Review of Gambling Theory and Other Topics
- Title:
- Gambling Theory and Other Topics
- Author:
- Mason Malmuth
- Publisher:
- Two Plus Two Publishing
- Date:
- 1987
- ISBN:
- 1-880685-03-5
- Pages:
- 355
- Price:
- $29.95
September 4, 1999
Since he began writing gambling books, Mason Malmuth has always been one
of the most thought provoking writers on gambling related topics. This
book, Gambling Theory and Other Topics contains many of his
most wide ranging and provocative essays. Insightful and controversial, it
would be difficult for someone to read this book with an engaged mind
and not both learn something and find some topic worthy of debate.
The book is divided into six sections, each of which contains from six
to more than twenty essays. The topic of the first part is
Gambling Theory, where Mason introduces us to self-weighting
strategies. Right off the bat, Malmuth is controversial, essentially
telling us that investment diversification is a bad bet. I believe
his analysis to be correct, but he omits some important information
that makes it apparent why this is so, and why someone would still want
to diversify their investment portfolio. If I have one criticism of
Malmuth's writing, it's that he occasionally states a quality
opinion in more controversial language than it needs to be. I believe
fewer people would disagree with him, and some disagree most strongly,
if he selected different words with which to express some of his most
difficult ideas.
Part two discusses examples of the theories mentioned in part one. This
includes Malmuth's view on Money Management, the extremely important
topic of fluctuations, game theory, and other interesting issues. This
book was one of the very first to discuss these topics in any depth,
and the coverage here is still very good.
Part three covers fallacies in various betting schemes. Part four
covers strategies for poker tournaments. This is one of the better
sections in the book, in my opinion. Some very important ideas are
discussed here, and this chapter by itself is better than most books
on tournament poker.
Part five covers new games, including Pai Gow Poker and Super Pan Nine.
The information on Super Pan Nine is probably sufficient, but if one
really wants to learn how to play Pai Gow Poker, they're going to want
to read Stanford Wong's Optimal Strategy for Pai Gow Poker,
although the section in this book is a good introduction.
Part six contains some of Malmuth's less serious, although still interesting,
essays, including his views of some important historical events through
the eyes of a poker player and even an essay about bad beat stories
that I actually found to be worth reading. The book ends with some
concluding remarks and some very brief reviews of various other gambling
books, a topic near and dear to my heart.
Overall, I think this is a very strong book. Most of the information
here is still very timely, and very well considered. At times, I wish
Malmuth would spend more time elaborating on some of his more controversial
stances, explaining in more detail why he says what he does, but this is
a fairly minor criticism, and in some cases the reader may be better
served by having these ideas annoy them and, therefore, forcing them to think
about why they might disagree with the author's position. As I mentioned
earlier, the poker tournament strategy section is better than most
books on the subject. Certainly, for the serious gambler, this book
is worth reading.
One note: as of the writing of this review, the current edition is the
fifth edition. I compared it against
my fourth edition copy, and found a few minor differences. A couple
of essays have been added to the newer edition and at least one has
been dropped, but these differences are really quite minor. If one already
has the fourth edition or, I suspect but cannot state authoritatively,
earlier editions of this book, I doubt it would be worthwhile upgrading.
Capsule:
Gambling Theory and Other Topics is a very strong book
on gambling issues by Mason Malmuth. This is one of the first places
a large number of important ideas were first discussed in a substantial
manner, and the book has remained pertinent. Although Malmuth almost
seems to go out of his way to state some ideas in a controversial
manner, he's usually correct and, at worst, his ideas are almost certainly
worth serious consideration. I recommend that all serious students
of gambling read this book, although I don't see any reason for owners
of earlier versions to upgrade to the most recent edition.
Note: I received a free review copy of this book from Two Plus Two
Publishing. I have no other interest, financial or otherwise, in
the success of this book.
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