This is an actual conversation from my Vegas trip. I had met a guy playing Pai Gow poker and finally left after the dealer scolded me for playing my hand wrong. I played some roulette and talked to him on my way out. I was talking about my strategy for playing which is really a strategy for stopping. I’ll call him Stranger A. Sitting next to him is a dude I’ve never seen before, Stranger B.
Me: “I play a very boring roulette style. It’s less riverboat gambler and more insurance company actuary.”
Stranger A: “Thats funny.”
Stranger B: “Yes, actuaries!”
Me: “Are you an actuary?”
Stranger B: “I sure am. Look!” He turns to face me, and his shirt says in a fancy font “Actuary”.
Me: “Right on, actuary guy!” We high five.
Stranger A: “You two are stone cold nerds.”
I’ve actually been playing a standard Martingale strategy on roulette, usually on the 2-1 spots.It at least helps prolong the time it takes to bust out.Not often, mind you… but Vegas is pretty much built for enhancing insomnia… and when in Rome. 🙂
I played at least 5 different sessions of roulette, sitting down with $100 each time. I play a $2 on 6 singles, and if I hit I bank a stack of 12 chips. Then I keep playing like that. If I run out of chips in the main stack I cash out what remains in the bank. Doing this, I played to approximately break even a few times, a profit of $100 or more a couple times.The one time I busted out, I should have actually cashed out $150. In this instance, I particularly enjoyed the people at the table and the dealer so I opted to take my bank and slide it back around as the active stack. Had I done that, I’d have more than doubled my money on the week. However, in this case I consider it a $150 fee to make the most fun game of the week last another 90 minutes. If money was the goal, it was a bad move. However my goal isn’t profit (if it was, I earned way less than my going rate for the time) it is fun experience for as long as possible. I was happy both ways.
Hrm. Martingale + your banking approach could be an interesting combination. I’ll have to give it a shot next time.