"The casino has that enticing sight-n-sound atmosphere to attract people
from all walks of life. This is analogous to an electric blue-light fly
killer; the casino patrons being the flies not knowing what they are being
lured into........" [MYaz]


Question #1: Apart from timing & luck, what else can we do to make our
gambling a lot safer than it is?

Answer: From a practical point of view, if you aim to win a very small
fraction of the bankroll that you bring into the casino then you will come
to believe that this is safer.

*Please digest the above answer statement until you fully understood its
meaning*

Refer back to the questioner's intention of asking his question. He actually
wanted some forms of assurance, something that he can agree upon. So I gave
him an answer that he wants to know. If I told him that mathematically this
cannot be achieved then while my answer may be correct, I'm not telling him
what he would like to hear.

So what do I mean by winning a small fraction? Okay, if for example you have
1000 units & you aim to win only 1 unit, it is almost certain that you will
win using some sort of negative progression. You know very well that this
can be achieved with ease within a single session. In fact you might even
consider this as being almost effortless!

Now what if you drop that original bankroll to 100 units? Well you may think
it is still possible to win.
Lower your bankroll further to 10 units & doubts will start to challenge
your own confidence.
How about having only 1 unit.....you get worried as the house edge is
looking quite unfavourable to you then!

When an engineer designs a building, he will always include a safety factor
in his structural calculations. Why is this necessary? In layman's term, it
is to make the building stand stronger. But does this guarantee that it will
not fall? Nothing can be guaranteed 100% (just like in gambling) but it must
be strong enough to meet the standards of the respective regulatory body. So
this aspect of design safety is never compromised to ensure that there is a
very high probability that the building will not collapse. On the other hand
it is really amazing that the human individuals are less likely to enforce a
strict safety factor when he or she is taking risk in the casino even though
this option is usually available:

With 1000 units to win 1 unit: Safety factor is 1000:1
With 100 units to win 1 unit: Safety factor is 100:1
With 10 units to win 1 unit: Safety factor is 10:1
With 1 unit to win 1 unit: Safety factor is 1:1

Let's leave the serious mathematics formulae aside as I'm only using
arbitrary factors here. Also I'm not talking about any particular systems in
use rather I'm generalizing an area on money management. As you can
appreciate, at 1000:1 you're not bothered by the house edge but at 1:1 this
apparently becomes quite significant! What is happening is a change in our
perception although the house edge remains the same no matter what safety
factor you use. It is your psychology that has been affected the most!

Question #2: What happens if I want to win more, say, 10 units instead of 1
unit?

Answer: Assuming you make a 1 unit gain per session, you must play 10 times
to make 10 units profit. Another way of looking at this is: To make 10 units
from 1000 units is the same as like having 100 units to win 1 unit. So the
safety factor now becomes 100:1. If you really want to have the same safety
factor of 1000:1 to win 10 units then you would need a bankroll of 10,000
units!

Let's say you're comfortable to using a safety factor of 100:1 on one of
your favourite systems. If you intend to make $10, then you should have a
$1000 bankroll. Likewise if you want to make $500 for the night, you better
bring along $50,000 to maintain the same safety factor (What may be limiting
here though is the table's maximum limit).

If you recall my 4th Rule of Luck which states that "The amount of money bet
is irrelevant to time"......this means that no matter how many chips you put
on the table, the next outcome will not change. If you can tie this up with
the above safety factor then you will be extremely "safe". There is no
substitution to having a large bankroll reserves before you even start
playing.

Unfortunately most people have this believe they can start with a hundred
dollar cash & make a few thousand dollars through spending long hours on any
game table. Now this is not realistic although you may get lucky once or
twice but the next time you will give everything back to the casino. The
problem actually is these people tend to bring in too little capital &
before they know all of it gets depleted within a short period of time. When
they lose they try again to win back 100% of their previous losses but that
would only make them break even if they are lucky enough! As their frequency
of session increases the house edge will eventually get them!

Question #3: What is the relationship between Safety Factor & Greed?

Answer: People who are greedy tends to lower their safety factor using the
same amount of bankroll.
e.g If you bring in $500 & want to make $1, your SF=500:1
But if you decide to make $100 instead, your SF=5:1 (relatively MORE
dangerous!)

There are two types of Greed:
1) Conscious Greed (CG)
2) Unconscious Greed (UG)

It's much easier to remedy UG people through education whereas most CG
people would have gone beyond their point of no return. For CG people to
chage their habit would require something drastic (e.g an unexpected
shocking event) to occur in their lives.

For the UG's when you wake up in the morning, repeat this mesmerizing rhyme
to yourself:
"Play To Win A Little, A Little Win To Play
To Win Play A Little, A Little Play To Win"
Though it's a bit confusing (it's meant to be!), it's an effective form of
mental programming if repeated aloud many times.

MYaz


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