Nothing is a sure bet in
a casino, but streaks sure help
7 July 2000
By Mark Pilarski
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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