(Part 2) 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 products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Welcome! Always great to see new people who enjoy horse racing!
First thing I would do is start by learning the terminology. This will help you get a few of the basics down.
Books I would recommend would be:
Betting Thoroughbreds for the 21st Century
Beyer on Speed
Exotic Betting
Overlay, Overlay
These are not the only books out there, but they helped me when I was started out, helping me think about forming tickets, money management, and generally how to think about wagering.
I can not recommend enough keeping track of your wagers in an excel spreadsheet or something else to help track what type of wagers you play and how you do on them. I enjoy horizontals, but I have a much better ROI in playing straight win bets. But everyone is different. Keeping track will help you establish a style that works for you. Also, search through this sub, there is a ton of great insight from users like u/hodsct59 and u/writerdave
Hope this helps and best of luck.
Smart Sports Betting: https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Sports-Betting-Advanced-Psychology-ebook/dp/B00ONCDQ52
You Are An Author: So Write Your F-ing Book: https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Author-Write-Your-ebook/dp/B01LWJVHX4/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Mein Trump: https://www.amazon.com/Mein-Trump-Hitler-Donald-Micropenises-ebook/dp/B01F26JKZM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1481665144&sr=1-1&keywords=mein+trump
I go into full detail in my recent book, but here's the summarized process.
1: Test idea with an article, attempt to build email list.
2: Ask email list questions about what they need to learn, test sample chapters.
3: Outline book.
4: Word vomit and sort of follow outline.
5: Edit heavily.
6: Release to email list, have giveaway in book, make people email you for it.
7: Ask them for honest review and referral if they enjoyed it.
I sold to my 50-person email list and friends, but made sure I got reviews. Everything was word of mouth and Amazon SEO. I fully believe if people don't talk about your book ... like they didn't with my Trump book ... it's not as good of an idea as you think. But you do need to get your CORE audience to check it out -- make sure 100-ish people read your book before you give up. And get 20-plus reviews for credibility, plus a great cover and description.
Check out BookinaBox.com for more info -- it's a startup that I'm a freelancer for. They hire the company, I do the interviewing off of an outline someone else made -- then rewrite it crisply. The book has their name on it, not mine.
My first book used a simple cover design on Fiverr. $5. It's a horrible idea ... unless you go with a simple picture like I did.
For my second, a friend's girlfriend, who is an up and coming designer, offered to do it for fun. Because the idea was ridiculous.
I designed the third myself using Canva.
I'm a ALL OUT or NOTHING kind of guy. It doesn't make sense to pay a mediocre designer. Make a VERY simple design yourself or for $5.
... then if you have success, or if you truly have the capital, hire someone GREAT and pay handsomely. No in betweens. Same with editing.
Mediocre designers, copywriters and developmental editors are worthless. Great designers, copywriters and developmental editors are priceless.
https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Pace-Handicapping-Revised-Brohamer/dp/0964849372/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502665828&sr=8-1&keywords=tom+brohamer
and
Paceandcap.com
It's a rabbit hole like I've never experienced before.
to add on to this he mentions a book called Picking Winners by Andrew Beyer, a horse racing handicapper. The book is a really in-depth look at his whole methodology for evaluating horse races and you definitely don't need to read the whole thing if that stuff doesn't interest you but as Joe Peta says in his recommendation - there is a chapter in the book on Money Management that is FANTASTIC and borderline essential for anyone trading risk
Required reading for any serious poker player:
https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Increase-Chances-Winning-Lottery/dp/1452077460#nav-search-keywords
https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Lottery-Techniques-Significantly/dp/1520188390/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1501266416&sr=8-2&keywords=How+to+win+the+lottery#customerReviews
https://www.overstock.com/Books-Movies-Music-Games/Lottery-Super-System-Paperback/8169648/product.html
Lottery super system in particular is a good read. I know these are aimed at the lottery instead of poker but a lot of key concepts carry over. Some of these books are also admittedly more for beginner lottery players so if you have already won a few lotteries I'd look for something more advanced.
Winning feels great. Win brings positive energy. You can be a winner too. You know what to do now! Check the safe Amazon link below so that you can see for yourself!
My initial thoughts are the past performance aspect needs to be much more detailed and the layoff line can probably be eliminated. Some trainers are just so good off the layoff (Chad Brown for example) even a 180 day layoff might not mean a lot. I would also be interested in how you come up with speed. Is is just the time of the race or a figure?
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Past performances: You need to figure out a way to grade those performances into better numbers. Essentially you need to figure out how to create your own speed figure. It might be worth checking out a book on that as its way more than one post could answer. This is really the hard part to figure out. However to get started you need to address:
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How do you compare a class? Whats the relative difference between 1st in a G3 and 2nd in a G1?
There should be some variable for the surface.
How fast did they actually run? This is the hardest one. Especially considering biases might not become apparent until after the race .
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To eliminate a ton of variables might I suggest maybe sticking to one race type? Whatever your favorite track is pick a distance and surface they will run every day you're watching (easy one is usually 6f on the dirt) and try give each horse a rating. Then compare those ratings to other figures and see where you disagree. Or at a minimum stick to one track. Trying to build a system that handicaps Charles Town and Belmont both very well is going to be incredibly hard.
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In my case I like turf routes, especially on less than firm turf. I think Beyer speed figures are not very reliable in those races and cause some goofy odds (as they are the most used tool in US racing). In these route races you can often find European horses that look a cut below but will relish the softer going and outrun their odds.
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I know hes often clowned in horse racing circles I think you might benefit from reading Andy Beyers Picking Winners: A Horseplayer's Guide. He goes into details on how he came up with this figures. All you got to do is figure out where he went wrong.
Good read written by the man himself if you’re interested in understanding how the speed figures are calculated:
Beyer on Speed
You would probably like Tom Brohamer's Modern Pace Handicapping book:
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Pace-Handicapping-Revised-Brohamer/dp/0964849372
Sharpen you tactics is a must for your level.
In my opinion, "Sharpen Your Tactics: 1125 Brilliant Sacrifices, Combinations, and Studies" is still the best tactics training for players of all levels.
http://www.amazon.com/Sharpen-Your-Tactics-Sacrifices-Combinations/dp/1880673134/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412985688&sr=8-1&keywords=sharpen+your+tactics
I found this one to be really unhelpful https://www.amazon.ca/How-Win-Lottery-Techniques-Significantly/dp/1520188390/ref=asc_df_1520188390/?tag=googlemobshop-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=337116120158&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12568392495737956749&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001480&hvtargid=pla-697984558704&psc=1