Advantage Player (A Memoir of Blackjack, Backrooms, and Beginnings)

This compelling and fast-paced memoir tells the story of one woman’s unlikely rise to becoming one of the best blackjack players in the world, creating multiple identities and leading an elite advantage play team that won millions beating casinos at their own games.

From an early age, Gina Fiore wanted to win. Her desire was borne from her family’s financial instability—countless evictions, living in a motel, learning to talk to debt collectors with a tightly rehearsed script dictated by her parents. After dropping out of college, Gina’s mother taught her how to deal blackjack and she got her first job dealing in a Las Vegas casino. But when Gina saw the gamblers on the other side of the table win big, she wanted to learn how.

Advantage Player follows Gina’s journey to becoming one of the best advantage players in the world, beating casinos out of millions by playing the games they offer better than they do. After teaching herself how to count cards, Gina was introduced to advanced techniques to gain an edge in the casino like holecarding and edge sorting. Although legal, casinos didn’t tolerate players gaining the upper hand, and Gina and the advantage-play team she formed were under constant threat of being detained in casino backrooms, chased and assaulted by casino employees.

In this propulsive and captivating memoir, Gina pulls back the curtain on her years living on the edge and how her ability to reinvent herself allowed her to survive both in the casino and in life.