Nothing
is a sure bet in a casino, but streaks sure help
Dear
Mark,
In roulette, if red came up five times in a row, would you
advise switching over to the black since streaks do not
last forever? Rich K.
One thing a player who has been around gambling for any
length of time knows is that the streaks can and will happen.
It is one of the many life lessons you learn in the casino.
Gambling, like life, is loaded with streaks. Many gamblers
bet streaks so they won't get emotionally involved in bucking
a trend. And when you are on one, Rich, oh the joys of telling
your friends and family.
But along with the above advice comes this caveat. For a
gambling analogy, note the agate type at the bottom of a
mutual-fund advertisement. "Past performance is no
guarantee of future results." In other words, just
because red appeared five times in a row, that does not
mean it will happen again. Assuming you are playing on an
unbiased wheel, the ball has no memory, and red can appear
again or not for the next 20 spins.
Dear Mark,
NASCAR is one of the fastest growing spectator sports. We
can bet on football, baseball and basketball, but how about
betting my favorite driver, Jeff Gordon, to win? Jimmy B.
You can bet Jeff's #24 Dupont car not only to win, but to
place or show. Also available are quinellas, exactas and
even some prop bets. My personal favorite is betting individual
drivers against each other. An example of this would be
Geoff Bodine in the QVC Ford finishing higher in the race
standings than Ward Burton's MBNA Pontiac. The reason I
love this wager is not my knowledge of the sport, the drivers
or the teams, but some sports books post the odds prior
to the finish of Saturday's time trials. Then they don't
change them. For those of us, Jimmy, who follow racing,
this can be a license to print money.
Gentleman,
start your wagers.
Dear Mark,
I have been told that before putting your first coin in
a video poker machine, it already knows what hand you will
be dealt. True or false? Denise C.
Video poker machines work like this, Denise. When they are
sitting in an idle mode, the machine is constantly crunching
numbers waiting for the next sucker-I mean gambler. When
a participant walks over and inserts a coin the machine
is triggered into knowing it has a live gambler on the hook.
The random number generator (RGN) crunching numbers stops,
then picks the combination of cards you will see on the
screen.
Dear Mark,
I have an amusing (at least to me) anecdote about losing
in a casino. I had been playing blackjack and lost about
$400. I then went up to my room and my wife asked me to
get her a soda. I went down the hall to the soda machine
and inserted my dollar. The machine wouldn't give me a soda
or my money back. I was grumbling about this all the way
down to the hotel's convenience store until I realized I
was more upset about that one dollar than all the money
I had lost all day.
Now
here's my question for you: Does the casino have more than
a 2% advantage on the soda machine? Andrew R.
Haven't you heard the saying, Andrew? "Change is inevitable,
except from a vending machine." Actually, I would guesstimate
your average vending machine holds about 5.26%, the same
as most of the bets on a double zero roulette table.
|
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Eggheads 
Allowed