boss, and author}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}} thumb|right|upright=1.52|Tinted photograph used on back cover of books '''Mike Goodman''' was an American professional gambler, a pit boss for a Las Vegas casino, and an author of books that gave advice on gambling and told stories of gamblers and their escapades. He is most known for his 1963 book ''How to Win: At Cards, Dice, Races, Roulette'', which went through many printings and sold over a million copies.
== Early life, gambler and casino employee == Goodman was born in Rochester, New York.<ref name="dcr-htw"/> By one account, he was already gambling with dice at eight years of age.<ref name="dcr-htw">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107645253/democrat-and-chronicle/ | title=Seen and Heard | author-first=Henry W. | author-last=Clune |newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle | location=Rochester, New York | date=April 6, 1963 | page=21 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Growing up he worked as a waiter at Cohen's Kosher Restaurant on Joseph Avenue in Rochester.<ref name="dcr-htw"/>
He came under the tutelage of Pat Mangin, a well-known professional gambler in the Rochester area.<ref name="dcr-htw"/> Goodman began working as a professional gambler himself around the early 1930s.<ref name="dfp-ybb"/>
After he was married in 1938 to Lillian Goodman (née Gordon) of Rochester, Goodman's son Michael J. was born in 1942.<ref name="lat-mjg-obit"/> He and his wife had three children in total—Gail and James, in addition to Michael J.<ref name="htw-bio">''How to Win'', "About the Author", p. 7.</ref> Goodman worked for gambling clubs along the East Coast,<ref name="miami-news-1963"/> and the family moved several times, from New York City to Washington, D.C., to Hollywood, Florida, changing locations when gambling became illegal in a place.<ref name="lat-mjg-obit"/> Goodman also worked in locations such as Saratoga Springs, New York and Hot Springs, Arkansas,<ref name="miami-news-1963"/> typically being employed as a club's "house man".<ref name="htw-bio"/>
Subsequently, Goodman and his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where the legality of casino gambling was firmly established, and they settled down there.<ref name="lat-mjg-obit"/> By 1963 he was pit boss at the Dunes Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.<ref name="miami-news-1963">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107219538/the-miami-news/ | title=Dateline Miami: Merry-Go-Round | author-first=Herb | author-last=Rau | newspaper=The Miami News | date=April 1, 1963 | page=4B | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> It was a position he would hold for a number of years.<ref name="nevsj-ybb"/>
== Author == Goodman's paperback book ''How to Win: At Cards, Dice, Races, Roulette'' came out in 1963 from Holloway House.<ref name="nsj-htw"/> It was written by celebrity ghostwriter Leo Guild, based upon a large set of notes that Goodman had prepared.<ref name="lat-ghost">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6356438/leo-guild-confessions-of-a-celebrity/ |title=Confessions of a Celebrity Ghost Writer | author-first=Leo | author-last=Guild | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=November 5, 1967 | page=9 (Calendar) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Guild also wrote a brief foreword for the book.<ref>''How to Win'', p. 10.</ref>
''How to Win'' mainly covers strategies for playing blackjack, craps, and roulette in casinos, and for betting on horse racing (there are also brief chapters on poker and slot machines).<ref>''How to Win'', table of contents.</ref> Goodman criticizes "system players", believing they inevitably ended up losing, and to a newspaper writer said, "God have mercy on the system players."<ref name="miami-news-1963"/> Interspersed throughout ''How to Win'' are various colorful stories about what goes on in casinos and cautionary tales about gamblers. One of the latter concerns the master card mechanic "Little Abe", also known as "the Professor", who never got caught in the act but ended up dying penniless due to a narcotics habit.<ref>''How to Win'', ch. 15.</ref>
The ''Democrat and Chronicle'' of Rochester called ''How to Win'' "a lively book ... and an expert one."<ref name="dcr-htw"/> A review in the ''Nevada State Journal'' acknowledged that ''How to Win'' packed considerable information together with many anecdotes; however, it said that "His style is as fast as any of the craps games in his casino, in fact it goes too fast."<ref name="nsj-htw">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107587129/nevada-state-journal/ | title=Of Books, Writers, Publishers | author-first=Winifred R. | author-last=Gauvreau | newspaper=Nevada State Journal | date=May 26, 1963 | page=12 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
