The Mathematics of Games and Gambling (New Mathematical Library, No. 28)

You can't lose with this MAA Book Prize winner if you want to see how mathematics can be used to analyze games of chance and skill. Roulette, craps, blackjack, backgammon, poker, bridge, lotteries and horse races are considered here in a way that reveals their mathematical aspects. The tools used include probability, expectation, and game theory. No prerequisites are needed beyond high school algebra. No book can guarantee good luck, but this book will show you what determines the best bet in a game of chance or the optimal strategy in a strategic game. Besides being an excellent supplement to a course on probability and good bed-side reading, this book's treatment of lotteries should save the reader some money.

No book can guarantee good luck, but this book will show you what determines the best bet in a game of chance or the optimal strategy in a strategic game. Learn the mathematics behind roulette, craps, blackjack, backgammon, poker, bridge, lotteries and horse races. Besides being an excellent supplement to a course on probability and good bed-side reading, this book's treatment of lotteries should save the reader some money.