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Forty Years: A Gambler on the Mississippi
A cabin boy in 1839 could steal cards and cheat the boys at eleven stock a deck at fourteen bested soldiers on the Rio Grande during the Mexican war won hundreds of thousands from paymasters, cotton buyers, defaulters and thieves fought more rough and tumble fights than any man in America and was the most daring gambler in the world. George H. Devol was the greatest riverboat gambler in the history of the Mississippi. Born in Ohio in 1829, he ran away from home and worked as a cabin boy at age ten. At Fourteen he could stack a deck of cards. Over the years, he bilked soldiers, paymasters, thieves, cotton buyers and businessmen alike. He fought more fights than anyone and was never beaten. This is his story.
316 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1887
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 6, 2012
By total chance this title caught my eye in the UNLV library when I was walking by. I ended up buying it on Amazon when I got back home. Very glad I did (although I hear the Free Kindle version is just as good). This is not so much a book narrative his life as it is a collection of anecdotes and stories from that life, broken up in one to two page sections. What a life. Duval ran away from home as a young boy and worked on a ship. There he learned how to deal cards and also, how to cheat. The thing they say about cons, at least 19th and early 20th century cons, (read The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man if interested) is they never worked on an honest mark. Almost all of them depended on presenting low but illegal hanging fruit in front of a greedy man and then parting him from his money while he grabbed at it. One of Duval's most successful was to conspicuously mark a card in his deck and deal until he knew the victim had spotted the pattern. He'd wait until the man placed a huge bet, certain to win with his inside knowledge, and then deal him a losing hand. Duval seems to have been the embodiment of Roosevelt's expression about walking softly but carrying a big stick. He'd always give some of the winnings back if it was all the loser had in the world, or if he'd bet his wife's jewelry and lost, Duval would send it back to her stateroom later that night. But if they wouldn't take their turn of the cards with some dignity he had no problem fighting or draw his pistol (which he called Betsy Jane but never used). In fact, his favorite weapon was his head, and the book must detail 20 instances where he wins a fight with a solid headbutt. There is a lot of great history in here since he experienced the South both pre, during and post-Civil war (was actually imprisoned by the occupying Union forces for nearly a year). My only criticism is that after about 150 pages the stories all seem to blur together. You can only hear about an overconfident guy falling for a trick and then fighting about the money he lost so many times. But if you read it sporadically or non-linearly it's an excellent book to have.
April 9, 2015
What can i say about this book? I bought it on recommendation from Ryan Holiday. I started reading it in the airplane and was so thoroughly bored with it. I picked it up later and again, after 20 pages I just had enough. It's an array of 1 page short stories that basically go like this:
"I once done found myself on a boat on the Mississipi, I saw a wealthy lookin' sucker and I done caught his money. I am a little bit richer now."
Yawn.
It was the repetitiveness of the stories that made it impossible for me to read more than one in a go. So it became my bathroom book. And I tell you that highly kicked up the enjoyment!
In the 5 minutes I spend on the john I could just squeeze in a story of ole Devol doin' some gamblin'. And as the stories progressed, more and more of the life and culture became visible. Stories about plantation owners gamblin' for slaves in the barbershop, or shipmates gambling there jewellery and their wives coming to get it back give a nice visual of life on the riverboats.
If you want a page turner, good luck, I couldn't do it. But it is probably one of the best bathroom books I have ever read.
"I once done found myself on a boat on the Mississipi, I saw a wealthy lookin' sucker and I done caught his money. I am a little bit richer now."
Yawn.
It was the repetitiveness of the stories that made it impossible for me to read more than one in a go. So it became my bathroom book. And I tell you that highly kicked up the enjoyment!
In the 5 minutes I spend on the john I could just squeeze in a story of ole Devol doin' some gamblin'. And as the stories progressed, more and more of the life and culture became visible. Stories about plantation owners gamblin' for slaves in the barbershop, or shipmates gambling there jewellery and their wives coming to get it back give a nice visual of life on the riverboats.
