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24/7 : Living It Up and Doubling Down

24/7 : Living It Up and Doubling Down

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $10.17
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This book is both dope and fresh!
Review: Stop your search for a good book about fun in Vegas. This book kicks hard core booty. This guy gets a month in Vegas most people would only dream about - and he actually knows how to write. His stories about being drunk on alcohol and blackjack at 6:00am are great because it feels like you are really there, but you dont have to wake up with a hangover. Its just great reading. I felt like I got to take my own marathon Vegas vacation without ever leaving the house, and I cant wait to go back. I never write reviews but I recommend this book highly. I will buy any book Andres Martinez writes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I haven't been to Las Vegas yet but have been soaking up everything I can about it. The authors' account of his 30 day gambling spree was educational and quite entertaining, especially since he doesn't gamble regularly. I was so engrossed by the story, I read the book in about 3 sittings.

My review may be biased because I've dedicated the last month or so to researching Las Vegas. I'm not sure how interesting it would be to someone not as taken by Sin City as I am.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Pretty good book!
Review: It was an interesting book by a Las Vegas rookie. I wish I had that kind of money to throw around Vegas. I would have like to have heard more stories of locals and some of the things they have done and seen in there. I am sure many of those casino employees have seen it all in a party town like Vegas. Still, I enjoyed the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Couldnt put it down
Review: I found this book to be such a fun read just because of the way the book was setup. Here you have a writer going to Las Vegas with the specific intent of gambling his publishers advance money. Having visited Las Vegas, I cannot imagine spending more than a week in the city. I loved the way the author details some interesting stories with people he meets along the way (a preacher working in the men's room at a strip club???? - only in Vegas) and the fact that he gets together with these people for some "follow ups" before he leaves.

I wish the author would do a "24/7 - Part II" and go back to Vegas with some of the newer casinos that have opened since he wrote this book (for example- Mandalay Bay was still being built).

Once I got started, I couldnt stop....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Real life dramas with every turn of the page
Review: I picked this book up on a Thursday night and had it finished the following Wednesday. I could not put this thing down. Andres accounts of the highs and lows that a high roller sometimes goes through is very well written with wit and humor thrown in. I'am not a reader of books because my lack of interest but this book grabbed me by the shirt and did not let go until it was complete.It is a very big accomplishment for me to finish a book. . Let alone finish a book in less than 3 months. My wife was astonished. I can't tell you how much of a bummer it was to finish this book with nothing else this invigorating to read. Thanks Andres!! When is trip #2?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great, fun, light read
Review: If you love Las Vegas, or even love to hate it, you'll have a lot of fun reading this book. Martinez lives every gambler's fantasy, going on a 30 day trip to Vegas, paid for by his book editor, (actually he bets with his advance, but the fact is the money was given to him before he had to work). He shows us, the funny, the weird, the awe-inspiring, and the cheesiness of Vegas, often in the same paragraph.
A must for any Vegas-lover.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Compelling Reading
Review: I have been reading the Wall Street Journal for years, and while it is chocked full of information, the writing tends to be bone dry. It's amazing how Martinez, a former staff writer for the Wall Street Journal writer, is able to combine facts with fun, and paint a compelling and factual view of the "New Las Vegas". The action moves seamlessly from resort to resort, and from game to game.

Two memorable quotes:

Martinez, speaking to a dealer early in his trip:

"'How fascinating this work must be,' I said to the dealer, wearing my most earnest smile, 'to have a front seat at fortune's ampitheater, to see human nature in its rawest form, stripped of all pretense, to witness the ultimate agony and the ecastasy.'"

Martinez, commenting on the gritty downtown Las Vegas:

"Downtown is a subsistence economy, where uniformed cocktail waitresses play video poker over at Binion's Horseshoe while on break, pawnshops hover vulturelike down every dim-lit street, and prostitutes come cheap. You cannot spend an hour walking through downtown without coming away with a sense that gambling is a cannibalizing endeavor that will wear down and corrode those who persist at it. There are no swashbuckling pirates or pyramids to disguise that fact."

The organization of chapters into different resorts keeps the action fresh, as does Martinez's $50,000 gambling binge.

Overall, I found the Martinez approach more interesting than Pete Earley's Super Casino. Both were educational, but Martinez's was more fun.

24/7 is an excellent read for those who are Vegas-bound.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Too Much Filler
Review: Out of 300 pages, not more than 20 are filled with the casino war stories, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and interesting anecdotes that are Vegas. Martinez fills most of the pages with odd sideline stories and flashbacks that have nothing to do with the real Las Vegas. My guess is that he spent all his time in Vegas partying instead of writing and upon returning to NY, not being able to remember many of the salacious facts, just filled in the pages with fluff.

The "Man with the $100,000 Breasts" is a better read if, like me, you're looking for the fun casino war stories.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good read!
Review: If you have gambled more than just a few times, you will be able to identify with Martinez. What he learned and felt is so typical. If you enjoy reading about gambling in Vegas, (especially if someone gave you a $50,000 nest egg) this is a fun read and hits home.

This is not about game strategies or Vegas history. It's about going to Vegas, gambling, and experiencing all of the associated up's and down's. There are many side bars where he interviews a variety of people relative to gambling and Vegas. Most are entertaining.

I also enjoyed Martinez's humor. Do not misunderstand me. He is not a comedian but makes observations and cracks that you and friends might casually make. He seems like a very down to earth guy who you would want to go to Vegas with. Thumbs up!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good for the uninitiated
Review: This is a good book for those not familiar with Las Vegas. However if you have been there more than once much of the book drags. The author's descriptions of the casinos and sights of LV are tedious and boring if you have already experienced them. Being a novice gambler the author never realizes how lucky he was not to lose his $50,000 stake in the first three days. I hope he doesn't return to Vegas, he'll probably lose the farm. I'm sorry I bought it, I could have written it.


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