The 10 Percent or More Solution

9 November 2023

By Royal Flushes

CINDY: I just finished a streak of five rotten trips to my favorite casino. I couldn’t win at craps or blackjack or roulette. It was truly maybe the worst five trips I ever had to the world of Lady Luck. I even spent some time at the slots on the first trip, not knowing what edge the casino had over me on them, because I became somewhat desperate. And Abby actually saved me from becoming a foolish casino gambler – even after all these years of playing regularly.

ABBY: I remembered something from a Sherlock Holmes book or movie; it was called the “Seven Percent Solution.” I think it was the percentage of a drug Sherlock took, maybe cocaine – well, something like that.

CINDY: The important part was that we are under no obligation to play every decision at whatever game we are playing. We can reduce the amount played by various percentages. And the amount we bet.

ABBY: We are under no obligation to play the same amount at every decision we face. Reducing losses by smart betting will sometimes mean betting less or even much less during the upcoming moments of the game. Of course, one can always quite a game too. But you can also reduce the number of bets you make. You don’t have to face every spin of the ball at roulette or every hand at blackjack. You don't have to bet every shooter at craps if you play the "5-Count."

CINDY: Say you are usually a $50 bettor at many games and you will do $50 on an outside roulette bet of say “red or black.” This is called an “even-money wager” because it returns even money. On the American roulette wheel, the player wins 18 times and loses 20 times, nine times on the red and nine times on the black, with a loss on 0 or 00. The even-money is about the payout, not the odds of hitting either red or black.

ABBY: The $50 bettor can go down to a $10 bet if the table minimum is $10. Or this bettor can sit out one of 10 decisions or two of 10 decisions.

CINDY: Or do both ways, number of decisions and a percentage of each bet. All of what is done is up to the player.

ABBY: By playing this way you can reduce the bad times by quite a lot. But the important point is that if the bad times continue; take a break or go to your room or go home. Nobody forces you to play when things have been going poorly.

CINDY: Yes, it went poorly for five trips and I used this method when I had lost one-half of my buy-in but I quite playing when I lost 90 percent of my buy-in. But by reducing a percentage I did play longer – still with bad results but I think I played smarter even with those bad results. The first trip, wipe out! But I reduced the bets and I played fewer decisions. Yes, yes, I still lost but I did not lose anywhere near what I lost on that first trip.

ABBY: You could think of that as a kind of victory.

CINDY: I did, kind of.