The book came out just as the initial card counting systems for blackjack were becoming known, and Goodman took strident umbrage at any such mathematically oriented systems. The back cover for various printings of ''How to Win'' had Goodman saying he was "just plain sick and tired" of reading about "experts" pushing such systems, calling out by name Edward O. Thorp, John Scarne, Mike McDougall, and someone going as "Mike Barron". In large bold letters, he said "I CHALLENGE" any of them to take their systems to the Dunes or to debate him in public.<ref>''How to Win'' 1969, back cover.</ref>
''How to Win'' was immensely successful.<ref name="lat-ghost"/> During 1963, a bookstore in Claremont, California, listed it as its fifth-best-selling paperback (first was ''Seven Days in May'').<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107648153/progress-bulletin/ | title=Get These Best Sellers Now in <u>Paperback</u> Books! | newspaper=Progress-Bulletin | location=Pomona, California | date=October 4, 1963 | page=9 (Section 1) | via=Newspapers.com}} Advertisement.</ref> By early 1965, it was said to have sold 700,000 copies, and was included as a bonus in offers for a Las Vegas guest plan membership card.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107649014/the-los-angeles-times/ | title=You're Somebody Very Special with the Las Vegas Guestplan Exclusive Membership Card! | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=February 28, 1965 | page=23 (Calendar) | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> By 1967 it was on its eighth printing and had sold over a million copies, causing ghostwriter Guild to publicly rue that he had accepted a flat fee for his work on it instead of an ongoing royalty.<ref name="lat-ghost"/> By 1969, it was on its eleventh printing.<ref>''How to Win'', copyright page, 1969.</ref> In each of 1970, 1971, and 1972, printings came out with additional copyright dates and an "Editor's Supplement" on international gambling.<ref>See for instance [https://archive.org/details/isbn_0870674188/page/n9/mode/2up?view=theater this 1972 printing].</ref>
In 1965, Goodman was the author of ''Slots & Pinballs'', issued as part of the ''How to win the Las Vegas way'' series by a publisher called Gambling International.<ref name="cce-1966"/> It was a 64-page pictorial book, the cover for which claimed endorsement of aging gambling legend Nick the Greek.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://www.amazon.com/Slots-pinballs-How-win-Vegas/dp/B0007GQ74A | title=Slots and pinballs: How to win the Las Vegas way Paperback – January 1, 1965 | date=January 1965 | publisher=Amazon | access-date=August 10, 2022}}</ref> Arthur Dutton was credited as a special consultant on ''Slots & Pinballs''.<ref name="cce-1966">{{cite book | title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third Series: 1966: January–June | publisher=Copyright Office, Library of Congress | year=1968 | pages= 371–372 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AyQhAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA298}}</ref>
His third book,<ref name="nevsj-ybb"/> ''Mike Goodman's Your Best Bet'', was published in hardcover by Brooke House in 1975.<ref name="dfp-ybb"/> It was co-authored by Goodman's son, Michael J. Goodman,<ref name="nevsj-ybb">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107584654/nevada-state-journal/ | title=Tips For International Gamblers: Author likes Odds in England |author-first=Cy |author-last=Ryan | agency=United Press International| newspaper=Nevada State Journal | date=January 2, 1976 | page=2 | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> who had been working as a reporter for the ''Reno Evening Gazette'' among other papers.<ref name="lat-mjg-obit"/> It continued to present Goodman's long-standing criticism of system players, and again stressed money management as a better approach.<ref name="dfp-ybb">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107533650/detroit-free-press/ | title=You Just Can't Escape It: Life's a Game: Four New Books on How to Play | author-first=Fred | author-last=Girard | newspaper=Detroit Free Press | date=February 1, 1976 | page=5-C | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Like its predecessor, the book also included stories about gamblers, although a review in the ''Detroit Free Press'' felt the tales were not always that interesting.