Gambling is often viewed by most a rather disreputable game. Many only see it as a game of chance - and in some cases this is true! However, there is an interesting set of mathematics that govern the way Casinos are run (or else their profits would be purely subject to the law of luck! And thus not make any profit and go bankrupt according to the Gambler's Ruin Theory)
This is the Gambler's Ruin Theory. A gambler starting of with say 100 chips begins playing a game of luck. He wins some and loses some (and as explained by Chaos Theory) he has streaks of both kinds of hands. Eventually however the losing streak will be large enough to send the gambler to 0. At 0 the gambler cannot play anymore and the graph stops. So, losses and wins are not continuous like say a chart of temperature could be, but will hit a constant when the gambler reaches 0.
Casinos generally don't go bankrupt (unless Ocean's Eleven decides to overcome your invulnerable security system). So the Gambler's Ruin is not in effect. If indeed there is a formula behind the casinos winnings, even if heavily dependent on probability and not solid integers, then of course the challenge is to come up with a playing formula to overcome the one used by the casino.
Unfortunately, although I have heard rumour of such play styles for games such as Blackjack, I do not know them. Or else why would I bother telling you? Hahahaha!
But the game that has piqued my interest is poker. Poker is not a game played against the house (i.e. the casino). It is played against other players. There are several versions of poker. The one that I have been playing is called Texas Hold 'Em. Like many things I am slowly trying to understand, the hint of a system glints just beyond my mastery.
To those who are unfamiliar with Hold 'Em, it is very straightforward. You are given a pair of cards like all other players. Then three cards are placed on the table (the flop). The one card (the turn) and then one more card (the river). Before each placement of cards, you may place a bet. Betting means you can 'check' (no money placed) 'raise' (increase the amount being bet of any other player by 2 times or more) and 'call' (place the same amount as another players bet). You may also if you think the bet is not worth it 'fold' (you pull out of the game and someone else will win the pot). All money placed during bets goes into the pot. An interesting move to make is "all in" meaning you bet all the chips you have!
So in combination with the mathematics of probability a streak of psychology also is involved in this game which makes it very interesting. Here are some of my experiences playing poker.
(1) Read your enemy. New players to the game are easy to read. Excitement when they have good cards and lack of knowledge when to pull out makes them easy targets since you can usually tell when to fold or push them to their limits. More experienced players are harder to read as they will try to hide their actions. Playing on a table of ten people it was interesting to watch how quickly beginners in the game were wiped out simply by even slightly more experienced players. And when up against good players, it became very difficult to catch them in a mistake.
(2) Body language. Things like fingering chips and even the proverbial twitching eyebrow betray emotion which is not a good thing. Being good enough an actor to pull off fake actions takes training and heck a lot of nerve and knowing when to do so is a developed skill. Example, if I had pathetic cards but another player has only average cards, it is possible to force him off the table by looking confident. However, if he has something like pocket aces in his hand, all the acting in the world will not scare him off and you have to be able to read that - or die very quickly to his superior hand.
(3) The curse of luck. In some cases Luck is a damn good thing to have. Pocket aces for example (meaning you get two aces in your hand that no one else knows about) is very powerful. But it means that all your skill and reading is nullified. You have no choice but to play your hand because of the good cards. Should any player have something dangerous appear during the flop, turn and river such as a straight, a triple or greater, your aces mean nothing. But being lured out by your cards, it is rare that you would choose to fold convinced that the other player has the winning hand.
Basically - Average cards in your hand is when your skill of reading others is most required and gives you the ability to push and pull according the cards appearing on the table. Low cards often are just folded without thought because the chances you win are low - you will chew your shoes though whenever for some stupid reason you realise you would have scored a full house consisting of 2s and 3s that you just folded. Oh well, don't stress, the 1 million other times, you would have lost with that hand. Good cards are good, but the better they are the more you are forced to depend on your good luck, and if justice is blind, lady luck has had her eyes torn out.
(4) The almighty "All In!" Done more often than you think it would occur. Done wrongly you will find yourself out of the game just like that. Play your cards well and this move is often the one that determines most of the outcomes during tournament games. Desperate players (with few chips left) often all in cos they have no choice and the statement their all in makes is weak. Winning players (who have lots of chips) making all ins are often trying to kill the desperate players by forcing them to depend on luck with weak hands. So - so players (with a fair number of chips) need to know whether their opponents are reckless or not to use their all ins.
I say - kill reckless players by all inning with good cards quickly because their play prevents you from pulling of tricks such as fakes and slows down your interpretation of better players levels of caution and play style.
Once again - Lady Luck can be a killer with the all ins. Too many times the last card revealed (the river) has devastated a perfectly played hand and awesome psychological reading.
(5) Mathematics and fishing. Fishing is the term for seeing what the opened cards reveal why paying as little as possible for it. Obviously, you place more money in if you think your chances are better at getting combinations. People with good cards often try to scare of people who are fishing by increasing the bets drastically (sometimes you don't need good cards to scare people). This is the core and bulk of poker. Know your chances well and read your enemies.
All in all, I must say I truly do enjoy the game. I believe there must be more levels I do not understand yet. I do not believe in free table poker as it means people who have more money can swing their weight and force money off people with less. Competition buy ins where everyone is playing with the same number of chips on outset make far more sense to me. So far I'm glad to say I haven't used any money on poker (cept for 2 dollars amongst friends - sorry mom) But I am seriously considering joining some competitions at some point when i need a bit of a thrill ride.
This is a good time to state my rules on gambling.
(1) Walk into the casino assuming you are paying for a game. The amount you have set aside is lost. Do not count on walking out richer - most of the time you won't.
(2) Set an amount of money you can lose. You are subject to the Gambler's Ruin. You cannot play indefinitely. So know your limits and have the discipline to walk out. For example if I say I can only lose 50 bucks and I have won 1000. If I begin to lose that 1000 to say 800 - get up, say thanks and get out of there.
(3) Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ^100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 be in debt.
(4) Have fun!
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