Winning Without Thinking is one of Nick Mordin’s books and is designed as a guide to betting systems. It was a book I read very early on when I first started to take my betting seriously. With 21 chapters and just over 300 pages there is certainly a lot of information to take in.
Nick Mordin has a very nice writing style that makes it easy to read and, generally, everything is explained a simple enough manner that even beginners will be able to understand what is meant.
It begins with some nice stories about the Mad Bomber in the US and then goes onto explain what it is that can prevent you from making a profit using betting systems. In chapter two there is the Ten Commandments which are an excellent guide of the rules that you need to adhere to in order to make a profitable betting system. Breaking any of these rules will mean that you will usually (there is always the lucky one) fail to make a consistent profit. It is nice to see that these are at the beginning of the book for a change.
In the first half almost everything that you expect is covered, including staking, psychology of betting, why you should bet against the crowd etc…. there are even some more advanced techniques such as creating your own handicap (a basic version) and international racing.
Chapter eleven sees the change to more advanced topics starting with interpreting statistics. While this gives a good basic guide on how to go about using statistics in betting it is very much for the beginner and barely touches the surface on how to use statistics to an advanced enough level purely stats based betting. However, if you are just curious about some ways to implement statistics so that you can cross check your systems with some sound math then this is going to be enough.
The rest of the book looks in a little more detail at the different areas that you can focus onyou’re your systems, such as going, draw, patterns, before finishing with some information about how betting syndicates are run. The appendix actually contains some of the best information in the book including a complete over-view of the Dosage system.
This book is certainly not for the experienced bettor or those looking for a pre-made system. Although there are a few ready-made ideas, the book has sold so well and been around for such a time that I seriously doubt whether they would be profitable any more.
What it does provide is a good guide for the beginner looking to create a betting system that could work. The areas where you can fall over are pointed out and each chapter is, in effect, an explanation of an area of horse racing that you could look at to build your system. Nick does not go into huge amounts of detail in any of the chapters but, I think, expects you to take on the information he has given you and then go off and begin your own research.
Winning Without Thinking is written very much from the point of view of somebody who has only recently got used to using computers for data searching and so while some of the methods are slightly old the principles are nevertheless very important.
Overall this is a book that I would recommend as being one to read if you are new to betting on horses or beginning to look at your betting as more than a hobby for the first time. If you are more experienced and looking to get some more detailed information then this is probably not the book for you.
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