| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 5/26 |
| 2004/5/9-10 [Recreation/Travel/LasVegas] UID:30114 Activity:high |
5/9 My roomate gambles online 4-5 hours a day. He is really really good
(he's a pretty smart guy) and says that he actually makes
money because most of the people who play online are not that
smart. Here's my question. Say you're smart and can count cards,
know the statistics, etc, is it REALLY possible to make *consistent*
money by gambling?
\_ No, because eventually the casino will decide that they don't want
to play with you anymore.
\_ In games like poker, yes. At least if you make a habit of playing
against poeple less skilled than you. And the house doesn't care
because they are taking a cut no matter who wins.
\_ You have to choose less-skilled poker players to play against,
but you also have to cover the house-rake and dealer-tokes(no
tokes online). You may *win* against other players, but still
not be able to cover the expenses. You also have play at the
proper money-limits (levels) _and_ have the bankroll and
stomach and discipline to handle it.
Consistent is probably not the best word, because you have
to be able to handle the fluctuations -- sometimes you'll have
a streak of bad luck. You can win in the long-run, but not
all the time. Very few people can make *real* money at poker,
even fewer can make it professionally, and do you really want
that type of lifestyle? How much does your room-mate win?
If it's only 500 per week, for 40 hours per week online, is it
*really* worth it? Are you *really* making money, or actually
losing time that could be used to make *bigger* money elsewhere?
There's a difference between "winning" at poker and
"making money" at poker.
\_ what about those famous MIT kids who got kicked out of
Vegas forever cuz they won too much $?
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/US/MITgamblers030915.html
Makes me want to be a math major at MIT
\_ Big difference between BJ and Poker, but both
can be beaten. When I was in college we tried the
card-counting thing but (1) it's quite a bit of
hard work and long hours and (2) it takes a bankroll
which we didn't have. My friend got banned from
one casino just because he was joking around saying
he was keeping track of how many Aces were left.
It's not enough edge to win, but it pissed off the
pit-boss enough to say he "wasn't welcome anymore" |
| 5/26 |
|
| abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/US/MITgamblers030915.html The students realized that blackjack was the only beatable game in casino gambling -- and beat it they did. By the 1990s, the team -- whose membership rotated over the years -- was making regular trips to Las Vegas and winning big. The team used a method known as card-counting, which helps players predict when the cards being dealt will be favorable to them. By knowing which cards have been spent and which ones remain in the shoe, savvy players can keep a running "count" which works as a rough predictor of how many high cards are left. High cards work to a player's benefit because they boost the odds that they will beat the dealer. But they used their math expertise -- and advanced computer models -- to hone their skills to a devastatingly effective science. They wrote computer programs to devise the best strategy for specific situations, then updated their data with real-life experience. Then they would be sent to Vegas, where they would start out as a "mule" carrying cash, then work their way up in the team's hierarchy. The team visited Las Vegas regularly, peaking in the 1990s with trips nearly every weekend. When they hit a casino, they would first deploy a counter to sit in on a table and track the cards. When the counter calculated that the high cards were coming up, he or she would secretly signal the team's designated "big bettor" to the table, using code words to signal how "positive" the shoe was. But casinos, being private establishments, can eject and ban anyone they feel is a threat to their bankroll -- whether they're cheating illegally or counting cards legally. The casinos employ specialized security agencies to spot potential cheats and card counters. Knowing their work was verboten in the casinos, the MIT team assumed different aliases to avoid detection. Burns Semyon Dukach posed as an arms dealer while winning huge jackpots in Las Vegas as an MIT student during the early 1990s. Dukach used his Eastern European heritage as inspiration for his cover. They were given tickets to all the shows and soldout fights. The Party's Over It was not long, however, before the agencies started spotting the kids from MIT and tracking them. Look, this same guy is on the table," recalls Beverly Griffin, owner of a firm that tracked unwanted players for many of the Vegas casinos and published their photographs in an index known as The Griffin Book. Griffin's investigators began to put Cambridge addresses to the faces they kept seeing at the tables. And then they thought to look one step further -- at MIT yearbooks. Soon, the team began to be recognized by security guards at casinos all across town and asked to leave, thrown out of the nice suites and denied the luxury perks. For "Lewis" and the other members of the team, the game was up. They had won millions of dollars, but their playing days were effectively over. Mezrich's book is being turned into a movie produced by Kevin Spacey. One is tempted to say that the old adage is true after all -- the house always wins. |