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The Reading-room [Leisure] Keep cool! Remember... SPEED KILLS!By Mr OopsI heard the servant's voice coming through like my ears were covered with thick cotton. My heart began to beat harder and for a second I found it hard to breath. Today I was going to try it. I had been planning all morning and found no traps anywhere. The basic system was the same as I had used the other three nights, only this time it was so much extended: I was - single-handed - going to BET ALL THE EVEN BETS AT THE SAME TIME, just like the group of people in "13 Against The Bank", the novel I had been so inspired by. It all started, actually, in the autumn of 83. Charlotte, a friend-of-a-friend, asked me to read the book and to tell her what I thought of it. At the time, I was not very much informed about the game of roulette, but I knew the different bets and pay-outs and thus knew it couldn't be beaten. But this bunch of Englishmen did it and my fantasy began to accelerate and the daydreams grew into full-blown plans and a toy roulette-wheel was bought (boy, was that a toy!) and - believe it or not - there was a BANKROLL! When the spring of 84 came along, a neat little sum of 1,000 German Marks was at the bank - money that I could GAMBLE with! I was going to have a vacation by the end of June for four weeks and I was going to Germany - and I was going to GAMBLE! I had to refine the system, though... The novel by Norman Leigh was, at that time, the only thing I knew about roulette systems except Martingale, that I didn't know by name. So all my work was, in fact, derivates of the Reversed Labouchere. But I didn't like all those figures I had to add, as it was my absolute belief that simplicity is necessary when gambling for real money. The less you have to think about, the better. In the beginning of June, I felt I had made the system as close to perfect as possible, in my opinion. My toy roulette showed me the system worked and it was a breeze to operate. As I noted that it was very hard to get to some big figures in this positive progression I also had decided to stop instead of betting at the eight-unit level. The system was a very simple one (although not a Reversed Labouchere any more): You start with two chips in front of you. You bet one at the time until either you have lost both, in which case you start over, or you have made a profit of four chips (a net of four wins). Arrange those four into two piles of two chips each (you now have four piles in front of you: 1 + 1 + 2 + 2) and start betting from there - two chips at the time. Continue betting two chips until either you have only the two single chips you started with, in which case you bet one at the time, as above, or you have made a new profit of eight units (four winnings). Arrange those eight chips into two piles with four chips each (you now have six piles: 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 4) and start betting four chips at the time until either you have only six chips left (1 + 1 + 2 + 2), in which case you start betting two chips at the time as above, or you have made a new net of four wins - 16 chips. At this point I was going to break the session and collect. Arriving at The Casino, I was shocked in several ways. As I had 1,000 Marks, this should be 1,000 bets and that would last for an eternity, my toy roulette had shown me, giving me lots of time to find the winning streaks. That was my plan. But first there was an entrance fee! Ok, it was only ten Marks but I was thinking about staying for a while... maybe I should invest in a card lasting a month? It was, at any rate, a drawback in my plans. I decided that my bankroll should be gambled for, any entrance should be paid from my vacation money - after all; visiting a casino is a kind of vacation, isn't it? The next shock hit me at the cashier: The lowest value of a chip was five Marks. FIVE! In that moment I suddenly saw the time-span between the sixties, when the novel takes place, and the eighties - the present day. I had totally neglected that and had read the book without noticing anything about a chip value. I decided to buy 20 fivers, only to have something, and then look for more shocks. As I entered the gambling room, a huge hall with several roulette tables, the gambling had been going on for a while and I was baffled. There were two men at the wheel-end of the table and a third one at the other end. They were collecting bets from the people closest to them and if the bet should be placed at the opposite end it was thrown to the man there with an instruction of where to place it. At the same time chips were thrown in the other direction, as well accompanied by instructions. If the bet should be placed somewhere near the middle of the table, the croupier would very skillfully slide or roll the chip to the correct square using the rake only at occasions to stear the chip right. There were chips, chips and more chips, of different colours and shapes, each showing the value. Then, all of a sudden, a table would go idle, the people around it get