1. Books About Gambling Addiction
2. Gambling Books Las Vegas

In this book, the Lands manage to cram more than 100 years of information along with pictures, illustrations, maps, and interesting tidbits about the people who actually made gambling, people like Bill Harrah and Pappy Smith. 130 pgs, paperback, 1995. The Gambler's Book Shop is a place to go for all things gambling. They have almost everything you could need for learning how to gamble, especially for beginners. You can purchase books on every imaginable subject, cards, dice, souvenirs, posters, pictures of famous people.

Gambling Books and Software Recommended by Professional Gamblers

'Get-rich-quick books follow a pattern. There’s a spirited pitch to get you to buy the book and discover the secret, then you read through chapter after chapter of fluff until you find some simple idea midway through. It turns out not to be work-free or risk-free…[and could] be explained in one paragraph, but gets five chapters of repetition so the book looks thick enough to be worth $19.95.' (Bill Haywood, Beat Web Casinos.com)
This is not the type of gambling book or software that we will be recommending here.
We are not making any attempt to list every reasonably competent software or book related to gambling. Instead, these are the books that have meant the most in the careers of the moderators of this Web site.
The books are categorized by subject, and are in alphabetical order by author. Some are out of print but are worth extra effort to locate in used book stores. If you read all of these, you will know a lot about professional gambling.
We have provided links to purchase the books that are still in print. Purchasing the books through these links helps to support this Web site. We will be updating this page regularly.

Books by Arnold Snyder

Now Available!

♠ Snyder, Arnold. Risk of Ruin , Vegas Lit, an imprint of Huntington Press, 2012.
260 pages; paperback. Price: $11.99

Risk of Ruin is a novel about a professional blackjack hole-card player/biker/tattoo artist who becomes obsessed with a stripper who thinks she's God.

The novel contains scenes with various hole-carding and steering plays. This is the best depiction of hole-carding in the literature, and it's the clearest instructions you'll ever get from me.

Excerpt from Risk of Ruin
Interview with Arnold Snyder about Risk of Ruin

♠ Snyder, Arnold. Blackbelt in Blackjack, Rev. 3^rd ed., Cardoza Publishing, 2005.
332 pages; paperback. Price: $16.95

The best book for players beginning their blackjack careers. Provides three powerful counting systems (from easiest to pro), full accounts of modern casino conditions and surveillance practices, a detailed discussion of bankroll and bet-sizing, and advanced play techniques. Exceptional because of its insider insights and pointed stories of the successes and mistakes of pros. From the editor of Blackjack Forum.
Table of Contents
Order Blackbelt in Blackjack

♠ Snyder, Arnold. The Poker Tournament Formula, Cardoza Publishing, 2006.
368 pages; paperback. Price: $19.95
This book shows players how to make money in the 'fast' multi-table no-limit hold'em tournaments that are now so popular online and in poker rooms all over the world. You will find it different from every other book on poker tournaments you've read, even if you've read them all, because it's something from a different type of professional gambling perspective. And it works.

The Poker Tournament Formula shows how to stop being at the mercy of the cards you are dealt, and how to adjust your strategy to maximize your edge in every poker tournament you play. The book also shows exactly why you must learn to do these things to make money in these tournaments.
What is a 'fast' poker tournament? In this book, it's any multi-table tournament that has blind levels that last less than an hour. These events generally have buy-ins from $20 to $1,000, and last anywhere from two hours to six or seven hours. If you think that the strategies for beating these tournaments are the same strategies that you would use to beat the major events you see on television, you are mistaken. And if you think you can use a single one-size-fits-all strategy to beat poker tournaments, you are mistaken again, and your mistake is costing you money.
Many players seem to believe that a no-limit hold'em tournament is a no-limit hold'em tournament, and they approach every event the same way. This book shows why they are wrong.
Beginners who apply themselves and use the strategies correctly will soon be making a lot of money in fast multi-table poker tournaments from many more experienced poker players (and you don't need a big bankroll to do it). Advanced poker tournament players and professional gamblers who have read all of the books on this subject will find analyses and strategies that will surprise them.

