--- product_id: 93430358 title: "A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market" price: "VT8281" currency: VUV in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/93430358-a-man-for-all-markets-from-las-vegas-to-wall store_origin: VU region: Vanuatu --- # A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market **Price:** VT8281 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market - **How much does it cost?** VT8281 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/93430358-a-man-for-all-markets-from-las-vegas-to-wall) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The incredible true story of the card-counting mathematics professor who taught the world how to beat the dealer and, as the first of the great quantitative investors, ushered in a revolution on Wall Street. A child of the Great Depression, legendary mathematician Edward O. Thorp invented card counting, proving the seemingly impossible: that you could beat the dealer at the blackjack table. As a result he launched a gambling renaissance. His remarkable success—and mathematically unassailable method—caused such an uproar that casinos altered the rules of the game to thwart him and the legions he inspired. They barred him from their premises, even put his life in jeopardy. Nonetheless, gambling was forever changed. Thereafter, Thorp shifted his sights to “the biggest casino in the world”: Wall Street. Devising and then deploying mathematical formulas to beat the market, Thorp ushered in the era of quantitative finance we live in today. Along the way, the so-called godfather of the quants played bridge with Warren Buffett, crossed swords with a young Rudy Giuliani, detected the Bernie Madoff scheme, and, to beat the game of roulette, invented, with Claude Shannon, the world’s first wearable computer. Here, for the first time, Thorp tells the story of what he did, how he did it, his passions and motivations, and the curiosity that has always driven him to disregard conventional wisdom and devise game-changing solutions to seemingly insoluble problems. An intellectual thrill ride, replete with practical wisdom that can guide us all in uncertain financial waters, A Man for All Markets is an instant classic—a book that challenges its readers to think logically about a seemingly irrational world. Praise for A Man for All Markets “In A Man for All Markets , [Thorp] delightfully recounts his progress (if that is the word) from college teacher to gambler to hedge-fund manager. Along the way we learn important lessons about the functioning of markets and the logic of investment.” — The Wall Street Journal “[Thorp] gives a biological summation (think Richard Feynman’s Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! ) of his quest to prove the aphorism ‘the house always wins’ is flawed. . . . Illuminating for the mathematically inclined, and cautionary for would-be gamblers and day traders” — Library Journal Review: Extraordinary - “A Man for All Markets” is at its core a captivating memoir on how Professor Thorp managed to acquire a fortune estimated at around $800-million. It’s dense, it’s detailed, it’s engagingly written, it’s a lot of fun to read and it’s full of valuable information. I would love to have read the chapters on markets some years ago when I was an active trader. I’d have made a lot more money! How did he do it? “Education,” he explains in a later chapter. He either taught himself or he learned from others. Indeed Chapter 1 is entitled “Loving to Learn.” He began as a poor boy in Lomita, California delivering newspapers in the morning and in the afternoon. He got into UCLA and graduated with a degree in physics and then went on to grad school to study mathematics. He became fascinated with challenges, most famously with the gambling card game, blackjack or twenty-one. He devised a point count system that, coupled with his ability to remember cards, allowed him to beat the casinos at their own game. And then he wrote a bestselling book, “Beat the Dealer” showing others how it could be done. I read that book when it came out in the early Sixties and was fascinated. Because my memory is only average I ended up playing poker instead of blackjack--but that’s another story. Following up on his success at twenty-one, Thorp, along with Claude Shannon, designed and built a mechanical and electrical device that allowed them to gain an advantage in roulette by predicting with some proficiency approximately where the bouncing ball would end up. That was quite a coup especially considering that it happened fifty-some years ago. This takes us through the first ten chapters. Then in Chapter 11: “Wall Street: The Greatest Casino on Earth” Thorp turns his attention to the financial markets. The titles of the next 14 chapters not only outline the story but could serve as something like a syllabus for a graduate course in investing. Viz., “Front-Running, The Quantitative Revolution, Swindles and Hazards, Buying Low, Selling High, Hedging Your Bets, Compound Growth, Beat Most Investors by Indexing, Asset Allocation and Wealth Management, etc.” There’s an illuminating chapter on financial crises and lessons not learned. Thorp concludes with Chapter 30 “Thoughts,” which I found fascinating. There are also five appendices, three on inflation and the dollar, historical