Last time, we discussed the value of being female for an AP. Since female skill will tend to be underestimated by predominantly male casino bosses, females can be ringers at the game. Unfortunately for the female AP, that benefit is tempered by the increased visibility and memorability that they’ll have. But Munchkin’s statement was that being an “Asian female” would be worth an extra $1 million for an AP’s career. So let’s look at Asian-ness in the gambling world.
For my readers who are not Asian-American, I think you’ll never quite appreciate the role of gambling in Asian culture compared to the US, unless you travel widely and spend a lot of time in casinos around the world. If you think that Vegas is the capital of the gambling world, well, you really need to see Macau. Asians love to gamble. This isn’t a genetic or racial issue; it’s quite obvious from going to casinos that people of all races, genders, ages, and nations love to gamble. Humans love to gamble (and there’s an evolutionary benefit to our species that individuals are willing to gamble).
But while Americans like their sports betting, betting on football and baseball, and the Canadians bet on their hockey, and the Brits bet on their soccer, the Asians just say: “Why do we need the sports? We don’t need no stinkin’ sports!” Compare Sylvestor Stallone‘s prison escape to Jet Li‘s (watch until the end). Before Chow Yun-fat became a Hollywood icon as a swordsman in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, he was already a film star in Asia. His biggest role? The God of Gamblers.
Despite being the most boring game ever invented, baccarat is the most popular game in Macau. (Some of the casinos there don’t even offer blackjack!) Baccarat is as simple and boring as a coin toss, but without the purity. But even a coin toss gets interesting if you bet enough on it. So the monstrous casinos in Macau have rows and rows of baccarat tables, with action and table limits that you wouldn’t believe. You could bet $2 million on the tie in baccarat. Despite Western media trying to suggest that the CIA was grooming Kim Jong-Nam to overthrow his brother, the reality is that Jong-Nam just wanted to play baccarat in Macau, and Jong-Un is too evil to let that continue.
The late BJTraveller played blackjack in well over 100 countries (130?), and he deserves credit for being absolutely fearless (Nepal threw him in jail for 76 days), but he was fortunate to be an ideal demographic: an older, overweight, Asian male, complete with Asian accent and Asian passport. Perfect! This man could bet in any casino, anywhere, for any stakes. The chameleons and salamanders are envious.
Would being female have been better for BJTraveller? I’d say no, because he went to many places where being female would stand out or pose a safety risk. But in the context of our US discussion (I don’t have much international experience), we saw that the main problem with being female was the heightened visibility and memorability.
But if we add Asian-ness, then that solves the exposure problem. An Asian female will not stand out so much, even if betting big, and would not be that visible or memorable to an American boss. Studies show that subjects have a harder time distinguishing faces among people of a different race, so a white boss looking at Asian gamblers sees nothing but a school of fish.
If we layer on a language barrier, or a perceived language barrier, a white male boss is less likely to flirt with or chat with an Asian female player. We see the same thing among casino staff—white dealers and bosses tend to not hang out with their Asian colleagues in the break room and after work.
I’ve had several Asian BPs over the years, both male and female, and of various Asian backgrounds: Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Japanese, Filipino, Korean. I can’t recall any of the Asian females ever getting backed off on a trip. The “Asian female” demographic has such complementary pieces: the benefit of being an underestimated female, while blending in and being unmemorable as an Asian.
In particular venues, other demographics could blend in quite well, like a Saudi in London, or a Greek in Cyprus, or a black person in Gary, Indiana. But being Asian is like having type O blood. An Asian is a universal bettor, blending in pretty well anywhere. If I had to pick the best overall demographic, I might still pick “Asian male” over “Asian female” (especially for nosebleed stakes or international play), but that’s like trying to pick between strawberries and blueberries.
As far as Munchkin’s original statement that “Asian female” would be a $1 million career boost, Snopes rates the statement as: True.
“As far as Munchkin’s original statement that “Asian female” would be a $1 million career boost, Snopes rates the statement as: True.“ — Dean of APs.
I studied Labor Economics in college and one topic was wage differentials due to gender: That a female got paid $0.80 per dollar versus a man, etc. So I asked my professor: Do female supervisors support this wage differential? The answer was surprisingly yes: That female supervisors did not believe a female worker should be paid the same as a male worker. My jaw dropped at learning how female supervisors weren’t going to help their fellow “sisters”.
