Review of Roulette Fortune Bookie

Title:
Author:
Serena Lee Ng
Publisher:
-
Date:
2003
ISBN:
-
Pages:
102
Price:
$13.99

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@jetcafe.org

June 10, 2003

Historians can't tell us for certain exactly when the game of roulette was invented, or by whom. Historians also don't tell us who invented the roulette betting method designed to beat the game, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it occurred about 5 minutes after the first casino with a roulette wheel opened to the public. As long as there has been roulette, there have been people scheming ways to beat the wheel. For some reason, this game seems to attract more method betters than any other casino game. Recently, I received a copy of the book, Roulette Fortune Bookie written by Serena Lee Ng. Does it unlock the secrets to this legendary game?

The book begins with some introductory material, including a brief description of how the game is played. Some background information of use to the reader is provided, while other material I would have expected is absent. For example, the reader is told what what sorts of bets and betting levels are expected at a wheel with a given posted minimum bet, but no mention is made of proper etiquette regarding when bets must be placed and when bets may be picked up. This book doesn't contain a thorough introduction to the game, it's intended for folks who have played roulette before.

After the introduction, Ng describes her method. Basically, it seems to involve "pre-qualifying" the dealer to determine what pattern the numbers are about to take, and then choosing bets based upon the previous result or results. After this brief description of the method, we have a set of tables which tell the reader which numbers Ng expects are more likely to come up based upon the last number hit. Since each of these sets of tables take up two pages, and the American roulette wheel (which is the only layout covered in this book) has 38 numbers, these tables make up the clear majority of this book's pages. The book closes with some more explanations about the author's betting methods.

In the first place, this self-published book could use an awful lot of copy editing. This isn't all that surprising, as I've generally come to believe that a grammatical error in the title (I'm reasonably sure Ng means "Booklet" rather than "Bookie") does not bode well for the rest of the book, and in this case these concerns are well justified. Despite a myriad of language errors, however, I believe the author is usually able to convey her meaning, so grammar is not the biggest problem with her explanations.

The biggest problem with the book is that the methods proposed are basically untestable. At any one time, I would expect that the recent history of the numbers to present multiple patterns from which the next number should be extrapolated. So, I can't determine unambiguously from the text which set of numbers I am supposed to bet on next. Consequently, winning results are probably obvious in hindsight, so they become a self-fulfilling prophecy, although there's no reason to think this will translate into cold, hard cash. Ng combines her vague predictions about which numbers will come up next with a Martingale-like betting progression (double up after losses), which means that over a short betting progression, the better is likely to be a small winner with a small, but significant, chance of being a big loser. The combination of this tendency with an indefinable strategy means that it would be practically impossible to prove to the author that this betting method cannot work in the long run. Despite this the house advantage, about 5.26% on an American wheel, is inescapable.

The author is likely to object that I'm in no position to decry the methods advocated in the book because I didn't give them a proper field test. Truthfully, I have no intention of ever putting enough of my money on the wheel to test her assertions. I am certain that the author firmly believes that there are patterns in the wheel, if only she can extract them, and if that feeling was good enough for Dostoyevsky, then who am I to argue? However, have every bit as much faith in the Central Limit Theorem as anyone could have in their favorite betting system, so I seriously doubt a debate would do anyone any good. Since this is my review, though, the bottom line is that since this book is neither entertaining nor provides practical advice, there is no good reason for anyone to purchase this book.

Capsule:

In my opinion, Roulette Fortune Bookie is yet another ill-conceived betting scheme for beating the game of roulette that cannot possibly win in the long term. Further, the book is not very thorough in it's coverage, is not rigorous in defining its methods, and is poorly written. I can't come up with a plausible reason why someone should pick up this book. Frankly, by giving this book a long and serious review, I'm giving it much more credit than I think it warrants.

Note: I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher. I have no other interest, financial or otherwise, in the success of this book.

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