silent and you heard the sound of the ivory ball spinning around the rim, hitting the obstructions and finally, when the silence is compact, the air thick and no-one breathes, the sound of the ball jumping upon the frets and dropping into a bowl. For a tenth of a second there is absolutely no sound at all. The bettors register what happened to their bets and then you hear it: sighs, shouts, laughs and swears. The noise level is up again and within seconds there are chips, chips and more chips, all over and everywhere... I wasn't prepared for this. I spent two hours just strolling around. I placed a chip here and one there, won some and lost some - my only thought was, that I had to get used to the environment. I discovered (the hard way) there were different minimum bets on different tables and I found one where five Marks chips could be used at the outside and decided that I should return the next day to that precise table and start my adventure. The rest of the evening I spent betting my 100 Marks away, but I didn't succeed before I got tired and headed for home. The next morning I had completed my plans; yesterday's expenses should be charged my vacation money, the bankroll was divided into four parts of 250 Marks each and thus my long-term plan was diminished to a four-day session. The plan was to gamble - on Red - for up to the 250 Marks I would bring and any won money should be saved. After the four days, I should decide what to do - if there were any money left. At two o'clock in the afternoon, when the doors opened, I was there as one of the first guests for the day. They closed at two at night so I should have nearly twelve hours of gambling if my chips lasted. Or, so I thought. The table didn't open until four; a nice wait for two hours... (Excuse me - I'm a bit superstitious when it comes to this; I had made my mind up at which table I should play, and that table it was going to be). When the table opened, I was the very first one there. I was the ONLY one there. And inexperienced. So I started betting Red - one single chip of the lowest value the casino accepted. The croupiers looked around, found no-one else there, looked at each other, looked at me and finally started spinning the wheel. The ball fell into 29 Black. My first bet was a loser. I put the second chip at the square for Red and awaited the decision. Four Black. I decided to come back later. I strolled around the big hall, looking at people and staff, still fascinated by the handling of the chips at the tables. An hour or so passed, I had a cup of coffee and then I came back to "my" table and found it surrounded by people. But luck of lucks; the chair closest to the Red square was free and I had a seat. Now, let's GAMBLE! That was a miscalculation. Not that I lost a lot - I hardly lost at all - but I won nothing and the bets were never more than two chips. This was a tiresome game; one chip on Red - lose - another chip - win - another chip - lose and on and on and on. But the staff was very polite and I was certainly accepted and everything was cool. But BORING! After six hours - yes, I sat there for six hours - I had lost a total of ten chips and never, not once, had a bet been four chips. I decided to go home to think things over and left the casino after handing one chip to the croupier closest to me - for the employees. Thank you and good night. The strategy had to be changed in some way; I couldn't be sitting there handling one chip - occasionally two - at a time. It was boring and tiring, and who knows for how long they would accept it? The easiest way looked to be to raise the starting bet to two times two chips, having 200 Marks left from today and 250 Marks for tomorrow. Let it be so! If the day before was a miscalculation, the next day was a disappointment. It started out really well when I was waiting for the table to open. A servant came, asking me if I wanted the same chair as I had yesterday. I guess my chin dropped to the floor before I could get to my senses. Thanking him with ten Marks, I asked if it was okay to wait a while. He replied that the table would be busy from the start as today was Friday and a lot of visitors were expected and then he bowed and pointed in the direction of the table. He thanked me for the tip, bowed once more and disappeared. The game was a truly boring and losing one. There is not much to tell; I was betting 10 Marks chips in the same manner as the day before with the only difference that they were lost more quickly. In only four hours I had lost 260 Marks - more than half the bankroll. But I actually had one winning session later, giving a net result of 28 chips so the day ended, after several more losses, at a 300 Marks loss, after some ten hours. The bankroll wasn't empty but a big hole was dug in it. The strategy had to be changed in some way! That night I had the greatest idea! Why not bet Red and Black at the same time? That way, I should always find the winning streak and if the people in the novel could do it, why couldn't I? And that would liven up the game, at least a bit, as I would have two