Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker Audiobook

Quotes

• “Doug Swanson is one terrific reporter and writer. In Blood Aces, he delivers not just the facts, ma’am, but an appalling yet wickedly humorous portrait of the Godfather of Glitter Gulch, a warm-hearted family man and cold-blooded killer who pioneered Vegas odds-making and launched the World Series of Poker.”

  — James McManus, New York Times bestselling author of Positively Fifth Street

• “Prepare to meet one of the great unknown crime kingpins in American history: Benny Binion, a semiliterate, grammar-murderin’, Stetson-and-boots-wearin’ Texas hick who presided over an underworld of cowboy gangsters every bit as unique, lethal, and compelling as the Cosa Nostra. In Blood Aces, Doug J. Swanson has written a terrific, propulsive account of a man and a subculture I can virtually guarantee you know little or nothing about. This is dazzlingly original stuff, and it’s entertaining as hell.”

  — S. C. Gwynne, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of the Summer Moon

• “Welcome to the world of Benny Binion, the cowboy with a second-grade education who helped create Sin City and laid the groundwork for modern-day spectator poker. Steeped in lore and backed by meticulous research, Doug Swanson’s Blood Aces gives readers an intimate and in-depth look at a key era in the history of American capitalism…Prepare to be Binionized.”

  — Denise Kiernan, New York Times bestselling author of The Girls of Atomic City

• “Blood Aces delivers the best of everything—a tale of two cities (Dallas and Las Vegas), a primer on the history and nuances of gambling (poker and dice, especially), and, above all, the many adventures of the one and only Benny Binion, who could charm or kill with equal ease. It’s a fascinating slice of colorful Americana delivered with insight and sly humor by Doug J. Swanson, one of the best historian-storytellers around. Unlike Binion’s crooked cons, Blood Aces is a sure thing for every reader.”

  — Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling author of Manson

• “Armchair detectives and other aficionados of the history of thug culture in America will feel a warm glow of assurance at the first few paragraphs of Blood Aces...[Swanson] brings new credibility to the subject without trying too hard to mythologize him and, wisely, without trying to make him seem likable. No one ever said you have to be likable to be interesting.”

  — Austin Chronicle 

• “Benny Binion is not as well known as Bugsy Seigel, who created Las Vegas, but, as crime-novelist Swanson makes clear in this rollicking biography, Binion also deserves his place in the Sin City Hall of Fame…Swanson, a Dallas Morning News editor when he’s not writing crime novels, has turned the biography of Binion into a great piece of narrative nonfiction that reads like, well, a great crime novel.”

  — Booklist (starred review)

• “Swanson skillfully brings Binion to life and continually intrigues with the exhilarating account of the history of poker and the decadent metropolis that reminds us that ambition, power, and violence often go hand in hand. This is the madcap, bloody, improbable life of an outlaw who left his mark on Las Vegas, poker, and gambling from coast to coast.”

  — Publishers Weekly

• “The big life and fast times of one of the most charismatic and dangerous good ol’ boys in America’s criminal history...[A] well-researched and executed biography...Fans of other gangster histories will likely be intrigued by Binion’s arc...The later sections of the book will be of interest to poker fans, as Binion retreats to Sin City to buy casinos and accidentally creates a legacy when he founds the World Series of Poker as a promotional stunt...An entertaining and provocative portrait of a man whose dichotomies were largely a product of the violent times in which he thrived.”

  — Kirkus Reviews

• “A compelling narrative full of outlandish characters, Blood Aces is a fast-paced read as enlightening as it is shocking.”

  — Sally Denton, author of The Money and the Power