<ref name="dfp-ybb"/> In part, ''Your Best Bet'' served to update ''How to Win'' regarding changes in casino games, especially the advent of the multi-deck blackjack shoe. It also incorporated a travelogue of international casinos in a number of countries,<ref name="we-ybb">{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107543398/the-wichita-eagle/ | title=Fledgling Gambler Gets Benefit Of His Advice | author-first=Dennis | author-last=Pearce | newspaper=The Wichita Eagle and Beacon | date=January 4, 1976 | page=3E | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> giving Goodman's strongly voiced views which to try and which to avoid.<ref name="nevsj-ybb"/>
A paperback edition of ''Your Best Bet'' was published by Ballantine Books in 1977, and reached a second printing in 1979.<ref>''Your Best Bet'' paperback copy 1979, copyright page.</ref> By that time, Goodman had retired as a casino manager.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1979/04/16/the-odds-couple-keith-taft-a-devout-baptist-and-ken-uston-a-high-living-ex-stockbroker-blackjacked-vegas-casinos-for-a-small-fortune-with-the-help-of-a-computer | title=The Odds Couple: Keith Taft, a devout Baptist, and Ken Uston, a high-living ex-stockbroker, blackjacked Vegas casinos for a small fortune with the help of a computer | author-first=Ray | author-last=Hennedy | magazine=Sports Illustrated | date=April 16, 1979}}</ref>
== Legacy == Goodman's son Michael, who had co-authored ''Your Best Bet'', went on to have a long career as an investigative reporter with the ''Los Angeles Times'', a career that included criminality-related examinations of some of same casino people his father engaged in business dealings with.<ref name="lat-mjg-obit">{{cite news | url=https://www.courant.com/la-me-obit-michael-goodman-20181102-story.html | title=Michael J. Goodman, longtime L.A. journalist, dies at 76 | author-first= Angel | author-last=Jennings | agency=Los Angeles Times | newspaper=Hartford Courant | date=November 3, 2018}}</ref>
From a twenty-first century, analytics-based perspective, the Goodman books are not held in high regard – as professional gambler, author, and radio host Richard W. Munchkin wrote in 2013, "These books were filled with a lot of nonsense about how to gamble, and about gamblers who were 'sharp' or 'tough' because they knew to bet more when they got on a streak."<ref name="gwae-munchkin">{{cite web | url=https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/gambling-with-an-edge/no-work-and-all-play-book-review/ | title=No Work and All Play – Book Review | author-first=Richard | author-last=Munchkin | work=Gambling with an Edge | publisher=LasVegasAdvisor | date=October 18, 2013 }}</ref> Nonetheless, e-book editions of ''How to Win'' came out in 2016 from Golden Springs Publishing for both the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook.<ref>See [https://www.amazon.com/How-Poker-Dice-Races-Roulette-ebook/dp/B01N8UKQXM/ref=sr_1_2?crid=37GXSJYGEWJSP&keywords=%22how+to+win%22+goodman&qid=1660529458&sprefix=how+to+win+good%2Caps%2C1035&sr=8-2 this listing] and [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-win-21-poker-dice-races-roulette-mike-goodman/1125127249 this listing].</ref>
In any case, Goodman's books were never intended to promise a mathematically oriented winning system; rather, as one reviewer stated, they were aimed with the notion that the advice within would help someone coming to a casino to "understand and enjoy your time at the tables – and maybe even win more than you lose."<ref name="we-ybb"/> And the stories of Vegas gamblers and casino employees contained within them still capture some of the allure and color of their time.<ref name="gwae-munchkin"/>
== Writings == * ''How to Win: At Cards, Dice, Races, Roulette'' (Holloway House, 1963) * ''Slots & Pinballs: How to win the Las Vegas way'' (Gambling International, 1965) [with consultant Arthur Dutton] * ''Mike Goodman's Your Best Bet'' (Brooke House, 1975) [co-author with Michael J. Goodman]
== References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Mike}} Category:Writers from Rochester, New York Category:Writers from Las Vegas Category:American businesspeople in the casino industry Category:American gamblers Category:American gambling writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:20th-century American male writers Category:American male non-fiction writers