Best gambling books according to redditors

We found 253 Reddit comments discussing the best gambling books. We ranked the 99 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.

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Subcategories:

Baccarat books
Craps books
Lottery books
Roulette books
Slot machines books
Track betting books
Sports gambling books

Top Reddit comments about Gambling:

u/zfa · 946 pointsr/AskReddit

Magician checking in... sooo many easy effects:

For general gags there's stuff like drinks on thumbs (no 10, here), salt-cellar BJ gag, reverse arm-wrestle.

For annoyingly 'knacky' physical bar games there's the napkin behind the back thing, cork penetration, pen twist, coin snatch, this co-ordination thing.

For little gifts there's napkin rose, napkin folds into pair of tits or a cock, money orgami like finger ring etc.

For challenging folk's minds try little brain-teasers and puzzles such as vocab tests, logic puzzles, number puzzles etc. Just search online for these as there's thousands. Go for something quite simple though - it's best if some people can work them out and others can't as it's more fun that way.

For betchas and games then there's the matchstick pickup (last match loses) and other match puzzles, heads and tails bets and odds, and a personal fave of mine removing a bra from under a girl's shirt in under 10s. Loads of others if you have money/pool table/playing cards/dice available.

For really simple bar magic there's the arm twist, ashes on palm, scarf through neck, simple coin/money tricks, cig tricks, stuff with your finger ring should you wear one.

For little mind-reading tricks there's stuff like a lying test using NLP cues (previous link), simple mind-reading and influence stuff, little prediction effects.

For 'super-powers' things then stuff such as spoon-bending, pain control, pulse stopping (just use a wadded up napkin not a ball) as well as the mentalism stuff above. Also simple mental arithmetic tricks like quickly multiplying numbers together, knowing what day of the week any date was on (or here), remembering long lists of random stuff, creating magic squares for any number etc.

That's off the top of my head. Most should be Google-able. Use terms such as 'bar magic', 'simple mentalism', 'bar bets' (or 'betchas'). Optionally include the effect as well.


EDIT: Added a few links. These were just quick Google hits so could be complete shit but look OK at first glance. If you're interested in anything in particular let me know and I'll dig out a better, or more complete, resource.

For general background....

Bar bets, games and little betchas look at Scam School. For more in depth (proper scams, some rudimentary magic / gambling ruses) I love the book How To Cheat At Everything by Simon Lovell. There's also some explanations here. Also the bar bet bits of The Real Hustle (loads on YouTube).

For some simple magic tricks which will work in a party/pub/street environment then Paul Zenon's Street Magic is a good beginning point. He also has a bar bets book but it's so-so.

For some simple mindreading / mental powers / memory things then Derren Brown's Tricks of the Mind is quite accessible.

Also if you're really keen, head over to /r/magic I guess and ask for advice on 'proper' magic resources there.

u/mxchickmagnet86 · 29 pointsr/LearnUselessTalents

Great info here. If anyone is looking for more stuff like this, I'd suggest this book, it's a pretty easy, fun read.

u/the_wizard_of_odds · 14 pointsr/SoccerBetting

Nice question, I only got a lengthy answer:

Skills you need

Mathematics: Obviously the problem is mathematical. The math itself is really easy but I think you need to understand some of it. There is no book that contains everything you need to know for Soccerbetting (to my knowledge). A good guide to it, including many other games than Soccerbetting is The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic. This book is a little to much but if you go through it, you should have a deeper understanding. This will cover only the math of Gambling not of the modelling itself.

Building the actual Model: This is a machine learning problem (you could use analytical math like Poisson Distribution but I don't think that will get you far). I think if you have no skills this part is the hardest, since you need a lot of intuition for math (in my opinion). I suggest you try some examples from scikit-learn in python. Unfortunately, I never read a good book about this topic.

Betting Markets: Being successful in betting takes a little more than math an programming, you have to know where to place your bets, why betting is Europe is not a good idea etc. For this I would suggest to not hang out on this subreddit, most people get a lot of stuff wrong. Here I would suggest the first two chapters of How to Find a Black Cat in a Coal Cellar.

