Tim Phillips - Beat the Odds: Winning Ideas for Smart Gamblers

CAREFUL NOW

The title of this book suggests that if youre smart you can beat the odds. But no matter how smart you are you still have the risk that you will lose money: that is why it is called gambling. We cant guarantee you will make your fortune, so take care, and use that intelligence of yours. Dont gamble money you dont have. Dont gamble when you dont have the time. Dont commit money if you dont have any idea how likely you are to see it again. If you even suspect that your gambling is not under complete control, stop immediately and get advice from the organisations we list inside.

We list a lot of websites; they might change from time to time. If they do we apologise but much of the information you will be looking for is available on the web from many different sources. Also we stared at the calculations and rechecked them until our heads hurt but if we have made a mistake with our probabilities let us know and we will correct our sums as soon as we can.

Copyright The Infinite Ideas Company Limited, 2008

The right of Tim Phillips to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2008 by
The Infinite Ideas Company Limited
36 St Giles
Oxford, OX1 3LD
United Kingdom
www.infideas.com

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of small passages for the purposes of criticism or review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the publisher. Requests to the publisher should be addressed to the Permissions Department, Infinite Ideas Limited, 36 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LD, UK, or faxed to +44 (0)1865 514777.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781904902669

Brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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Typeset by Sparks, Oxford www.sparkspublishing.com
Printed in India

Brilliant ideas

Its better to be a smart gambler with 50 and a clear idea of what you want to do than 50,000 and no strategy.

If youre gambling regularly, theres no such thing as luck. Theres only statistics and chance: the rest is down to you.

Never gamble with money that you dont have, or risk money that you need for food and the mortgage.

Your strategy was perfect and you still lost. Clever punters understand that the most important thing is to learn a lesson and incorporate it into your strategy and move on.

Theres no need to bet on everything that moves. Whether its horse racing or poker, blackjack or football, good gamblers know when to say no.

Gambling can be addictive. Learn to look out for the danger signs and how to pull yourself back from the brink before its too late.

When you compare the prices on offer, theyre not always presented in the same format. Learn how to quickly translate from one format to another and you can spot the best price.

Some of the worlds top players earn a good living at their laptops. Its exciting, potentially profitable and a lot more interesting than playing FreeCell

Bookies splash around bonuses and incentives so that well stick with them. Sometimes they can turn a good bet into a sure thing.

Betting on the course might not mean you get better odds, but its a fun way to make money and a smart punter can pick up profitable information.

If you want to mix your gambling with a little mild hedonism, head for the casino capital. You can even bring the kids.

A hot tip, the chance to invest in a business, a mate who knows someone who knows: but is your chance of a lifetime all that it seems? Weigh the odds before you go all in.

On the exchanges youre betting against people like you so a clever punter knows how to exploit their weaknesses.

Statistically, the house almost always wins. Understanding the house edge and looking for the signs that tell you where the edge is smallest (or non-existent) will give you a better chance to win.

If you want to play better poker, play less and play hard. Most of the time, dont play at all.

When we lose our discipline and start throwing our money around, we need to get a grip. Its usually much quicker to lose money in a casino than it is to win it.

There is hardly any event, sporting or otherwise, happening anywhere in the world where you cant make a bet.

The variation of poker you will see everywhere takes a few minutes to learn but a lifetime to master: here are some basic tips from the experts to get you going.

Theres a long and ignoble history of cheating in casinos. Most people daydream about pulling it off, but smart gamblers know they are more likely to be the victim than the thief. Heres how to spot it.

Dont learn to gamble by giving away your money. If you practice for no stakes or small stakes, you can make your newbie mistakes and live to tell the tale.

Nothing is more exciting than roulette when your number comes up. But its easy to lose your entire bankroll in seconds. Here are some strategies so you can keep your shirt.

Ding ding ding! Its the sound of someone else hitting the jackpot. Why is it never you? Lets look at pay tables, loose slots and progressive jackpots.

Poker justifies its own section in the bookshop these days. But what are the classics? Who should you believe?

Online or offline, playing in a poker tournament can be the most exciting way to gamble there is.

The ability to calculate the odds of winning in Texas hold em is the key to your success. Here are a few tips so you know when to make that bet.

Thanks to the genius of Asias gamblers, football betting can be interesting and easy to understand without being a total rip-off.

Blackjack basic strategy and its variants will increase your earnings if you play with discipline.

You can beat blackjack if you can count cards. If Dustin Hoffman can do it in Rain Man, surely you can too. It sounds too good to be true so is it?

Bluffing and stealing the ability to deceive your opponent in poker into thinking you have a good hand is a profitable but over-used tactic.

Smart gamblers find a strategy before they bet and stick to it through thick and thin. If youre going to bet regularly, you need a strategy preferably a profitable one.

Whats a Lucky 15 and why is it such good value?

If you want to thrive at poker, stay off the sauce. Conversely, if you want to make money, play against drunk people. They might not even remember who beat them.

Gambling isnt about expecting to win every time. Its about what punters call value. Heres how you spot this rare commodity.

Danger! Almost unlimited losses but also the chance for spectacular profits if you have the nerve and the insight to bet like a trader.

Betting shops used to be intimidating places, but now theyre desperate to attract as many of us as possible. Heres how to make the most of the incentives on offer at your local shop.

Statistics arent damned lies in the gambling world. You can compile your own or subscribe to a service, but any professional punter knows that theres no substitute for detailed knowledge of the numbers.