returns, and the performance of his fantastically successful hedge fund, Princeton Newport Partners. I think it is important in accounting for Thorp’s extraordinary success to realize that he was very good with people and formed valuable friendships with knowledgeable and gifted persons including the afore-mentioned Claude Shannon, Warren Buffet and others. Additionally, his curiosity and love of challenges took him places others couldn’t go. Finally, there was the loving support of his very talented wife, Vivian. If I were giving out advice on how to be successful in this world I would say first pick your spouse wisely. Also, Thorp was thrifty. On page 86 we learn that when he was playing blackjack in Las Vegas he would call his wife collect and to save money would ask for “’Edward __ Thorp,’ the middle initial being a code we had devised to tell how many thousands of dollars we were ahead or, if the initial came before ‘Edward,’ how many behind…” “After hearing the name of the person being called, Vivian would politely tell the operator that Mr. Thorp ‘wasn’t here at the moment.’” I think it is a good lesson to understand that not only is a penny saved a penny earned but it’s worth more than that because what’s saved is untaxed and the money can be invested. Thorp elaborates on the value of thrift in building wealth elsewhere in the book especially on page 269. I want to say that I have a personal affinity for both this book and its author because of some similarities in the lives we have led. For those interested see my recently published memoir “If I Had Been a Better Man.” Okay now for some tidbits from the amazing professor of gambling and markets. “Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut were at a party given by a billionaire…Vonnegut asked Heller how it felt to know that their host might have made more money in one day than Heller’s “Catch-22” since it was written.” Heller replied that “he had something the rich man could never have.” Vonnegut wondered what that might be, and Heller answered, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.” (p. 213) Thorp actually discovered in 1991 that Bernie Madoff’s trades were fakes and that he was running a Ponzi scheme. See pages 213-219. A joke: “…pronounced MADE-off, as in “with your money.” (p. 217) If you haven’t heard of the so-called “secretary/marriage problem” in math turn to page 224. The problem is when to say yes to get the best candidate. Once you say no you usually don’t get another chance and you may find the remaining candidates not as good. On the other hand, if you say yes too soon you might miss the best choice. Thorp’s answer to high frequency trading: “a small federal tax…a few cents a share…” (p. 231) On the crisis in funding for the California university system: “To starve education is to eat our seed corn. No tax today, no technology tomorrow.” (p. 341) --Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is” Review: Good reading material - Read full summary of this book on my blog: imeducatingmyself.com/a-man-for-all-markets-from-las-vegas-to-wall-street-how-i-beat-the-dealer-and-the-market-by-edward-o-thorp-book-review The life of the Edward was quite interesting, and full of ups and downs – but in the end it turn out be everything good. I really enjoyed reading this book, it does contain a lot of useful material which we can apply to our lives. I bought this book because was interested to learn about Edward’s investing strategy. And there are useful material when it comes to investing, but it’s not for absolute beginners. If you don’t know anything about investing, than you might find this book a bit confusing. I like how he played the both sides of investing; buying and shorting stocks. Even though I have to say that I’m not a fan of shorting stocks, it does require a lot of analysis and experience to get it right; I’ve done it couple of times, and it didn’t turn right for me. But in the end, since he had been in contact with Warren Buffett, he does apply the long-term value investing. And when you go through a lot of methods of trading, majority of investors would agree that this is the best way. But, nevertheless, it does require a lot of research and investigating about particular stock(s) in which you are going for the long-term. I wasn’t very interested in that part of the book that talks about Blackjack, because I’m not interested in playing cards, or anything similar. If you are someone who is interested in cards, you can find useful information on how Edward developed his card counting method. One thing about the gambling I like that, he didn’t end up addicted to gambling, and it didn’t destroyed his family. That is very important that he knew when to stop playing and move to something else. It was successful experiment, and that was all. One thing that got me, positively of course, is his life with Vivian. The greatest thing that can happen to anyone is to have great life companion. Of course, I believe that they’ve had some problems, that is normal – but overall, everything went well for a long time. And from that I conclude that two great minds can make a lot of things possible. This book is also good for those who are looking to motivate them self in life. Maybe your’re not interested in card ( I know I’m not), nor investing, but just getting through the book and getting familiar with Edward’s life, and how he was determined to succeed in life – I know my motivation was raising up reading the book. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #19,418 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #5 in Gambling (Books) #32 in Biographies of Business & Industrial Professionals #45 in Introduction to Investing | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,742 Reviews | ## Images ![A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81Zhdw7eUTL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extraordinary *by D***L on July 21, 2017* “A Man for All Markets” is at its core a captivating memoir on how Professor Thorp managed to acquire a fortune estimated at around $800-million. It’s dense, it’s detailed, it’s engagingly written, it’s a lot of fun to read and it’s full of valuable information. I would love to have read the chapters on markets some years ago when I was an active trader. I’d have made a lot more money! How did he do it? “Education,” he explains in a later chapter. He either taught himself or he learned from others. Indeed Chapter 1 is entitled “Loving to Learn.” He began as a poor boy in Lomita, California delivering newspapers in the morning and in the afternoon. He got into UCLA and graduated with a degree in physics and then went on to grad school to study mathematics. He became fascinated with challenges, most famously with the gambling card game, blackjack or twenty-one. He devised a point count system that, coupled with his ability to remember cards, allowed him to beat the casinos at their own game. And then he wrote a bestselling book, “Beat the Dealer” showing others how it could be done. I read that book when it came out in the early Sixties and was fascinated. Because my memory is only average I ended up playing poker instead of blackjack--but that’s another story. Following up on his success at twenty-one, Thorp, along with Claude Shannon, designed and built a mechanical and electrical device that allowed them to gain an advantage in roulette by predicting with some proficiency approximately where the bouncing ball would end up. That was quite a coup especially considering that it happened fifty-some years ago. This takes us through the first ten chapters. Then in Chapter 11: “Wall Street: The Greatest Casino on Earth” Thorp turns his attention to the financial markets. The titles of the next 14 chapters not only outline the story but could serve as something like a syllabus for a graduate course in investing. Viz., “Front-Running, The Quantitative Revolution, Swindles and Hazards, Buying Low, Selling High, Hedging Your Bets, Compound Growth, Beat Most Investors by Indexing, Asset Allocation and Wealth Management, etc.” There’s an illuminating chapter on financial crises and lessons not learned. Thorp concludes with Chapter 30 “Thoughts,” which I found fascinating. There are also five appendices, three on inflation and the dollar, historical returns, and the performance of his fantastically successful hedge fund, Princeton Newport Partners. I think it is important in accounting for Thorp’s extraordinary success to realize that he was very good with people and formed valuable friendships with knowledgeable and gifted persons including the afore-mentioned Claude Shannon, Warren Buffet and others. Additionally, his curiosity and love of challenges took him places others couldn’t go. Finally, there was the loving support of his very talented wife, Vivian. If I were giving out advice on how to be successful in this world I would say first pick your spouse wisely. Also, Thorp was thrifty. On page 86 we learn that when he was playing blackjack in Las Vegas he would call his wife collect and to save money would ask for “’Edward __ Thorp,’ the middle initial being a code we had devised to tell how many thousands of dollars we were ahead or, if the initial came before ‘Edward,’ how many behind…” “After hearing the name of the person being called, Vivian would politely tell the operator that Mr. Thorp ‘wasn’t here at the moment.’” I think it is a good lesson to understand that not only is a penny saved a penny earned but it’s worth more than that because what’s saved is untaxed and the money can be invested. Thorp elaborates on the value of thrift in building wealth elsewhere in the book especially on page 269. I want to say that I have a personal affinity for both this book and its author because of some similarities in the lives we have led. For those interested see my recently published memoir “If I Had Been a Better Man.” Okay now for some tidbits from the amazing professor of gambling and markets. “Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut were at a party given by a billionaire…Vonnegut asked Heller how it felt to know that their host might have made more money in one day than Heller’s “Catch-22” since it was written.” Heller replied that “he had something the rich man could never have.” Vonnegut wondered what that might be, and Heller answered, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.” (p. 213) Thorp actually discovered in 1991 that Bernie Madoff’s trades were fakes and that he was running a Ponzi scheme. See pages 213-219. A joke: “…pronounced MADE-off, as in “with your money.” (p. 217) If you haven’t heard of the