I will do this in multiple posts as there are so many different areas to cover that are of interest to me. I absolutely love reading books and have done since I was small. To give a rough idea I probably read a book a week on average and have done for as long as I can remember. It depends on what is happening (babies, young children, etc) but as a general rule these days I read books to try and help me switch off from the day to day travails of being a pro punter. It can be so all consuming that if you don’t have a release you would go mad.
I try to read about one non fiction book to every five fiction books. The reality is that it ends up at nearer one in ten. That non fiction book will tend to be related to either sports, betting, markets, psychology or business. I will always look to be learning something from them. We will look at some of these books today. No single book is going to suddenly make you great at betting or frankly any other area of life. I tend to find it is about taking one or two things from each book and trying to think about things slightly differently. Also, just enjoying the book and the stories told.
Nassim Taleb – It feels an obvious starting point as his collection of books contain so much good information and interesting concepts. My favourite is probably ‘Fooled by Randomness’. The books talk about things like luck, uncertainty, probability, risk and decision making. All hugely important for betting.
William Poundstone – His most famous work was ‘Fortunes Formula’ which tells the story about where Kelly’s Criterion came from and how it was applied. Given the importance of Kelly’s Criterion it makes sense to have an understanding where it came from and how it was initially applied.
Michael Lewis – He has written so many good books with the pick for me being ‘Liars Poker’, which was about Wall Street. He wrote ‘Moneyball’ which we now see played out in pretty much every sport every day. Also ‘Flash Boys’ is an interesting look at effectively ‘courtsiding’ in financial markets. A brilliant story teller.
Nate Silver – He is as famous for the website FiveThirtyEight these days but he also wrote a really good book about statistics and probabilities called ‘The Signal and the Noise’. He is one of the very best when it comes to Political markets. Just don’t pay any attention to his FiveThiryEight’s sports models! Politics yes. Sports no.
Malcolm Gladwell – His book ‘Outliers’ is the one of interest to me. He looks at successful people and the root causes of that success. As much a book about life in general as it is betting. It still has a few nuggets in there.
John Haigh – His ‘Taking Chances: Winning With Probability’ was a good introduction to probability back in the early 2000s when I was first starting out. I don’t know how dated the book would feel now but I would have thought a lot of the principles will still apply.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky – He is famous for many books, notably ‘Crime and Punishment’ and ‘The Idiot’. However his book ‘The Gambler’ is worth reading as it is one of the very first that talks about the psychology of gambling. Particularly about losing. It was written a long time ago but still feels very pertinent today.
Daniel Kahneman – His most famous book was the hugely popular ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’. This book can not only help you become better at betting but also your decision making in life generally. Help identify some of the biases you have each and every day.
Joseph Buchdahl – We may bang heads at times on Twitter but he has an impressive array of books on the theoretical side of betting. If you want to know about something like losing streaks and what is normal/can be reasonably expected he is your man.
Ed Miller/Matthew Davidow – ‘Logic of Sports Betting’. All you really need to know is that these are two of the most respected players in the market. Davidow in particular is regarded by many good judges as one of the very best and most feared around.
Ed Thorp – It doesn’t really matter which of his books you indulge in. He is incredibly smart and you will take something away from them. He was the first to explore the idea of card counting and using it to beat the casinos. He then applied it to the stock markets.
Joe Peta – He wrote a book called ‘Trading Bases’. It recounts his journey from being a Baseball nut to betting on MLB using models. An interesting insight.
Ben Mezrich – Another really good storyteller. Famous for ‘Bringing Down the House’. Has so many other good books though. One I found really fascinating was ‘Once Upon A Time in Russia’ where he looked at how the oligarchs made their money. Before Roman Abramovich was booted from Chelsea. How he was allowed to be involved in owning a Premier League club is beyond belief.
Michael Mauboussin – ‘The Success Equation’ takes a look at the relationship between luck and skill. A must read for serious punters.
Anthony Holden – This was a book called ‘Big Deal’ that I read very early on in my punting days but I still remember it. It was about a young poker player trying to go pro. It might be a bit dated now but gave a fascinating insight at the time.
Al Alvarez – ‘The Biggest Game in Town’. Another poker book that again might be slightly dated. Was a must read back in the day. Stories about all the big name players.
Richard Munchkin – ‘Gambling Wizards’ sees some of the biggest and most successful gamblers ever discussed in detail. Proper legends within the game.
Michael Konik – ‘The Smart Money’ is very interesting as it is one of the few books that looks at betting syndicates. He tells it from the inside. He also has other books that tell some other interesting gambling stories.
Patrick Veitch – Enemy Number 1 is certainly one of the biggest betting books in the UK. Some interesting stories in there from Mr Veitch but you wont learn huge amounts. He is very guarded and secretive and still is. My abiding memory of reading it was how many of the latter stories involved ‘information’ gleaned from being an owner.
Michael Craig – ‘The Professor, The Banker & The Suicide King’. This book is another poker based one but it really teaches you a couple of lessons about the importance of the size and power of a bankroll and game selection. Andy Beal is a billionaire who tried to take on Ivey and co.
Luke Rhinehart – Dice Man was a fun novel involving constant gambling. Every decision made was determined by the roll of a dice. It has its dark moments but the concept was very unique at the time. An enjoyable read.
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