Programming: This part is also fairly easy. I suggest you use python, it contains everything you need in handy packages that are easy to use. I would not recommend to use Excel since at some point you will outgrow it and restart from the beginning. This part takes some work but not some actual skills.

Automation: Since most of us have a steady job we don't have time to deal with this stuff everyday. My model for example runs on a raspberry Pi and sends me a mail what I should bet on. I only check the logs on the weekend. You have to write a lot of scrapers. This part took the longest. I suggest to use Linux (I guess you have to I you don't want to pay for a sever). Here I suggest Bash and or C++.

Psychology: You will fall for all fallacies in the book, so I think knowing them makes you avoid certain things, here I can suggest The Science, Psychology & Philosophy of Gambling

The most important: Endurance, Balls and Self-Honesty: It takes a lot of set-backs and tears to get this fully working. At the beginning your model won't work and simply loose. You will think that this was a stupid idea and think about giving up. The model or the scraper breaks just as you are on vacation with your girlfriend and you spend the entire day in the hotel room fixing this thing (this actually happened to me). This needs a lot of endurance. I for example had some bad bugs in my model that cost me a little money and you really start to doubt yourself, so you need the balls to pull this through. Self Honesty is important such that you don't bullshit yourself. In that sense, that you always try to tell yourself that your model is working (at the beginning it doesn't) and you need the honesty to tell yourself that it is not fine, this is not just bad luck and needs additional work. For this part, a partner can really help. Just talking about it really makes you understand more and you can bullshit yourself but hopefully not your partner.

All in all I think having a good analytical thinking in combination with some honesty and healthy self-doubt will allow you to learn everything you need.

Skills I have:

As an example I can tell you which skills I have: I got a Masters-Degree in Engineering and am currently finishing my PhD in Theoretical Physics. So modelling stuff and math is kind of my job. I had to learn to program during my studies. I didn't know anything about gambling when I started out and did not read any books. I just try to think about it a lot and derive the math myself, that helped enormously.

Edit: I think it is also important to know what you don't need: A passion for football. I don't know shit about football and never watch it (only sometimes my local team). I even think knowing about football is a disadvantage since you open up to certain fallacies like "I know better than my model".

u/[deleted] · 10 pointsr/poker

Suited connectors aren't premium hands.

If it's the micros you will want to play tightly and aggressively. Read something like this.. or this.

u/jhazelw · 6 pointsr/poker

You need to change your mentality and your view of poker. You can't play with scared money. Read some good poker books to hone your strategy.

  • Easy Game
  • Application Of No Limit Poker
  • The Mental Game of Poker
  • Every Hand Revealed

    Those are a good start. Lose the fear. You can't just play the cards, you need to read your opponents and play poker. One thing I do at home is deal out 9 poker hands face up and see how I would play each one and deal out all the streets see how you would play each hand. What if you played one hand differently? What if you raised or re-raised a particular hand? How would that affect the other hands? That helped me out a lot.
u/bmk_ · 6 pointsr/poker

Analytical No-Limit Hold ’em; Crushing Mid-Stakes Short-Handed Games
http://www.twoplustwostore.com/twoplustwo/IP.php?type=Category&ID=11&productID=463

Professional No Limit Hold'em Volume 1 Sunny Mehta, Ed Miller
http://www.twoplustwostore.com/twoplustwo/IP.php?type=Category&ID=11&productID=151

Small Stakes No-Limit Hold'em (this is probably the best for you)
http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-No-Limit-Holdem-Miller/dp/0984143491

Don't bother with let there be range, most consider it an extremely overpriced/unorganized book.

u/fuzztacular · 5 pointsr/poker

I sent this to a friend who was interested in getting better:

​

Podcasts:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/his-and-hers-poker/id1324716921?mt=2

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-official-red-chip-poker-podcast/id1047430562?mt=2

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/weekly-poker-hand-with-jonathan-little/id917516163?mt=2

Forums:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/ - look in the strategy section and look at hand breakdowns.