It wasn’t until I started watching Jordan Peterson videos and then it made sense. Women tend to be more agreeable and less confrontational. Guys are less agreeable and will fight and negotiate harder to get raises and better pay. Additionally, women tend to be nurses; guys tend to be engineers, etc. It was temperament based on agreeable, career selection, etc that explain this wage differential.
To argue by fiat (or default), an Asian Female is automatically $1 million better off is silly. It has to do with her temperament. If she wants a $1 million more, she has got to be fearless and fight for it.
I don’t have much recent experience on table games since I retired a long time ago but in the world of MPs: Guys are more ruthless at stealing games, marking machines, staying up longer, etc. It’s predominantly a male centric profession. When it comes to connecting the ellipsis, it mostly guys who push the envelope.
You think gender wouldn’t play a role in pushing buttons, but it’s more males checking machines and pushing the buttons. I can think of the Apex MP in 30 casinos and none of them are female, much less an Asian female.
I am not being biased but males tend to gravitate toward the math-centric jobs and thus succeed in this AP math oriented environment.
I will concluded with two comments:
– I had been a card counter and I can only think of one female who made a huge contribution in blackjack and her work was in Spanish 21 (and she wasn’t Asian).
– if James Grosjean didn’t exist, how likely a fearless math prodigy hitting and dominating the casinos would be an Asian female? [The female Asian who used edge sorting notwithstanding!]
“To argue by fiat (or default),” … I’m not doing that. I’m employing massive real-world data on player types, personnel types, and personal interactions in a table games pit. My crew has used dozens of BPs, including Japanese male, Filipino male, Cambodian female, Chinese female, Vietnamese female, Korean male, white male, etc. “It has to do with her temperament.” … No, in table games, simply looking a certain way has MASSIVE impact, which is largely the point here. Also, to the extent “temperament” might matter but be unincluded in the dataset, “Asian female” might be a proxy for temperament. Most Asian females who live in a casino environment are fearless, and have the BP mindset of, “I’m going to do what I want, and bet what I want, and I don’t care what a white boss has to say about it.” “one female who made a huge contribution” … I’m not talking about being a theorist, or even figuring out games. I’m talking about being a table-games player, and especially being a team player. “How likely a fearless math prodigy would be Asian female?” … Again, I’m not talking about figuring out games. The bulk of whacking table games has to do with executing “known” strategies. Also not talking about being an elite world-class player or one of the best ever. We’re talking about making $1 million extra over a career. I assume “career” means 10-20 years, so we’re talking about making an extra $50k or $100k per year by virtue of having the ideal demographic (Asian female).
Most of your comments are MP-centric. Nothing in this specific blog post is meant to apply whatsoever to machine play, which I hope is clear to the audience. My blog is decidedly table-games centric.
“ My crew has used dozens of BPs, including Japanese male, Filipino male, Cambodian female, Chinese female, Vietnamese female, Korean male, white male, etc.”
That is the “Grosjean effect” in operation: An Asian Female in Grosjean’s team vs an AVERAGE Asian Female AP table player. Sorry, but that is two different animals.
Grosjean is asserting an average Asian Female AP table player will make $1 million over her lifetime than the average non-Asian Female AP table player, respectively. Or said stated statistically: being a Female and being Asian EXPLAINS the variability to a tune of $1 million.
I think it is self-evident an Asian Female table player working in Grosjean’s team is vastly different from an Asian Female who happens to be a lone wolf.
You think I don’t know how to run a regression? When I consider my own experience, I’m not comparing my Asian female BPs to average Asian female table-games players. I’m comparing to my white BPs. There are many situations where the wrong BP can’t play a game at all, or not in front of a particular boss. An Asian female NEVER has that restriction. But I’d say being a BP on a team might NARROW the Asian-Female premium, because the team exists to reduce or eliminate heat for everyone. A white BP on a team can survive in circumstances where solo play would be impossible for him. Munchkin’s statement and listening audience is the GWAE crowd. For those lone wolves who are primarily counting and unibombing the games without a BP, the career value of the premium demographic might be even greater. I expect most of the newly minted BJA white nerds to have an extremely short shelf life as counters, and some targets would always be entirely off limits for them, whether or not they’re working with me (such as any baccarat target in Macau). I think the value of being the best possible demographic in a career is $1 million or more (ask BJTraveller!). I think that best demographic is “Asian female” but I’d entertain “Asian male” for someone who plays a lot internationally, or for nosebleed stakes.