We have no guest this week. Bob and I answer listener emails, and then discuss lessons we learned about gambling from starting out in backgammon.
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Podcast – Listener emails
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I have a legal question.
Recently lousiana passed a law that says Advantage players can not be excluded from a casino.
Can you elaborate on This new law?
Also if someone was tresspassed from a casino before the law, can they go back when it’s put into effect?
Hi Mr Munchkin and Mr Dancer,
I’m the one responsible for the question which “puzzled” Mr Munchkin’s mind “for a long time” (gambling addicts and advantage play)
I just wanted to clarify some points.
1) I’m not an addict. I have never played video-poker in my life, I barely go to casinos and I don’t play online.
2) I was not thinking about people who have a gambling addiction and could try to master video-poker but people already addicted to video-poker. Of course, we’re not talking about getting rid of the addiction but getting rid of the waste of money. In fact, I forgot to mention that in my question, but as a specialist who set up meetings in casinos to explain video-poker games, I was wondering if Mr Dancer had already been confronted to people who had an addiction and wanted to keep gambling (being in the “zone”, again N. Dow Schull’s book) but without wasting money anymore.
However, if we read Dow Schull’s book thoroughly, she interviews gambling addicts who say that they gamble until the last penny has vanished. So maybe this scenario (“advantage addict”) does not exist except for the few cases Mr Munchkin mentioned.
I am really interested in this kind of gambling (video-poker) because as Mr Dancer said, it’s the “crack-cocaine of gambling” and many LV locals play these games. And they also seem to be a good example if we think about the concept of “zone” explained in Dow Schull’s book.
I hope I clarified a little bit.
Have a good day,
Eric
The problem with addiction, of any kind, is not the expense of being an addict. It’s what it does to your life and your mind. Even if you get your fentanyl for free, you can still be an addict. Same thing with gambling. See gamblersanonymous.org if you think you need help. Also search for “dr. drew on anthony bourdain”, “stevie nicks on addiction”, “iggy pop on drugs” for some more info.
Richard stated if you have the edge you should always bet the table max.
I don’t agree with this statement as you have to control your bankroll to make sure you hav the edge.
For example, if you are playing full pay double bonus poker (100.17%) with a bankroll of 25,000. What denomination should you play?
Yes, of course you are correct.
I realize that I was speaking to the particular game he was playing which had a low maximum he could easily afford, but the audience didn’t know that. sorry for being unclear.
Basically you should never bet more than Kelly which is roughly current bankroll times edge divided by variance. You can always bet less to reduce risk, that’s probably a real good idea since full Kelly is considered highly aggressive, but you should never bet more. In a game like blackjack you also have to take into account that there may be further betting, such as splits and doubles. Also, if you’re card counting, you need to recalculate the variance, it’s higher than the variance of a full or an infinite deck. In video poker some promotions increase the variance, such as promotions based on royal flushes.
I was curious about your statement near the end of the show that Las Vegas city only includes a small area downtown near Fremont Street. The US Census Bureau estimates the 2017 population of Las Vegas city at 641,676 and states that it had a land area as of 2010 of 135.82 square miles. According to the city’s website, it has annexed additional land since then. I just wanted to point this out for the sake of accuracy.
Love the show! Thank you for all the valuable information over the years!
Just to provide a direct answer on the double bonus question, assuming perfect play (a questionable assumption), or more reasonably assuming the bounce back covers play errors, Jazbo puts the Kelly bankroll at 16511 bets, so as long as your bankroll is over $82,555 you could play dollar double bonus, and as long as your bankroll is over $41,277.50 you could play half-dollar double bonus, and as long as your bankroll is over $20,638.75 you could play quarter double bonus, and so on. Smaller bankrolls would be much better off with full pay deuces wild still found in the wild in Las Vegas.
Those numbers are most likely the LV Metro area. As many know, the strip is actually NOT in Las Vegas.
No, those numbers are not the LV Metro area. The LV Metro area is much larger, having a population of 1.9mm as of the 2010 Census and covering 600 square miles. Google it yourself.
I went to a class on JorB from Mr. Dancer about 10 years ago. I enjoyed it very much but did not understand why he said not to follow those rules unless I was betting $5. Perhaps I misunderstood his philosophy. Why wouldn’t the same rules apply if I was betting $1?
I also play craps. I realize the 6 and 8 come up more often than the other numbers for the points. But, it seems to me a huge expenditure to wager $5 and only receive $6 on a win. I am a cautious bettor and only buy odds on the4, 10, 5, and 9. The stickmen always seem to think that is very strange. I try to find tables with a $2 or $3 minimum bet.
Thank you so much for your help.