If you want a page turner, good luck, I couldn't do it. But it is probably one of the best bathroom books I have ever read.
March 5, 2020
Sharpers, suckers, and steamboats.
Devol relates wonderful stories (all true) about a gambler's life on the Mississippi, and never pulls his punches, though he does not speak much about his amorous pursuits.
Excerpt:
"When a sucker sees a corner turned up, or a little spot on a card in three-card monte, he does not know that it was done for the purpose of making him think he has the advantage. He thinks, of course, the player does not see it, and he is in such a hurry to get out his money that he often cuts or tears his clothes. He feels like he is going to steal the money from a blind man, but he does not care. He will win it, and say nothing about how he did it. After they have put up their money and turned the card, they see that the mark was put there for a purpose. Then they are mad, because they are beat at their own game. They begin to kick, and want their money back, but they would not have thought of such a thing had they won the money from a blind man, for they did think he must be nearly blind, or he could have seen the mark on the winning card. They expected to rob a blind man, and got left. I never had any sympathy for them, and I would fight before I would give them back one cent."
Devol relates wonderful stories (all true) about a gambler's life on the Mississippi, and never pulls his punches, though he does not speak much about his amorous pursuits.
Excerpt:
"When a sucker sees a corner turned up, or a little spot on a card in three-card monte, he does not know that it was done for the purpose of making him think he has the advantage. He thinks, of course, the player does not see it, and he is in such a hurry to get out his money that he often cuts or tears his clothes. He feels like he is going to steal the money from a blind man, but he does not care. He will win it, and say nothing about how he did it. After they have put up their money and turned the card, they see that the mark was put there for a purpose. Then they are mad, because they are beat at their own game. They begin to kick, and want their money back, but they would not have thought of such a thing had they won the money from a blind man, for they did think he must be nearly blind, or he could have seen the mark on the winning card. They expected to rob a blind man, and got left. I never had any sympathy for them, and I would fight before I would give them back one cent."
July 25, 2017
The title of the book is intriguing. But this is more of a a swindler's story rather than a gambler's. The book consists of numerous similar short stories. That's why when you start reading next story you know how it will end. It also gives us some information about the late 1800's in the States (I guess not completely united then). Our gambler worked on the boats running on Missisipi River. You cannot help asking yourself if a person might live so many things and if there were so many suckers in those days. You realised later that he cheated not only Americans but also Canadians and the English. He mostly cooperated with a partner (capper). They behaved as if they did not know each other. They found a sucker on the boats or trains. They bent the edge of a playing card. The sucker thought it was the right card to pick. But as soon as he turned the card, he saw it was the wrong card and the roof caved in. When he got wise to the trick, the damage had already done. In other words the hunter became hunted. On top of that he frequently licked a victim if he asked his money back. He even betted that if he could beat an African American. I find the racist expressions about African Americans somewhat disturbing.
May 6, 2017
You go into this book expecting one thing and getting another, much like the author's victims. He was a con artist who tricked thousands of people into thinking their gambling odds against him weren't completely rigged. As his victory is always assured, each story revolves around the novel ways people react to losing their life savings on a hand of cards. The author was a "gambler" in the sense that he had to anticipate and head off the risk of retribution from his victims.
June 13, 2020
This book is not good.
October 5, 2021
FANTASTIC!
September 18, 2015
I'm not sure now where I read about this book--whether it was suggested to me on Good Reads or whether I came across it in some other work--but it was not nearly as interesting as I thought it might be. Devol's work is not an autobiography in a standard sense. Had it been, I might well have liked it. Instead, it is a collection of anecdotes about his life, more or less put down in the order in which he recalls them. There is no chronology, no narrative development. And many of the anecdotes are so similar in form that they become hard to distinguish from one another: Devol walks onto a boat (or a train), meets up with his partner, and plays cards with a group of suckers who don't know that Devol and the partner are in cahoots. Devol is a gambler, he says, but he doesn't seem to gamble much at all--he seems more often simply to be a cheater and a conman. Lose a few rounds to your friend, get everyone else thinking you're no good at the game, and then whallop them with a huge take at the end. And be sure to mark your cards.