Books:

https://www.amazon.com/No-Limit-Hold-Theory-Practice/dp/188068537X/ - this is the one I have that you can borrow

https://www.dandbpoker.com/book/mastering-small-stakes-no-limit-holdem

http://jonathanlittlepoker.com/products/books/ Anything by Jonathan Little is good 

https://www.twoplustwo.com/books/

Subscription Sites: * this is almost mandatory in order to beat games today. If you decide to take it seriously I would definitely say this is necessary for studying

https://www.upswingpoker.com/ 

https://redchippoker.com/launch-core 

https://www.runitonce.com/

http://www.crushlivepoker.com/

Actually playing - getting reps in online

If I were you, no matter what your goals are, I would start playing online at one of the sites, doesn’t really matter which one at the lowest buy ins possible ($2), so you can get lots of hands in and start analyzing your hands. You can save hands and we can discuss them and break them down, or post them on 2+2 so players can review them and help you learn. Your goal shouldn’t be to win money, but to learn ($ amount won’t reflect how well you’re playing until you have a really big sample of hands, like around 100k hands played). You should expect to lose at first.

https://www.pokerstars.com/

https://www.partypoker.com/?wm=2853463

https://www.888poker.com/

PokerTracking software: you basically need this if you want to improve. It tracks all your hands/winnings/losses in a database. I use poker tracker and they have a free 1 month trial

https://www.pokertracker.com/

http://www.holdemmanager.com/

WARNING - if you end up really liking poker, don’t let this become you!!!!!!

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/174/poker-goals-amp-challenges/confessions-losing-poker-player-1718893/

u/twistedbeats · 5 pointsr/sportsbook

This is a book and not a website, but it's hands down the greatest sports betting book ever written. [Sharp Sports Betting by Stanford Wong] (http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Sports-Betting-Stanford-Wong/dp/0935926240)

u/smellycow · 5 pointsr/poker

If you're serious about limit play, besides what has already been mentioned (which are great), give these two a read:

Small Stakes Hold 'em (partly authored by Sklansky) and

Texas Hold 'em for advanced players

Both awesome reads, and give you a lot of math and feel for the game. They are more geared towards limit, but the concepts you learn, like pot odds, etc., apply to other games as well. Good luck at the tables!

u/burritojezus · 5 pointsr/sportsbook

I'm a fan of Sharp Sports Betting by Stanford Wong, which had some good info in it. It's getting to be pretty out of date though, as the most recent up date he published was in 2009.

http://www.amazon.ca/Sharp-Sports-Betting-Stanford-Wong/dp/0935926240

u/chabuduo1 · 4 pointsr/poker

you're kind of asking how to play poker, which is a tough question to answer.

I would recommend reading a book on it. Small Stakes No-Limit Holdem by Ed Miller (and others) is a great place to start.

u/DeepStackPizza · 3 pointsr/poker

Read SS NLHE by Ed Miller, helped my game tremendously

u/travisjd2012 · 3 pointsr/poker

I'll help you out, what you're explaining here is the wrong way to look at a cash game. Start with a book.

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-No-Limit-Holdem-Miller/dp/0984143491/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419974039&sr=1-5&keywords=ed+miller

Once you have the vocabulary down, you can start to rely on Google to go out and research situations yourself (usually on the 2+2 forums) or post your hands here using the proper terminology and listing all the proper context needed (stack size of opponents, your position, their style of play so far established, the actions of other players before you, the size of the pot so far, etc. etc.) However, without that vocabulary and knowledge of what you should have been considering it's very difficult to do this. Don't look at the other players at 1/3 as inspiration. They would likely move up if they were great players.

Poker is a complex game with literally billions of possible situations that you need decide correctly a good majority of the time to become a winning player. The reason people are questioning if you are trolling or not is that the question of "is there a better way to play" and "what may I be missing" is like telling a lifetime speaker of Japanese that you've watched a couple of anime movies and just wondering if you're missing anything else. While your intentions may be sincere you're up against a legitimate lifetime of possible learning about this game. The beginning player comes in wanting to learn "how to win at poker" but an actual student of this game realizes that's the wrong path, you need to learn how to think about poker before you'll ever learn to win any money at it.

u/BloodOfTenChiefs · 2 pointsr/SoccerBetting

I don't think this is correct. If you take for example the Favourite-longshot-bias;

  • There is a paper from 2003 describing it in great detail: http://faculty.citadel.edu/sobel/All%20Pubs%20PDF/Racetrack%20Betting.pdf
  • Yet it is still absolutely measurable in 2013 when Joseph Buchdahl wrote about it in https://www.amazon.de/How-Find-Black-Coal-Cellar/dp/1843440679
  • If you look into current data you will see that it is still there.