bets to think of instead of one. It would be easy; simply put two sets of piles in front of you - one for Red and one for Black - and off you go. It seemed reasonably good - the idea behind it being to always find the winning streak - and with that, I fell asleep. Having decided to use the five Marks chips again, as I should bet two bets, I had "the same chair as yesterday" and I was 10 Marks lighter - I wished I had given him a fiver from start. The table was as crowded today as yesterday and when the servant pulled out the chair for me, people stared. The same thing happened yesterday and then I thought of it as rather annoying; today I thought it was like a part of a game: Of course I have a reserved chair - I spend millions here (five Marks at a time). The croupiers stared at me as I was putting one chip on the Red square and, bending over the table, putting one on the Black square. The people around me stared. And they stared even more when the croupier took the only chip from the Black square and put it beside the only chip at the Red square. He looked at me as I took both chips and then put them back, one at each square. The same procedure repeated with the same eyes staring wide open and I came to the conclusion that there was something very wrong in betting this way. In plain desperation, I decided to bet Red and something else - High simply came to mind as that was the last winning number. So I re-started everything and it went on quite smoothly - winning some and losing some. My first winning session came after an hour's play and the next one two hours after that. The winnings were not big in themselves - 28 chips in total when you have had a net of 12 winnings - but the losses in between were small, so I had a positive net. (The sessions can also be very, very long, if you win some and lose some all the time.) The rest of the night was a fast losing game, and I went home by midnight, having 150 Marks left of my bankroll. The strategy had to be changed in some way! On my way home, I thought of what had happened when I placed the two chips at Red and Black and then I had them both back. That was not really smart; of course I should have not bet at all in that situation! So let that be a Rule for tomorrow: Do not bet at all if the two bets are the same! While taking the twenty minutes walk home, I formed a complete theory around that Rule. It was possible to bet both Red and Black at the same time as long as you actually do not do it... You bet only one of the bets; the highest bet subtracted by the lowest. And in a situation where the two bets are equal, this subtraction means no bet at all - exactly as the initial Rule said. I thought I had found the SOLUTION! I was, to be honest, convinced of it - that night I didn't sleep too well; the Holy Grail was going to be mine tomorrow. The next morning I woke up early. I started checking my theories from yesterday using one of the cards showing yesterday's spins at the main table, supplied by the casino. Matches was chips and I found out, first of all that there was hardly any betting at all as the bets were equal most of the time and then I found out that subtracting was much easier done on paper than with matches/chips. But the latter was a minor problem, the major being that I couldn't sit at the table for hours, maybe, without betting as the spins on the cards suggested. I hastely found a way to note the bettings on paper that was quite functional, fuzzy to some degree though, but with a lot of dicipline it should work. But how could I possibly change it so that bets were laid? The system still worked the same way, only now for two bets, resulting in few occasional bets. It was then I found out that I could bet all six bets at the same time - single-handed. I tried it on the spins at the card and it worked. Admittedly, at times my notes were not the clearest but as far as I could tell, there were no mistakes. And I did find winning streaks when my bets accelerated and losing streaks when the bets were low and I found out it was rather easy to handle and I decided to go for it. My total bank was now 550 Marks and I was going to bring it all there! "The table is open and your seat is held for you," the servant said and I couldn't tell if I was dreaming or not - I felt like I was walking in knee-deep mud and I had that whizzing sound in my ears. But now I was going in there, paper and pen (for the first time) in one pocket, 300 Marks in 5-Marks chips in another, 250 Marks in notes in yet another, a beating heart in my chest and a bouncing stomach in the belly. My knees turned to water... When I approached the table, the servant - the same servant as in the lobby - removed the "Reserved"-sign and I sat down. The wheel had already spun a few spins - I had learned that you didn't have to rush to the table - and the Chef de Table (the man in the high chair, looking like a judge at a tennis court) nodded at my direction. All of the croupiers smiled and nodded and I got a good feeling for the night - my heart stopped beating so hard. Without hurry, I took some chips out