Xref: utzoo comp.object:472 alt.gambling:303
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!markv
From: markv@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mark T Vandewettering)
Newsgroups: comp.object,alt.gambling
Subject: Gambling: Was Object Oriented Bashing?
Message-ID: <11708@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 23 Nov 89 04:36:48 GMT
References: <2664@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> <4602@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> <2220@dataio.Data-IO.COM>
Reply-To: markv@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mark T Vandewettering)
Followup-To: comp.object
Organization: Princeton University, NJ
Lines: 34

A digression has appeared here on a topic of relative interest to
myself.  I avoided responding to it originally, but will do now.  Any
followups should go to alt.gambling, where such discussions are common.
I have added it to the newsgroup line, please delete comp.object.

>Granted. But lets look at some figures:
>	pay_per_hour = rate_of_win * size_of_bet * bets_per_hour
>Assuming:
>	rate_of_win = .005    (.5%)
>	size_of_bet = $500    (house limit)
>	bets_per_hr = 20      (3 minutes per hand)
>gives a pay_per_hour of $50/hr. Hardly raking it in for such exhausting work.
>There are also serious problems because this is an *average*, which means
>there are possibilities of going $10 grand in the hole pretty easilly.
>You're gonna need a large bankroll and a lot of guts to stick it out till
>the odds have a chance to work for you.

There is no table in Vegas that takes 3 minutes to play a single
blackjack hand.  They should be able to sustain a much higher rate.  You
also have neglected the possibility of a single player playing multiple
hands.

Other ways to extract maximum profit in minimum time is to vary betsize,
although doing so is a pretty sure fire way to tip of the house that you
are counting.

>All in all, I'd have to agree that blackjack is not viable. Gambling in
>Vegas is strictly for 1) suckers and 2) entertainment.

If you are gambling, you are a sucker.  If you have an edge (and in
blackjack, it might be possible depending on the rules in effect at a
particular casino) then its just cashing a paycheck.

mark