The more I read, the more I despised this man, who thinks himself generous when he hands back enough money for some poor sucker to get home on, having taken him for all else he was worth. Sorry you won't get to buy that ranch you were looking forward to moving to or go duck hunting with that new gun you purchased or travel around the United States, having come here from Europe. Sure, one can argue that the people who agree to gamble with Devol are responsible for choosing to do so in the first place and thinking that they could cheat Devol out of his own cash, but sometimes, in reading, I found my heart renching for all that such men sometimes lost.
Devol also spends a good time writing about his ability to fight--and especially to head butt. I'd thought the latter was something kids gave up by second grade. Devol claims to have a hard head that can take down anyone--but one he's used so frequently that is covered in abrasions.
And yet, the irony is that come Civil War time, Devol spends just a short period in the military, and coming to see the danger in war, runs off to return to gambling--and most especially to despoiling the soldiers who happen to come through New Orleans during and after the war. I can, I suppose, give Devol credit for showing his own dishonor and pure selfishness when it comes to national service.
Whatever I may think of Devol and his profession, Devol seems to think highly of it and of himself. He claims that gamblers are more honest folks than most of society, accepting their losses, when they happen, unlike some who try to recoup their "fairly" squandered money. Gambling, as Devol points out at the end, is something only human beings do, and as such, it shows off human intelligence.
The more I read, the more I despised this man, who thinks himself generous when he hands back enough money for some poor sucker to get home on, having taken him for all else he was worth. Sorry you won't get to buy that ranch you were looking forward to moving to or go duck hunting with that new gun you purchased or travel around the United States, having come here from Europe. Sure, one can argue that the people who agree to gamble with Devol are responsible for choosing to do so in the first place and thinking that they could cheat Devol out of his own cash, but sometimes, in reading, I found my heart renching for all that such men sometimes lost.
Devol also spends a good time writing about his ability to fight--and especially to head butt. I'd thought the latter was something kids gave up by second grade. Devol claims to have a hard head that can take down anyone--but one he's used so frequently that is covered in abrasions.
And yet, the irony is that come Civil War time, Devol spends just a short period in the military, and coming to see the danger in war, runs off to return to gambling--and most especially to despoiling the soldiers who happen to come through New Orleans during and after the war. I can, I suppose, give Devol credit for showing his own dishonor and pure selfishness when it comes to national service.
Whatever I may think of Devol and his profession, Devol seems to think highly of it and of himself. He claims that gamblers are more honest folks than most of society, accepting their losses, when they happen, unlike some who try to recoup their "fairly" squandered money. Gambling, as Devol points out at the end, is something only human beings do, and as such, it shows off human intelligence.
July 27, 2016
Undoubtedly, George H. Devol was the greatest riverboat gambler in the history of the Mississippi River.
At the same time, he was also a con artist, a head-battering fighter, and a master at manipulating men away from their money. He was born on August 1, 1829 in Marietta, and fed up with his school experience, ran away from home at the age of ten. Working as a cabin boy on various riverboats, he started an intense study of gambling and ways to cheat. By the time Devol was in his teens, he could deal bottoms and seconds, palm cards, and recover the cut. His apprenticeship as a blackleg included stints dealing faro, craps, 21, and monte before moving on to brag (the game) and then poker.
By the time the Civil War broke out, Devol had made hundreds of thousands of dollars working with various partners that included Bill Rollins, Canada Bill Jones, Edward "Dad" Ryan, Big Alexander, Tom Brown, Posey Jeffers and Holly Chapell.
In 1892, Devol published his autobiography, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, telling about his life as a gambler, greatly embellished. Before he retired, Devol claimed he had won more than $2 million – about $50 million in today's dollars – but, like most other blacklegs, had lost nearly all of it back to even more crooked faro dealers and poker sharps. "It is said of me that I have won more money than any sporting man in this country," he wrote in 1886. "I will say I hadn't sense enough to keep it."
