I think if I let myself go, I could really be addicted to gambling. I usually set a limit and don't go over it.
Of course, there was a casino on the cruise ship. We only lost $56 in there I think, so not too much damage.
However...I've thought up a black jack strategy and am wondering if it would be feasible. You would have to walk in with a few hundred bucks, but it might be a sure-fire way to keep winning.
You start off by placing a $5 bet. Each time you lose, your next bet should be 2 x your total bets in that "round." For example, let's say you place a $5 bet and lose. The next time, you would bet $10, then if you lose again, you bet $30, and so on. When you win, you start over again at $5.
It seems like I get a winning hand 20-25% of the time, so every 4-5 hands, you should win. Of course, that's in theory only, so you'd have to be prepared for more.
Using this strategy, the more you lose, the more you win (eventually).
As a borderline gambleholic, I can tell you it doesn't work. It does have a name though, the Martingale. The wizard of odds explains why it doesn't work here:http://wizardofodds.com/gambling/bettingsystems.html
They were having a promo. They give you $50 if you give them your phone number. Easy enough. I figured I'd get a call or two - tell them I wasn't interested in whatever it was and they'd leave me alone.
They called about once an hour for a week. I finally got them to leave me alone. The conversation went like this.
Them: We see you haven't deposited an money into your account!
Me: Yup. You see correctly.
Them: How are you going to win any money if you don't deposit anything?
Me: Well see - I was hoping you could give me another $50 to play with.
Them: That was a promotion.
Me: ...and?
Them: We only do that to get you to sign up.
Me: Then I guess I won't win any more money.
Them: What if we give you 50% bonus to whatever you deposit?
Me: How about you give me another $50... plus 50% of that. We'll call it an even $75 you give me and I'll keep betting.
Them: How do you expect us to make a profit if we give everyone money for free?
Me: When did I say anything about YOU making a profit?
My gambling strategy is to not gamble in casinos.
It is much more fun playing cards with friends.
If you lose, you don't lose a lot of money, and you lose it to one of your friends.
You know you have a reasonable chance of winning it back the next time you play.
Amber, Have you learned basic strategies for blackjack?
From what I've learned about blackjack, the house has a 52% to 48 % advantage. If you learn and employ basic strategies you can reduce the house's advantage to 50.5% to 49.5%. Basic strategies tell you when to hit, split, double down etc. Then if you can count cards, track high cards 10, J, Q, K, and Ace compared to low cards 2-6 you can increase your bet when there are more high cards left in the shoe. Increase your bet more depending on the number of high cards left compared to low. This obviously won't work on video blackjack or if the shoe is shuffled after every hand. You can gain the advantage over the house by an extra 1% or so and if you raise your bet when you know that you have the advantage you can make it pay off. Learning how to card count it more difficult than you might think. You have to be able to look around the table and see every card, add them up, still play your hand, and not make it look like your counting cards. I highly recommend "Bringing Down The House" by Ben Mezrich, it got me interested in all this.
Your strategy is interesting but if you lose 5 hands in a row you could be out $405 and you could be betting a high amount when the deck is against you.
Palmer: I used to deal Blackjack at corporate parties and stuff. Gambling's illegal in GA, so it was just pretend money. If a company wanted to have a casino party, they would call us and we'd come with the tables and stuff. Most of the time, everyone would get a $500 chip when they walked in, and there was a raffle at the end of the night that people could bid on stuff with their winnings. It was all very casual. I'd do stuff like give $100 to the person at my table who could tell the funniest joke while I shuffled.
So I have a basic understanding of the game. I do not count cards - seems way too difficult. I usually hit on 16 or lower, stay on 17 or lower, depending on what the dealer is showing. Double down on 10's and 11's.
You're right - if you lost more than 4 or 5 hands in a row, you'd need lots of moo-lah to keep it going. Maybe after 3 hands, you could change the formula to (total you've lost so far) + ($50) or something.
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because
those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
~Dr. Seuss
