Teach me something...

[wonder cow]

Anything..

In exchange I would be happy to offer an intro tutorial on programming or html, javascript, or something similar. I’m also knowledgeable about casino gambling, as far as house edge, odds, risk of ruin on games and stuff like that goes.

What else..well, I have some good moves on the low post with my back to the basket, but it would be difficult to teach via the interweb.

[Stoner]

Teach me something

Straight out of Survival School.Â*Â*If you are lost and have no compass take off your watch and point the hour hand at the sun.Â*Â*Halfway between that and the 12 is roughly due south.

Also if you want to know how much daylight you have left take your fingers pointed straight (minus thumb) and hold them up at the sun and horizon.Â*Â*If the sun is on your highest finger you have roughly 1 hour of light left.Â*Â*Each additional/less finger is equal to about 15 minutes.

[wonder cow]

Straight out of Survival School. If you are lost and have no compass take off your watch and point the hour hand at the sun. Halfway between that and the 12 is roughly due south.

Good to know.

OK. Lets see.

American Roulette has 38 numbers. 18 red/18 black and 2 green zeros. (0 and 00)

Most get confused and think this game is close to 50/50. But not so. American Roulette is a bad deal for the player.

Various bets are available with different payouts:

Red 1:1
Black 1:1
Even 1:1
Odd 1:1
1-18 1:1
19-36 1:1
1-12 2:1
13-24 2:1
25-36 2:1
Left Column 2:1
Middle Column 2:1
Right Column 2:1
Straight Up (One Number) 35:1
Split (2 Numbers) 17:1
Street (3 Numbers) 11:1
Corner (4 Numbers) 8:1
Basket (5 Numbers) 6:1
Split Streets (6 Numbers) 5:1

Here is the breakdown on the house edge for these bets (using $1 as the wager)

All 1:1 bets: winnings (possible ways to win/total number of ways * payout) 18/38 * 1 = .4737, losses 20/38 = .5263, expected value (wins-losses) .4737 - .5263 = -.0526, house edge (ev/average wager * 100) -.0526/1 * 100 = 5.26%.

All 2:1 bets: winnings 12/38 * 2 = .6316, losses 26/38 = .6842, ev -.0526, house edge 5.26%

Straight Up on a number 35:1: winnings 1/38 * 35 = .9210, losses 37/38 = .9736, ev -.0526, house edge 5.26%

And all of the other bets work out the same, except for the basket wager, which is worse:

The Basket 6:1: winnings 5/38 * 6 = .7895, losses 33/38 = .8684, ev -.0789, house edge 7.89%.

5.26% is bad in casino gambling. Worse than many slot machines. Craps, blackjack, video poker and most table games are better.

As a side not, European roulette has one zero and same payouts, therefore offers better house edge at 2.7%. With the en prison rule for 1:1 bets, the house edge is only 1.35%. (en prison: If a 0 comes up, bettors are allowed to either lose half of the wager or let it ride for another spin. If a 0 appears on the 2nd spin, all of wager is lost. Or if the color or number you are not betting on comes up, you lose. If your color or number comes up, your wager is set free, but you don't win.)

Cheers.

[BoogyMan]

If you are using Windows XP Service Pack 2 systems on a network with mapped drives you know that from time to time when you double-click the My Computer icon you have to wait a while before you are shown your drives. You can speed this up a great deal once the My Computer window is open by selecting Tools menu and choosing the Folder Options selection. In the Folder Options window click the View tab and then uncheck the "Automatically search for network folders and printers" entry. Click the OK button and viola, you should no longer see the slowdown when opening My Computer.

[Stoner]

I used to gamble for a living when I got out of the Marines for about a year.Â*Â*Definitly glad I got out of that lifestyle.Â*Â*The money was good but my life was going nowhere in a hurry.Â*Â*I actually still give private lessons once in a blue moon for people trying to learn different casino games.

I'll tell you what I tell all of the people I teach (not WonderCow)...Roulette isn't the worst game statistically...it's just there's better ones.

Every game in a casino has a house advantage represented by a percentage.Â*Â*Now keep in mind this percentage is based on you playing the game with good strategy.Â*Â*There aren't signs telling you what percentageÂ*Â*is what for each game.Â*Â*That knowledge you have to gather for yourself.Â*Â*

For example, one of the worst statistical game for the player is Keno.Â*Â*Everyone has seen Keno in a casino.Â*Â*They make it look so appealing.Â*Â*Stay away.Â*Â*Stay far away.Â*Â*In fact never play Keno...ever.Â*Â*Keno has about a 25-29% house advantage.Â*Â*That is absolutely horrible.Â*Â*It's definitly a money-sink.Â*Â*

Slots are another bad investment.Â*Â*Now the HA on these vary depending on what denomination machine you're using.Â*Â*If you're playing nickle or quarter slots the HA can be as high as 20%.Â*Â*If you move up to the $5 machines you have a HA of around 5%.Â*Â*Some may think that is good but in perspective 5% is still a bit high.

In the end what you're looking for is a game where the HA is as low as possible.Â*Â*There are 3 games that I highly reccomend for beginner bettors going to a casino for the first time.Â*Â*

- Blackjack (.2% for 1 deck).Â*Â*Percentage gets higher with more decks.
- Craps (1.4% depending on the bets you place)
- Baccarat (1.17%-1.36%)

These are the 3 games you want to concentrate on.Â*Â*All these games have a house advantage of less than 2 percent.Â*Â*Not too shabby.

If you are brand new and have no clue how to play these games with good strategy I highly reccomend Baccarat.Â*Â*You literally do not have to know how to play the game.Â*Â*Everything is done for you.Â*Â*There is no strategy or decisions.Â*Â*You bet on the player or banker and that's that.Â*Â*Everything else takes care of itself.Â*Â*By betting the banker you lower the HA by a few fractions of a percentage.

Now WC mentioned roulette.Â*Â*It's not a bad game if you stick to basics.Â*Â*The HA for roulette is about 2.7 to 5.3 percent.Â*Â*Not too shabby but there are better games that have a lower HA.

Definitly listen to WC when it comes to gambling. He isn't bullshitting anyone. His stats are pretty accurate.

[wonder cow]

You can speed this up a great deal once the My Computer window is open by selecting Tools menu and choosing the Folder Options selection. In the Folder Options window click the View tab and then uncheck the "Automatically search for network folders and printers" entry.

I am going to check that setting, because my desktop drags ass when I first open my computer. Good tip.

Blackjack (.2% for 1 deck). Percentage gets higher with more decks.
- Craps (1.4% depending on the bets you place)
- Baccarat (1.17%-1.36%)

Agree 100%.

He isn't bullshitting anyone. His stats are pretty accurate.

Thank you. Speaking of which, haha, I got to looking at the rarely used en prison rule I mentioned. I was looking at a calculation I made in the past and thought it looked funny. So when I did the math again I came up with something like 1.38% edge. True, hardly any difference from the previous 1.35%. But it turns out there are variations in the rules for this bet. The way I describe the play above actually works out to 1.38% house edge. If while "en prison", you don't lose if another zero comes but instead stay in the "en prison" stage, the house edge is 1.35%.