Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57768 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 332 pages

Synopsis
Over the past few decades, gamblers have begun taking mathematics into account more seriously than ever before. While probability theory is the only rigorous theory that can model the hazards of gambling, even in idealized conditions, numerical probabilities are viewed not only as purely theoretical information, but also as a decision-making criterion, especially in gambling. This book presents the mathematics underlying games of chance and provides a precise account of the odds associated with all gaming events. 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 minimal 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.Doing so is possible due to the organization of that chapter, in which the results are listed at the end of each section, mostly in the form of tables.

The chapter titled "The Mathematics of Games of Chance" presents these games not only as a good application field for probability theory, but also in terms of human actions where probability-based strategies can be tried to achieve favorable results. Through suggestive examples, the reader can see what experiments, events and probability fields mean in games of chance and why and how probability formulas can be applied there. The main portion of this work is a collection of probability results for each type of game. Each game's section is packed with formulas and tables. Each section also contains a description of the game, a classification of the gaming events and the applicable probability calculations. The primary goal of this work is to allow the reader to quickly find the odds for a specific gaming situation, in order to improve his or her betting/gaming decisions. Every type of gaming event is tabulated in a logical, consistent and comprehensive manner.The complete methodology and complete or partial calculations are shown to teach players how to calculate probability for any situation, for every stage of the game for any game.

Here, readers can find the real odds, returned by precise mathematical formulas and not by partial simulations that most software uses. Collections of odds are presented, as well as strategic recommendations based on those odds, where necessary, for each type of gaming situation. 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. No formal background in mathematics is necessary to read these sections, although familiarity with some probability and set theory notions is helpful. In most cases, readers will benefit from having some college math to follow the formulas here, but this is not a requirement because the numerical results are given as summaries and tables at the end of each section. Most of casino games are predisposed to probability-based decisions.This is why the approach is not an exclusively statistical one (like many other titles published on this subject), but analytical: every gaming event is taken as an individual applied probability problem to solve.

A special chapter defines the probability-based strategy and mathematically shows why such strategy is theoretically optimal. The author is a recognized authority on casino mathematics.

From the Publisher
This title is listed in the collections of several university
and gambling institute libraries and stands as reference book for applied
math and gambling courses.

About the Author
Catalin Barboianu (born in 1968, in Craiova, Romania) is a mathematician and author. He graduated Faculty of Mathematics, at University of Bucharest, in 1992, with a master of science in Probability and Mathematical Statistics. He studied under great scientific names like Solomon Marcus, Constantin Craciun and Ion Cuculescu. He worked early in his career on topology, mathematical analysis, probability theory, mathematical modeling and also on philosophy of mathematics. However, his most important contribution was on decision theory, placing the concept of probability-based strategy onto a firm mathematical foundation. From 2001, his fields of expertise moved to applied mathematics, especially on applications of probability theory in daily life. Since 2003, his work focused on application of probability theory in gaming. His books have a guide style and primly address to non-mathematicians. He also published several articles on leading academic and gaming industry as well and became a recognized authority on mathematics of games and gambling. He is also an active member of MAA (Mathematical Association of America) and SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics).

Customer Reviews

Great coverage, professional approach
This is probably the most useful book from Barboianu's serial of gambling math. And is far superior than Packel's or even Thorpe's book, whose approach is mostly statistical. Gamblers may easily skip the math sections and go directly to the odds table they need, due to a professional organization of the content. There are sections where certain formulas have never been worked out before, like Draw Poker odds for opponents, where you will find odds for one or at least one of your opponents to make a higher formation than yours, function of your own seen cards and the number of opponents. The Blackjack section contains a general formula for calculating the odds of being hit a favorable card, function of played cards and the number of decks used. And all have professional tables with numerical returns. Great job.

A book of 2 halves.
This is a book of 2 halves.
The first half deals poorly with the maths.
The second half (page 109) onwards is a guide to the odds and probabilities of a variety of gambling games
Eg: dice, slot machines, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, a variety of poker types, lottery and sport bets.

If your interest is an introduction to the maths of the subject this should not be the first book you read.

If you want a guide to the probability of throwing a double with two dice or a total of 7, or the odds of getting a pair of queens from 5 cards (2nd half of the book) this may well be the book for you.

cheers