cover -- copyright page -- title page -- Contents -- Preface to the First Edition -- Preface to the Second Edition -- Acknowledgements and Dedication -- 1 The Phenomenon of Gambling -- 1.1 A selective history -- 1.2 The gambler in fact and fiction -- 2 Finite Probabilities and Great Expectations -- 2.1 The probability concept and its origins -- 2.2 Dice, cards, and probabilities -- 2.3 Roulette, probability and odds -- 2.4 Compound probabilities: The rules of the game -- 2.5 Mathematical expectation and its application -- 2.6 Exercises -- 3 Backgammon and Other Dice Diversions -- 3.1 Backgammon oversimplified -- 3.2 Rolling spots and hitting blots -- 3.3 Entering and bearing off -- 3.4 The doubling cube -- 3.5 Craps -- 3.6 Chuck-a-Luck -- 3.7 Exercises -- 4 Permutations, Combinations, and Applications -- 4.1 Careful counting: Is order important? -- 4.2 Factorials and other notation -- 4.3 Probabilities in poker -- 4.4 Betting in poker: A simple model -- 4.5 Distributions in bridge -- 4.6 Keno type games -- 4.7 Exercises -- 5 Play it Again Sam: The Binomial Distribution -- 5.1 Games and repeated trials -- 5.2 The binomial distribution -- 5.3 Beating the odds and the "law" of averages -- 5.4 Betting systems -- 5.5 A brief blackjack breakthrough -- 5.6 Exercises -- 6 Elementary Game Theory -- 6.1 What is game theory? -- 6.2 Games in extensive form -- 6.3 Two-person games in normal form -- 6.4 Zero-sum games -- 6.5 Nonzero-sum games, Nash equilibria and the prisoners' dilemma -- 6.6 Simple n-person games -- 6.7 Power indices -- 6.8 Games computers play -- 6.9 Exercises -- 7 Odds and Ends -- 7.1 The mathematics of bluffing and the Texas Holdem invasion -- 7.2 Off to the races -- 7.3 Lotteries and your expectation -- 7.4 The gambler's ruin -- Answers/Hints for Selected Exercises -- Bibliography -- References from the text.

Other relevant works not referenced directly in the text -- Selected references and web links on specific games and activities -- Index -- About the Author.