The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-09-04
THE SCIENCE OF GAMBLING.
HOW TO CALCULATE TIE CHANCES.
Something OF the Law OF Odds.

NOW-d-adys. tuaL piStIy ue"iIJ
| under the sun has been reduced by somebody
or other 10 o science, 1t will not excite much
surprise to see the capriclous rules OF chance
in general, and of ''square" gambling In par
| tlcular, scientifically treated. In TACT, Inc
gambling fraternity has long ago, ever when
| PLAYING honestly, looked upon the turn Of the
| wheel of fortune as governed by something
more than mere luck. Every gambler Of
no;e has his s'system," and upon that he
| works, and by that Is to o great extent gov.
| erned. If he wins, It Is q triumph for that
..system;"if be loses, 1t Is but another sacri-
fee to insure ultimate success. Even when
| he is stat broke" he continues firm In the
belief that had he had more money TO sacrifice
he could have bound fortune to his side forev-
err. A writer In the CorDhill goes into this by
no means uninterestiDg subject, quietly, but
qnite forcibly, basing most OF his arguments
and deductions upon the "Gaming Table" by
Steinmetz.
LEGITIMATE IAN vs.. LUCK.
Every game of chance, says this Teutonic
authority, presents 1.-Two kinds OF chances,
which are very distinct: Those relallDg TO the
person Interested, that Is the player; and
those Inherent 10 The combinations of the
palne.n That Is, we are to. distinguish be.
tween the chances proper 10 The game, ald
those depending on the luck of the player.
Proceeding to consider the chance proper 10
The game itself, our friendly cheat sums them
all up In two rules. FIRST: Though chance
con bring into the game all possible com1lna-
lions, there are, nevertheless, certain limits a.
which It seems to stop. Such, for instance, as
a certain number turning ten times 10 success
sion, at roulette: this is possible, but IL mas
never happened" Secondly: I'm u game OF
chance the ofLener the same combination has
occurred In succession. the nearer "e
recur at the next cast or turn up. This Is
the most elementary of the theories on prob
abiliIies: It 8 termed ''the maturity OF the
chances'' fond he might have added that the
belief In this elementary theory had ruined
thousands.) "Hence," he proceeds, "a player
must come to the table not only 'n luck out
he must not risk his money except OIL the
instant prescribed by the rules OF the maturity
of the chlnces." The philosophical gambler,
In continuing his general logic, advises rou-
lette as the game TO be preferred. because IL
presents several ways OF stalking money.
Whatever the ambitious asplrant for gambling
glory goes sfter, however, he is admonlshed
to keep cool and calm II ne gels into o pas.
sion IL is all over not only with prudence, but
also with good luck. Every player VINO hnds
d pleasure In playing, also, is informed Thai he
stands O bigger chance OF losing than otner.
wise. A. prudent player, furthermore, should
before undertaking anything. put himself TO
the test to see he Is hin vein" or in luck. IN
all doubt, he should abstain. The Ideas OF Steln-
melz, though presented IS The experiences VI
the life OF one gambler, are 10 u greater or
less extent shared by most OF the fraternity.
They may be summed up Into, lrst, his 6elet
In his own luck. and, secondly. his taiLh In the
turn OF luck. When he Is considering his own
fortune, he does not hesitate to believe thar,
on the whole, the flutes will favor him. though
this belief implies 10 realty the persistence OF
he is considering the fortunes OF others who
are successful In their play against him, he
does not doubt that Their good luck Will
presently desert them, that Is, he believes In
he non-persIstence of favorable conditions In
their case. Taken altogether, the thoughts
may be siumered down into the suPersliLlon
c cuaS sHI has IL T. p1 WV Of ,sSSsSaaotSs peohtnlar-
combinations. 800
A REMARKABLE WAGER.
Among the instances cited BY Steinmetz ls
that of a bet made by Dir. Ogden, In 1878, OF
one thousand gulnens to one that the seven
spot would not be thrown by a pair OF dice ten
times In succession. The wager, though eyre
glously unfair, was accepted, aCH strange TO
saw "seyen' was thrown nine times running.
Al this point Ogden offered four hundred and
seventy gulneas to be s..off" The bet, but the
offer. though beyond the real value Of the
chance, was refused. The thrswer lrled his.
chances for the tenth time, and throwing
''nlne' lost his guinea. Here, the original
bet was an unfair one, and the refusal OF the
party OF the second part 10 accept the four
hundred aud seventy guineas a refusal un-
warranted by all laws OF chance anu mathe'
mates. With a pair OF dice there are thirty
ak posslble throws. and six Of these give
.sssyen, as the total. Thus the chance OF
throwing "seVen' Is one-sixtb, aud the chance
OF throwing "seven' ten times running IL OBJ
tanned by. multiplying Sly Into Itself
len times, and placing the resulting
number under the unity, 10 represent the
minute fractional chance required. lt WILDE
found that the number thus attained Is Co.
465, lf6,, and instead Of 1000 guineas, fairness
required that go, ACC. It's gutneas Should have
been wagered against one guinea, 30 enorm.
Gus are the chances against Inc occurrence 81
ten successive throws OF seven. Even
against mine successive throws The fair odds
would have been 10, 077, SOC to one, or about
40. 600 gulneas to q farthlng. But when the
nine throws of s'seven' had been made, the
chance of a tenth throw of ''seVen" was slm-
Div one-sixtn as ut the arst trial. II there were
any truth In the theory OF the maturity OF
the chances" the chance 'of such u throw
would of course be greatly diminished. BuG
even taking the mathematical value OF Inc
chance, Mr.. Ogden need In fairness only nave
offered a sixth part of 1901 gulneas (tle
amount of the stakes,) or 1853 gnineas, l7s: I'd.
to be off the wager. So that his opponent &c
cepted in The first instance an utterly unfair
offer, and refused In the second Instance d
sum exceeding by more than 3OO gnineas The
real value OF Ills ohanoe,
THE MATURITY OF TIE CHANCES.
Closely connected with the theory OF the
range OF possibility In the matter OF chance
combinations, Is the theory OF the maturity Of
the chances-sthe most elementary OF toe The
cries on probabilities" 1t might safely be
termed the most mischievous of gambling
superslitions. As an illustration Of Inc app!i-
cation OF this theory, may be cited the case OF
an Engllshman, once we'll known at foreign
gambling tables. who had based a system or q
generalization of this theory. 1u point Of TACT
| the theory asserts that when there has been a
| run In favor of any particular eVeHt the
chances in favor Of that event are reduced,
! and therefore, necessarily, the chances In
| favor OF other events are Increased. Now our
| Englishman watched the play at the roulette
taolefor Two full hours, carefully noting the
numbers which came up during that
LIME. Then, eschewlng those numbers
which had come up ofLenest, he
staked hts mouey on those which
| had come up very seldom or not at al. Here
was an intallible system according 10 ''lhe
most elementary Of the theories of probablli-
IT," The tendency OF chance results to right
themselves, SO that events equally likely In the
frat instance will occur an equal number OF
-. 4 :, .h, lopr WIN waa called tnto Qctinn