Roulette Odds and Profits: The Mathematics of Complex Bets [Paperback]

The author comes to the essence of roulette betting. If you are math inclined, you will find inside all the information to start with for improving your betting systems according to your own strategies. If not, you may skip the math parts and use all the numerical stuff from the dozens of tables inside the book and the betting systems presented with their parameters (odds, profits, losses). Good job and a must have for a roulette professional.

I NOTICE THAT THIS BOOK IS PRESENTLY NUMBER 14 IN SALES ON AMAZON

IN IT'S CATEGORY. The author is obviously a very learned mathematician, and very, very eager to not only present her theories, but also to aid her readers in using them to win at roulette.

The problem that I have with this book is that I am NOT a learned mathematician. The farthest I have gone in math is taking the NY State Regents in High School algebra. However, I have more recently taken the "Tickle" intelligence test, and come out with the designation of "visual mathematician." I suppose this means that, depite my present academic limitations, I do try. I have an interest (a burning and very deep and great interest), in winning at roulette....but I kind of get out of my depth after page 13!

(On page 13, however, it is very nice for me to find that my own idea ---that roulette is the easiest game in which to calculate possibilities, and that card games are the hardest in which to calculate possibilities -- is given credence, by being stated, right there in print, by this expert author!

But I do not (even) know what the algebraic symbols, which look like a

"U" and a "U" turned upside down mean. They are not explained....obviously the author thinks them them so elementary that no explaination is necessary. Perhaps if I had been able to take Pre-calculous and calculus in college, (which I had to leave before I could take these courses), I would be able follow at least a bit further in this book. These algebraic symbols, (which I at least recognize to be algebraic symbols), begin to be use on page 15. And these, and many other algebraic symbols, appear throughout the rest of this volume....with no explainations of what they mean, for us simpler folk who have not been able to study calculus or even pre-calculus. (This brings to my mind a rather astute black high-school student I saw once on TV. She was being interviewed, and mentioned the fact that on her final exams, there were questions about Mozart. She said, "I would have known the answers if they had taught me about Mozart in school. But they didn't teach me anything about Mozart in school.")

The author of this book does recommend another book, "Understanding and Calculating the Odds", which is stated as being "a beginners guide", for

"those interested in improving their probability calculus skills and figuring out correct probability results for any game of chance." It is not mentioned...but this book is also written by Catalin Barboianu.

It has received several good reviews on Amazon -- but the reviewers here, too, bewail the unnecessarily complex sentence structure and language used in this book, (and in her "Roulette Odds and Profits", as well.) Ms. Barboianu has written several other books on probablity in gaming, as well, which are also available on Amazon. I can only wish that these books had been labled as something like: "Probability in Gaming

-- Book I, Book II, Book III", and so on....so a reader would know which books to buy first!

The author obviously knows her stuff....well! However, I doubt whether

anyone who has not taken at least pre-calculus, (or perhaps, who has not at least taken Calculus I), can understand much of what is in this book, Maybe this is the most advanced book Ms. Barboianu has yet written, and I should have started with the book "Understanding and Calculating The Odds"

-- which I did not know was a pre-cursor, and more elementary starting point, to this book, before I read about it here. However, the author's florid, and very academic style of writing, do give me pause -- and makes me afraid that the same, sadly convoluted writing and explanatory style will occur in this first, more elementary book as well. Unfortunately,

it appears, KNOWING about a subject, and being able to TEACH it to others, so that even the most non-learned amongst them can understand it,

are definitely two different things. This is truly a pity here....because I realize the author knows a lot, and really wants her readers to understand an profit by it.

For those who REALLY want to UNDERTAND the game of Roulette, I recommend JOHN GOLLEHON's 'CASINO GAMES', (which I have also reviewed for Amazon.) Mr. Gollehon jhas a background of being a teacher, and an engineer...he writes amusingly, and truly enables the reader to understand how to play the casino games he writes about. The complex mathematical statistics and probabilities presented in Catlin Barboianu's "ROULETTE ODDS AND PROFITS", the book being reviewed here, are not present in Mr. Gollehon's book, (or, I should say, bookS....as he has written several other books, almost as good as "Casino Games")....but he does let you understand how these games are played, so that you can develop your own theories and systems.

Reading "Roulette Odds and Profits", however, is a distinct privilege. It is an "Escoffier" of roulette books -- very, very complex, and -- depending on the extent of a reader's mathematical background -- easy, somewhat diffficult, or very difficult to understand and put into practice -- and profit. (For those unfamiliar with the name "Escoffier",

the article in MSN's ENCARTA encyclopedia on "George Auguste Escoffier" begins by stating that he was "a master of the 'haute cuisine' style of French cookery originated by Marie Antoine Careme, 1784-1833.") For myself -- though most women in my family are great cooks -- I am more of the "semi-home-made" (like the FOOD NETWORK show of the same name), style of cook. And, I suppose that goes for my

study of roulette, as well. I am totally fascinated by theories of

mathematical probability as they apply to roulette....but, sadly, seem to

be incapable of understanding the majority of them -- at the time being, anyway. For those, like myself, who do not have a background in calculus, (or even pre-calculus), I sadly cannot recommend this book. It's like a brilliant diamond tiara, costing millions of dollars, that one cannot afford. For us, books like John Gollehon's many great titles, (and also GAMBLE TO WIN, ROULETTE, by R.L. Ellison -- reviewed, as well, by me for Amazon), are more than adequate. (But -- using principles within these two books alone -- and my own theories based upon them -- I find can easily make at least $200 a day in roulette practice. And winning money in roulette is the real aim here, not understanding complex mathematical permutations....isn't it?)

Still, the brilliance of the mathematics of 'Roulette Odds and Profits', and its author, Catalin Barboianu, beckon. Anyone happily wearing a rhinestone tiara will still always dream of wearing one made of diamonds.

(Sigh.....)

If you own it, trash it. If you bought it recently, send it back. There's nothing in this book but a bunch of calculations of odds that don't mean a thing from a ROULETTE betting standpoint (each spin is independant of the last and the next). If anyone sits down long enough and doesn't mind wasting their time, that person can figure out the payout odds, the potential profits, and the potential losses. There's no need to drone on and on about it. Besides, NONE OF IT will actually help you gain an edge. For example, calculate your odds of winning on a 8-1 shot in a 12-horse race taking into consideration the odds of all the other horses. Obviously, the favorite will have the best odds, and when you figure out where you sit, how is that going to help you from a pure mathematical perspective?