    All of this comes down to the efficient market hypothesis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis

    One could argue that the betting market is Semi-strong-form efficiency or Weak-form efficiency but it certainly is not strong-form efficient. This would imply that:
    > "investors cannot consistently earn excess returns over a long period of time".

    So betting would be pointless

    Edit: This exploits are there but most people have a to low payroll to cash in on them

    Edit2: Paper about testing the efficient market hypothesis for sports betting https://www.jstor.org/stable/1832139 (sadly its with data from 1983)

    Edit3: Sry the paper is behind academic paywall, but they describe their findings in "The Economics of the National Football League: The State of the Art" on page 229 you can find that on google books if anyone is interested.
u/spentrent · 2 pointsr/poker

Add to your poker library if you haven't already. No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice is a fantastic addition.

u/tommy72 · 2 pointsr/books

Try "The Compleat Strategyst" by JD Williams. This was my introduction.

http://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Strategyst-Primer-Theory-Strategy/dp/0486251012

u/ggg111ggg111 · 2 pointsr/poker

this book is pretty good

u/Umgar · 2 pointsr/poker

Harrington on Cash Games Volumes I and II are an excellent way to start. These books are a little dated but it will teach you step-by-step the fundamentals of a solid ABC poker game.

u/aqua_seafoam · 2 pointsr/lifehacks

Meh. only stay away from it if you aren't willing to put in the practice. I put over a year in of practice learning to deal seconds everyday. They key is to be good enough to naturally win and then when the big pot comes, pull the move towards the end.

This isn't a bad book, if you're interested in the history and wanting a primer on cheating. Honestly won't teach you much, but its a good read.

This dvd is a good tutorial on card cheating.

u/NanchoMan · 2 pointsr/GAMETHEORY

Nah. I think I'll just compute it by hand... jk! But thanks! I had never heard of gambit before. I know there is the pivot method where you can use control sums and such, but I always find it to be a pain in the ass on paper.

Edit: And actually, I meant two different things. I watched the playlist, and read this.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Compleat-Strategyst-Strategy-Mathematics/dp/0486251012

Here is the book

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/commercial_books/2007/RAND_CB113-1.pdf

u/boogsies · 2 pointsr/poker

Starting hands should be similar.

Major difference between no limit and limit is you will get a lot more people in the pot in limit to the flop and beyond, thus your pre-flop strength has less value over all. You can also call a little bit looser in position with a wider range of hands if you have the right odds. If you are interested in grinding limit, this is pretty much the bible on low stakes limit poker: http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-Hold-Winning-Expert/dp/1880685329/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1371530556&sr=8-2&keywords=low+limit+holdem

I followed that book concerning odds and such and have been playing for a living since.

There is also a difference in that you can push more people off drawing hands in no-limit by large bets, and you can't really do that in limit. I also find that in general, you can't bluff nearly as much either, because depending on the table, you almost always get called to the river by at least one person.

u/bearsinthesea · 1 pointr/gifs
u/foxdale · 1 pointr/sportsbook

i have my ears open. i played fifa for a few years but this is my first year wagering. i've read Sharp Sports Betting and it's really useful.

i'm really interested in hearing any tip or story of yours? do you play football? what are your other hobbies?

u/Evstar · 1 pointr/poker

Buy/Torrent and then read these 3 books. They'll give you a pretty fantastic grounding of cash game strategy.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1880685000 (read this first, however it's not strictly a NL Hold Em book, it's just important to read)

http://www.amazon.com/No-Limit-Hold-Theory-Practice/dp/188068537X

http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/188068540X

u/edwurtle · 1 pointr/poker

For tournament play:
Gus Hansen's Every Hand Revealed

I'm a tight-aggresive player who wanted to learn what goes on in the mind of a good maniac tournament player like Gus. I use to blind away to often and rarely built large stacks needed in tournament play. This book changed my perception of tournament play and opened me up to new ideas. The book covers every hand Gus played in an Aussie millions tournament that he won.

http://www.amazon.com/Every-Hand-Revealed-Gus-Hansen/dp/0818407271/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342041880&sr=1-1&keywords=gus+hansen


For low limit hold'em:
Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play

It's a great guide on how to crush the low-limit no fold'em hold'em game.

