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Gaming Guru
Strange Attractors7 September 2021
Clearly I have little knowledge of what this actually means except that things are attracted to each other in math and in actual areas of life such as economics and perhaps in casino gambling. I think I am in the negative mathematical zone here but the point is soon to follow this. One curve before I get to why I think strange attractors exist in casino gambling. My big Aunt Mary and my small Uncle Jim were truly strange attractors. Big Aunt Mary was big, as in a huge multi-family apartment building, and she was not exactly cover-girl material considering she had more hair on her upper lip than she had on the top of her head. And, worse, she always smelled of garlic and wanted to kiss you on the lips when you went to her house. Her lips were noticeably wet. And it transferred easily and quickly to your lips when she planted you with a big garlic greeting wet kiss. Small Uncle Jim was indeed small and painfully skinny and almost totally bald with just a few clumps of weird-looking curly hair here and there on his head. There was always a lot of food at their house but I don’t know how much of it got to small Uncle Jim. He would shake your hand strongly, almost cripplingly, when you stepped into his house. So it was garlic kisses and powerful handshakes. How could two such strangely different human beings live together? How could they love each other? And they did love each other as small Uncle Jim kissed and hugged his monstrously large wife and she would envelop him in her flesh in loving embraces. They were married for over 50 years! They were strange attractors. Now to casino gambling; strictly speaking, what games you like to play and what games you don’t like to play. Why have you selected those games and rejected the others? What attractors brought you to them and what attractors keep making you desire to play them to the exclusion of the other games? I can’t actually answer for you but I can answer for me. I know what attracts me to games and what doesn’t attract me. Now as a person who writes about gambling I have played most games but that doesn't mean I like most of the games I’ve played. I have narrowed down my joyful table games and those are the ones I want to share the whys and wherefores with you. Here they are in alphabetical order: Baccarat: I don’t enjoy mini-baccarat because the game is way too fast. Give me the old-time (and almost extinct) high-roller room game of tuxedoed male dealers and elegantly dressed female dealers. Players actually get to deal the cards! Game has two of the best bets in the casino (bank and player) and one of the worst (tie). The traditional game is leisurely with some of the most interesting players you will meet in a casino. Be prepared for some of the most superstitious people of all time. Blackjack: All your decisions count in this game and some players actually learn to get a small edge against it. Blackjack can be a fast game and you must know the computer-derived basic strategy of how to play your hands in order to keep the house edge low. This is the favorite table game in the casino and has been since the early 1960s. Craps: The most exciting game in the casino with players jammed around a table that resembles a sacrificial altar – which it is for those players who make the bad bets. Players get to shoot the dice and the game does seem to be in the shooter’s hands. There is camaraderie in the game that you rarely find at other games. Most of the actual bets at the game are poor but a few are great bets with low house edges. To new players the game looks more complicated than it actually is. Pai Gow Poker: A fun, relaxed game where your decisions count but you do not need to learn as many as you do at blackjack – and the dealer will help you play your hands if you are confused about what to do. There is a new version of this game which is called Face-Up Pai Gow Poker and it is terrific. Pai Gow is not found in every casino but just about all the big ones will have a table or two. Casinos with Asian rooms will usually have a few more. Roulette: An old standby. I like playing in casinos where I can bet the even-money bets where the green 0 or 00 will only lose you half your bet. House edge is reduced in half in such cases. The game at a crowded table is slow enough to protect you from the house edge. So what attracts me to these games? I think there are plenty of decisions to be made by the player at them – either what bets to make at the multiple bet games or how to play one’s hands. And perhaps there is more tradition involved in some of them as well. All the best in and out of the casinos! Frank Scoblete’s web site is www.frankscoblete.com. His books are available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books and at book stores. You can get Frank’s articles in your email by signing up at his site. This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. Recent Articles
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