What are your thoughts on gambling?

Well, which is it, Mr. Logic?

I see major recouping of losses with a simple Udemy course.

Everybody claims to have a winning system. Over the years of living in Las Vegas I knew many degenerate gamblers claiming to be winners. When put to the test I only know one person that actually won. He used a valid system in blackjack called "Wonging", named after the famed gambling expert Stanford Wong.

However, in the years since, Las Vegas casinos have banned the ability to Wong. Basically, it was observing as a bystander keeping a "count" then only enter the game when the count was at a very high positive count. He would count two tables at once, keeping the count on his fingers hidden in his pants pockets.

The only other time where "maybe" someone had a system where he may have won is a guy that claimed he only bet on Ivy League college football. He only watched these few teams so he knew them very well. His theory was that Ivy League players were very smart and didn't make mistakes, so he only had to focus on talent. In the short time I tracked him, he was ahead, but it wasn't long enough to be absolutely proven.

There was a cab driver that won $250,000 on a progressive video poker machine and quit his job as a cab driver. 3 months after he won I'm driving to the "yard" and there he is, walking to work. He didn't even have a car by then.

I won a bit at counting cards, but I studied my butt off, reading every book I could and learning every trick in the book, like being able to read the creases of the cards to get a tell to if the dealer had a high card and reading the reflection of cards as the dealer put the cut card into the discard tray to get every bit of info I could.

I haven't played in 20 years, I found IM to be a better use of my time, and I understand casinos have changed many of the things I used to use to get an edge. There's a good chance if something helps the player the casinos will counter it in some way. That's what they do.

Yep, everyone's a winner until you actually track their results.

Pure bullshit. It's a law of mathematics that no betting system can overcome a disadvantage. You're trying to convince people that 2 + 2 = 5.


I tell you what. I'll put 90 black marbles in a paper bag and 10 red ones. Every time you pull out a red marble, I'll pay you $1. Every time you pull out a black one you pay me $1. You can use any betting progression you want.


Betting is a single life-long gambling streak. The Odds Gods have no idea when you started or stopped a session and it has no effect on the odds of you pulling out a red marble. All that matters is there's 90 black marbles and 10 red ones (along with the payout which is even money in my example).

It's a common myth. Cashing out...starting with a new $20...has no effect on the odds of winning, and no effect on how much the machine pays out.

Previous payouts have no effect on future payouts.
A similar myth is to stick with one machine because you think it will pay out...because you put so much money into it. Again, there is no pattern. Future payouts are not affected at all by past payouts.

I know it's counter intuitive...and goes against your experience, but it's true.

I completely agree that in this instance it's a skill. I think that it's the same for stock traders etc. I myself only gamble in the stock market because I don't have the skill or a process or formula for being successful a higher percentage of the time, but there are other people that certainly do. I think poker is no different. If you know what you're doing you're taking calculated risks, if you don't know what you're doing then yep, you're just gambling.