Anybody here ever make money gambling?

[jmc]

How does this parlor game work?

5 bored guys:

first guy challenges the other 4 to fool him in a series of coin tosses.

3 guys IMAGINE tossing a coin 10 times and write down heads or tails for each IMAGINARY toss.

4th guy actually tosses the coin 10 times and records the results of each toss.

1st guy reviews all 4 results and correctly declares 4th guy having the authentic results.

 

[CalG]

How does this parlor game work?

5 bored guys:

first guy challenges the other 4 to fool him in a series of coin tosses.

3 guys IMAGINE tossing a coin 10 times and write down heads or tails for each IMAGINARY toss.

4th guy actually tosses the coin 10 times and records the results of each toss.

1st guy reviews all 4 results and correctly declares 4th guy having the authentic results.

You lost me... did guy 5 die during the coin toss?

 

[Tractor Seabee]

There are only two games that skill at strategy gives the gambler an edge against the house. Blackjack and craps. There is a basic strategy based on what shows on the table plus a money management strategy. It takes a lot of practice and memorization. Two basic precepts most people lose sight of is; do no not drink their free booze and do not get greedy. DO NOT deviate from your strategy and leave the table when you lose 3 times in a row. You increase your bets on a scheduled basis when you have house money; always play there money against them, not yours. You can never win in the long run playing a flat bet.

Years ago, when I had a lot of disposable income, my wife and I practiced BJ at home heavily before a trip to the casino. We both had memorized the basic strategy to a T. We always paid for a 1-2 week vacation and often went home with $1-5K extra. Because we never cashed in more than $900 at a time there was never a W9G into IRS. We had a lot of fun and only spent 3-4 hours/day at casinos.

Ron

 

[CalG]

When you lose three times in a row, and walk away, when is the right time to return?

1 day, 1 hour? one minute? or one second? Are you playing games with logic, statistics or emotion?

 

[Jstpssng]

Here are almost impossible odds lately... the chances of me going 2 days in a row without it raining.

 

[CobyRupert]

I gambled today on the stock market. Made quite a bit of money too !

Yep.
I paid my house insurance, betting that it WILL burn down.

I believe that it's 1 in 2048... but I had to dig out an old textbook to come up with it. ( I can't believe that I still have that old crap around, it's been up in the shed since I moved here in 2003.)

Yep its (1/2)^11 or 1/2048.
So, 11 flips, first 10 are all heads: The chances of next flip being a heads is 50/50, but the next flip being heads is also a 1/2048 event. I HATED probability! Not concrete enough for me. For a long time my brain could only treat this like a contradiction (50/50 (1/2) vs. 1/2048); one event (the next flip) having 2 odds). But that's not true... a lot of that 1/2048 chance was "fulfilled/formed" by getting the first 10 flips to be heads. (1/1024 odds) Like I said, I hate probability. It makes my brain hurt.

Years ago, when I had a lot of disposable income, my wife and I practiced BJ at home heavily before a trip..

Uhmm.....thaaat sounds like fun. Why would you ever leave home?


...but seriously: Why do you need disposable income, if you always come home with a profit?

How does this parlor game work?

5 bored guys:

first guy challenges the other 4 to fool him in a series of coin tosses.

3 guys IMAGINE tossing a coin 10 times and write down heads or tails for each IMAGINARY toss.

4th guy actually tosses the coin 10 times and records the results of each toss.

1st guy reviews all 4 results and correctly declares 4th guy having the authentic results.

:confused3:

 

[DerbyRunner]

She is the only person I know that actually comes out ahead at the casinos. It's blind luck, I know.

For those who are interested, there is much science and math to be studied about gambling. That study can lead to changes in gambling patterns that can substantially alter the odds of winning. I have personal experience with these.

Many years ago, I studied and applied Ken Uston's (spelling?) blackjack technique at casinos. It involves playing single deck blackjack and counting the number of small cards that are dealt compared to the big cards. When you analyze that you then watch for the deck to become "rich" with big cards. Since the house must "hit" until getting at least a 17, their odds of "busting" was much higher when the deck was "rich." So when the deck was "rich," you made significantly larger monetary bets. When it was not rich you bet only the minimum.

The casinos knew to watch for people counting cards. But in those days they only had black and white cameras. So to defeat their countermeasures of watching you, you would always bet two chips. When the deck was not rich it was two $1 chips. When it was rich you best a $5 chip on the bottom and a $1 chip on the top. The casino black and white camera could not discern what amount you bet, only the number of chips. So this means you kept all your chips in a jumble-- not neatly stacking the $5's and neatly stacking the $1's. So the camera could not figure it out that way either.

I won money every time I used Ken Uston's blackjack system.

This is just one of many examples of using math and science in a casino-- which is entirely legal to do.

 

[oosik]

1975 - we were on vacation and made a pass thru Las Vegas. Stopped at a service station and while the wife used the restroom - I was supposed to be watching our six year old son. He had one quarter in his pocket and quick as a wink he plunked it in a slot machine.

Wouldn't you know but the darn thing came up a winner. Next thing I knew a request came over the PA system. "Would the parents of the young boy named "Eric" please come to the managers office. There was our son - mad as a hornet. He had won $4 or $5 and they would not let him have it.

You had to be at least 18 to play the slots. They did let me have the money. We beat a fast exit and never looked back. My son did get his winnings.

The wife was not at all pleased with the entire situation. I had to listen to admonishment on my lack of parental control for the remainder of that trip.

My son was happy. The restrooms were clean though.

 

[PILOON]

True story:
An acquaintance shared a room with me in Vegas for a 3 day convention.
First nite he hits the slots and wins $100. then lose that at craps or whatnot so back to the same 'lucky' slot and pulls another $100,
Naturally that hundred says 'bye bye' as well, so back to the lucky one and hits another $100.
That's first night.
Next AM his 'lucky' slot again stakes him for another day.
On the last night his 'lucky slot' actually paid out another $6-700 (I was cashing them in for him so I know to be true).
Being late AM and tired I left for shuteye but on the last casier run I pocketed $100. which he did not realize having imbibed so much.
In the last AM he claimed he had a ball last night but was now pennyless.
NO, I declared handing him that $100 that I'd held back.

Well at the airport he contributed that last $100 to the Vegas airport authorities as they had slots in the washrooms.
I had to pay the taxi fare when back home.

BUT HE HAD FUN!

(egas has slots every where, laundry mats, loos, grocery stores etc.)
I wonder when they'll install them in aircraft!

 

[tallyho8]

My grandfather made money gambling but, at that time he was the house. In the late 1800s he was a bookie at racetracks. This was before pari-mutuel betting when different bookies would set up their tables at the track and give their own odds to the bettors. Then he was a riverboat gambler when traveling the Mississippi River while traveling between racetracks as they usually had different racing seasons. He also made loans and was able to set his own interest rates according to the risk he was taking.

My grandparents had quite a comfortable living. I wish I had been able to meet my grandfather but he died in 1901, shortly after my father was born. My grandmother lived until 1938 and lost their fortune investing in gold mines and in the stock market when it crashed. She was not a wise gambler.