{"id":121726,"date":"2021-08-07T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=121726"},"modified":"2021-07-03T08:44:07","modified_gmt":"2021-07-03T15:44:07","slug":"colin-jones-season-1-episode-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-season-1-episode-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Colin Jones: Season 1 Episode 7"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

That\u2019s a pretty dry title for this post, about as aptly dry\nas Colin Jones\u2019s \u201cThe 21st<\/sup>-Century Card Counter.\u201d But the movie\ntitle\u2019s better than the book\u2019s. \u201cHoly Rollers\u201d\u2014not just a play on words, but\nalso an oxymoron that Hollywood loves. Remember that moment when the Preacher\ngunslinger swaps his clerical collar for a pistol in Pale Rider<\/em>? And now\nNetflix has brought us Warrior Nun<\/em>. It\u2019s very entertaining watching the\nostensible pacifist using violence to attain a righteous end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christians, who are presumed to have an aversion to\ngambling, take on the House, trying to stick it to the Man (meaning the casino,\nnot the big G). The result is high drama, and subsequently a blackjack factory\nat blackjackapprenticeship.com [to which I have no affiliation].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is there really anything anti-Christian about gambling? In\nhis autobiographical book, CJ mentions the pushback he got from his \u201cChristian\u201d\nfriends. I would point out that a person entering the AP world as a career will\nget pushback from non-Christian family and friends, too. If you need my\ncredentials for empathy with CJ, I will mention that my dad was an ordained\nminister, both my parents had PhDs in theology, and I was once caught playing\nmah-jongg with friends in the basement of the local Methodist Church on\nChristmas Eve. The minister barked at us and scowled, like a sweaty pit boss,\nbut compounded with some fire-and-brimstone apocalyptic warning about this\nbeing neither the time nor the place to be doing what we were doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There isn\u2019t really any anti-gambling agenda in the Bible,\nbut church-goers seem to have a kneejerk assumption that if society at large\nattaches some stigma to an activity, then the official Church policy would have\nto be politically to the right of that. Since society pretends to view gambling\nas a vice, then the Church would have to condemn gambling at least as strongly,\nright? Ignore the haters, CJ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what is gambling? What is its defining characteristic? Randomness?\nThe bible mentions casting lots as a decision-making method for a group, and\nthe statistician\u2019s \u201cfair coin\u201d is fair because it makes an egalitarian choice\nknown to be free of any nefarious motive. Quantum theorists wrestle with the\nidea that there might be randomness embedded in the structure of the universe,\neven deeper than simply our inability to measure things. Einstein\u2019s\nmisinterpreted quote about God playing dice was not meant to cast any moral judgment\non randomness itself. And perhaps the nature of divine knowledge is not dice\ncontrol or foresight of the outcome of dice, but knowledge of the odds of the\nuniverse\u2019s dice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

APs are not the only ones with random incomes. A food server\ngets variable tips each night. An investment banker gets a variable bonus at\nthe end of the year. A law firm can\u2019t predict what clients will come through\nthe door, or what the jury awards and billable hours will turn out to be. An\nUber driver can\u2019t exactly predict the fares that will pop up on that little\nscreen. Last I checked, the amount of cash thrown into the collection plate at\nSunday church is unpredictable! (And don\u2019t some churches have casino-night\nfundraisers and run bingo games???) The Bible doesn\u2019t condemn random financial\nrewards; rather, it condemns the love of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early in my own career I thought about the definition of \u201cgamble\u201d\nin another context. With my American BP, I would say the word \u201cgamble\u201d to\nsignal that I didn\u2019t have any hole-card information. Two Chinese brothers who sometimes\njoined our table would say \u201cgamble\u201d when making a play such as doubling A8\nagainst a dealer\u2019s known hard 16. At first, I thought that their use of the\nword \u201cgamble\u201d was very different from mine, until I realized that both of our\nteams were using the word \u201cgamble\u201d to mean \u201cto do something risky or dangerous.\u201d\nTo them, doubling A8 is risky. To me, playing a hand of blackjack without knowing\nthe hole card is risky!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In society at large and the English language, there is a\nnegative connotation to the word \u201crisk.\u201d But for all the pessimists who see a\nrack half full, I see a rack half empty. Evolution actually rewards a species\nwhose members are willing to take personal risks. Risk-taking involves a\npositive externality, meaning that the group benefits from a risk taken by an\nindividual. The astronauts who went to the moon might have died, but their\nsuccess benefits us all. A person who tries a new food or experimental medical\ntreatment advances science, but takes a personal risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t see anything morally reprehensible about randomness\nor risk. Then what is so bad about \u201cgambling\u201d? CJ nails it on page 24 when he\nasks \u201cIs card counting even gambling?\u201d What we are doing in the casino is\ncompletely different from what the degens are doing. It\u2019s a different activity,\nwhich is why Stanford Wong used to call it \u201cshort-term investing\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at degenerate gambling, do we see greed? Check.