Squares and Sharps, Suckers and Sharks


Book Description

People have been gambling, in one form or another, for as long as history itself. Why? Money, entertainment, escape and a desire to win are all traditional explanations. Arguably, however, these are secondary considerations to a higher order purpose: a craving for control. Gambling offers a means of gaining authority over the unknown, granting us a sense of control over uncertainty. Almost always that sense is illusory - gambling, including betting and investing, is essentially random - yet for many it is nonetheless profoundly rewarding. This book attempts to explore the reasons why. Along the way, it examines: The science of probability and uncertainty Why gambling is often condemned The difference between expectation and utility The irrationality of human beings Evolutionary perspectives on gambling Luck and skill Market efficiency and the wisdom of crowds Why winners take all Cheating Why the process matters more than the outcome




Casino Life


Book Description

Walking through the doors of a casino can feel like entering a portal into another dimension. A cacophony of electronic and human sounds assaults the ears as you watch people transacting large amounts of money. But this is no ordinary purchasing of goods or services where you quietly wave a card or hand out notes from a purse. Instead, money is swapped for colourful plastic chips that are placed, pushed, and thrown onto gaming tables with seemingly reckless abandon by a wide array of people, young, old, cultured, relaxed, happy, and grim. Phil Watts, as an experienced forensic psychologist, knew a lot about human nature before he walked into his first casino at 40 years of age. He had treated clients with a wide range of difficulties including gambling, yet was still struck by the casino environment — an exciting world with its own culture, pace, rules, social etiquette, and shared expectations. This other world intrigued and surprised him. So, he wrote a book about it. Casino Life will be of interest to those who seeking to know more about casinos and their psychological effects, those who seek to find out why others gamble, and those who do gamble — not as a treatment, but as a window to see what you are doing and how that has an impact upon you. Along the way you will read about why people gamble, why gambling can become addictive and the treatments used to help problem gamblers, as well as the beliefs around gambling and some of the elaborate theories people use to explain why they try to defy mathematical odds. You will also learn about the fascinating cultural and behavioural patterns of everyday casino life.




Monte Carlo Or Bust


Book Description

Almost everyone is familiar with Monte Carlo's association with gambling, and its famous Casino. Many may also have come across the Monte Carlo fallacy, so-called after the Casino's roulette wheel ball fell on black 26th times in a row, costing players, who believed that the law of averages made such streaks impossible, millions of dollars. However, the Casino also lends its name to a tool of statistical forecasting, the Monte Carlo simulation, used to model the probability of uncertain outcomes that cannot be easily predicted from mathematical equations. This book provides a detailed account for how aspiring sports bettors can use a Monte Carlo simulation to improve the quality, and hopefully profitability, of their betting, and in doing so unravels the mystery of probability and variance that lies at the heart of all gambling.




Soccermatics


Book Description

'Football looked at in a very different way' Pat Nevin, former Chelsea and Everton star and football media analyst Football – the most mathematical of sports. From shot statistics and league tables to the geometry of passing and managerial strategy, the modern game is filled with numbers, patterns and shapes. How do we make sense of them? The answer lies in the mathematical models applied in biology, physics and economics. Soccermatics brings football and mathematics together in a mind-bending synthesis, using numbers to help reveal the inner workings of the beautiful game. This new and expanded edition analyses the current big-name players and teams using mathematics, and meets the professionals working inside football who use numbers and statistics to boost performance. Welcome to the world of mathematical modelling, expressed brilliantly by David Sumpter through the prism of football. No matter who you follow – from your local non-league side to the big boys of the Premiership, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A or the MLS – you'll be amazed at what mathematics has to teach us about the world's favourite sport.




How to find a Black Cat in a Coal Cellar


Book Description

How do we know if we can beat the bookmaker? That's easy: just look at our bank balance. But how do we know if we've not just been lucky? More specifically, how do we know that someone who says he can do it, and who is selling his 'expertise', can keep doing it again and again, through talent, skill and hard work? This book examines the techniques available to answer that question, to identify those qualities and to help the punter find value for money in an industry that appears to be largely built on trust and the influence of chance; to uncover the truth about sports tipsters and ultimately how to find the best tipsters - the 'Black Cats'.




