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.

Squares and Sharps, Suckers and Sharks: The Science, Psychology & Philosophy of Gambling

Humor & Entertainment

Buchdahl, Joseph

Puzzles & Games

High Stakes

Product 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 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. 
 About the Author 
For 20 years, Joseph Buchdahl has worked as a betting analyst, providing historical sports data and betting odds through his websites Football-Data.co.uk and Tennis-Data.co.uk. He is the author of Fixed Odds Sports Betting, How to Find a Black Cat in a Coal Cellar, Squares & Sharps, Suckers and Sharks and Monte Carlo or Bust published by High Stakes Publishing, and has been a regular contributor for the online sportsbook Pinnacle, with over 60 betting-related articles. He continues to tweet regularly via 12Xpert.

Monte Carlo or Bust: Simple Simulations for Aspiring Sports Bettors

Computer-based forecasting methods are no longer restricted to the traditional statistical methods. Knowledge-based approaches, which utilize the knowledge gained from human experts in their construction, and machine learning methods in which the computer learns from available examples without significant human intervention are now in general use as forecasting tools. In Forecasting Methods for Horseracing, Peter May examines the application of these methods to the domain of horseracing in Great Britain and overseas, and provides a detailed step-by-step guide to implementing these methods.

Forecasting Methods for Horseracing

May,Peter

Winning at poker is not just analysis, clever tactics, nor even inspired bluff—although Total Poker examines all these in depth. Ultimately, luck works out the same for everyone—there really is no such thing as “good cards” or “bad cards.” As the author maintains, winning is a “psychological decision” made by each player. Packed with stories about the application of poker to life in general, Total Poker looks at the game’s history, culture, techniques, strategies, rules, and probabilities. David Spanier is a former journalist for The Times and author of Easy Money, Little Book of Poker, The Hand I Played, and Welcome to the Pleasuredome.

Total Poker

Spanier, David

Poker players Johnny Moss, Pug Pearson, and Titanic Thompson; tennis player Bobby Riggs; pool player Minnesota Fats; and backgammon player Tim Holland have come away with their pockets filled and their sense of infallibility intact. The dramatic descriptions of the ambience and the games are riveting, but more intriguingly, Jon Bradshaw deftly probes these gamblers’ minds and hearts as he attempts to define what makes some men winners and most losers.

Fast Company: How Six Master Gamblers Defy the Odds - and Always Win

BRADSHAW, JON

Drawing on academic research, this book explains the various betting forums and techniques available to aid a professional betting strategy for all levels of punters. It covers the wide variety of fixed-odds markets across the world, but also spread betting, pari-mutuel, and Tote betting, and focuses also on the recent explosion of interest in person-to-person betting exchanges.

Betting to Win: A Professional Guide to Profitable Betting

Williams, Professor Leighton Vaughan

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.

Fixed Odds Sports Betting: Statistical Forecasting and Risk Management

Sports & Outdoors

The Art of Bookmaking explains how "Turf Accountants" approach any potential betting scenario, and the simple mathematics that govern transactions. From a detailed look at percentages through to frame betting in snooker, it shows you how to "price up" any sporting event in the calendar. And it will show you how the Odds Compilers create prices for tournament betting, such as the World Cup, US Open Golf Championship, and Wimbledon, and inform you of the mistakes bookmakers have made down the years.

The Art of Bookmaking: How to Compile Odds for Any Sporting Event

Boyle, Malcolm

In its simplest form, a sports agent is an individual or company who represents a sportsperson. Their job is to get better contracts, better endorsements, better sponsorships, and better deals. The problem, however, is so much money flooding professional sports today, and human greed, which can lead to conflicts of interest. This is a practical, down-to-earth guide that reveals the secrets behind the art of being not just a good sports agent, but a good, honest sports agent. Topics include an analysis of what it is to be an agent; the difference between a good and bad agent; contracts and regulations; marketing, merchandising, licensing, and sponsorship deals; the art of negotiation; the role of the lawyer as agent and adviser; and keeping the clients happy.

How to Be a Sports Agent

Business & Money

Stein, Mel

Job Hunting & Careers

In Easy Money, David Spanier examines the psychological motivation of gamblers—those who beat the system and those beaten by it. Portraying the personalities and legends of the gambling world, he ranges widely over his subject, considering the motivations of gamblers, even the physical sensations they experience. Although his focus is on the individual, he also looks at the percentages and the chances, the differences in European and American gambling, and the criminal element in U.S. gaming. David Spanier is a former London Times journalist and author of Total Poker and The Hand I Played.

Easy Money: Inside the Gambler's Mind

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