Get the Edge at Roulette (Scoblete, Frank. Get-the-Edge Guide.) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Have you ever found yourself being mesmerized by the spinning little white ball orbiting the outer wheel like some celestial satellite, then, spiraling down to..." (more)
Key Phrases: ball deflectors, wheel tracker, predictive player, Monte Carlo, North America, Atlantic City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

With specialized backgrounds in two engineering disciplines, Christopher Pawlicki has been a highly sought-after consultant in the defense industry--and in this book he gives you, the roulette player, the ultimate weapons to wage war against a seemingly unbeatable game. Pawlicki shows readers how to find and play biased wheels and how to recognize and exploit deep-pocket wheels that are more susceptible to bias tracking. He shows visual wheel tracking techniques and how to sector slice to increase the speed and accuracy of predictions. Also discussed is the new world of internet roulette and how it differs from the real-world game.

Product Details

• Paperback: 229 pages
• Publisher: Bonus Books; illustrated edition edition (June 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566251605
• ISBN-13: 978-1566251600
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #307,445 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well researched book with honest advice, March 10, 2002

By	Wolfram Arnold (San Mateo, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Thorough Analysis of Real Ways to Win at Roulette, October 20, 2001

By	Donna Whisnant (Waterloo, IA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Scientific approach to explain whywe shouldn't play roulette, April 25, 2005

By	Ban_Ban "Ban" (Dallas,Texas) - See all my reviews

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.