CompuServe Thread

Mike, the reason they publish it is cause the make more money on the book than they do on their betting and/or playing strategy. There is no fool proof way to bet or play – just ways of upping your odds of winning more times then not. For eg. in Blackjack – even if you're using the most sophisticated counting and betting system(s) there is, the house always has at least one advantage over you and that is that you have to play your cards before they do – which leaves the possibility of you going over 21 before they bust. Overall you can play well enough to at least play them even (and better depending on that particular casinos BJ rules) – but there is no way to guarantee winning everytime. Marlene

Another reason to publish a successful betting or trading strategy is that there's more certainty in book royalties than in gambling or short-term trading. The casino's pockets are much, much deeper than the gambler's, so gambler's ruin theory suggests that the gambler will go broke before the casino does most of the time, even if the gambler has an advantage, which he doesn't. Casinos don't make the bulk of their profit on their 'edge.' They make it on human nature, which is to quit when ahead, and play to the last drop when behind. Most folks take a bankroll to the Casino and play until it's gone or until they're up 50% or 100%. This means they're willing to lose everything in their pockets but unwilling to win everything in the casino's pockets. Most of the stories about people who 'break the bank' involve some sort of negligence on the part of the bettor: the bettor forgets she has chips stacking up on red, or passes out after the sixth consecutive win and is non compos mentis for the next seven, etc. Most "commercial" casinos impose betting limits, so one cannot do the sort of compound betting one must to win the theoretical maxima. After all, the craps Don't Pass bet is practically an even money bet. A ten dollar bettor would need only twenty consecutive wins in order to be up to twenty million dollars (roughly). A rare event? Not when you consider the number of craps tables in the Unite States, the number of players, the number of bets in an evening … over the course of a year, one would expect quite a few, and the newspapers would make sure you hear about all of them. But the casinos won't let you hazard your ten million dollar winnings against twenty, or even your five thousand dollar winnings against ten.