Loud Thoughts

I have been fond of gambling through-out my life, intrigued by the odds, pay-out, and strategy. Mathematics dominates this industry and plays key roles in every nuances of every game. Of course, making money with skills, strategy, and luck is addictive too.

I have seen gambling ruin people’s lives and break up families. My heart bled when a little girl waits for her mother at the slot machine 10 feet away. She cannot go near since it is against the laws. I stood by someone blaming his crying girl bad luck and asked her to leave the table. I knew mothers that spend all her time on the Mahjongg tables and leave their children unattended.

Gambling exercises self-control. I searched for instincts and toyed those tugs of tension inside of me: mathematics v. intuition, emotion v. judgment, greed v. fear, relax or focus. I often observed people around me during the game: dealers, pit boss, high roller, recreational, drunk, or even apparent gangsters. They are all fascinating, better at a distance too.

Of course, winning money is always fun.

New players fear casinos and hide in the slot machine jungle. I don’t blame them. The table games are complicated and intimidating. What is the fun of embarrassing yourself in front of strangers and lost money at the same time? But actually, they are fun (and occasional profitable) once the you’ve got the basics.

BlackJack

BlackJack is easy, fast paced, and quite fair — if you play correctly. The trick is to learn the so-called basic strategy: when to hit, stand, split, or double. Edward Thorp, an UCLA mathematics professor in the 60s, developed this strategy originally. His famous book hooked me on this game several years ago. Online resources can teach you this strategy. After mastering it, proceed to learn card-counting.

If casino catches you counting cards, you will be escorted out. The simplest card-counting, however, is effective and almost not detectable. Cards of 2, 3, 4, 5 are worth 1 point each and 10, Jack, Queen, and King are negative 1 point. Notice the cards on the table and keep track of cards that show on the table.

Use this only in single-deck games. Bet 1 unit of money when the count is zero or less. Double the bet size if the count is more than 2, quadruple if 4 or higher. For double-deck games, increase the bet only when the count reaches 4 or 8.

Craps

Craps intimidate beginners. The tables are always rowdy. Money flies across the table with incomprehensible instructions. They seem so much fun yet so mysterious.

Lewis taught me a bit and I am still experimenting, at the pace of one visit to the table a year. I now play the “pass line” and its odds, plus the place bets on 6 and 8. Let me explain:

Pay attention to a big button on the table. Enter the game when it is “Off” and put your money on the area said “Pass line.” Someone (maybe yourself) will toss two dice across the table. If the dice show 7 or 11, you win. If they are 2, 3, or 12 (called craps), you lose. For everything else, a point is established and the fun begins.

The table staff will turn the button over (On) and put it on the number. This is the time you put additional money behind the pass line next to your original bet. This is so-called “the pass line odds” bet.

Now the game has turned into a race between the established number and 7. If the dice show the number first, you win; 7 you lose. When you win, the part of the money on the pass line pays even. The money behind the pass line pays more than even, depending on which number it was. Don’t worry and just take the money.

Round up your bet to even number, give the chips to the table staff and said “place on 6.” Do the same for 8. You therefore have 2 units of money on 6 and 8. Now, whenever the dice show 6 or 8, you get 7 to 6 pay-out for the money you bet on those numbers.

This strategy works quite well for me so far. If I found a new and better one, I will share it here.

I rarely have writer’s blocks on concepts; it is the mincing of words that stumped me. I envy those who have proses flowing out of the keyboard effortlessly. To me, chiseling on granite.

It seems fitting to commemorate the passing of 2007 with a blog. What exactly to write stomped me for days. The year was a big motion blur. I never had time to reflect and digest what happened.

My travel spreadsheet shows that I made 13 international trips in 2007 (and several China domestic ones). It is really profoundly pathetic that one has a travel spreadsheet. Thirteen trips translate to an average of alternating 18 days at home and 10 on the road. I am always away from my family. I became chemically dependent on sleeping while traveling. I ate unhealthy foods (weakened will power) and exercised much less when traveling. On the bright side, I blogged regularly and read much more too.

This is the milestone 1st empty nester year. The younger daughter cut her hair short and spread her wings to a US college. She left behind much to tidy up and an eerie empty echo in her room. The well-made bed and uncluttered carpet startled me at first. It took a while to remember there is no longer a teenager living there. I will call her to dinner only to swallow the sound half-way. This is fine. We did this once with the older one. It will pass, in few decades.

Several vacational trips with friends and family are so precious. All of us are coming of ages now. Weakened muscles, slack skins, and senility are common to us. Few drinks at the dinner will find us all snoozed at the sofa. The two most talked about topics are investment and chronic diseases. Hey, lives are good. Let’s play “When I’m 64” instead of “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da.”

China quickened her already break-neck speed growth; work intensified few notches up. My flight schedule is a clear indicator. As I rooted deeper in China, every trip back to US felt less like going home. I may be approaching that invisible point of no return. This is a bit scary.

2008 scares me. I can feel its enormity and speed. I am not prepared for 2008. Then again, nor was I 12 months ago.

我少有灵感枯竭时，倒是常半天捻不出个好词。 最羡慕下笔成章的人。 对我而言， 是一字一字刻竹简。

年底总该写个回顾吧。但几天下不了笔。一年晃过眼前，没回顾消化的工夫。

我出差的spreadsheet算出来今年出国13趟(还有几趟国内的)。 有个出差的spreadsheet就已经是悲惨世界了。 13趟，平均是家里18天，在外10天。 总见不到家人。 睡觉要靠化学。吃得不健康（没毅力了），也不锻炼。 从好处看吧， 网格写的勤，书也读多了点。

今年是有史第一个空巢年。 小女儿剪短了头发，伸伸翅，飞去美国念大学。 她留下一屋给我们收拾， 是间怪怪空荡的房间。 看到铺好的床，干净的地毯，会觉得奇奇怪怪的。 恍然， 没人住当然不乱了。 叫她吃饭， 赶把声咽下。 没事。 大的几年前也离家了， 几十年就会习惯的。

难得几次朋友一起休假。 大家都老了。 肌肉衰退，皮肤松弛，糊途恍惚。 晚饭来几杯， 过会纷纷睡倒在沙发上了。 谈来谈去，不是投资，就是长期病痛。好嘞！ 听歌要放 “When I’m 64” 而不是 “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da.”

中国的经济成长得比提速车更快了。工作上比去年更紧张些，出差的频率就是最好的指标。 我在中国的根，一天天的扎深，回美也一次次不像回家了。那不归点一天天逼近。心里真有点却意。

对2008，来的又快又猛，我还没准备好，还真有点怕怕。 可是想想去年此时，不也一样。