Is betting a horse who was claimed last start a winning strategy?What are the signs that an upcoming favorite looks vulnerable?How about if you combine a class drop with a jockey switch?Should you bet everyone who won last out by 8 lengths or more?You may have an opinion about these handicapping questions. But wouldn't it be nice to see long-term data? What if you could analyze these topics-and dozens more-by seeing how they did in every race in North America from 2014 through 2017-some 168,227 in all?That's what The Skeptical Handicapper: Using Data and Brains to Win at the Racetrack is all about. Is what you believe true? Let's find out.But this book is not just a dry recitation of numbers. Author Barry Meadow-who wrote Money Secrets at the Racetrack, the definitive guide to money management at the races-takes you on a handicapping journey which covers virtually every question you may have about what's profitable and what isn't, and why. He should know-for more than 20 years, he was a full-time thoroughbred player. And he was a steady, big-money winner. Now he reveals for the first time what he's learned-and what can help you win. With the help of thoroughbred analytic specialist Ken Massa of Handicapping Technology and Research, he'll show you exactly how to win now and into the future. With data and facts, not just opinions.If you're serious about winning at the races today, this is the one book you must have. And only Barry Meadow could write it.

Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics is an annual forum for new work in normative ethical theory. Leading philosophers present original contributions to our understanding of a wide range of moral issues and positions, from analysis of competing approaches to normative ethics (including moral realism, constructivism, and expressivism) to questions of how we should act and live well. OSNE will be an essential resource for scholars and students working in moral philosophy.

When Barry Meadow decided to take two months off from his everyday life to play blackjack in every Nevada casino, he had no idea what he would find. Leaving behind his business, his fiancee, and his son, he set out on the road with a suitcase, a tape recorder, and $8,000 on the trip of a lifetime.He ran into cowboys and Indians, suffered the Stardust curse, split 10s in Winnemucca, and learned more about real-world gambling than anyone should have to know.With wit and wisdom, Meadow takes you on an incredible journeyliterally, figuratively, even spirituallyall within the context of a professional blackjack player's remarkable way of life.Gambling lessons, life's lessons, Nevada geography lessonsthis one's got it all. One of the most highly acclaimed gambling books in the past half-decade.

This advanced guide to handicapping, which includes a new Foreword by the author, is chock-full of the wit and wisdom that have made Beyer a legend in the sport. The Winning Horseplayeroffers the sophisticated bettor invaluable advice on handicapping and betting. "(Beyer) is the grand guru . . . of handicapping".--Boston Globe

The author of Placebo: The Belief Effect draws on real-life examples and detailed research findings to counsel readers on how to make appropriate decisions based on accurate assessments of risk, revealing common flaws in human thinking processes that compromise personal judgment. 40,000 first printing.

This “marvelously absorbing” book is “a walk on the wild side of words and ventures into the zone where language and mathematics intersect” (San Jose Mercury News). A former Wall Street Journal reporter and NPR regular, Stefan Fatsis recounts his remarkable rise through the ranks of elite Scrabble players while exploring the game’s strange, potent hold over them—and him. At least thirty million American homes have a Scrabble set—but the game’s most talented competitors inhabit a sphere far removed from the masses of “living room players.” Theirs is a surprisingly diverse subculture whose stars include a vitamin-popping standup comic; a former bank teller whose intestinal troubles earned him the nickname “G.I. Joel”; a burly, unemployed African American from Baltimore’s inner city; the three-time national champion who plays according to Zen principles; and the author himself, who over the course of the book is transformed from a curious reporter to a confirmed Scrabble nut. Fatsis begins by haunting the gritty corner of a Greenwich Village park where pickup Scrabble games can be found whenever weather permits. His curiosity soon morphs into compulsion, as he sets about memorizing thousands of obscure words and fills his evenings with solo Scrabble played on his living room floor. Before long he finds himself at tournaments, socializing—and competing—with Scrabble’s elite. But this book is about more than hardcore Scrabblers, for the game yields insights into realms as disparate as linguistics, psychology, and mathematics. Word Freak extends its reach even farther, pondering the light Scrabble throws on such notions as brilliance, memory, competition, failure, and hope. It is a geography of obsession that celebrates the uncanny powers locked in all of us, “a can’t-put-it-down narrative that dances between memoir and reportage” (Los Angeles Times). “Funny, thoughtful, character-rich, unchallengeably winning writing.” —The Atlantic Monthly This edition includes a new afterword by the author.

"Precision ... Statistical and Mathematical Methods in Horse Racing" thoroughly discusses the mathematical and statistical methods in handicapping and betting techniques. Differentiations, combinatorics, normal distribution, kernel smoothing and other mathematical and statistical tools are introduced. The jargons and equations are kept to a minimum so that it is easy to understand for most readers. More than 20 professional programs are freely available to download, which can allow readers to easily apply the methodology introduced in the book. This book can be divided into three main parts: horse handicapping (Chapters 2-6), wagering (Chapters 7-9) and theories in practices (Chapters 10-11). Chapter 1 will explain why long term gains are possible in horse racing. About horse handicapping, we will start with analysing racing forms in Chapter 2. Other handicapping factors such as weight carried, jockeys, trainers and pedigrees will be discussed in Chapter 3. Some advanced statistical methods, such as chi-square test and kernel smoothing, will be introduced in Chapter 4 to further analyse those handicapping factors discussed in previous chapters. The following two chapters are about probability estimations. In Chapter 5, normal distribution and multinominal logistic regression are introduced in estimating winning probability of each race horse. In Chapter 6, we will talk about some methods in misconceptions in estimating placed probability. Two main concepts in wagering, Kelly criterion and hedging, will be discussed in Chapters 7 and 8. To hit exotic pools, those theories in combinatorics in Chapter 9 will definitely help the readers. The author will share his experiences in betting syndicate in Chapter 10, and tell you how to be a successful professional horseplayer in the last Chapter. Some readers may find the mathematics in this book difficult, but the free program will take your pain away and do all the calculations. You can simply apply all the professional formulae by no more than a click, and pick your horses like an expert analyst. As an awardee in Asian-Pacific Mathematics Olympiad, the author abandoned his career as an actuary and became a key member in a gambling syndicate. This book was reprinted in the 4th edition in Hong Kong, ranked #2 in the best-selling chart in the international Chinese weekly Yazhou Zhoukan, and now available worldwide.