Can You Win?: The Real Odds for Casino Gambling, Sports Betting, and Lotteries [Paperback]

Mike Orkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1991

We all dream of hitting the big one, but what are the odds? You can learn them from Mike Orkin. Orkin gives us the facts about gambling: how to calculate the odds of winning any particular bet, and what the best bets really are.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book is about odds, and the chances of actually winning at a wide variety of gambling, from casino games to sport betting to lotteries. But while odds can be a dry subject, Orkin's presentation isn't. He livens it up with quotes from great literature and great wits, as well as his own sense of humor. There's profitable information here. For example, while Orkin confirms that you can't up your chances to win a state lottery, there are ways of increasing your win when you do get lucky. It pays to listen up when Mike Orkin spills the chips.

About the Author

Mike Orkin, Ph.D., is a professor of statistics at California State University, Hayward. An authority on gambling and game theory, Orkin has consulted for government agencies and the private sector, testified as an expert witness in various court cases, and developed software for Los Vegas odds makers. He is the author of several books, including WHAT ARE THE ODDS?. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 181 pages
• Publisher: W. H. Freeman (January 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716721554
• ISBN-13: 978-0716721550
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,053,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eyes Open - Pockets Wide, February 22, 2002

By 

Robert Avakian (Tulsa, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Can You Win?: The Real Odds for Casino Gambling, Sports Betting, and Lotteries (Paperback)

If you decide to do any gambling, even a few bucks on your state lottery, consider the price of this book as your first bet. Orkin presents the real odds of most popular gambling games, at least one 'sure fire system' (yes there is such a thing, but you need deep pockets and have to be satisified with a pretty low rate of return), and the effects of the 'house edge'in an entertaining manner and with just a minimum of math. In fact, skipping the math in the book does nothing to reduce the book's usefulness nor your reading enjoyment.

Read this if you think gambling is a solution to money problems. In fact, after going through this highly readable and entertaining book you may be tempted to skip the lottery tickets and put the money in casino stock instead!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book on casino math, October 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Can You Win?: The Real Odds for Casino Gambling, Sports Betting, and Lotteries (Paperback)

Casino math for the non-mathematician. If you really want to understand the math, it will take some effort to follow if you haven't dealt with probability and statistics in a while or ever. However, I am so tired of people presenting schemes on how to win at craps, roulette, etc: Martingale, anti-Martingale, D'Alembert, contra-D'Alembert, ad nauseam. No matter how you weight a negative expected return, the sum of the series is still expected to be negative. The risk to people who use these schemes unwittingly to gain a series of small "wins" is the guarantee of a single huge loss somewhere in the future - the longer you put it off, the larger it will be. If you didn't understand what you just read and want to, this book is for you. The writing is brisk, bordering on entertaining (if you're into this sort of thing) and not nearly as dull as you'd expect. The previous reviewer covered which games were presented so I won't repeat. Like Stanford Wong, this author's math is accurate - unlike many, many other authors.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science shows you were to put your money., May 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Can You Win?: The Real Odds for Casino Gambling, Sports Betting, and Lotteries (Paperback)

Mike Orkin's book explains the real odds for all the common casino games, and in the process, shows you it is generally better to leave your money in your own pocket, and just watch. Games covered include roulette, craps, Keno, slots machines, sports betting, blackjack, lotteries and horse races. A great chapter on the Prisoner's Dilemma is included, and covers thecomplex issue of when it is best to be a snicth, and when it is best to be quiet.