Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-15

"a little learning is a dangerous
thing" applies particularly well to the
man who would attempt to overcome
the strength of betting percentages
Behind this mathematical trick the
book maker or banker in any game may
sit for all time. asking nothing from
the public but its play. When book
makers fail the trouble often is that
they have left the block too much to
back their own opinion, thus confus-
ing their book making with their bet
ting operations until they have no bet
ter chance than the piker whom they
would devour. OF the great army of
players few can tell what the percent
age against them i'm the betting means
or how 1t works to defeat them The
dictionaries do not define the word in
its gambling sense, but good syno-
nym for 1t would be advantage. In eff
feet 1t amounts to whatever the banker
may remove from the players stake
before paying it over. In professional
poker games it may vary according to
Whatever may be taken out for the
kitty, but in mechanical games, of
which roulette is perhaps the most no
table example. it is constant being
hve and tive-nineteenths. 1t is interest
Ing to note here the clever and consist
ent way I'm which the advantage is
taken and then observe how the prin-
ciple is carried into the betting ring
to do its work for higher stakes
In roulette there are always thirty
seven numbers. including 20" and 600
against any one number that may be
played. Hence the true odds are 81 to
l, or a total of 3S units if the player
wins. Instead of removing two units,
the panker pays only 35 units for 1, or
total of SO, and in this way withholds
2-9Sths, equal to five and five-nine-
teenths per cent of the players due.
In another way: If an individual
player. or 3S different players, should
play all of the 3S numbers with the
same amount, the winning number
would surely be covered at every turn
of the wheel, but the banker would re-
turn SO chips or units for the total of
SS staked. and again 2-3Sths of the
players investment would be lost. In
still another way it may be shown that
the player is actually compelled to pay
just five and five-nineteenths per cent
more than his chance is worth. BY
stalking, say, 81 on a number at the
bankers odds of 80 to l, the player has
one chance in SO to receive total of
S36. The actual value of such a chance,
If offered for sale, would be one-thlrty-
eighth of $50, which is "a and 14-19th
cents. The player, therefore, always
pays at the rate of 8 and 5-19ths cents
on the dollar more than the value of
his possibility-a condition that he can
not avoid This amply safeguards the
banker and works. as analysis of many
kinds has shown, to defeat every sys-
tenn that has ever been devised. No
method of play in this or any other
game can ever succeed for any length
of time without receiving all that it
actually wins, and nothing can over
come the condition that the bank paws
short of what it owes.
To carry this principle into the bet
ting ring and apply it with telling eff
feet constitutes the main thing in the
science of percentage book making.
So cleverly is it done, however, thatlas
much as 40 and so per cent may be con-
cealed in the figures without arousing
the slightest suspicion. Taking for
analysis any price commonly laid say
to l, it will not matter how much
or how little the public may wager at
the price, 20 per cent will always be
the public's share in the money at
stake. The book maker will lay SS to
81, $50 to $40, $500 to $1O0, $4,000 to $1,000,
and so on, the public's share in the total
oiAOuiI iilNOiNtu DtlilS Always 20 per
cent, and in like manner the per-
centage of public money involved may
be calculated for every conceivable
price that can be laid.
Suppose, then, that the public puts
up 30 per cent of all the money involved
about one horse, 33 1-3 per cent of all is
involved about another, and 20 per cent
of all involved about a third. The total
staked by the public will then be 3 1-3
per cent more than they can possibly
get back, no matter which horse wins.
BY calculating the proportion of pub
lie money involved at all the different
prices, and then arranging them in
the form of a table, the book maker is
at once able to determine his advan-
tage. If the percentage of the prices
laid add to just 100 odds will be fair to
layer and player alike. This would be
called flat" book. If the percentages
add to less than 100 the public will have
an advantage over the book maker but
the book maker will see to it that they