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Ask the Mad Professor
Part 4
(read part I
here or Part 2
here or Part 3
here)
A hip young guy goes out and buys
one of the fastest cars available. It’s
a brand new Ferrari 550 Maranello, and he pay’s $274,000 for it. He takes it out for a spin and stops for a red
light. An old man on a moped, looking about
100 years old, pulls up next to him.
The
old man looks over at the sleek, shiny car and asks, "What kind of car ya' got there
sonny?" The young man replies, "It’s a Ferrari that costs over
a quarter of a million dollars!" "That's
a lot of money," says the old man." Why does it cost so much?" "Because this car can do up to 320 miles an
hour!" states the young dude proudly.
The moped driver asks, "Mind if I take a look inside?" "No problem," replies the owner. So the old man pokes his head in the window and
looks around. Then, sitting back on his
moped, the old man says, "That's a pretty nice car, all right... but I'll stick with
my moped!"
Just then the light changes, so the guy decides to show the old man just what his car can
do. He floors it, and within 30 seconds, the speedometer reads 160 mph! Suddenly, he notices a dot in his rear view
mirror. It seems to be getting closer! He slows down to see what it could be, and
suddenly, WHOOOOOOSSSSSHHH! Something whips
by him, going much, much faster!
"What on earth could be going faster than my Ferrari?" he asks himself. He
floors the accelerator and takes the Ferrari up to 250 mph.
Then, up ahead of him, he sees that it's the old man on the moped! Amazed
that the moped could pass his Ferrari, he gives the Italian Stallion more gas and
passes the moped at 275 mph. WHOOOOOOOSHHHHH!
He's feeling pretty good until he looks in his mirror and sees the old man gaining on him
AGAIN! Astounded by the speed of this old
guy, he floors the gas pedal and takes the Ferrari all the way up to 320 mph. Not ten seconds later he sees the moped bearing
down on him again! The Ferrari is flat out, and there's nothing he can do!
Suddenly, the moped plows into the back of his Ferrari, demolishing the rear end.
The young man stops and jumps out, and unbelievably, the old man is STILL ALIVE!!!!!
He runs up to the mangled old man and says, "Oh My Gosh! Is there anything I can do
for you?" The old man whispers with his
dying breath... "Unhook....my...suspenders... from... your... side-view mirror."
There has been a lot of questions pouring into my e-slot
lately. Here’s a few:
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Q: |
You stated that dice "pop" is
caused by using too much force. I dropped a die flat from 4" off a table &
the die "popped" & "rolled" in different directions each time, so
how can a die stay on the starting axis, landing on a flat plane from a 2' height &
expect it to bounce straight on the same axis into a 45 deg. pyramidal wall? |
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A: |
You actually answered your own question.
By simply dropping the dice, they have to dissipate their energy. Since the
table is flat and hard, they have to GO somewhere else. In this case they
“pop” or randomly roll sideways. In Precision-Shooting we give the dice
something better to do on their way to stopping. Forward-motion propels them down
the table. Rolling-motion, once they initially hit the table acts to dissipate
their forward energy. We are then looking for them to rotate the same number of
rotations in relation to each other. When you can get that to occur on a regular
basis, then you have captured the essence of what we are trying to do. |
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Q: |
Am I correct
in assuming that because of your flexible schedule, you attempt and succeed at
solo-shooting most of the time? Any words on that topic would be appreciated! |
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A: |
I would guess
that more than 40% of my articles on this site, talk about seeking empty or
sparsely-populated craps tables. It is the chief factor in determining my win-rate
for any given day. At a crowded table, even if the dice are cold, I’ll only get
my hands on the dice every 45-minutes, or so. On an empty table, I can shoot solo,
and get in about 10 rolls per minute. So, a two, three, or four minute hand can hold
up to 40 rolls. My current average is about 28 rolls per hand. |
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Q: |
I heard that the house-edge for
craps and blackjack are pretty low at about 1.5%, but I also read that the house-hold on
these games range are 15% to 30%, what gives? |
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A: |
As your bankroll recycles itself over and over in
the betting process, you would be surprised at the total amount of your
wagers over a one-hour period. A $10 Pass Line bettor who takes full 3x, 4x, 5x Odds
and two Come bets with full Odds, will expose a total of about $3,000 over a sixty minute
period. Your expected loss rate would be approximately $25 per hour.
Like the car-advertisements say, YOUR mileage may vary. But at $25 per hour,
that’s a fairly expensive form of entertainment. Bankroll erosion occurs
through both the House Edge, and because of normal fluctuations in the game. If your
starting bankroll is $300, then in one hour, your stake has made about ten full-rotations
through the casino-edge grinder. In that one hour, your bankroll lost about 8.5%.
That’s a lot higher than a 0.6% edge would indicate. It is because you
are cycling your bankroll through the house-edge over and over and over again. |
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Q: |
I am thinking
of investing in voice-recognition software. When I first read what you said about
it, I thought you were joking. I asked around, and apparently it is for real.
So what is the cost of it, and how does it work? Someone also said that they use it
at casinos. What could it be used for? |
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A: |
Voice-Recognition software is relatively
cheap. There are two or three pieces that can be bought for around $100 each.
There are few more expensive versions in the $300 to $600 range. Some systems can be
“taught”, based on the number of changes or amendments that you make when it
first “drafts” what you say. It “learns” from those changes, and
corrects its “understanding” about what you really “meant” instead of
what it thought you initially said. |
A lot of
casinos have installed a proprietary voice-recognition program that they use to surveil
alleged blackjack card-counters. It is used
so that even security personnel who do not count cards, can figure out whether a player is
counting, and what counting-method or system they are using.
Most
surveillance rooms use “BJ Survey Voice”, a computer program in which a person
must type or say each card-value as it comes out. They
enter the bet amount at the beginning of each hand. It can be used live in
“real-time” or with a tape review. Many times the software cannot differentiate
between "eight" and "ace" rendering the software inaccurate. The user has to speak very clearly.
Many
casinos now have a special telephone-line that the Pit Boss uses to dial directly into the
computer software. He picks up the phone, and
“tells” the computer what each card is, and where the subject-player is sitting
relative to the deal. At the end of each
hand, the computer “tells” the Pit Boss what the count is, and what the likely
bet would be, using various Hi-Opt II, Ace side-count, or other counting methods.
Most
of my articles are initially assembled using VR software.
Thanks again for all the great questions. I hope the
answers were helpful.
Good Luck & Good Skill at the Tables…and in
Life.
The Mad
Professor
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