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-Hold-Winning-Expert/dp/1880685329/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1342041767&sr=8-11&keywords=poker+low+limit

u/Csusmatt · 1 pointr/poker

TAG I guess. Read small stakes holdem it'll pay for itself a hundred times over if you apply what you learn.

u/altpron · 1 pointr/IAmA

This book is all about low-limit live strategy. $2/$4 - $5/$10 limit specifically.

u/frankthetankisdank · 1 pointr/poker

1 : play a ton of hands online.


2 : training video sites, although these generally aren't the best approach


3 : books. this is a good one


4 : forums


5 : think about the game


6 : free video content on utube


7 : i have been a plo specialist for 7 years and offer affordable coaching

u/smirtch · 1 pointr/poker

Small Stakes Hold'em is the book you're looking for. I have won thousands in live play using these at small 2/4 to 6/12 tables... It's amazing how well their strategies work being that no-limit is illegal here in minnesota.

u/tangentstorm · 1 pointr/math

I really liked The Compleat Strategyst by J.D. Williams. It's several decades old, but it's short, very light reading, and probably the best place to start.

The Yale open video course itsred mentioned is also quite good.

If you're looking for applied game theory, especially with games of inperfect information, there are two really good poker books

  • The Mathematics of Poker by Bill Chen and Jerrod Ankenman (This is a recent book. The authors solve a number of small games related to no-limit texas holdem.)
  • Poker strategy: Winning with Game theory by Nesmith Ankeny. (This is quite old and out of print, but a pretty fantastic book. It's specifically about multi-player five card draw)
u/professa_d · 1 pointr/poker

No Limit Hold Em: Theory and Practice by Ed Miller and David Sklansky.

https://www.amazon.com/No-Limit-Hold-Theory-Practice/dp/188068537X/ref=nodl_

u/harrysapien · 1 pointr/poker

read in the following order order

https://www.amazon.com/Phil-Gordons-Little-Green-Book/dp/B000BVGTWG/

https://www.amazon.com/Play-Poker-Like-the-Pros/dp/B000KF0GFO

https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Poker-Tommy-Angelo/dp/1419680897

https://www.amazon.com/Harrington-Cash-Games-No-Limit-Holdem/dp/1880685426

https://www.amazon.com/Mental-Game-Poker-Strategies-Confidence/dp/B00846CHDK

​

And yes, I realize Phil Helmouth gets a lot of shit from pros, but he has a particular view of the game and characterizing/categorizing villains that is unique and VERY helpful..

u/pmd33 · 1 pointr/poker

This is the book I am reading right now that made me post this thread:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EQM4XAQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Some of it is flying over my head, some of it I'm understanding at least on a conceptual level. I assume it's like mathematics of poker based on your example of it.

How important do you think having that type of gameplan is to being a good player? That requires quite a lot of pre-planning to map out your range like that.

u/unclonedd3 · 1 pointr/poker

Books can only become outdated if you assume that your opponents are reading the same books, understanding what is taught, believe that you are following the same strategy, and can adjust to beat that strategy. That is of course bullshit at all levels.

My recommendation is http://www.amazon.com/Small-Stakes-No-Limit-Holdem-Miller/dp/0984143491

u/MrCaspan · 0 pointsr/poker

I would start with your HUD start to understand everything in there VPIP, CB, FCB stuff like this teaches you what to look for in a live game reading players, understanding what range and position is. There is no one class that will teach you all of this it has to be learned one piece at a time. Anything on YouTube is normally junk but look up pot equity vs hand equity vs fold equity. All this should give you the basics of poker to get your head above water at least. You can't play poker now a days without understanding this basic stuff or else you'll keep giving your money away or people will read you like a book! Let us know if there is anything specific you want to know. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on here. But read books and books and books. 2+2 has amazing low stakes poker book

Small Stakes Hold'em https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1880685329/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_192QBbF8962F1

this is a great book to start on. It's actually tells you real information that's helpful