or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
33 used & new from £4.91

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win (Outlooks)
 
 

Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win (Outlooks) (Paperback)

by Steven Skiena (Author) "My interest in jai alai began during my parents' annual escape from the cold of a New Jersey winter to the promised land of Florida..." (more)
2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
Price: £12.74 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £2.25 (15%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

16 new from £12.49 17 used from £4.91

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Taking Chances: Winning with Probability by John Haigh

Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win (Outlooks) + Taking Chances: Winning with Probability
Price For Both: £19.22

Show availability and shipping details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Understanding and Calculating the Odds: Probability Theory Basics and Calculus Guide for Beginners, with Applications in Games of Chance and Everyday Life

Understanding and Calculating the Odds: Probability Theory Basics and Calculus Guide for Beginners, with Applications in Games of Chance and Everyday Life

by Catalin Barboianu
3.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £12.98
Winning on Betfair for Dummies

Winning on Betfair for Dummies

by Alex Gowar
3.7 out of 5 stars (7)  £5.99
Statistics for Dummies

Statistics for Dummies

by Deborah Rumsey
3.5 out of 5 stars (4)  £6.96
Taking Chances: Winning with Probability

Taking Chances: Winning with Probability

by John Haigh
4.2 out of 5 stars (12)  £6.48
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
3.0 out of 5 stars (38)  £6.49
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 262 pages
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press (6 Aug 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0521009626
  • ISBN-13: 978-0521009621
  • Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 521,934 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #54 in  Books > Computing & Internet > PC & Video Games > Programming > 3D
  • See Complete Table of Contents

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
   Winning System-£400 Daily opens new browser window
www.casinoexpertonline.com  -  Free Unique System To Make Over £400 Per Day For Just 1 Hours Work 
   Share Microsoft Outlook opens new browser window
ShareOutlook.4team.biz  -  Calendar, Contact, Task, E-mails Sharing without Exchange server. 
   I'm Rich You're Not opens new browser window
SportsBettingProfessor.com  -  All Because I Listened To This Guy. Turn Your Life Around Today. 
  
 

Product Description

Review

‘A well told story … [the author] really knows his stuff. I couldn’t put it down. The informal style is terrific; we should have more books written this way … Skiena really knows how to teach.’ Persi Diaconis, Stanford University

‘The book is easy to follow and provides insight to the beginning student of gambling games.’ William T. Ziemba, University of British Columbia

‘This funny and utterly compelling book is the story of how Skiena and his students constructed an embarrassingly successful computer program called Maven.’ Tony Jones, New Scientist

'The book teaches with humor and enthusiasm how to use statistical data and analyze them, how to use computers for processing data, how to create mathematical models that fit your problem, and many other interesting things.' Zentralblatt für Mathematik und ihre Grenzgebiete Mathematics Abstracts

'This interesting book is about a gambling system that works. His methods can work for anyone; at the end of the book the author describes the best way to bet on jai alai. The book will be surely of interest not only for the fun of jai alai, but also for all those who would like to learn about the program trading systems, the future of internet gambling, how mathematical methods are used in political polling, what is the difference between the correlation and causality, and so on. If you are interested in gambling and mathematics, the odds are that this is a book for you!' EMS

'Interspersed with this account are many valuable digressions which make the book a very good general introduction to the ideas of modelling and simulation, enlivened by the highly practical example which forms its core. Skiena writes with wit, clarity and enthusiasm, and his story is an enthralling one. No matter if (like me) you have never heard of Jai Alai before, or never bet on a horse or bought a lottery ticket in your life, the reader identifies with Skiena's quest, and shares vicariously in his success.' The Mathematical Gazette


Product Description

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!

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
My interest in jai alai began during my parents' annual escape from the cold of a New Jersey winter to the promised land of Florida. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
simulation
discrete mathematics
betting

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win (Outlooks)
46% buy the item featured on this page:
Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win (Outlooks) 2.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£12.74
Taking Chances: Winning with Probability
22% buy
Taking Chances: Winning with Probability 4.2 out of 5 stars (12)
£6.48
Introduction to Algorithms
11% buy
Introduction to Algorithms 4.4 out of 5 stars (5)
£30.66
The Algorithm Design Manual
11% buy
The Algorithm Design Manual 4.5 out of 5 stars (6)
£27.98

 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:    (0)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Evading the subject, 17 May 2004
By Malcolm Smith (North Wales, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I bought this book on recommendation from an associate who is trying to use it to make a software model for UK Horse Racing. Given that I use a home-brewed software model for myself which used advanced calculus techniques to process all the data points I thought that I would read this book to compare notes and to see if the author has something that we could employ.

Sadly not. The most interesting part of the book is the description of Jai Alai (the Basque sport which is played on an overstretched squash court and with baskets on the players' arms to catch and fling the ball back).

The description of that sport is brilliant and I learned something new. However, the rest of the book is a disappointment.

The author is supposed to be a professor in computer science in New York university. His opinions (nay, rants) on various topics concerning computer science don't belong in this book. We want to know how he got his data, how he processed it using what sort of mathematical processing techniques he used.

All I seem to have worked out is that the professor of the computer science department is unable to write much in the way of code. His rambling diversions on Obfuscurated C competitions only serve to confuse those who haven't met this stuff before. I, who have come across this before, just filed this all away as pointless diversions.

What I found really dangerous with this book is that professor didn't seem to explain once the theory of probabilities; particularly addressing the very important topic of losing runs. In one part of the book he described how he staked almost all of his betting bank on night's games.

This is no way to run a gaming system. Clearly this man has no idea of how to survive and putting across ideas like this is nothing short of dangerous. In the end of the book he said that he hit a losing run (as will any system statistically) and then he turned off the machine.

The author has written a hodge-podge of a book. The bits which I am interested were glossed over. Bits which may or may not have been used in his model were introduced. For example, we read about neural networks in a couple of pages. Nowhere did he give the basic and elementary workings of a neural net. Did he use one? We don't know?

What about his mapping techiques for his data? Did he use those, if so how?

How did he enumerate the values (or ratings) of the Jai Alai players to make his selections? This wasn't clear.

The bit at the back of the book where he gives a (very edited) betting diary convinced me one thing; never to try to bet off-course in the USA at all. Thank goodness we in the UK are a little more switched on when it comes to on-line bookmakers and, above all, the book has totally convinced me not to bother to get a post-graduate degree at New York university.

This book isn't a good investment at all.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Bizzare. Confused. Ouch., 3 Sep 2003
By Paul Robinson (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews
  
This book has no clue what it wants to be. At some points it's a book on betting on jai-alai, or a book on parsing web pages, or an explanation of why Microsoft is evil, or why statistics work the way they do, or how to improve betting strategies, or a biography, or...

It's clear that the author spent a lot of time on this. It's also clear that if you wish to bet on jai-alai you must buy this book before boxing up those trifectas. However, if you want an insight into how to model statistical data, this is not a good place to start. If you want to understand betting systems, this is not a good place to start. In fact, it's not really a good place to start for much.

Pity really, as it can be a good read in places, and it had the potential to be brilliant, but it just seems a little disjointed. Gets 3 stars for effort and easy writing style, would have been more if any of it had connected up in the right order...

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

   


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback

Ad

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.