Calculated Bets
Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win

A story of using computer simulations and mathematical modeling techniques to predict the outcome of jai-alai matches and bet on them successfully.

Steven S. Skiena (Author)

9780521009621, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 6 August 2001

252 pages, 35 b/w illus. 32 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.35 kg

'Stephen Skiena has a rare gift: … Charmingly self-depreciative, Skiena suggests early on in Calculated Bets he's just a 'mild mannered professor', noting that 'part of the fun' of the title 'is the spectacle of a second-rate mind wasting itself on jai alai'… Concerns for the future of gambling aside, Calculated Bets is an eloquent exercise in prose and effortlessly teaches the less mathematically minded amongst us how computing can be innovative and interesting. It also offers a unique tale of how one man, along with the help of a few friends, can get to grips with betting and beat the bookmakers. It's for these reasons and so many more that we strongly recommend Calculated Bets.' www.casinoonline.co.uk

This is a book about a gambling system that works. It tells the story of how the author used computer simulations and mathematical modeling techniques to predict the outcome of jai-alai matches and bet on them successfully - increasing his initial stake by over 500% in one year! His results can work for anyone: at the end of the book he tells the best way to watch jai-alai, and how to bet on it. With humour and enthusiasm, Skiena details a life-long fascination with computer predictions and sporting events. Along the way, he discusses other gambling systems, both successful and unsuccessful, for such games as lotto, roulette, blackjack, and the stock market. Indeed, he shows how his jai-alai system functions just like a miniature stock trading system. Do you want to learn about program trading systems, the future of Internet gambling, and the real reason brokerage houses don't offer mutual funds that invest at racetracks and frontons? How mathematical models are used in political polling? The difference between correlation and causation? If you are curious about gambling and mathematics, odds are this book is for you!

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. The making of a gambler
2. What is Jai Alai?
3. Monte Carlo on the Tundra
4. The impact of the internet
5. Is this bum any good?
6. Modeling the payoffs
7. Engineering the system
8. Putting my money where my mouth is
9. How should you bet?
10. Projects to ponder
Glossary
For further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: 3D graphics & modelling [UGK], Mathematical modelling [PBWH]