Play the devil;: A history of gambling in the United States from 1492 to 1955

Acknowledgment It is not possible to thank all those people who, with advice and information, helped me with this book. It is, on the other hand, impossible not to thank those friends who took a more than curious interest in it. Therefore I wish to express my gratitude to Del Cartier, Herbert French, Donald and Helen Foyer, Louise T. Nicholl, Vincent Mercaldo, Sylvester Vigilante, and Candida Donadio. Special thanks go to my partner, Sidney B. Solomon, who for years had to listen to my problems with the manuscript. I am particularly indebted to John Blay for his spadework, to Mrs. Margaret Hitchcock for her guidance early in the game, and to Mrs. Elsa Neuberger Grossman for her valuable suggestions and encouragement. A large bouquet of posies to my agent, Mavis Mcintosh, who held on without batting an eyelash and watched me parlay a one-page outline to a first draft that ran to 1800 pages. The tribute I wrote to my hard-working revisers and editors, Suzanne Gleaves and Lael Wertenbaker, has been blue-penciled by them. They insist on nothing more than their own modest trade-mark as evidence of their contribution. My final acknowledgment is to my poker cronies. The research and writing of this book has at times interfered with our regular Friday-night game. Why anyone would write about gambling instead of gambling was beyond them. For their indulgence I thank the men I faced across the card table these past years, born too late for Damon Runyan to immortalize: According to Hoyle Freddie, George The Squeezer, Laughing Boy Singer, Manny The Greek, Middle Card Leo, Turk Niego, Sheriff Kaufman, and Shortchange Harry.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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