Whether you are a brand new gambler looking to place your first wager or a seasoned better with numerous gambling accounts, there’s a veritable buffet of knowledge out there that you can use to better your gambling skills.
Stoic philosopher Seneca once said, “There is no one more foolish than one who stops learning, even if you are one of the best at what you do you should keep learning to the end of your life.” If you heed that advice and choose to keep learning then there’s no reason you can’t turn those gambling losses into wins.
Where to start though? Well, the best place in our opinion is with books, and fortunately there is no shortage of great books available to read about gambling. Below we’ve put together a list of essential reads to help take your gambling skills to the next level.
If you have any recommendations of your own, be sure to let us know what they are in the comments section below. Once you’ve satisfied your pursuit for knowledge, head over to Bonus Finder NZ to find the best welcome bonuses available online right now.
The Mathematics of Poker by Bill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman
Whenever poker is portrayed in the media, it is almost always presented as a game that is based upon psychology and brinksmanship. Whilst bluffing and basic human psychology does come into play at the poker table, it’s not anywhere near as important as you might think.
Bluffing is something that is best done sparingly, so it doesn’t make sense to study it forensically when you could focus your intentions on something much more pivotal to the game – mathematics
In essence, poker is a game of probabilities, so what better way to improve your poker game than by getting to grips with the mathematics behind the game? This book, written by two quantitative analysts explains the mathematic principles of poker in an easy to understand way.
The Logic of Sports Betting by Ed Miller and Matthew Davidow
There are two types of sports fans, fair-weather ones that dip in and out the same way that you would with a Netflix series and then the rest of us, the absolute fanatics. Stop me on the street and ask me who scored the winning goal for my team in the FA Cup third round in 2008 and I could tell you in a heartbeat… Chris Brandon, obviously…
Yet give me $10 and tell me to turn it into $100 through sports betting alone and I would undoubtedly fail. That’s not because of a lack of sporting knowledge, rather it’s because of a lack of sports betting knowledge.
Give me this book first however and I’d have a much better chance. In it Ed Miller and Matthew Davidow cover all the basics of sports betting as well as some of the more nuanced concepts that you need to understand in order to win more bets than you lose.
Even if you don’t enjoy sports betting, this book is a must read for the fascinating insight it provides into the industry.
Beat the Dealer: A winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One by Edward O. Thorp
As the wisdom of the quote in our introduction should highlight, age is irrelevant when it comes to knowledge. Just because something was written thousands of years ago, it doesn’t mean that it bears no relevance to us today.
Whilst this book certainly wasn’t written thousands of years ago, it is still almost 50 years old. Despite that, the information contained within is still incredibly relevant and can help turn you into a regular blackjack winner.
Written by Edward O. Thorp, a mathematics professor, author and hedge fund manager, this book uses a systematic and process based approach to beating the blackjack dealer. If you follow the advice within you won’t win as much as the MIT students, but you will win more than you lose.
In Summary
There are countless great books that can help to improve your gambling skill, whichever game it is you choose to play. On top of that, the internet is full of useful resources such as detailed poker tutorials from professional players on YouTube to in-depth explanations of the best roulette strategies on gambling podcasts.
The best bit of advice that we’ve ever come across when it comes to gambling though is to set yourself a budget and stick to it. Whilst Seneca thought there was no one more foolish than someone who stops learning, we think there’s no one more foolish than someone who chases their losses…
