The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-12-23
PHILOSOPHY OF GAMBLING.
Games Reduced to a Science by an Expert
OF Long Experience.
The Eccentricity of Luck the Great Advan-
tage Held by the Eanks.

systems of play that will inevitably win. Elk
pericnce has shown me that there is no system
that will beat faro, or any other game of
chance, where Il percentage is against yOu and
+. | no Judgment is concerned and yet men have
spent whole lifetime trying to elaborate a
n method which, like the philosopher stone and
+ the secret OF perpetual notion they Thought 1t
possible to attain, though 1t continually eluded
\ them. Around the gaming tables at Monaco
and other great gambling places i'll Europe you
/ will see the players prick off upon little card
= the numbers and cOlOrS as they turn mp, and
stake their money accordingly. Nine out OF
ten of them never quite lose the idea that
D eventually they will arrive at the great secret
which will enable them to beat the bank-a
| combination of probabilities which shall be 4
!. certainty. So far no such system has been dis
i. covered. and the percentage in favor of the
bank is sure to beat you i'll the long run.
THE BANKS ADVANTAGE.
"But there are various things which gives
the bank the advantage besides the percentage.
The fact IS when You play against bank yol
play against machine, and Il machine can
beat Il man ont of sight any time. The aver
age man is not satisfied with winning Il reason
able amount. but goes on until he loses every
cent in his pockets He is playing with linn
tied sum against Il capital that is practically
unlimited, and of course lie will lose in the
long run. even if the percentage he left ont OF
THE most important point, however in
favor of the bank is one which concerns the
"rccntricily OF luck. Why it is, no one knows
| but il is certainly true that luck runs in
strcaks, first good and then bad. To follow up
the good StreakS and lie back on the bad is the
only way | know of winning by amy sort of
gambling system. Most men. however. haven't
| the nerve to practice 1t. They win Il few times
| and then bet small sums. fearing change i'll
| the hIck. whereas they ought to back II for all
| il seems worth, the minute they see il is rum
| ming. Then, when incir bad luck comes, they !
| double and double until they have lost every |
| thing.
| fortune to Il bank. People seem To think that |
| because Il color has turned up several times in |
succession it hasn't as good II chance OF coming |
| up the next. and SO pie their money and |
double their bets an the opposite color. As
matter of fact
THE CHANCES ARE ALWAYS EXACTLY EVEN,
though it is impossible to convince ninety nine
people out of Il hundred that this is the case.
OF course. the chances against 4 run on Il color
are more or less. and can readily Toe calculated,
bat the chances on each individual turn of the
card are exactly even for how is il possible
that an ndN idual turn can be affected by pre-
NiouS turns. which lie III the past. and which
can have no conceivable influence: This is Il
question which has puzzled every one who has
ever thought about il. The chances are So
great against Il run on Il color that yt the first
Glance 1t seems apparent that on the sixth
turn, for instance, the red having come up five
times in succession, the chances are much ind
favor of the black. This is, however, not the
case. OF course, this theory always prcsup-
poses that ut each turn there are the sam"
number of cards of each color i'll the pack,
which is practically the case in rOuge-rt-uuir.
At least 50 far as the player can tell, every
1ONrll card only being turned up.
GAMBLING AND MATHEMATICS.
"The whole question can, however. be most
simply shown by reference to mathematics.
\ on will hear people say that il is impossible
to discover by mathematics j law of prObab-
ties. since the very nature of chance is uncer-
tantN; but that is absurd. 1t is, of course in-
possible to determine absolutely how IL chance
will cNrntuatC. but il Is an easy matter to cal
cllatc the probabilities for or against il. For
instance IN Il single turn, the chance that red
will come up is >. Therefore we may repre-
sent the chance for red through Il succession
of these turns 10y I4Xl4NLsNl., etc.
Each fraction represents reds chance for Il {
turn, and the sum of any given number of {
these fractions represents the cumulative
probability that red will come up once in the
same number of turns. In four turns the
chances are two to one that red will turn up
once.
"Now. suppose, we want to calculate the
chances against run on color. The formula
will he:
l@NLaN1aXla, etc. 81
" Each fraction as before, represents reds i.
chance in each turn ana the result of the mul- .
tGpllCltlOn OF amy given number of these traC
tons represents the cumulative inprObabiIity
that red will turn up the giv"A number Of
times IN succession. mhr product Of four Of
the fractions i l-lj. That i, the chances are.
Ii to | that red will not turn mp four times i'm
succession. They are ;" T." | against run Of
I'VE on rci, and IA against rum of six. But
we sec that while the chances against a run
increase enormously, the chances on an indi-
yidual turn are always the same, and their
equality l. represented by r.
POKER.
But what d" You think about the game of
poker - asked the reporter. "D0 You think I'm
that is all luck and that there is no skill con /
ccrnti ::
by no means. What | said Just now about
systems does not apply to game like poker (
where you are not playing against il bank l.
! on Will hear people say that poker is all |
Inck, but You believe il. Tn" luck is sure
to come out even in the long run
but it is skill and Judgment that enable Il
man TO get ahead of tn" game. The man who
reduces his play to 4 mathematical system is
sure to come out ahead of your sentimental
player, who sees bet or doesn't, lust rs he
happens to feel My mcthOd of playing poker
j. 80 simple that il j. astonishing So few players
PURSUE similar one, but il i very rare to find A.
il man who sticks to Il method ANA avoids en-
tmcy the sentimental game. OF course no
mcGhUd IS worth any thing unless il is backed
mp iy good Judgment. The system | speak Of A.
Is founded upon Il mathematical Culculatiun of -
the chances. A.
VALUE or COURT CARDS.
I'm the long run it may be considered ai,SU-
IuiCIi lrIIC in the game Of poker that the
player who gOcS in best will come out best
Olt"n"r than his simple ratio to he number of
other players: and hence if he roe, in ON court
cards only, while others 90 in ON small BARS
his nHmr will win; for the other players are
play ing against Il tOrmiahlc percentage. The
chance OF helping Il pair ON 4 three card draw A.
i tOH for Il triples, for another pair the same
Tor II luIl Mrd to I'll, ana for iOurs of II kind
] 10 'di The clmnr"S of Improvement are A.
thus Il little more than | in !.
II You go IN on il pair of lacks and three playcrS
are against you, which is the Nv cr?lgc with six
players, the average chances are. that YOU ART. A.
playing against one better hand and two A
poorer ones. When yUu reach aces you have
IN all probability the hest hdnd The mathc-
mar;tl expectation of Il flush when yOlI draw A.
tour cards OF Il suit is tuj3-g. TUa two-cnd-
h straight III" draw Is worth | to 81. Thus,