Three strikes and you're
out!
10 May 2004
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
Have you ever heard of the "baseball" method
when playing slots? Carol C.
The essence of the baseball method is three
strikes and you're out. Yank the handle three
times, and if you are not getting any coins
trickling in the tray, move to another machine.
What this method does is prevent you from losing
oodles of money to any one specific machine that
is in a losing cycle. When you move along after
three pulls with no winning results, you never
become a prisoner to one machine—which has a
huge built-in mathematical edge—and put the
casino in position to grind away at your
bankroll.
Because the philosophy behind slot machines is
to extract (grind) as much money from the
customer as the cybernetic one-armed bandit can,
I recommend the baseball method because it
allows you to take advantage of a machine that
is going through a winning cycle, but not become
glued to a machine on a losing one.
Since all slot players experience the slot
machines logical concept every time they play,
insert coins -- pull handle -- open wallet for
more money, you might want to try, Carol, the
baseball method to slow the money exiting your
purse.
Dear Mark,
On your web site (markpilarski.com), you mention
on your biography page that you are a life-long
student of Texas Hold'em. Out of curiosity, why
Texas Hold'em and not games like Seven-Card Stud
or Omaha? Douglas G.
Texas Hold'em is the most popular form of poker
in the world. Besides its popularity, there are
numerous reasons why players love this game. For
instance, it's easy to learn, deceivingly simple
(though I'm forever studying the game) faster
and more action packed than most poker games,
fewer draw-outs than stud, it determines the
World Champion at the World Series of Poker, and
on and on.
I figured by your question, Douglas, that you
are looking for an academic answer, something
like the use of my aptitude in arithmetic or my
affection for the complexity of the game, but my
fondness for Hold'em is simple and
straightforward. As a tight player having
conservative starting hand standards, I love the
betting structure of Texas Hold'em compared to
all other forms of poker. I like the fact that
unless I am one of the two players to the left
of the dealer position required to post a blind
bet, I get to see my first two cards for free.
I also love that 71 percent of your hand is
defined on the flop (the three shared community
cards), meaning, you get to see 71 percent of
your overall hand for just a single round of
betting. So, Douglas, the ability to view plenty
of cards on the cheap with one round of betting,
while being ultra selective regarding my starter
hands and the hands I play after the flop, this
is what I find irresistible about Texas Hold'em.
Gambling quote of the week: "A losing gambler is
an albatross to everyone around him. He doesn't
get those warm glowing smiles from his family.
In a crap game he leaves the dice so damp with
defeat that the stick man pushes them clinically
to one side as though they were infected." Jack
Richardson, Xmas in Las Vegas (1962)
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