Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I hope he's not downwind of the paper mill.

Everywhere is at one time or the other.

I was offered a job at one years back near Brunswick in Jasper, GA, the back side of nowhere.  I couldn't figure out schooling for the kids, Wayne County HS was not good at all.

actually craps is just about the only casino game where you can get true odds on a bet after the point has been established

Right, but you still have to actually play the point so you are paying something.

the 99% blackjack assumes various rules are in affect and you play perfect basic strategy course if you count the odds can swing in your favor

Exactly, there is a humongous difference between being Rainman and being a half drunk tourist distracted by cute waitresses.

never play roulette slots or keno they are sucker games

I know nothing of keno but I like roulette and I'll explain why. The odds for blackjack and craps are higher but you have to know what you are doing. With Roulette every bet has the exact same payout so you can't screw it up.

Additionally, my feeling is that Roulette is slower so even if you lose more as a percentage I think that you lose less per hour.

Example:
Say your drunken/distracted blackjack payout is 96% while the roulette payout is 94.7%. Ok, if you bet $1,000 at each then, on average, you walk away with:

• $960 in blackjack
• $947 in roulette

So blackjack is $13 better per $1,000 played but my experience is that blackjack is MUCH faster. If you figure one hand per minute at blackjack and one spin every three minutes at Roulette both on $15 tables then in an average hour you get:

• 60 blackjack hands costing $900 and returning $864, cost of $36/hour to play.
• 20 roulette spins costing $300 and returning $284.10, cost of $15.90/hour to play.

You are losing at both but losing slower at roulette.

This is when my coworkers do it - when it gets above a certain threshold. 

I just look at any lottery ticket purchase as throwing your money into a trash can.  If they hit the big one, I'll be happy for them.  But I know that won't happen, so it doesn't matter.  There's nothing to fear there.

Sure, people play the lottery for the "what if" factor and dare to dream stuff.  But I think it's just another case of our brains not being able to really wrap around these insanely large numbers (and conversely - miniscule odds of winning). 

So what if I go in with 20 other people to increase the odds of winning?  It might as well be 20 shades of red in hopes of getting green.  It ain't happening.

Oh I certainly understand the probabilities involved.

I explain it to some people this way-- "If I choose the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6, those are no more nor less likely to hit than a series that seems more sensible like 5,14,23,29,37,48."  People really don't understand how incredibly unlikely it is to pull ANY 6 specific numbers out of the hat.

Now, there is perhaps another reason not to play 1,2,3,4,5,6-- that series is extremely commonly selected.  So if it DOES hit, you're going to be sharing with a bunch of people.  Of course, you'd still be better off than not having won at all, so there's that.

So blackjack is $13 better per $1,000 played but my experience is that blackjack is MUCH faster. If you figure one hand per minute at blackjack and one spin every three minutes at Roulette both on $15 tables then in an average hour you get:

• 60 blackjack hands costing $900 and returning $864, cost of $36/hour to play.
• 20 roulette spins costing $300 and returning $284.10, cost of $15.90/hour to play.

You are losing at both but losing slower at roulette.

card counting does not require one to be rainman

it only requires one to bet properly so as not to be identified as a counter

blackjack can be beat but requires lot of practice which few are willing to do

Oh I certainly understand the probabilities involved.

I explain it to some people this way-- "If I choose the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6, those are no more nor less likely to hit than a series that seems more sensible like 5,14,23,29,37,48."  People really don't understand how incredibly unlikely it is to pull ANY 6 specific numbers out of the hat.

Now, there is perhaps another reason not to play 1,2,3,4,5,6-- that series is extremely commonly selected.  So if it DOES hit, you're going to be sharing with a bunch of people.  Of course, you'd still be better off than not having won at all, so there's that.

I didn't mean knowing the probabilites, but fully grasping the long odds of winning...above a certain point, it's just gobbly-gook.  A comp would be the distance of space from here to the furthest point we can see across the galaxy.  It's so vast, it' becomes jibberish.

card counting does not require one to be rainman

it only requires one to bet properly so as not to be identified as a counter

blackjack can be beat but requires lot of practice which few are willing to do

Yep. The problem with card counting is that to do it right, you need to vary your bets--raise them when the count is in your favor and bet minimum when it isn't. Well, that pattern is very easy for a casino to spot lol.

That's why the people who have had more luck "getting away with it", like the MIT Blackjack Team, worked in groups. Someone would be sitting at the table betting minimum doing the counting, and have a way to signal advantageous counts to another player who would sit down and bet much larger. 

But eventually they would have players who were burned by being identified and linked to others as counters, and get barred from the casinos, and the team would have to keep recruiting new entrants. 

Yep. The problem with card counting is that to do it right, you need to vary your bets--raise them when the count is in your favor and bet minimum when it isn't. Well, that pattern is very easy for a casino to spot lol.

That's why the people who have had more luck "getting away with it", like the MIT Blackjack Team, worked in groups. Someone would be sitting at the table betting minimum doing the counting, and have a way to signal advantageous counts to another player who would sit down and bet much larger.

But eventually they would have players who were burned by being identified and linked to others as counters, and get barred from the casinos, and the team would have to keep recruiting new entrants.

Not if you dont get greedy
a 1 to 7 spread is easy to spot
but doubling a bet after a loss isnt
a smart player will sometimes increase their bet when the deck is poor
there are many things a good player can do to avoid being labeled a counter

I dont like team play as it gets easier to be spotted especially with the face id software all casinos use

A good player plays different casinos not staying long in any of them

again its a matter of not getting too greedy

you win your $200 and you walk