Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss

I thought this book was excellent: a memoir by two brothers who lost $250,000 in riverboat casinos. They describe in detail how they would spend 12 hours or more losing thousands in the slot machines, or, more often, at blackjack. And how it escalated slowly, and then how the addiction got completely out-of-hand after both of their elderly parents died. Apparently, their pattern on each gambling spree was to lose a lot, and then spend the rest of the night (and sometimes day) winning back the lost amount. What amazed me is that even after they were indicted for a crime allegedly committed while gambling, they continued their addiction, albeit in another casino. Astounding! This memoir is remarkable on many counts. For one, it is beautifully written (both authors are writing professors), and also, they attempt to analyze their behavior, the big "WHY"? I commend them for revealing so many intimate details. It seems that perhaps the loss of their father, who had been a brilliant architect but an insensitive father to both, put them over the edge. Raised not to show feelings, coupled with their belief that their parents were their only true "community", perhaps put them in a hard, "no win" position when they died. And the only way to "win" (or attempt to) was at the casino. They are excellent at drawing out the allure of gambling - that, no matter win or lose, they were finally "feeling" something at the blackjack table. A sad tale of an attempt to deal with loss in a desperate, impossible way.

This is an engrossing tale of two brothers, college professors and respected authors, who gamble away their inheritance, a quarter-million bucks, in the sleazy casino boats on the Mississippi coast. The title Double Down could refer to the recent deaths of their mother and father, or to a play in the game of blackjack wherein you can double your bet, "double-down". How could these two brilliant, clear-thinking professor/writers lose all of that money, knowing well that that house had the advantage, and with such steadfast purpose? Was it temporary dementia caused by the loss of their parents, a kind of bereavement ritual? Did the sudden unaccustomed wealth go to their heads? Did they feel undeserving of the inherited wealth and unconsciously look for an ignominious way to dump it? Or did they simply want to try their luck? It's an entertaining story written in the wonderfully clear Barthleme style and, as background to the story, there's a wealth of information about their talented family. The bizarre punch line is that these respectable, conservative brothers, after losing their inheritance and more, are busted by security at the Grand Casino in Biloxi and accused of collusion with a blackjack dealer -- cheating! The Grand Casino filed their preposterous charge with the Harrison County district attorney who, in turn (gambling casinos must have political clout), indicted and charged them with felony conspiracy to defraud the casino. The chapter in which the brothers are booked and fingerprinted will stay with you for a long time. If you read this book, and I recommend it highly, keep in mind that the most important thing is not that they are "professor/writers" who got in an unlikely and unseemly jam but that they are brothers and ultimately it is a family matter.

As someone with a father who was impossible to please, I can really understand why these two brothers were searching so hard for success any way they could find it - even from strangers dealing cards. I can't think of a more appropriate ending than one where the dollars that were so carefully saved by that father are gambled away still searching for his approval. Their run in with the law is really secondary to the life sentence handed down from their father - always feeling that they don't yet have it quite right.

A friend of mine gave me his copy of Double Down to read one morning at work, and once I started reading it I didn't put it down until I was finished. Anyone who has pulled a slot will immediately connect with these two brothers and have some understanding of what they experienced. Their losses could have been $30 instead of $300K+ and it wouldn't make any difference. The hook is in the Barthelme Bros thoughtful observations about the psychology that drives their compulsion - the hardness of a father who still has them in his grips, even from the grave + the mid-life search for that one big score . . . again, and again and again.

I've spent as much time gambling recklessly as searching for the words to explain why. They'd escaped me all these years. Maybe after a big loss I'd come to some partly lucid but entirely fleeting realization driving home in the dark from the boats thinking about what to do next. One or two movies (most remarkably "The Gambler", especially its ending) and books (same, by Doestyevsky) show and talk about it deeply, but this book is different. It details what it's like to gamble like a fool and reveals the fool's motivation: Do it again and again until all the money's gone. Not to sound like a book jacket but a few paragraphs made me wiggle unconfortably in my chair while reading it. (Which I did, beginning to end, at Borders -- not because I was too cheap to buy it (well maybe that's part of it) but because I didn't want to put it down.) I saw myself, and if you've ever watched your whole life turn with a bust card, you will too. Finally gambling's seduced someone with a supreme command of our written language. If you're reading this, thank you. Both of you.