Fixed Odds Sports Betting


Book Description

Few people manage to make money from gambling, and fewer still make a living from it. Written for hardened and novice betters alike, Joseph Buchdahl's essential guide examines, through various numerical techniques, how fixed odds punters may learn to beat the bookmaker, protect profits through a sensible approach to risk management, and turn high-risk gambling into a form of low-risk investment.




Betfair Trading Made Simple: the Ultimate Guide to Getting Started


Book Description

Looking for a reliable resource to help you get started? This is why Betfair trading made simple was created. Betfair trading made simple is an entry level book designed to assist anybody that is interested in learning to trade on Betfair's Exchange, regardless of ability or sport. Promoted by Betfair themselves, Caan explains all that you will need to consider as an aspiring exchange trader. You will learn: - What is required to make money betting - The basics principles behind Betfair trading (step by step) - Factors behind gaining an unfair advantage - Simple start-up process (including tools) - How to strategically build a winning approach Primarily, Betfair trading made simple is not a strategy based book. However, there are a collection of strong hints and tips as to where the reader should be looking if they are to succeed. Also, several strategic approaches are broken down and explained. Prerequisites: for beginners, doesn't require prior trading knowledge. Learning to trade Betfair can be an arduous task. Particularly when you don't understand what's going on behind the scenes. All the moving numbers, charts, percentages and information. Nonetheless, on the other side, should you succeed - there are some massive benefits. Being your own boss, flexible working conditions and financial freedom to name a few... But where do you even start? These was the initial problem that we set out to solve within this book. Starting from nothing, we wanted to offer readers a quick, efficient and reliable starting resource that they can return to time and again. Making the process of learning to trade Betfair simple and convenient. For an entry level trader this book is worth far more than the listed cost. Providing a logical points and examples on route, Betfair trading made simple is the ideal solution in one neatly packaged book.




"Yellow Kid" Weil


Book Description

Everywhere the Yellow Kid looks he sees money—too bad it's yours.




Statistical Sports Models in Excel


Book Description

What does it take to create a winning sports betting model?Many people are interested in learning how to make smarter sports betting wagers. Not many of those same people are excited at the prospect of learning applied statistics to better inform their choices. You can't entirely blame them. Statistics has a well-earned reputation for being somewhat inaccessible by non-academics. It is a field filled with heavy terminology, confusing formulaic notation and concepts not fully relevant to the beginning sports bettor. To make matters worse, nobody in possession of a positive edge model is all that keen to show you how it works. As a result of this, sports modelling successfully requires a toolbox that you largely have to assemble for yourself. This book is my attempt to correct that, as I pull back the curtain on Excel spreadsheet models and techniques I developed in my first few years of sports betting. It is designed to give you an accessible crash course on modelling that will get you up to speed on the key relevant principles of statistics with a minimum amount of heavy technical jargon. You'll learn the most effective concepts in an easy-to-understand way and greatly speed up your learning curve in the process. Best of all, I'll walk you through sports betting models for many major sports: NFL, NBA, NHL, AFL and the English Premier League. You'll even be able to download these spreadsheet models and work your way through them while following this book.We'll be doing all of this in one of the most user friendly programs available: Excel. This program might not be the expert's first choice of platform for modelling work, but you'll be surprised just how much you can do with a spreadsheet or two.If you're ready to take your sports modelling to the next level - open this book, fire up Excel, and let's get to work. See you on the inside.




The Logic Of Sports Betting


Book Description

How do sportsbooks make their lines? Which types of bets are the best? Can you beat the house? The Logic Of Sports Betting answers all these questions and more with a dash of humor and a whole lot of real talk about how it all works. Peek behind the counter and learn how sportsbooks operate. Combine that insider knowledge with why-didn't-I-think-of-that sports betting logic, and you have the winning formula. Ed Miller is a best-selling (over 300,000 copies sold) author of books on poker and gambling. This is his first book on sports betting, but maybe his favorite book to write so far. Matthew Davidow is a sports modeler, using proprietary methods to beat major sports betting markets for over 15 years, and co-founding two leading private sports analytics firms along the way. What people are saying about The Logic Of Sports Betting "Matt and Ed are two of the smartest minds in sports betting." - Rufus Peabody, professional sports bettor "As a sportsbook employee for 30-plus years, I find it difficult to read or watch anything about sports betting. But I could not put The Logic Of Sports Betting down. It's that good." - Robert Walker, Las Vegas bookmaker