2011 Off topic thread(basketball,movies,etc whatever)

[SPX]

I've always thought the Labouchere system is very interesting. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labouch%C3%A8re_system

[Ludo]

http://www.beatblackjack.org/

[MMA_scientist]

I am familiar with Labouchere. When I very first started gambling, like all noobs, I messed around obsessively with progressive systems, both positive and negative, before I turned to card counting (I am familiar with shuffle tracking, and there was a russian team that made it work back in the day). I still play a progression when I do play games of chance. I know I will not win in the long run, but it make it more fun and it does increase your chance of winning more in that session (and losing more).

My favorite is a fibonacci sequence, where you raise to the next bet in the sequence until you win, then fall back to the previous bet. You bet the sequence until you win 2 in a row. If I am playing craps I do this with a cap of 35. So I just go 1-2-3-5-8-13-22-35. If I win on 8, I bet 5. If I win that, I start over. If I run all the way through to 35, I lost and my session is over. It is is easy to remember and keeps me in the game.

If I am playing roulette, which I only do if someone make me, I do a positive progression. I play 2 of the 3 dozen and just keep stacking it up until I feel like taking it down. I like to play 2/3 because you get more runs that way, and roulette is so slow and boring.

[MMA_scientist]

There are some very simple card counting methods like the Ace5 method, that you can pretty much get even or a slight advantage with almost no effort.

[poopoo333]

I don't understand your craps system

[MMA_scientist]

1u on pass line. Lose.

2u on pass line. Lose.

3u on pass line. Lose.

5u on pass line. Win.

3u on pass line. Lose.

5u on pass line. Win.

3u on pass line. Win.

Stop. Start over.

1u, lose.
2u lose
3u lose.
5u lose.
8u lose.
13u win.
8u lose.
13u lose
22u win
13u lose.
22u lose.
35u lose. I lost, I quit and go play blackjack.

It is not a system, it is just a way of progressing bets mechanically. Saying it is a system implies that I think it is going to win... it isn't. The odds are going to be the same regardless of how I size my bets.

[poopoo333]

Oh ok. Do you just stick to the pass line or do you play all the other stuff too?

[SPX]

I am familiar with Labouchere. When I very first started gambling, like all noobs, I messed around obsessively with progressive systems, both positive and negative, before I turned to card counting (I am familiar with shuffle tracking, and there was a russian team that made it work back in the day). I still play a progression when I do play games of chance. I know I will not win in the long run, but it make it more fun and it does increase your chance of winning more in that session (and losing more).

My favorite is a fibonacci sequence, where you raise to the next bet in the sequence until you win, then fall back to the previous bet. You bet the sequence until you win 2 in a row. If I am playing craps I do this with a cap of 35. So I just go 1-2-3-5-8-13-22-35. If I win on 8, I bet 5. If I win that, I start over. If I run all the way through to 35, I lost and my session is over. It is is easy to remember and keeps me in the game.

If I am playing roulette, which I only do if someone make me, I do a positive progression. I play 2 of the 3 dozen and just keep stacking it up until I feel like taking it down. I like to play 2/3 because you get more runs that way, and roulette is so slow and boring.

The thing about the Labouchere is that mathematically it DOES work. You just have the table limits to worry about. I have never actually used it though so I am only vaguely familiar with it.

I have read up on most all the blackjack "advantage play" methods, whether it's card counting, shuffle tracking, spooking, hole carding, etc. It's actually interesting that you mention shuffle tracking, because it ties into the card clumping idea I was talking about earlier. Jerry Patterson (a blackjack hall of fame member who was later basically blackballed from the pro BJ community because of some of the ideas he started to promote) claimed a little while back to have developed a method to track favorable and unfavorable clumps of cards in a shoe. Not sure how much validity there is to that, though.

As for the Fibonacci sequence, I have heard of it being used. It looks like something that could keep you in the game for a while.

As for roulette, I have a strategy that I sometimes play that basically comes down to making several corner and split bets that cover a large portion of the wheel. It's been a while since I've even been inside a casino, so I can't remember the specifics, but more often than not something hits and it actually works pretty well a lot of the time.

[SPX]

There are some very simple card counting methods like the Ace5 method, that you can pretty much get even or a slight advantage with almost no effort.

I've read up on the Ace/5. The problem is that it's just too weak. Supposedly if it's coupled with comp counting then you can at least show a profit by getting free TVs and shit like that, but I'd rather win cash. Still though, the Ace/5 is interesting, and in a single deck game with favorable rules, it DOES show a mathematical expectation of a profit over the long run.

I learned the KO count at one point, which is fairly easy. I could do it in a controlled environment (i.e. in my living room with a friend who dealt slowly enough for me to actually work the system), but I know I could never actually do it in the casino.

Interestingly enough one effective pre-card-counting method was called "casing the aces." This only works on single deck where they don't shuffle too early. But it all goes back to this one guy--can't remember his name--who kept winning and the casinos had no idea how. Eventually he revealed that what he would do is watch the deck and if no Aces had been dealt halfway through the deck then he would up his bet in anticipation of a blackjack. (Or something like that.)

[Luke]

Patiently waiting on Sideloaded's opinion on table games

[zY|]

Not this shit again.

[Luke]

Patiently waiting on ZY's opinion on table games

Fixed it

[SPX]

Not this shit again.

[zY|]

inb4 spx reveals how to beat the odds at roulette.

[SPX]

Biased wheels, sector tracking. . .