so-called “secretary/marriage problem” in math turn to page 224. The problem is when to say yes to get the best candidate. Once you say no you usually don’t get another chance and you may find the remaining candidates not as good. On the other hand, if you say yes too soon you might miss the best choice. Thorp’s answer to high frequency trading: “a small federal tax…a few cents a share…” (p. 231) On the crisis in funding for the California university system: “To starve education is to eat our seed corn. No tax today, no technology tomorrow.” (p. 341) --Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is” ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good reading material *by A***R on March 11, 2018* Read full summary of this book on my blog: imeducatingmyself.com/a-man-for-all-markets-from-las-vegas-to-wall-street-how-i-beat-the-dealer-and-the-market-by-edward-o-thorp-book-review The life of the Edward was quite interesting, and full of ups and downs – but in the end it turn out be everything good. I really enjoyed reading this book, it does contain a lot of useful material which we can apply to our lives. I bought this book because was interested to learn about Edward’s investing strategy. And there are useful material when it comes to investing, but it’s not for absolute beginners. If you don’t know anything about investing, than you might find this book a bit confusing. I like how he played the both sides of investing; buying and shorting stocks. Even though I have to say that I’m not a fan of shorting stocks, it does require a lot of analysis and experience to get it right; I’ve done it couple of times, and it didn’t turn right for me. But in the end, since he had been in contact with Warren Buffett, he does apply the long-term value investing. And when you go through a lot of methods of trading, majority of investors would agree that this is the best way. But, nevertheless, it does require a lot of research and investigating about particular stock(s) in which you are going for the long-term. I wasn’t very interested in that part of the book that talks about Blackjack, because I’m not interested in playing cards, or anything similar. If you are someone who is interested in cards, you can find useful information on how Edward developed his card counting method. One thing about the gambling I like that, he didn’t end up addicted to gambling, and it didn’t destroyed his family. That is very important that he knew when to stop playing and move to something else. It was successful experiment, and that was all. One thing that got me, positively of course, is his life with Vivian. The greatest thing that can happen to anyone is to have great life companion. Of course, I believe that they’ve had some problems, that is normal – but overall, everything went well for a long time. And from that I conclude that two great minds can make a lot of things possible. This book is also good for those who are looking to motivate them self in life. Maybe your’re not interested in card ( I know I’m not), nor investing, but just getting through the book and getting familiar with Edward’s life, and how he was determined to succeed in life – I know my motivation was raising up reading the book. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Great Look Into Risk *by M***E on October 23, 2017* You would think that this book was boring, but it certainly was not. Edward Thorp is a fascinating genius. I am not even sure why this book came on my radar, maybe because of Nassim Taleb, but whatever the reason, I am thankful that I read it. The author did some amazing things like develop the first wearable computer and even created a system to beat the dealer at Blackjack. He ended up running a Hedge Fund. He was a successful trader for numerous years and now spends his time in giving back to worthy projects. The book is good because of the lessons he gives throughout the text. There are a lot of little pieces of wisdom throughout. Here is one. "This damaged his self-esteem, which, as I came to understand later, is an absolute no-no in human relationships unless you do not mind creating an inveterate enemy." This is a fact of life. Here are two great questions. "None of this would have happened if, as I wish I had done, I had asked myself beforehand, If you do this, what do you want to happen? Moreover, If you do this, what do you think will happen? I would not have liked either answer. These two questions became valuable guides for me in the future." Before we act, it is wise to ask these questions. Often he takes a story and gives a principle like this. "In the abstract, life is a mixture of chance and choice. Chance can be thought of like the cards you are dealt in life. The choice is how you play them." There are many other quotes of wisdom in the book. This book might not be for everyone, but in life, it is best to read widely ​and apply your thinking to ministry. Taking an interconnected approach to church leadership can have vast results. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vu/products/93430358-a-man-for-all-markets-from-las-vegas-to-wall](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/93430358-a-man-for-all-markets-from-las-vegas-to-wall) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu* *Store origin: VU* *Last updated: 2026-05-17*