A.I.M. Users Bulletin Board

[Bernie Goldberg]

Hi,
OT
Which casino are you playing at where they only allow five doubles. Wherever I've gambled there is a table limit.
But let's look at you math which IMO is a little fuzzy.
Let us say you are playing a purely mathematical game like Roulette.
first bet $1
Second bet $2
Third bet $4
Fourth Bet $8
Fifth Bet $16
In Las Vegas there are 38 spaces on the wheel. Eighteen red, eighteen black and two zeroes which are green. The same numbers will be found for high/low bets, and odd/even bets.
All of these bets (red/black, odd/even, high/low) pay even money. The kicker is in the zeros. When you make one of the even money bets, there are 18 possible winning numbers and 20 possible losing numbers. This gives the house an edge of 20 to 18 or 11.11111%. They let you double up as many times as you like as long as you don't go over the house limit.
Just for your information: After the above series of four losing bets you will be risking $16 on the fifth bet in order to come out ONE dollar ahead when the odds are 10 to 9 against you.
Perhaps it is fortunate that you think they will only allow you 5 doubles, because after the fifth it goes 32..64..128 etc, all to come out that same ONE DOLLAR ahead.