Favorite Wagering Activities

[Dunbar]

Originally Posted by hockey2315

1. Horses
2. Football
3. Jai Alai
4. Poker
5. Blackjack

There is a good Jai Alai book that I wish I'd written. It contains an idea I had but sat on for too long, and this author did a good job of working out the odds.

The idea is to figure out exactly how much bias there is in certain quinella and perfecta combos coming up, simply as a result of the game structure. That is, you assume initially that each player (or team) has an equal chance to win a point, and then you see how often 1,2 wins compared to 1,8 or 4,5, etc. The structure creates big differences. (for those who've never seen Jai Alai, 8 players compete. First #1 plays #2; the winner stays on and plays #3, and so on. There's more to it than that, though.)

I think many jai alai bettors understand this intuitively, but I doubt more than a handful have good info on how to apply it. Most bettors I knew growing up in Florida just played their "favorite" numbers. I didn't get too excited about the concept myself because of how small the pools are and worries about cheating. But I did think it would make a good article or book.

--Dunbar