Lem Banker's Book of Sports Betting has long been considered to be a classic in the field. After a long absence, it is now available in print again through the Gambler's Book Club in Las Vegas. Banker's recommendations are  worthwhile. Most interested sports bettors can learn from this legendary book. 

This book has been out of print for more than 15 years but it's so legendary that people have been willing to pay $50 or more for a copy of it . Now, it is available in reprint form. Banker, a veteran of more than 40 years in sports betting, was co-authored by Fred Klein. They broke the topics into eight major sections and focused on betting football, basketball, baseball and boxing. Banker discusses what it was like to be betting in the pre-computer days and how information was gathered, evaluated and bet on. He explains why a professional gambler cannot afford to be a fan. His insights on why it's important to know how to watch a game or event on television is crucial, as are his views on handicapping services, his reasoning for when to be early or late and his insight into fixed games. Certainly the art of handicapping and where to get a big bet down has changed in the past two decades, but reading Banker's book is both a how-to bet and a history lesson, a lot of it covering how to survive; how to manage your money and understanding how tough it is to sustain a winning percentage and make a living over the long run. A whole generation has missed this wonderful book. It's now available for the first time in years. You'll like it, because it imparts knowledge and it makes good sense, to learn from a very classy guy. 182 pages, plastic spiralbound, January 2004 (Reprint) 

Jay Kornegay can't even imagine the odds.

Funny, because as the Las Vegas Hilton sports book's executive director, Kornegay spends every day dealing with numbers. But he thought it would be nearly impossible for anyone to win the Supercontest, the Hilton's annual football handicapping contest, two years in a row.

"It's such a long shot," Kornegay said. "It would be like UNLV winning the BCS National Championship."

Steve Fezzik defied the odds. Fezzik, who has bet on sports professionally for the last nine years in Las Vegas, finished with the best record in the Supercontest and won the grand prize.

Fezzik went 52-29-3 in the contest, in which each bettor picks five NFL games each week of the regular season, and won $196,800. It was the first time in the history of the 20-year contest that a handicapper won back-to-back titles.

"If you ask me what sport is my specialty, I'd say football, but it's really football contests," said Fezzik, who posts his weekly picks and is a moderator at lvasports.com. "To make a comparison, I would say straight bets in football are like cash games in poker. A player like Phil Hellmuth is a much better tournament player than cash games. I would say I'm a lot like Phil Hellmuth in football."