If you are coming to poker tournament play from blackjack, you will find the edge with correct fast poker tournament play much higher than you can get with any type of blackjack play, with flux that is relatively mild. And the sheer number of weekly live and online fast poker tournaments means you can keep your money in action 24/7, with little to no expenses.
The Poker Tournament Formula also covers analysis of optimal rebuy strategy, live and online poker tournament cheating encountered by the author, and how to calculate bankroll requirements and flux for specific tournament formats and fields.
Order The Poker Tournament Formula

♠ Snyder, Arnold. The Poker Tournament Formula 2— Advanced Strategies for Big Money Tournaments
Cardoza Publishing, 2008.
500 pages; paperback; $24.95.
If you want to make money in pro-level no-limit hold’em tournaments, you must abandon a lot of what you already know about playing poker.

Books About Gambling Addiction

If you’ve been playing cash games for years and you consider yourself a solid player, that’s a handicap when you start entering tournaments.

Likewise, while there are a lot of books on the market today on how to play poker tournaments, and some of the tips in these books are excellent, for the most part, the authors who have written these books are handicapped by being a bunch of poker players, or worse, mathematicians! Coming from backgrounds of years of poker play or too much higher education, they focus so much on poker and the mathematics of poker that they miss most of what’s really important about optimal pro-level tournament strategy. A tournament is not a poker game, and the mathematics of tournaments is not the mathematics of poker.
The Poker Tournament Formula II picks up where The Poker Tournament Formula I left off. Specifically, while the first book dealt with loose aggressive strategies for beating fast-structured, small buy-in tournaments, the new book focuses on pro-level tournaments with blind levels that last 40 minutes to two hours, or online tournaments with blind levels that last roughly 20 minutes and longer. And be aware that pro-level tournaments are not all created equal. This book will show you how to optimize your strategy for each specific pro-level tournament you enter.

This book tears apart a lot of the accepted ideas on how to make money in pro-level events. It will teach you to ask new questions before deciding how to play a hand, and give you the means to answer them.

There are few books that substantially increase a player's chances of winning tournaments. This powerful work is one of them. I recommend you get this book.
—Doyle Brunson

♠ Snyder, Arnold. How to Beat the Internet Casinos and Poker Rooms, Cardoza Publishing, 2006.
269 pages; paperback. Price: $12.95
Arnold Snyder shows how to play and win money in the online casinos and poker rooms. The book covers the latest information on every step of the process, from choosing sites and opening an account to analysis and strategies for the latest types of bonuses. The second section covers online poker strategies, with an emphasis on analyzing the value of online poker room bonuses and the differences between live games and tournaments and online games and tournaments.
Table of Contents
Order How to Beat Internet Casinos and Poker Rooms
♠ Snyder, Arnold, Big Book of Blackjack, Cardoza Publishing, 2005.
336 pages; paperback. Price: $17.95

Arnold Snyder explains blackjack from the felt up with the history of the game and never before published stories of and tips from the people who have made the great discoveries and pulled off the greatest plays.

The book starts beginners with the kinds of insights and logic that allow professional players to move beyond cookbook card counting and come up with original (and more valuable) approaches to beating casinos. Exceptionally clear and easy to read—Snyder is known for cutting to the heart of the concepts and explaining them simply to laymen.
Table of Contents
Order the Big Book of Blackjack

♠ Snyder, Arnold, The Blackjack Shuffle Tracker’s Cookbook (How Players Win and Why They Lose with Shuffle Tracking), 2003.
114 pages; paperback. Price: $49.95

Shuffle tracking is an advanced strategy for beating casino blackjack games. Snyder’s book is the definitive guide to the subject.

It explains what it is, why it works, how it’s done, and how you should practice for it, as well as how you can tell if you have the skills necessary to win with it.

With the 2003 edition of this material, Snyder was the first to provide an accurate analysis of the overall win rates available from various types of shuffles, including many that had been regarded as untrackable. It also explains the common (and serious) mistakes and misunderstandings trackers have fallen prey to, and the cost of these errors.

