I participate in a study group of bright gamblers. You’ve heard of Richard Munchkin who often attends the group. The others are not particularly well known to the general public and even if you’ve heard of them, for the most part they don’t want their names bandied about.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, there were only four of us there (Munchkin couldn’t make it that day.) The other three all graduated from prestigious schools that specialized in math and science.
All three of them worked professionally in scientific areas. In that crowd, my degrees in Economics from UCLA weren’t very impressive, at least when it came to mathematical subjects. In many circles I’m smarter than average. That particular day I was the least intelligent person in the room.
On this afternoon we were discussing some particular hands from a blackjack tournament. Two of the attendees set up problems with information such as stack sizes, position, hands left, and any special rules of this particular tournament. Some of the problems included such things as deciding what size bets should be made and whether to hit, stand, double, or surrender in a particular situation. Suffice it to say that none of the “correct” answers were obvious and the three of us who were hearing a problem for the first time often disagreed with each other.
I don’t play in a lot of tournaments, but this exercise was fascinating to me. I never know what kind of gambling knowledge will pay dividends down the road (it wouldn’t surprise me at all if video poker opportunities eventually dried up).j The more gambling situations about which I’m knowledgeable, the better chance I have of being ready when the next opportunity presents itself.
We certainly don’t always talk about tournaments. Earlier this year I made some presentations to the group regarding Quick Quads. Sometimes it happens that I work out the information first for that group and then I publish it.
Sometimes it happens that somebody else presents something there that I end up publishing. I always ask permission first. Sometimes it’s granted. Sometimes it isn’t. But whether it’s published or not, my intellectual growth in the “thinking about gambling” fields is nurtured by this group. I am somebody who enjoys life the most when I am learning something.
At one point in the discussion, one of the guys was musing on how to figure out a problem. He said the denominator would be six to the fourth power. (That means 6 * 6 * 6 * 6). Immediately I said, “That would be 1296.” I didn’t say this with any braggadocio. It was just a number I knew and I was throwing it out to help figure out the problem. To me it was like somebody asking how far it is between Las Vegas and Reno if you travel on US-95. I happen to know that it’s a little less than 450 miles and should anybody ask, I’ll tell them. It’s not a significant achievement to know this.
The other three, however, stopped and stared at me. They are all far more accomplished at mathematics than I am, but none of them kept that number at their fingertips. There was a “maybe he’s not as dumb as we thought he was” look in their eyes.
That was where I should have shut up and let them continue thinking those thoughts.
But I didn’t. I explained that I used to be a student of backgammon back in the 70s and 80s. In backgammon, there are 36 possibilities on each roll of the dice, and if you are looking at the possibilities in two back-to-back rolls, it is 36 * 36 (which just happens to also be 6 * 6 * 6 * 6), which is 1296. I worked on so many of those problems “way back when” that the number is ingrained in my long term memory. I even remember 46,656, which is the number of possibilities in three consecutive rolls, and would have been the answer had he asked for six to the sixth power. The fact that I knew that instantaneously and effortlessly would have REALLY freaked my friends out.
Once I explained why I knew six to the fourth power, they were no longer impressed. They were now back to “he is who we thought he was” mode. They respected that I knew more about video poker than they did. Upon reflection they could easily accept that I knew more about backgammon as well, and that the value of “36 squared” is a number that all serious backgammon players knew. Had Richard Munchkin been there, who I met playing backgammon back around 1980, he would have also known the 1296 number instantly and would have not been surprised that I did as well.
Oh well. I wouldn’t have left my friends wondering for a long time — but maybe for five or so minutes would have been interesting.
Our group is always looking for more members. The ideal candidate would be bright, interested in and successful at gambling, and periodically willing to give a presentation to the others. We run the meetings once a month on the same day as the radio show, and there have been several instances where guys who were in town to do the radio show live also decided to attend our study group. (Right now there are no women in the group. There have been periodically and there’s no reason others couldn’t join.)
If you think attending this group would be something you’d like to do, send me an email at [email protected] listing your “qualifications” and I’ll see that you’re considered. I might want to have lunch with you beforehand in order to get a feel for whether or not you’d be a good fit.