of my pocket and then the pen and paper. The staff looked surprised; I had been using the chips to do the accountings before - the system was obvious and they all knew what I did, when and why. But now I had a handful of chips and pen and paper in front of me; they noticed a change of strategy. I did notice the winning number when I got to the table and then there was another while I made myself in order. I quickly noted those and then a third number was there rather soon. Nothing interesting - no bets, and I thought: If the single betting didn't lose too much, maybe I can use it while I wait for the other. Said and done. And so, I sat comfortably at the table; betting one on Red noting all the others, subtracting and finding only occasional bets. Bets that both hit and didn't. I started to find this game kind of boring as well but the staff was polite and smiled and served me well - they even settled a discussion over one chip to my favour - so I didn't think too much about anything, I concentrated on my figures. The first winning session came like a thunderstorm: 10 straight hits on Odd, two losses, three hits, one loss and then two hits and I was home! Hardly any chips had been at stake (except the Red-betting) and now I had won a total of 28 chips minus the Even bets - a total of 12 chips. I felt euphoric and saw that the rainbow was at the table and there was a huge pot of gold awaiting me at the end. I bet Red and I noted, I noted and bet and then I saw the next winning streak come; it was on Low. It was not as quick in the start as the Odd streak but then it downright exploded. It was up at two, down to one, up at two and down again, over and over, without High getting up to two at any occation, so I bet one at times but mostly not. All of a sudden, I noticed that I should be betting four chips on Low - on paper, you have to subtract the High bet to get the real bet - so I woke up and followed thoroughly. With the exception of one spin, the rest were Low and I was home. I started a new Low and it started winning immediately - I got excited and a bit nervous. I looked around as the ball was spinning and noticed that some people turned their head away, they had been watching me and I thought to myself that I must not get nervous because of others. Do not get distracted! Keep to your own doings as they are enough! Another Low but this one was also Black's fourth two-chip win and was up at the four chip level. Now I had to really focus as also the Even constantly was one unit above Odd. The handling was, however, quite simple although my notings were not the best but it all went on quite calm. Low began to get close to end and Black was not far away. There were two High hits but one of them was Black as well. Now bet three on Black and Low and then one chip on Odd. High wins again and now I shall bet three chips on Low but one chip on Black and another three on Even. I just had the time to bet before the croupier closed the betting - where did all the time go? Are the spins going faster? Bet again and don't worry - FOCUS! OK! Now, I should be halving the bet on Even and then - or doubling? Can't quite see it from the notes... BET! Bet half to be secured. Is this spin gone? But I didn't have time to bet! Bet NOW! What's the matter? My simple calculations take too much time? How much have I won? According to the paper ...don't bother; BET! Now, one chip there, three there and three... OK! And Low wins again... Am I the only one betting? Everyone stares... FOCUS! Note and bet, note and bet! Three chips on Low and a win and I'm home and then one chip each on Black and Odd. NO! That was THREE chips on Black! No more bets? Why is the table so empty? Is no-one betting? And Low wins - note for heavens sake! You won so note it! Odd won too! Note! Now, get the chips and start another Low - but... My chips were gone! The Low and Odd squares were empty. Completely empty. There was not one single chip there but there should be. There ought to be some other bets at the table, I thought, but it was clean; not one chip was at stake - only mine. Was I the only one betting? Twenty people and not one single bet? But there should be my twelve chips, at least. I politely asked the croupier that was closest to me but he just shook his shoulders. I looked up at Chef de Table but he did the same. When I collected the chips in front of me and looked at the notes, I could see I missed a lot of chips. Not only the last twelve; there must have been some FIFTY missing! How could that be? I looked around the table but no-one looked back. All of a sudden they were betting. As I rose, I clearly saw what happened: In order to get me disorganized they speeded up the game so much that I did not have time to follow it, betting every spin as I was. And it looked like I did a lot of small - but expensive - mistakes on my way to the last bet when I was so disordered that I did not know if I placed those bets or not. My notes said I did. The casino staff said I did not. I, myself, I do not know... | |
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