Customer Reviews

Get the Edge at Roulette (Scoblete Get-The-Edge)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pawlicki's style stands out for its scientific approach and honesty. Yet it is entertaining thanks to anecdotes and historical primers sprinkled throughout the text.

He is faithful to the scientific principle of theory and verification. He delves in a fair bit of statistics to develop expectation values for winnings and confidence levels for a given strategy. With all theory, his text is not a theoretical one, he gives very practical advice. He's not trying to play psychological games with the reader, but is honest in explaining the skill level required for the various strategies he presents. As any well researched, scientific text, he cites relevant literature and gives references.

The author understands the kinematics of the game of roulette, although readers with a college-level background of mechanics may notice the author's imprecise use of terminology. That does not deter from the author's argument though.

The book starts off with a review of the historical origins of roulette and goes quickly into the wheel layout and betting baize. He teaches how to find your way around the wheel and how to cover sectors with a minimum number of chips, "sector slicing." He picks up this topic again later in connection with dealer signatures and presents an easy-to-learn but powerful way to cover quickly every quadrant of the wheel.

His discussion on "mathematical" playing systems and why they fail is elucidating yet not really novel as the fact that the house enjoys a negative edge when the player bets on random outcomes is common knowledge.

The guts of Pawlicki's book center on "physical" aspects of the game--a variety of factors that can produce non-random outcomes or give a predictive edge to the player. The power of its message lies not in any single technique but in a toolbox of strategies that each can apply to different conditions, such as wheel watching, biased wheel play, or dealer signatures. He carefully gauges each technique by the skill level required to apply it, by the edge it provides to the player and by the assumptions underlying it. A little bit of player and casino psychology will come handy in the heat of the battle.

This book has something for everyone: the aspiring professional player, the occasional system player or the recreational player.

My first reading on roulette was a chapter in Jerry Patterson's "Casino Gambling." While interesting and a useful overview of strategies in various casino games, Patterson frequently baits the reader with information that is consistent but incomplete and then refers to his (probably expensive) gambling classes. In this, Patterson's book remains ultimately dissatisfying. If your interest is in roulette, buy Pawlicki's book. You get much more information and without the rhetoric.

This is an excellent book and one of the first to thoroughly explain and analyze all of the *legal* ways to win at roulette. It starts with a mathematical analysis of the common "systems" and shows why these can never win in the long run, but at the same time shows how to use these to "play for fun" while minimizing your losses.

The book then goes on to explain the real methods of winning including things like biased wheel detection, visual prediction, and dealer bias (a.k.a. dealer signature). It closes out with a guaranteed way to win with online casinos.

I've done extensive research on roulette, and this is one of the first that gives a very clear, well defined way of performing visual wheel tracking - and who better to explain it than the "spin doctor". I won't say that it is easy to master, but at least definitively shows how it can be done.

I do wish that he would have also explained more of his experiences with and/or knowledge of "illegal" methods, like electronic prediction. Those are always fascinating to read about.

If you are looking for real ways to win at roulette, or to at least play without losing so quickly, this book is definitely worth the reading.

Let's set the expectations first:
1) This book clearly says why you should not play roulette (because it has a house edge of 5.4 % or so).
2) Reading this book will not make you a skilled wheel tracker. You will lose even after reading it.
3) Predictive play and finding delayers' signatures are very hard (if not impossible) for rookies like us so don't expect any miracle.

Still this is by far the BEST book I ever read on this subject.
It covers some very interesting topics such as
1) Wheel tracking / bias tracking
2) How to find out dealers' signature
3) Sector slicing and other betting strategies

Author is very honest to accept that casino has a big edge on this game and overcoming that edge over the time is impossible.

First of all, it is true that the house has a big (> 5 %) edge in the game of roulette IF the results of the spins are truly random.

It is also true that the results of a roulette spin are depenedent upon the actions of a human being. Furthermore, it is also true that a roulette wheel can never be perfectly balanced nor stay perfectly balanced while in use. Given these facts, it follows that the results of any particular roulette spin will not be completely random. As Pawlicki explains very well in this book, it is this lack of complete randomness which might make it possible to predict a roultette spin with enough confidence to overcome the house edge. The trick is to, first, recognize a wheel/croupier combination that is producing results that are predictable enough to be useful, and second, to use that predictability is such a way that you can overcome the house edge.

No, you will not be able to implement Pawlicki's strategies immediately. Like anything else in life, they require skill, concentration and practice. If it were easy to do, then ANYBODY could do it and the casinos would change the game so that it would be significantly more difficult for the player. However, to say that it is impossible to overcome the house edge under any circumstances is patently false. It can be done if you can find a favorable wheel and croupier and if you can take advantage of that. Pawlicki gives a number of examples where he has done just that. If a wheel/croupier combination is producing results that are very nearly random however, then no, you cannot beat the house edge over time no matter what.

It is true that this book does not cover random play, nor should it. If you're intent upon playing a wheel that is producting nearly random results, then you're going to lose and there is no sense discussing any stratgies for such play.

Pawlicki makes one other salient point. If you do happen to beat the house you will eventually draw the attention of the pit boss and the casino will try various things to "discourage" you from winning, such as changing balls or reversing the rotation of the wheel. In such situations, it's probably best to take your winnings and take a walk. The last thing that you want to do is alienate a croupier or a casino, else you'll always get special attention whenever you visit that casino. The trick is to try to win while keeping as low a profile as possible.

Don't buy this book thinking it will teach you some magical trick on how to win at roulette because it won't. It will give you some basic strategy, some history on how you could win 20 years ago, and some basic do's and don'ts.

The book is well organized and mainly has a statistical approach, which is not enough when talking about getting "the edge" of roulette. Although the author is sincere explaining that all systems will fail in long run due to the house edge, he misses an important aspect of roulette: the mathematical side. The topology of the bets, the probabilities of the complex betting systems, all this mathematics stuff is missing or is touched vaguely. I found Barboianu's book far superior on all counts.

The author of this book is sometimes known as the Spin Doctor and once you read it you will know exactly why he has this nickname. The book is the most advanced book ever written on roulette and how to actually beat it. I won't say that all of the methods are easy to learn as some just aren't but the book is a wonderful addition to the literature of gambling. I believe this is one of a handful of superior roulette books and I also believe that all roulette players, and other advantage players, should read this. Once again, bravo Spin Doctor!

I just wanted to testify that the story on pages 206-207 is absolutly true and not the only time I've seen the Spin-Doctor hit an intended number. He can hit a selected 5 pocket range at will, anytime. I look forward to the next book. I'm just really glad that when it comes to charity gaming events, that the Spin-Doctor in working for me, rather that against!

This is a good roulette book, there are some interesting roulette systems in there, but overall, I'd have to say that I'd stick with the Roulette Cash Cow system, this one has never let me down (so far)

Easy to read. Worth the price of the book. I enjoyed reading about some of dealers ability to spin the wheel and hit the same number in a row. Interesting reading.