At his wife's insistence, he retired from gambling for good in 1896. Over the next seven years, he managed to make a meager living by selling his memoir book. Sadly, when he died in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1903, he was nearly penniless.
This book is a hoot to read, all be it that it is glorified account by an aging gambler trying to paint his life as a "true knight of the green cloth." Though historically inaccurate and manipulated to suit his narrative, the reader can get a good glimpse into the world of the frontier gambling.
At the same time, he was also a con artist, a head-battering fighter, and a master at manipulating men away from their money. He was born on August 1, 1829 in Marietta, and fed up with his school experience, ran away from home at the age of ten. Working as a cabin boy on various riverboats, he started an intense study of gambling and ways to cheat. By the time Devol was in his teens, he could deal bottoms and seconds, palm cards, and recover the cut. His apprenticeship as a blackleg included stints dealing faro, craps, 21, and monte before moving on to brag (the game) and then poker.
By the time the Civil War broke out, Devol had made hundreds of thousands of dollars working with various partners that included Bill Rollins, Canada Bill Jones, Edward "Dad" Ryan, Big Alexander, Tom Brown, Posey Jeffers and Holly Chapell.
In 1892, Devol published his autobiography, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, telling about his life as a gambler, greatly embellished. Before he retired, Devol claimed he had won more than $2 million – about $50 million in today's dollars – but, like most other blacklegs, had lost nearly all of it back to even more crooked faro dealers and poker sharps. "It is said of me that I have won more money than any sporting man in this country," he wrote in 1886. "I will say I hadn't sense enough to keep it."
At his wife's insistence, he retired from gambling for good in 1896. Over the next seven years, he managed to make a meager living by selling his memoir book. Sadly, when he died in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1903, he was nearly penniless.
This book is a hoot to read, all be it that it is glorified account by an aging gambler trying to paint his life as a "true knight of the green cloth." Though historically inaccurate and manipulated to suit his narrative, the reader can get a good glimpse into the world of the frontier gambling.
July 28, 2014
I would not recommend this book to anyone who is not personally familiar with Mr. George H Devol and has a strong admiration for him.
The book is just a list of stories, not very talented written, about all the scores Mr. Devon had in his life. If you have no idea about gambling or what the tricks are, reading this book will be extremely boring. The reader is not offered a timeline, or details about any happening and it is utterly confusing.
The book is just a list of stories, not very talented written, about all the scores Mr. Devon had in his life. If you have no idea about gambling or what the tricks are, reading this book will be extremely boring. The reader is not offered a timeline, or details about any happening and it is utterly confusing.
September 24, 2008
This is all about fightin, gamblin, and being a genuine rascal on the Mississippi.
And it's written as a series of vignettes, so you can pick it up and put it down fairly easily.
I'm hoping to learn some valuable life skills here.
And it's written as a series of vignettes, so you can pick it up and put it down fairly easily.
I'm hoping to learn some valuable life skills here.
Read
September 14, 2016Interesting, but not really what I'm looking for. I came across another reference of this book that said it was a long line of tall tales. I'm looking more for fact. Will probably finish at later time.
September 13, 2014
Read this because of a recommendation, but it's not for me. Lack of a continuous story annoyed and bored me. Perhaps the setting would appeal to others.
March 25, 2014
Light & entertaining. He was more of a shyster and card sharp than gambler, dealing monte & cheating at poker.
June 15, 2014
Great stories but they become a little redundant.
April 4, 2016
This was good to read in short spurts with its short chapters. It got a little repetitive with descriptions of similar gambling and fighting stories. It was still interesting and worth checking out.
Read
August 6, 2016 I thought that all of the stories and movies about the Mississippi gamblers were fiction; something created for Clark Gable. The stories are true. George Devol and Canada Bill Jones did exist!
December 24, 2021
Starts incredibly strong but quicky settles into a charming monotony. Would be painful to power through, but as something to open every once in awhile for a quick anecdote it was a lovely companion.
Read
May 3, 2019An interesting look back in history at the gamblers/card sharks of the 19th century.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews