 Probability Guide to Gambling: The Mathematics of Dice, Slots,
Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack, Poker, Lottery and Sport Bets
by
Catalin Barboianu
This is probably
the most useful book from Barboianu's serial of gambling maths. And is far
superior than Packel's or even Thorpe's book, whose approach is mostly
statistical. Gamblers may easily skip the maths sections and go directly to the
odds table they need, due to a professional organization of the
content.
The book contains much new and original material that has not
been published previously and provides great coverage of probabilities for the
following games of chance: Dice, Slots, Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack, Five
Card Draw Poker, Texas Hold'em Poker, Lottery and Sport Bets.
It begins
by explaining in simple terms the meaning of the concept of probability for the
layman and goes on to become an enlightening journey through the mathematics of
chance, randomness and risk. It then continues with the basics of discrete
probability (definitions, properties, theorems and calculus formulas),
combinatorics and counting arguments for those interested in the supporting
mathematics.
These mathematic sections may be skipped by readers who do
not have a background in mathematics; these readers can skip directly to the
"Guide to Numerical Results" to pick the odds and recommendations they need for
the desired gaming situation.
Paperback - 332 pages - Infarom (26 Aug
2006)  £15.29  $22.04
 Conquering Risk - Attacking Vegas and Wall Street
by Elihu
D. Feustel
How do you win at sports
betting? Hard work and lots of modeling. This book walks you step by step
through four winning computer models in NFL, WNBA, MLB and NCAA
Football.
All manners of gambling are becoming increasingly popular in
our society. Whether a person places a bet on sports or gambles on a stock, he
is making a decision on risk. Most people need much more information than they
have to make good decisions on either. A majority of the book focuses on sports
betting. Four in-depth winning models are demonstrated for MLB, NFL, NCAA
Football and WNBA. In addition to methods for handicapping these sports, there
are explanations of a variety of approaches to exploit sports market
inefficiencies and incorrect assumptions of bookmakers. The approaches to stock
betting challenges commonly accepted knowledge.
How important is
diversification? Are investors in individual stocks just gambling? Is
maximizing your portfolio growth worth taking on added volatility? Is sports
betting a better investment than stocks for some people? The approaches offered
to risk taking, especially sports betting are ground breaking, with more fresh
ideas than ever seen in a single coherent publication.
To elaborate,
this is a book that is more of a guide to thinking about gambling in an
advanced sense as opposed to a cookbook detailing recipes of how to do various
bets. Finally a sports gambling book worth reading.
Paperback - 288 pages - George S. Howard
(August 16, 2010) £24.99 $24.95
 What's Luck Got to Do with It?: The History,
Mathematics, and Psychology of the Gambler's Illusion
by Joseph
Mazur
Why do so many gamblers risk
it all when they know the odds of winning are against them? Why do they believe
dice are "hot" in a winning streak? Why do we expect heads on a coin toss after
several flips have turned up tails? What's Luck Got to Do with It? takes a
lively and eye-opening look at the mathematics, history, and psychology of
gambling to reveal the most widely held misconceptions about luck. It exposes
the hazards of feeling lucky, and uses the mathematics of predictable outcomes
to show when our chances of winning are actually good.
Mathematician
Joseph Mazur traces the history of gambling from the earliest known
archaeological evidence of dice playing among Neolithic peoples to the first
systematic mathematical studies of games of chance during the Renaissance, from
government-administered lotteries to the glittering seductions of grand
casinos, and on to the global economic crisis brought on by financiers'
trillion-dollar bets. Using plenty of engaging anecdotes, Mazur explains the
mathematics behind gambling--including the laws of probability, statistics,
betting against expectations, and the law of large numbers--and describes the
psychological and emotional factors that entice people to put their faith in
winning that ever-elusive jackpot despite its mathematical
improbability.
This book would likely be of most interest to anyone
fascinated by gambling - from those who enjoy gambling very occasionally to
professionals. Math buffs with a fascination for statistics and probability
theory are also likely to thoroughly enjoy this book.
Hardcover - 296 pages - Princeton
University Press (6 Jun 2010) £15.94 $19.77
 The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic
by Richard
Epstein
Richard Epstein's classic
book on gambling and its mathematical analysis covers the full range of games
from penny matching, to blackjack and other casino games, to the stock market
(including Black-Scholes analysis). He even considers what light statistical
inference can shed on the study of paranormal phenomena. Epstein is witty and
insightful, a pleasure to dip into and read and rewarding to study. The book is
written at a fairly sophisticated mathematical level, this is not- Gambling for
Dummies- or 'how to beat the odds' book, and an understanding of mathematics is
essential to reading this book.
"This classic book should be part of
the library of everyone who wants to better understand games and gambling. The
treatment is unique, original, and intriguing." - EDWARD O. THORPE, AUTHOR OF
BEAT THE DEALER
Hardcover - 450 pages - 2
edition (9 Nov 2009) £21.18 $34.36
 Fooled
by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Everyone wants to succeed in life. But what causes some of us to
be more successful than others? Is it really down to skill and strategy - or
something altogether more unpredictable? This book is the word-of-mouth
sensation that will change the way you think about business and the world. It
is all about luck: more precisely, how we perceive luck in our personal and
professional experiences.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the
markets - we hear an entrepreneur has 'vision' or a trader is 'talented', but
all too often their performance is down to chance rather than skill. It is only
because we fail to understand probability that we continue to believe events
are non-random, finding reasons where none exist. This irreverent bestseller
has shattered the illusions of people around the world by teaching them how to
recognize randomness. Now it can do the same for you. .
Paperback - 368 pages (3 May 2007)
£6.54 $17.82
 Mathematics of Games and Gambling
by Edward W. Packel
The new edition of a favourite
which introduces and develops some of the important and beautiful elementary
mathematics needed for rational analysis of various gambling and game
activities. Most of the standard casino games (roulette, craps, blackjack,
keno), some social games (backgammon, poker, bridge) and various other
activities (state lotteries, horse racing) are treated in ways that bring out
their mathematical aspects. The mathematics developed ranges from the
predictable concepts of probability, expectation, and binomial coefficients to
some less well-known ideas of elementary game theory.
The second
edition includes new material on: Sports betting and the mathematics behind it
Game theory applied to bluffing in poker and related to the 'Texas Holdem
phenomenon' . The only formal mathematics background the reader needs is some
facility with school algebra.
Hardcover - 192 pages 2Rev Ed edition (Mar 2007)
£23.75 $44.00
 Fortune's Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting System
That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street
by William Poundstone
This is an excellent book about the
discovery of the Kelly formula that is unknown outside gambling. This story has
three protagonists. Two of them were scientists working at Bell Labs: Claude
Shannon, a genius polymath who developed information theory; and John Kelly, a
maverick genius, who is directly responsible for the development of Kelly's
formula. The third one is a brilliant MIT mathematician, Ed Thorp.
As
the author states, Ed Thorp's genius consists in "...his continuous ability to
discover new market inefficiencies ... as old ones played out." Ed Thorp closed
this second fund in 2002. He is now independently exploring inefficiencies in
gambling.
Claude Shannon amassed large wealth by recording one of the
best investment records. His performance had little to do with Kelly's formula.
Between 1966 and 1986, his record beat even Warren Buffet (28% to 27%
respectively). Shannon strategy was similar to Buffet. Both their stock
portfolios were concentrated, and held for the long term. Shannon achieved his
record by holding mainly three stocks (Teledyne, Motorola, and HP). The
difference between the two was that Shannon invested in technology because he
understood it well, while Buffet did not.
John Kelly was a chain
smoking, gun collecting brilliant physicist. He died young at 41 of an
aneurysm. He worked closely with Shannon at Bell Labs. Besides being a
charismatic character the author does not write much about his life compared to
the other two.
Hardcover -
400 pages (September 14, 2005) £13.96 $17.82
 Against
the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
by Peter L. Bernstein
Bernstein has managed to take a subject
which at first sight seems intensely boring, and has made it fascinating.
Whether or not you have any interest in Risk, Statistics or Econimics, you owe
it to yourself to read this book. It is quite simply a "Ripping Yarn". Its
greatness lies in Bernstein's ability to tell the story in an accessible
manner, without dumbing down the essential facts. Let me say it again: Read
this book because it is a fascinating and well written story. The fact you will
know a lot more about Risk at the end of it is an incidental, but very welcome,
extra.
Paperback - 394
pages (9 October, 1998) expected price
£3.99 Buy
This Book [U$ citizens]
 Taking Chances by John Haigh
What are the odds against winning the Lottery,
making money in a casino, or backing the right horse? Every day, people make
judgements on these matters and face other decisions that rest on their
understanding of probability: buying insurance, following medical advice,
carrying an umbrella. Yet many of us have a frightening ignorance of how
probability works. This text presents an entertaining and fascinating
exploration of probability, revealing traps and fallacies in the field. It
describes and analyses a variety of situations where chance plays a role,
including football pools, the Lottery, TV games, sport, cards, roulette, coins,
and dice. The book guides the reader round common pitfalls, demonstrates how to
make better informed decisions, and shows where the odds can be unexpectedly in
your favour.
Paperback - 344
pages (May 2000) expected price
£7.19 Buy
This Book [U$ citizens]
 Getting the Best of It
by David
Sklansky
Getting the Best of It by
David Sklansky contains six sections discussing probability, poker, blackjack,
other casino games, sports betting, and general gambling concepts. This book
contains some of the most sophisticated gambling ideas that have ever been put
into print. Included is perhaps the best discussion of the basic mathematics of
gambling, yet it is written so that even the most non-mathematical of readers
can understand it. Many of the ideas discussed are those that the author
himself has successfully used during his career. Topics include expectation,
combinations, Baye's Theorem, the eight mistakes in poker, checking in the
dark, playing tight, The Key Card Concept, casinos and their mistakes, crapless
craps, betting sports, hedging and middling, knowing what's important, the Law
of Averages and other fallacies, and much more.
Paperback - 310 pages (May 1997) expected price £18.88 Buy
This Book [U$ citizens]
 Extra Stuff : Gambling Ramblings by Peter
Griffin
This book addresses many of
gambling's abstract concepts-proportional wagering, considerations for games
with variable pay-offs, the effects of rebates on losses-as well as more
mainstream subjects, such as the casino's treatment of hold percentages and
analyses of gambling systems. Although packed with mathematics, Griffin's easy
style accommodates most readers. Gamblers with all levels of experience will
have an enhanced understanding of the games.
This is a well-written book
about numbers, life, probability, humour, trading, and you-name-it, disguised
as a series of articles about gambling odds. If you are a gambler, you must
read this book.
Paperback - 176
pages (July 1991) expected price
£7.53 Buy
This Book [U$ citizens]
 The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Gambling Like a Pro
by Standord Wong,
Susan Spector
From one of the most
respected writers, Wong. Some problems with US based games but most ideas
transferable to the UK and internet casinos. This guide explains the basics of
the major games of chance (such as slot machines and roulette), numbers games
(lottery and bingo), table games (poker and black jack), and picking a winner
(sport betting and horse racing).
Paperback - 432 pages 2nd Ed (30 June, 1999)
expected price £12.99 Buy
This Book [U$ citizens] |
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