Mickelson lost $100 million betting sports

[ranchwest]

Originally Posted by maddog42

He seems damn good to me. I think you can count on your fingers and toes the number of people who have won a mil on roulette.

Roulette is a negative sum game.

[Half Smoke]

Originally Posted by ranchwest

Roulette is a negative sum game.

there are 2 ways to theoretically win at roulette in the long run

but there are very, very few who have accomplished it

the first, which is what I believe Walters did - which is very time consuming - is track the results on a wheel for a long time to determine if their is bias - some numbers coming up more often than they would randomly - due to wear and tear on an old wheel and/or it being out of balance for some reason

the 2nd method is visual prediction

the bettor memorizes the placement of all of the numbers on the betting layout

he watches the wheel spin and at the very last allowable moment he places his bets making his prediction where the ball will land and the nearby numbers it might bounce do

to say this is difficult is a huge understatement

you could prolly count the no. of bettors who in the entire world have mastered this skill on your fingers and toes


.

[Tape Reader]

Originally Posted by Half Smoke

there are 2 ways to theoretically win at roulette in the long run

but there are very, very few who have accomplished it

the first, which is what I believe Walters did - which is very time consuming - is track the results on a wheel for a long time to determine if their is bias - some numbers coming up more often than they would randomly - due to wear and tear on an old wheel and/or it being out of balance for some reason

the 2nd method is visual prediction

the bettor memorizes the placement of all of the numbers on the betting layout

he watches the wheel spin and at the very last allowable moment he places his bets making his prediction where the ball will land and the nearby numbers it might bounce do

to say this is difficult is a huge understatement

you could prolly count the no. of bettors who in the entire world have mastered this skill on your fingers and toes


.

Edward O. Thorp did it with a camera.

A MAN FOR ALL MARKETS.

Very good book.

[Bustin Stones]

The more I think about these claims of beating roulette with zones, the more I suspect it's all hype. Not only does an observer need to estimate the speed of the wheel, they need to, at that moment, recognize not only which part of the wheel the ball is positioned, but how high on the wheel the ball is positioned to know what zone it would likely drop to. If the ball is positioned just a quarter inch higher or lower, it changes the result. I love to daydream about such things as much as the next guy, but this one strains credibility.

[vegasone]

Google is pretty nifty. Just type in there "beat roulette"

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by ranchwest

I don't care for cheating, but I played a lot of scrambles, where cheating is usually pretty silly. Sheesh, you've got 4 balls. But I did get in with a ringer (suggested by the tournament director) one day. My team liked that!

Not wanting to have my stalker come out of the woods and call me stupid, I Googled scramble instead of asking as I had never heard the term. It has been almost 25 years since I was forced to quit playing because of my back.
It looks like to me it is just another name for best ball, is that right? I never played best ball, sounds like fun, it does seem good team strategy is important.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by Half Smoke

there are 2 ways to theoretically win at roulette in the long run

but there are very, very few who have accomplished it

the first, which is what I believe Walters did - which is very time consuming - is track the results on a wheel for a long time to determine if their is bias - some numbers coming up more often than they would randomly - due to wear and tear on an old wheel and/or it being out of balance for some reason

the 2nd method is visual prediction

the bettor memorizes the placement of all of the numbers on the betting layout

he watches the wheel spin and at the very last allowable moment he places his bets making his prediction where the ball will land and the nearby numbers it might bounce do

to say this is difficult is a huge understatement

you could prolly count the no. of bettors who in the entire world have mastered this skill on your fingers and toes


.

Wouldn't the powers to be just shut the table down and change the wheel out? Back in the day when I used to count at Black Jack and I basically got thrown out of a small casino with an explanation, I was told if any of the tables even shows a loss for an hour it will draw scrutiny from management.

[maddog42]

Originally Posted by Tape Reader

Edward O. Thorp did it with a camera.

A MAN FOR ALL MARKETS.

Very good book.

It is a good book. As long as 40 years ago enterprising engineers were using pocket computers to clock the speed of the ball and to clock the speed of the wheel. The computers used orbital mechanics formulas to compute which sector the ball would land. I believe Thorpe was working on this with one of the Bell Lab guys. Shannon I believe. They advertise these on the internet on Roulette sites but I don't trust the sellers. These times were made with hidden foot and or hand switches, similar to the hidden blackjack computers.

[ranchwest]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

Not wanting to have my stalker come out of the woods and call me stupid, I Googled scramble instead of asking as I had never heard the term. It has been almost 25 years since I was forced to quit playing because of my back.
It looks like to me it is just another name for best ball, is that right? I never played best ball, sounds like fun, it does seem good team strategy is important.

Yes, I think Best Ball and Scramble are the same. I was usually playing in media or company tournaments. It's fun. In the media tournament, I would be teamed with a college football player. I remember one guy asked how long it would take. When I told him maybe 4 hours, he said, "I've never done anything for 4 hours." He'd never played golf before. He was very good at eating, though.

[Tee]

Scramble and best ball are not the same. In best ball each player plays out the hole with their own ball. Lowest score counts for the team. In a scramble all players play from the tee box & then all hit from what typically is the most advantageous position. This keeps going until the ball is holed out.

[ranchwest]

Originally Posted by Tee

Scramble and best ball are not the same. In best ball each player plays out the hole with their own ball. Lowest score counts for the team. In a scramble all players play from the tee box & then all hit from what typically is the most advantageous position. This keeps going until the ball is holed out.

Thanks for clarifying. I never played best ball.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by ranchwest

Thanks for clarifying. I never played best ball.

So how would a foursome of typical 10 handicappers do playing against one scratch golfer, playing a normal round in scramble?

[ranchwest]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

So how would a foursome of typical 10 handicappers do playing against one scratch golfer, playing a normal round in scramble?

Been a while since I played, but the foursome would probably win. On average, each player only has to have 1/4 of their shots be good ones. Of course, the problem is that you never know when a good one or a bad one is coming. I once played a scramble tournament where on our opening tee shots, all four of us went in the water hazard... tough way to begin. I've also been in foursomes where we made several 30+ foot putts.

[Half Smoke]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

Wouldn't the powers to be just shut the table down and change the wheel out? Back in the day when I used to count at Black Jack and I basically got thrown out of a small casino with an explanation, I was told if any of the tables even shows a loss for an hour it will draw scrutiny from management.

no, that is not correct - you're assuming casino management is always operating with maximum efficiency

that is just not the case

maybe some are - but certainly not all - all of the time

there are many card counters who have made a full time career out of playing blackjack

I also counted cards - but in A.C. - where their rules prevented barring for counting - but they could shuffle up and destroy your edge in the middle of a shoe - that happened to me a few times and not very often - I was successful there for 6 years playing one day every single week for about 12 hours breaking only to throw down some food - I quit because I stopped enjoying it - I was never a high roller - so it wasn't serious money - but it was enough to be helpful

if you're really interested in the ins and outs of professional BJ players you might wanna visit the site - blackjacktheforum.com which is run by one of BJ's top experts Norm Wattenberger and has another top expert Don Schlesinger there who often comments

this site is the real deal - of course there is some BS - but it's pretty easy to scope out what is real and what isn't

.

[maddog42]

Billy Walters on abc in about an hour.