The House Advantage Playing the Odds to Win Big In Business

by Ma, Jeffrey; Mezrich, Ben

• ISBN13: 9780230622722
• ISBN10: 0230622720
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-07-06
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

As part of the notorious MIT Team depicted in Ben Mezrich's now classicBringing Down the House, Jeff Ma used math and statistics to master the game of blackjack and reap handsome rewards at casinos. Years later, Ma has inspired not only a bestselling novel and hit movie, but has also started three different companiesthe latest of which, Citizen Sports, is an innovative marriage of sports, betting, and digital technologyand launched a successful corporate speaking career.The House Advantagereveals Ma's cutting-edge mathematical insights into the world of statistics and makes them applicable to a wide business audience. He argues that numbers are the key to analyzing nearly everything in the world of business, from how to spot and profit from global market inefficiencies to having multiple backup plans in anticipation of every probability. Ma's stories and business lessons are as intriguing as they are universally applicable.

Author Biography

Jeffrey Ma was a member of the MIT blackjack team, which utilized sophisticated card-counting strategies to beat casinos at blackjack worldwide in the mid-1990s, and was the basis for the main character of the book Bringing Down the House and the film 21. He has been the technology lead for two internet startups and was an options trader on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. He co-founded PROTRADE, a sports stock market website, and consults for professional sports teams including the Portland Trail Blazers and the San Francisco 49ers. He lives in San Francisco, CA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Foreword	p. xv
The Religion of Statistics	p. 1
Why the Past Matters	p. 23
Think Like a Scientist	p. 43
The Importance of Asking Questions	p. 63
The Impractical Search for Perfection	p. 81
Using Numbers to Tell a Story	p. 99
Never Fear	p. 119
Making the Right Decision	p. 137
When I Won, We All Won	p. 159
Why People Hate Math and What to Do with Them	p. 173
The Brain Cells in Your Stomach	p. 191
Epilogue	p. 211
Appendix: Basic Strategy Chart	p. 227
Notes	p. 229
Index	p. 235
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