3 ms·
The last method, where you always double the bet (called Martingale) "works" and can guarantee you are at least even - if you have infinite time and money.
by guhcampos 3y ago
The last method, where you always double the bet (called Martingale) "works" and can guarantee you are at least even - if you have infinite time and money.
- maxbond 3y agoAnd if you're allowed to make bets of an infinite size, which casinos restrict in part to defeat this strategy (as well as manage their risk).
- wan23 3y agoThough even if you are allowed to make infinite bets, most people have finite money to bet with.
- Nursie 3y agoThanks for the name "Martingale", I had wondered what this was called since an old gambler I met on a contract about 10 years ago described 'his' system. After a quick wikipedia rabbithole, I now grok the St Petersburg paradox, which is fascinating - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Petersburg_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Petersburg_paradox - but mostly tells me that the 'expected value' is not a good measure of whether you should bet on something, because games can be constructed in such a way that the expected value is infinite, but the chances of you even getting your stake back even at a $16 buy in are 1/8...
- beaugunderson 3y agothe St. Petersburg paradox also reminds me of Pascal's mugging: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_mugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_mugging
- Nursie 3y agoSo much so that I think they are likely to be different narratives around more or less the same phenomenon!
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- superpanic 3y agoIf you have an infinite amount of money, you already own the casino.