Advantage Player: A Story of Blackjack, Backrooms, and Beginnings

Gina Fiore has always known the value of a good con. From a very young age, she was answering loan shark phone calls for her parents with a tightly rehearsed script that they weren't home, and listening to stories about the variety of characters that her mom would come across as a blackjack dealer. When Gina's mom teaches her how to deal in her teens and she gets her first job at a casino, Gina gets a crash course in betting big and winning bigger. But things really take off for her when she moves to the other side of the blackjack table. As she hones her playing skills and steps into the world of advantage play (using legal methods to gain an edge), Gina enters a world beyond the flashy lights that most don't even know exists.

Advantage Player follows Gina's journey to becoming one of the most successful advantage blackjack players in the world. She spent years picking up new skills like card counting, hole carding, and edge sorting, none of which are illegal, but that didn't matter to the casinos who relied on their own heavy advantage to maintain their edge--and their profits. With a team of skilled misfits, geniuses, and savants, Gina took over the advantage scene. But her success didn't come without risks, constantly trying to avoid being "backroomed," handcuffed, and losing everything she's won.

In this propulsive and captivating memoir, Gina finally pulls back the curtain on her years living on the edge and how her ability to reinvent herself has allowed her to survive when the cards have always been stacked against her.