Full Review
Order The Blackjack Shuffle Tracker's Cookbook

Great Gambling Fiction

Konik, Michael, Becoming Bobby, Vegas Lit, 2012.
260 pages; paperback; $11.99

Konik is the former gambling columnist for Cigar Aficionado and author of seven nonfiction titles, including The Man with the $100,000 Breasts, Nice Shot, Mr. Nicklaus and Reefer Gladness.

This is Konik’s first novel, the mordantly funny story of an American Humbert Humbert whose motto is “Don’t Blend,” and who becomes one of the highest of casino high rollers after winning a jackpot rigged by slot-cheating team. The team then uses the unwitting narrator as their Big Player in a series of casino cheating scams that keep him a Platinum VIP in this satire on living the American dream.

Becoming Bobby simultaneously celebrates and eviscerates the Vegas high roller within us all.

Read 'Secrets of a Winner' by Michael Konik, an excerpt from Becoming Bobby.

Becoming Bobby will be available at Amazon on December 14, 2012. Order Becoming Bobby now.

Recommended Blackjack Books

♠ Axelrad, Josh. Repeat Until Rich: A Professional Card Counter's Chronicle of the Blackjack Wars, Penguin Books, 2010.
270 pages; paperback. Price: $19.99

Josh Axelrad was a member of a notorious blackjack team. This book documents his team training, team plays, and his run-ins with casino game protection personnel. It's the most honest and well-written book on the professional card-counting experience and big blackjack team experience that we've ever read.

Full Review
Order Repeat Until Rich now.

♠ Blaine, Rick. Blackjack BluePrint, Huntington Press, 2006.
Paperback; 357 pages.
Rick Blaine is an esteemed former teammate of Arnold Snyder's. Arnold says: 'I can tell you from personal experience (my wife literally played on the same table with Rick) that he doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk.

'He's gotten away with card counting and other advanced professional blackjack plays at the highest stakes, traveling the world to play the best games. He's run successful blackjack teams. He's handled suitcases full of cash winnings in the post 9/11 era. And he did it all part-time, while he managed a successful professional career.

'Blackjack BluePrint does a good job of providing all the basic information you need to turn you into a winning player. But where it shines is in its practical advice on succeeding in the modern game and playing environment.'
Get Blackjack Blueprint: How to Play Like a Pro... Part-Time now!

♠ Griffin, Peter. The Theory of Blackjack, Huntington Press, 1999.
270 pages; paperback. Price: $12.95

This is the definitive work on the mathematics of blackjack. The math is advanced but serious players will wear their copies dog-eared even if they skip the math.

Includes valuable information, amusing side bits, and intriguing trivia.
Order The Theory of Blackjack (6th Edition, Indexed)

♠ Griffin, Peter, Extra Stuff: Gambling Ramblings, Huntington Press, 1991.
176 pages; paperback. Price: $11.95
Interesting mathematical analyses of gambling topics that interested Blackjack Hall of Famer Peter Griffin, who was brilliant. A great view of approaches to advantage play questions for advanced players.
Order Extra Stuff: Gambling Ramblings

♠ Grosjean, James, Beyond Counting, 2000.
223 pages; paperback. Price: $39.95
This book firmly established James Grosjean at the upper echelons of advantage play expertise. In it, Grosjean analyzes ways to beat craps, baccarat, Big Six, Three Card Poker, Casino War, and other aspects of a player’s life, weighing risk against advantage. Grosjean has not allowed the book to be reprinted, so you will have to hunt for a copy. Table of Contents

♠ Munchkin, Richard W. Gambling Wizards: Conversations with the World’s Greatest Gamblers, 2002.
306 pages; paperback. Price: $19.95

Interviews with eight of the most successful professional gamblers in the world, including Poker Hall of Famers Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese, Blackjack Hall of Famer Tommy Hyland, sports-betting phenomenon Billy Walters (one of the forces behind 'The Computer Group'), and Alan Woods, who wins more than $100 million a year betting horses.

The author, a member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame himself, understands professional gamblers and knows the right questions to ask. This book will open your eyes to the ways the top pros think, the ways they discover opportunities, and the ways they see the world.

Arnold Snyder wrote: 'I will state without reservation that this is one of the best books on professional gambling I have ever read.'
Table of Contents
Full Review
Order Gambling Wizards: Conversations with the World's Greatest Gamblers

♠ Nersesian, Bob. Beat the Players: Casinos, Cops And the Game Inside the Game, 2006
Paperback; 320 pages

Bob Nersesian is the attorney who handled—and won!—James Grosjean's lawsuit against Caesar's Palace, the Imperial Palace, and the Griffin Agency. Since then he has won judgments or settlements on behalf of professional gamblers and other casino customers against other casinos who abused players' rights.

In doing that, he has strengthened and broadened the rights of all gamblers to be treated with respect and be free of the false arrest, detainment, confiscation of chips, and physical maltreatment that once were used routinely against professional gamblers.

This book tells you exactly what you need to know and do to protect your rights in any situation involving casinos, or even the police in places like Las Vegas, where the police often seem to see themselves as casino employees rather than protectors of the public.

If you are going to be using professional gambling techniques for any serious stakes in U.S. casinos, we highly recommend that you read this book.

Order Beat the Players: Casinos, Cops And the Game Inside the Game now.

♠ Perry, Stuart, Las Vegas Blackjack Diary, Conjelco, 1997
216 pages; paperback. Price: $19.95
Perry put together a $20k bankroll and headed to Las Vegas to make his living counting cards. This book is a chronicle of every play session for his first two months, with barrings, the search for good games, the exhilaration of the wins and the despair over losses.

The book is an extremely plain and honest description of what the grind at low stakes can be like. A must read if you are considering taking up this life.
Order Las Vegas Blackjack Diary
♠ Rose, Nelson I. and Loeb, Robert A. Blackjack and the Law, 1998.
245 pages; paperback. Price: 24.95
The bible on legal topics for blackjack players. Includes information on backrooming, computers and devices, providing ID and fake ID, federal law on cash transactions, Internet gambling, Indian casinos, and more.
Order Blackjack and the Law
♠ Snyder, Arnold. Blackbelt in Blackjack, Rev. 3rd ed., Cardoza Publishing, 2005.
332 pages; paperback. Price: $16.95
The best book for players beginning their blackjack careers. Provides three powerful counting systems (from easiest to pro), full accounts of modern casino conditions and surveillance practices, a detailed discussion of bankroll and bet-sizing, and advanced play techniques.

Exceptional because of its insider insights and pointed stories of the successes and mistakes of pros. From the editor of Blackjack Forum.
Table of Contents
Order Blackbelt in Blackjack
♠ Snyder, Arnold, Big Book of Blackjack, Cardoza Publishing, 2005.
336 pages; paperback. Price: $17.95 ($12.21 through this link):
Arnold Snyder explains blackjack from the felt up with the history of the game and never before published stories of and tips from the people who have made the great discoveries and pulled off the greatest plays.

The book starts beginners with the kinds of insights and logic that allow professional players to move beyond cookbook card counting and come up with original (and more valuable) approaches to beating casinos. Exceptionally clear and easy to read—Snyder is known for cutting to the heart of the concepts and explaining them simply to laymen.

Table of Contents
Order the Big Book of Blackjack
♠ Snyder, Arnold, Beat the 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8-Deck Game, Cardoza Publishing, 2005.
These books provide frequency distributions for blackjack games and guides for using them to analyze the profit available and flux inherent in different approaches to the games.

They have helped players analyze not only card-counting approaches, but a number of original advanced techniques that they would otherwise not be able to analyze without writing their own computer simulation programs. If you don’t know what a frequency distribution is and why they’re important, read Blackbelt in Blackjack first.
Revised and updated in March 2005.
Order Beat the 1-Deck Game
Order Beat the 2-Deck Game
Order Beat the 4-Deck Game
Order Beat the 6-Deck Game
Order Beat the 8-Deck Game
For Beating Online Blackjack:
♠ Snyder, Arnold. How to Beat the Internet Casinos and Poker Rooms, Cardoza Publishing, 2006.
269 pages; paperback. Price: $12.95
Arnold Snyder shows how to play and win money in the online casinos and poker rooms.

The book covers the latest information on every step of the process, from choosing sites and opening an account to analysis and strategies for the latest types of bonuses.

The second section covers online poker strategies, with an emphasis on analyzing the value of online poker room bonuses and the differences between live games and tournaments and online games and tournaments.
Table of Contents
Order How to Beat Internet Casinos and Poker Rooms
♠ Thorp, Edward O., Beat the Dealer, Random House
Paperback. Price: $10.75
Not the book to read to get an easy recipe for card counting, but the classic is a great introduction to the theory and methods of card counting, how these methods were developed, and the initial experiences of card counters in the casinos of Las Vegas in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Order Beat the Dealer
♠ Uston, Ken with Rapoport, Roger, The Big Player.
$7.95
Uston’s account of the Big Player team run by Blackjack Hall of Famer Al Francesco. A good read about professional blackjack.
Order The Big Player
♠ Uston, Ken, Million Dollar Blackjack
Price: $18.95
The legendary player describes real-life high stakes team play, with some decent description of types of hole-card strategies, especially front-loading and spooking.
Order Million Dollar Blackjack
♠ Wilson, Allan. The Casino Gambler’s Guide, Harper & Row, 1965-70.
Allan Wilson was one of the early computer analysts of blackjack prior to the publication of Beat the Dealer. In The Casino Gambler’s Guide, he was the first author to provide blackjack card counters with clear and practical explanations of standard deviation, risk of ruin, and the Kelly Criterion, as well as easy-to-use guidelines for bet sizing based on bankroll when an advantage player is using a betting spread.

What was particularly notable was how simply Wilson was able to describe these difficult mathematical concepts for players of average math ability.
The Casino Gambler's Guide
♠ Wong, Stanford. Basic Blackjack, Pi Yee Press, 1995.
256 pages; paperback. Price: $14.95
Two thirds of this book is devoted to basic strategy. including including the math for various bonuses on naturals, doubling on more than two cards, redoubling, early surrender, and dealer takes ties. The final third contains analysis of the math of playing tells, warps, front-loading, and spooking, though not practical advice for how to actually do these plays.
Order Basic Blackjack
♠ Wong, Stanford. Professional Blackjack, Pi Yee Press, 1975; last revised 1994.
350 pages; paperback. Price: $19.95
This book discusses the Hi-Lo count, as well as Wong’s advanced 'halves' counting system. It includes index numbers for virtually every rule you’re likely to encounter anywhere in the world, plus interesting analysis and data on shuffles, fluctuation, and bet-sizing.
Get Professional Blackjack
♠ Wong, Stanford, Casino Tournament Strategy, Pi Yee Press, 1997.
352 pages; paperback. Price: $29.95
A beginner’s guide to playing tournaments with an advantage.
Get Casino Tournament Strategy

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Recommended Blackjack Card Counting Simulation Software

♠ Wattenberger, Norm. Casino Verite Blackjack Software - Newest Version Qfit

Casino Verite is the best commercial software for card counting practice and simulation of blackjack advantage play strategies. The card counting practice software does a good job of creating casino conditions as realistic as you can get from software, with interruptions for things like drink service and the arrivals and departures of players at the table. You can practice and test yourself with any card counting system and betting strategy known to humankind.
Qfit's blackjack simulation software similarly offers all the bells and whistles with an attractive user-friendly interface. Of special interest is new features for simulating advanced hole-carding and steering plays.
Get Casino Verite Blackjack Software - Newest Version

♠ Powersim Free Programmable Blackjack Simulation Software, by ETFan.
Background Information on the PowerSim Project:
ETFan has contributed his open source PowerSim blackjack and card counting simulation software to the blackjack community, and we recommend it highly.

As a blackjack researcher and professional player, ETFan wanted to take simulation software in new directions in order to meet the changing needs of today's blackjack players, and he especially wanted his software to be open source. Better tools will mean more money for playera.
PowerSim will already run fast, powerful and accurate blackjack and card counting simulations that provide the information you need for comparing games and card counting strategies, calculating risk and bankroll requirements, optimal bets, advantage and win rate for a wide variety of games and rules sets.

The programmable PowerSim has also already been modified by players to run simulations that could not be run on the commercial software, including simulations of the new and innovative OPP Count for beginning players.

Download PowerSim Blackjack and Card Counting Simulation Software today for free and get involved in the cutting edge of the game to maximize your potential as a player.
1. Download Blackjack PowerSim & Instructions
Free (Version 3, February 13, 2006 upgrade)
2. Install XBasic Free
(For detailed instructions, see the
Instructions.doc in the Blackjack Power Sim
download)
3. Download XBasic Documentation Free
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Recommended Baccarat Books

Gambling Books Las Vegas

May, John. Baccarat for the Clueless, A Beginner's Guide to Playing and Winning. Lyle Stuart, 1998.
144 pages; paperback. Price: $12.00
John May provides information on everything from the rules, history and etiquette of baccarat to a wide range of possible advantage play techniques for the game. Most of the opportunities discussed are either weak (such as card counting) or mostly no longer available, but the book is useful for making players aware of the types of advanced advantage play opportunities that exist beyond blackjack card counting.
Get Baccarat For The Clueless
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Recommended Books on Online Casino Play

♠ Snyder, Arnold. How to Beat the Internet Casinos and Poker Rooms, Cardoza Publishing, 2006.
266 pages; paperback. Price: $12.95
Arnold Snyder shows how to play and win in the online casinos and poker rooms. The book covers the latest information on every step of the process, from choosing sites and opening an account to analysis and strategies for the latest types of bonuses. The second section covers online poker strategies, with an emphasis on analyzing the value of online poker room bonuses and the differences between online games and tournaments and live games and tournaments.
Table of Contents
Get How to Beat Internet Casinos and Poker Rooms
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Recommended Books on Casino Surveillance

♠ Cellini. The Card Counter’s Guide to Casino Surveillance, 2003.
88 pages; paperback. Price: $99.99
The most revealing gambling report on the eye-in-the-sky ever published. Describes pit and surveillance personnel, duties, schedules, knowledge levels and practices. Includes detailed advice on confusing the surveillance agents and software and avoiding card-counter tells.
Full Review
Order Card Counter's Guide to Casino Surveillance
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Recommended Poker Books

♠ Brunson, Doyle, Super System II.
Doyle Brunson's chapter on No Limit Hold'Em is not only the seminal work on the game, but remains the best discussion of winning overall strategy for No Limit Hold'Em cash games. Brunson's discussion is focused on no limit cash games, but his strategy also has many winning concepts applicable to tournament play.
Get Doyle Brunson's Super System: A Course in Power Poker, 3rd Edition
♠ Caro, Mike, Caro’s Book of Poker Tells.
Caro's book is the first and remains the best book on reading tells at poker tables. This book will make you money in both cash games and tournaments.
Get Caro's Book of Poker Tells
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Cheating

♠ Zender, Bill, How to Detect Casino Cheating at Blackjack, 1999.
178 pages; paperback. Price: $19.95
What you will be told by most 'experts' is that there is no cheating in modern casinos because the casino corporations wouldn’t risk their licenses by allowing it. This is simply wrong. Although most dealers don’t cheat, and most casino management doesn’t condone cheating, every one of the moderators at this site has run into numerous occurrences of cheating in casinos over the past few years. Bill Zender describes the common cheating techniques and warning signs, including seconds dealing, short shoes, and the selective up card.
How to Detect Casino Cheating at Blackjack
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Recommended Books on Sportsbetting

♠ Gordon, Dan L. Beat the Sports Books: An Insider’s Guide to Betting the NFL, 2001.
165 pages; paperback. Price: $29.95
Dan Gordon is a professional sports bettor who has also been retained as a consultant to sports books and written sports-handicapping columns for major newspapers.

In Beat the Sports Books he provides the winning betting models he uses for handicapping and betting on NFL games, as well as detailed information on how to make your own lines, size your sports bets, and succeed as a professional sports bettor.

Note: The revised and expanded 2nd edition of Gordon's book quantifies the point adjustments for each betting model and supplies numerous additional betting models.
Get Beat the Sports Books
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Video Poker

♠ Dancer, Bob, WinPoker Software.
IBM/Windows compatible. Price: $29.95
The most accurate and complete training and analysis software available for video poker. We consult it to analyze strategies and play different games correctly in Internet casinos.
Get WinPoker Training Software
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