Gaming Tips : The 'Hit and Run' Method of Gambling

Dear Mark,

I have noticed that you recommend the quick, hit-and-run method of gambling, unless of course, you are on the winning streak from heaven. Wouldn't waiting for the win streak to occur be a better way to play? Gerald H.

How would you know when it started, Gerald? The reason I highly recommend hit-and-run gambling is that short-term play is the breeding ground for unusual fluctuations, where -- briefly -- results seem to defy the dictates of probability.

The casino's built-in advantage may not tick over during brief stints. It is to your advantage to make your gambling time line as short as possible, and here's why: the casino's advantage is quite real, but it's predicated on the operation of the "law of averages" over a long period. (In Old World casinos, it's even called the "law of large numbers" -- not a bad name considering that thousands of players bet on millions of hands, year-in year-out.)

By exposing your money for an extended period, you veer unavoidably closer to the ultimate built-in loss that the casino's statistician has prepared for you. Brevity of gambling session is, for that reason, a handy secret weapon for you. It's not guaranteed to make you win; but a long session is guaranteed to make you lose.

The casino edge for slot machines, and for that matter for all casino games, is based on long-term trials. Casinos, open 24 hours a day, greet with a big smile those millions of hands of blackjack and handle pulls. With thousands of hopefuls playing slots, craps, roulette, and blackjack at any given moment, and with a mathematical advantage to the casino in every one of them, the casino can't lose, but players who lengthen their bankroll's exposure give the casino a correspondingly greater opportunity to eat it.

Bottom line: Your best chance to win comes when you shorten your playing time, exploiting any favorable deviations from the law of big numbers that may occur. Of course, when you've won the entire casino, then you opt for all-night gambling sessions. Until then, master the hit-and-run method of gambling.