Returning to the Scene of the Crime

It had been a half year since I had been barred at the Four Queens. Considering that I had been playing low stakes, had not played there often, and that an enormous number of players had played these tables since my last visit, I felt safe giving the casino another shot. The Queens hadn’t changed. Still smoky and tired looking. I stood a few feet from one of the tables and back-counted. The count was good enough, and I reached in my pocket. The pit boss was on the telephone, about 25 feet away. He caught my eye, pointed at me and then pointed at the door. I had been wordlessly disinvited from 25 feet. Now that’s facial recognition. Only it was decades before they tried computerized facial recognition.

Summary

You may have noticed that in many stories I lose money. I did this purposely. A criticism I have had of many books is that they talk too much about winning. Not all books, of course. The idea is to win in the long run. Anyone who tells you that you can win consistently, that is, every trip, is an idiot or a liar. If you see a web site that says you can win $897.23 a day, or that you will win nine out of ten times, you have found a scam.

There will be ups and downs. In fact, even the worst player in the world wins sometimes. (And that can be incredibly frustrating to watch.) To test my software I must play very badly sometimes. Like doubling every hand or splitting every pair. Oddly, I have actually won a few times playing the software like an insane person. But in the long run, you want the advantage on your side. Just as in life. You may know of a person who lives to 100 despite smoking cigars every day and a person who lives like a monk but gets run over by a garbage truck at a young age. But on average, going with the odds is much more likely to realize a good ending than fighting the odds.

Don Schlesinger gave me this quote from Damon Runyon: “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that is the way to bet.”

 © 2009 Norman Wattenberger