\nSloth? Check. Envy? Check. In fact, let\u2019s double-check that one, since some of\nthe games have an \u201cEnvy Bonus\u201d! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three sins out of seven ain\u2019t bad. During my last casino\nvisit, I saw security guards eject a gambler who was cursing out the dealer. We\ngot Wrath in the house! And looking at the CWs and party-pit dealers and go-go\ndancers (have you been to the new Circa?) makes me think that Lust is a no-brainer.\nAnd did you see the line for the seafood buffet? Definite Gluttony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you don\u2019t have to go far into the pit or online to find\na guy who boasts about betting 2x$15000, or making $50k today sitting in his\nunderwear, or using Wong Halves or RevereAPC. Pride\u2019s an easy check, FTW!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the Seven Deadly Sins aren\u2019t mentioned in the Bible,\nmost church-goers buy into the doctrine, and Vegas marketing itself as \u201cSin\nCity\u201d doesn\u2019t help CJ\u2019s cause. But within the seven, Greed and Pride are\nconsidered the big two. To win some obscene amount of money that was unearned\ngoes against the Western\/Christian\/capitalist ethic that people should get what\nthey deserve. A lazy person who buys a lottery ticket does not \u201cdeserve\u201d to get\nrich. (Last I checked, people get lucky all the time in other businesses, but\nwe\u2019ll worry about our own house.) Every degen who sets foot in a casino is\nhoping to get rich, and some of them even expect to win, despite playing a mathematically\nnegative game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successful APs are willing to put in the time working on\ntheir game, and Greed is not a pre-requisite. The AP does not ask to win\nwithout effort, or win more than EV. Sure, the AP tries to make money from his\nactivity, but are the people stocking shelves at Walmart volunteers? All those \u201cChristians\u201d\ngiving CJ grief are in the real-estate business building glass houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The smug Pride of the rookie counter who thinks he knows\neverything about the game usually goes out the window when the first 100-hour\nlosing streak comes, at least for the ones who go on to become successful APs. God\nloves everyone, but more-so hard workers who constantly try to improve! God\nhates squandered gifts. Pope Francis would back me up on that interpretation of\nChurch doctrine. (We called him \u201cF Money\u201d when he used to BP for us, and he was\nso smooth, except I thought his hat didn\u2019t really blend in.) So I think CJ can\nrest easy on his career path in general, except \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does God have to say about splitting Tens? Omg, that\u2019s\njust plain Greedy!<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s a pretty dry title for this post, about as aptly dry as Colin Jones\u2019s \u201cThe 21st-Century Card Counter.\u201d But the movie title\u2019s better than the book\u2019s. \u201cHoly Rollers\u201d\u2014not just a play on words, but also an oxymoron that Hollywood loves. Remember that moment when the Preacher gunslinger swaps his clerical collar for a pistol […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[1979,2055,2049],"yoast_head":"\nColin Jones: Season 1 Episode 7 - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-season-1-episode-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colin Jones: Season 1 Episode 7 - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That\u2019s a pretty dry title for this post, about as aptly dry as Colin Jones\u2019s \u201cThe 21st-Century Card Counter.\u201d But the movie title\u2019s better than the book\u2019s. \u201cHoly Rollers\u201d\u2014not just a play on words, but also an oxymoron that Hollywood loves. Remember that moment when the Preacher gunslinger swaps his clerical collar for a pistol […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-season-1-episode-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lasvegasadvisor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-07T11:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-03T15:44:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lva_tweet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@lva_tweet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/\",\"name\":\"Gambling With An Edge\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-season-1-episode-7\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-season-1-episode-7\/\",\"name\":\"Colin Jones: Season 1 Episode 7 - Gambling With An Edge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-07T11:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-03T15:44:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#\/schema\/person\/94db5004ae3058fe125e19d43454b787\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-season-1-episode-7\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-season-1-episode-7\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/colin-jones-season-1-episode-7\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Colin Jones: Season 1 Episode 7\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#\/schema\/person\/94db5004ae3058fe125e19d43454b787\",\"name\":\"James Grosjean\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/GWAEGrosjeanAvatar2-Copy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/GWAEGrosjeanAvatar2-Copy.jpg\",\"caption\":\"James Grosjean\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/author\/james-grosjean\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121727,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121726\/revisions\/121727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}