Rating: 
Summary: A meandering tale that finally hits its mark
Review: I wasn't sure if I trusted the Barthelme brothers to tell this story until fairly late in the book, when they attempt, for maybe the fiftieth time, to explain why they continued to gamble, even in the face of their mounting losses. "Winning is better than losing, but neither is the goal of gambling, which is PLAYING. Losing never feels like the worst part of gambling. Quitting often does." Maybe it was their demanding father, the loss of their beloved mother, or the sudden influx of inherited cash that drove them to the casino night after night. Ultimately I don't think that matters, and I think a lot of words are wasted trying to figure that out. But the book comes alive as soon as the narrative reaches the casino doors, and it contains some of the truest, and loveliest, writing I've come across about the "gaming" culture of the New South.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, anticlimactic ending
Review: I'm not a gambler, but I agree with the other reviews here that this book provides a wonderful description of the gambling addiction. However, one big flaw is the book's failure to describe the outcome of their criminal prosecution. My understanding is that the case against the brothers was dropped. Why didn't they mention this?
Rating: 
Summary: Sappy family memior
Review: I've not ever bashed anyone in a review before, mainly because I've been lucky in my selections. This books summary content piqued my interest enough to buy it. I'm not at all satisfied after having read it. I too am a blackjack player and have been in "deep", so to speak, for 4 years. So going into the book, I felt I might be able to relate to these guys or enjoy a frightening inside look at the "fever" as I like to call it. Not so... In addition to being an unfinished tale, it also alludes to far too much family history. The most annoying element of the book is that these guys approach gambling with no value for money. They accept losses without affect. Yes, losing is a gambling reality, but these guys are not affected by it in the least. In some weird mindless way, these guys somehow used gambling their inheritance as a catharsis for their shortcomings as sons after their parents death. They sometimes talk about winning and losing and trying to come out even for the night as an objective... but there's no real PASSION behind their finances. In one clarifying moment of the book, they identify the "action" ... just having a bet on the table as a "high" which drove them. That is something more of us can relate to... action of any sort can feed the flames... but the sickening part of their story is just how little money had to do with any of it. As I said, I too am a gambler. Sports and blackjack. And I am in another world when I have a bankroll to play with. A good gambling run means my girlfriend can go shopping for "free". A great run means we might go on a "free" vacaction, or buy something we've targeted as important. The higher plateau they never reached was walking away a winner....quitting while ahead during a session and enjoying the casino's money. If THAT's not even a consideration before they sit down to play, then what's the point?!? For intelligent gamblers, losing is a reality we have to learn to deal with ... but playing to lose or without considering enjoying a win.... that's just despressing. They admit to buying a "feeling of belonging" in the casino with their losses. That's just gross! And as for their deceased parents they so often allude too, It's not so much the gambling action that would offend them.. its the authors blaise attitude towards the VALUE of the inheritance. If the money had ANY value to them, they would describe the despair of losing as much as they did. Money just didn't matter. Who can relate to that??? I doubt many readers/gamblers view money in that regard. What kind of gambler is that anyway? The book's not really about gambling. It's about weakness and oblivion. These guys are just very weak with no real fortitude.
Rating: 
Summary: They Should Have Learned to Count!
Review: If the brothershad learned to be efficient card counters they would be writing a book about their wins and not their losses. I might recommend that they read Frank Scoblete's Best Blackjack which I also just reviewed. Is Double Down good? It is excellent because it is a cautionary tale of what can happen when you base your play on adrenaline and not on math.
Rating:
Summary: Too Smart for Their Own Good
Review: If this book has a moral, it is that if you're middle class you get away with doing a lot of stupid things. The Barthelme brothers grew up in a close-knit family run by a loving mother and an arbitrary, authoritarian father. Growing up, they never really started families of their own. When the parents died, within a couple of years of each other, their gambling went out of control. By their own account, they blew a quarter of a million dollars in Mississippi riverboat casinos in less than two years. At the end, they were arrested on a trumped-up fraud charge which was later dropped. They kept their jobs and their girlfriends and they got to write a book about it all. The Barthelmes are smart guys and they analyze endlessly the sources of their gambling "addiction" (which they think lies in their family somewhere) and the fascination of gambling itself (which actually has little to do with winning or losing). There is nothing new here, of course. Still, the Barthelmes keep the story moving forward and there's a lot in here about day-to-day life in a casino. I'm not sure there is a moral here. It's not as if the brothers learned nothing; if anything, they learned everything there is to know about gambling. It's just that they process this information through the detached and ironic consciousness that comes with being too smart for your own good. You get the idea that if they inherited another quarter million, they'd do it all over again.
Rating:
Summary: Great Writing!
Review: One of the best books I've read in a long time. Talking about excessive, out-of-control gambling is only part of the story. The other part is the dramatic effect family can have on people, even men well into middle age. It is apparent that the brothers writing this book wrote it as a type of confessional, as well as an attempt to explain themselves, and their behavior; this is always risky writing, but they pull it off beautifully.
Rating: 
Summary: Rambling, Gambling Men
Review: Perhaps if Mssrs. Barthelme dedicated as much of their energies to writing as they do to gambling then perhaps their book wouldn't be as repetitive as it is, no? "Double Down" meanders and stumbles and needs to be about 50-60 pages shorter. (If you read the excerpt in "The New Yorker" then you've experienced the highs and lows of this book without spending the ca$h.) Their moments of pain and clarity and insight are like gems in an otherwise boring story about two lonely, unlikeable guys whose message from all of this strum und drang is as follows: "Wasting $250,000 isn't a problem unless we say it is." For as much insight as they claim to have, they could use a little less arrogance, and do with a little more humility.
Rating: 
Summary: A double shame upon this duo
Review: The authors, two writer brothers who teach at the same university, slipped into a gambling fever, losing a quarter million dollars in the years following their aged parents' deaths. This is a lucid, compelling book: the sense of addiction, the timeless, weird feeling one gets when gambling, is brought vividly to life. There's also some measure of self-analysis: the brothers conclude that guilt and grief fueled their two-day-long losing sprees, and they appear to aptly judged themselves. They are falsely and bizarrely accused of cheating the casino (they lose thousands in the night they're accused); their description of the indictment and booking, their sudden notoriety and helplessness at the indifferent, lying corporation that is the casino, is a scarily real morality tale. On the minus side, the book does engage in a bit too much of this analysis; it gets repetitive. Also, they drop the story of their indictment too early, leaving the conclusion (dismissal of the charges on the DA's request) unexplained.
Rating:
Summary: Some insights into the world of addiction
Review: The authors, two writer brothers who teach at the same university, slipped into a gambling fever, losing a quarter million dollars in the years following their aged parents' deaths. This is a lucid, compelling book: the sense of addiction, the timeless, weird feeling one gets when gambling, is brought vividly to life. There's also some measure of self-analysis: the brothers conclude that guilt and grief fueled their two-day-long losing sprees, and they appear to aptly judged themselves. They are falsely and bizarrely accused of cheating the casino (they lose thousands in the night they're accused); their description of the indictment and booking, their sudden notoriety and helplessness at the indifferent, lying corporation that is the casino, is a scarily real morality tale. On the minus side, the book does engage in a bit too much of this analysis; it gets repetitive. Also, they drop the story of their indictment too early, leaving the conclusion (dismissal of the charges on the DA's request) unexplained.
Rating:
Summary: More about parents, childhood than gambling
Review: This book is almost totally about growing up, father, mother and the two messed up brothers. It you are into psychological stuff like that, this book rates 5 stars. On the other hand, if you want an entertaining read about gambling, this book rates 1 star. So I give it 3 stars. This book is depressing.
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