MagsJ,
Nice to see you, too!
I am actually a writer now, about 90% gambling-related stuff. What are you into these days?
Pav, I have a friend who was way interested in the game theory/utility theory stuff who gave a bunch of talks about gambling. What kind of stuff are you writing?
A great number of things. I report on gambling news, do Reviews (hotels, restaurants in casinos), identify possible advantage plays (both online and in live casinos) and analyze how those can be beaten, I write about negative expectation gambling, review online gambling software, review land casino games and electronic games (slots/video poker). I’ll occasionally do stuff like breakdown revenues for certain jurisdictions, mostly Atlantic City, because the market interests me.
To give you an idea, here are the next ten things that I will have completed:
1.) Craps Strategy Guide and Applications for Possible Online Gambling Advantages
2.) The Effects of Different Blackjack Rules on House Edge, Ability to Count Cards, and Ability to Take Advantage of Online Promotions
3.) Mini-Biography: Sheldon Adelson
4.) The State of New Fees in Vegas (Resort Fees, Parking Fees, etc.)
5.) RakeRace (A new poker concept that affords players kickbacks based on total action)
6.) General News Article—OVERDUE!!!
7.) Atlantic City Revenue Report for Half-Year 2017
8.) Brango Casino (Review and Analyze Promotions, Write about Advantage Play if Any Identified)
9.) The Retirement of Game Protection specialist Eliot Jacobson and Potential Benefit to Advantage Players
10.) Jackpot Capital Casino (Review and Analyze Promotions, Write about Advantage Play if Any Identified)
—Just to give you an idea. Also, none of those are titles, just how my notes read.
Hey Mr. Reasonable, what’s your real name?
Being a homebody, playing Skyrim. I always rebel against the game’s design, like I’m ignoring most of the assigned quests and just exploring. My progress is real slow, but satisfying when I discover all kinds of hidden places and objects.
…all partied out from yesterday’s drinking-and-dancing-with-a-sexy-blonde-Norwegian-till-3am jaunt in the joint round the corner from home, so a tea, food, and ILP day for me. Got up at 1… then thought 'fuck that ’ and went back to sleep till 4… not sure when another window of opportunity for fun will open up… why I always make the most of my nights out 
Too much fun. 
I fancy a fresh pineapple supper. 
Bored.
Bored.
Bored.
bored.
Bored.
Bored.
people are not nice. But I already knew that.
If you’re so bored, there’s a lot of responsible things that need to get done. Lots of books to be read, movies and shows to be watched, lots of fun to be had adventuring and exploring the outdoors. Lots of chores and jobs that need to be done. Or, you can sit there and be bored and complain about being bored until someone hits you or you get bored of being bored and do something, whichever comes first.
You could also take a nap, this three-and-a-half minutes of auditory serenity should help:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56TVlz2yD8s[/youtube]
Is Pav back, or am I seeing a ghost from the past?
The job of your dreams, I bet? your personal pursuit becoming your job…
These days I am mostly politicing… with a little bit of acting work and socialising thrown in, but it now looks like I may also start working from home managing Pharmaceutical brochures… once I send my CV across. 
I have been asked to do my first speaker’s TedX-style 5 minute talk at one of our London conferences in early September… I am not nervous (yet).
Maybe both if I can remember how to Philosophize again…
I’m not going to lie, there are good days and bad days, but 95% of them are good. 5% and you’re looking at a blank Word Document thinking, “Hell can I say about this subject that hasn’t been said…actually…Hell can I say that I haven’t already said?” Fortunately, I’ve been getting a lot of help with topic suggestions from the entities I write for as well as some of my readers. Lots of good questions, things like that.
Acting, that’s pretty cool, are you done modelling? Are there any videos of your acting, what sorts of roles do you play?
What is a TedX?
As you might of recall I use to go by Joker and various other usernames.
At any rate, still a family man working as a hotel manager? What brought you back to our collective cyber abode?
Only 35 more hours until glorious Depeche Mode ( 
), the ticks and the tocks are moving so slowly.
Family Man: I don’t know, I’m divorced, now engaged, and have my kids over 50% of the time.
Hotel Manager: No, writer.
Brought Back: It’s like a walk through a town you grew up in. I really do plan to hang out a bit, though.
Pav, always bet the odds when the point is 8. And look for blackjack tables where the dealer has to hit on a soft 17.
Rewatching the Mayweather-McGregor fight again. I never appreciated boxing until now. What a beautiful, elegant and powerful sport.
Mayweather completely totalled McGregor without a lot of effort, just a decision in round 6 or so that he had seen enough of the barbarians punches and decided to walk in his direction. From that moment he didn’t stop advancing and throwing swift lightningbolts in the Irish cunts already not too glorious face.
It was Mayweathers last fight, just in time to make me a fan. Not just of him, but of the sport of boxing.
The Odds have an expectation of 0%, making them one of the few bets in a casino that have no House Edge working against the player. Of course, you must make either a Pass or Don’t Pass bet to make an Odds bet, and those bets do come with a House Edge against you. With that said, there is no mathematical expectation difference between betting the Odds on any number as opposed to any other number as all Odds bets have a House Edge of 0%.
Unfortunately, the second one is just completely wrong. Seventeen is a bad hand for the dealer, so you would prefer a game in which the dealer must stand. I know it doesn’t seem that way because a Hit would seem to give the dealer a chance to eventually bust if you have a total of 12-16, but the dealer could beat your seventeen total if he has to hit rather than just a Push. Also, the dealer is more likely to make a hand of Hard 17 all the way to 18-21 rather than bust. In fact, there are four ranks that give the dealer a better hand with one card (A-4) four ranks that give the dealer a Hard 17 anyway (All Tens) and only five ranks which put the dealer in a position that he might bust (5-9).
Ultimately, the player finishes with a total of 17-21 frequently enough that he is better off if the dealer Stands on Soft-17. Switching the Rules from S17 to H17 adds approximately 0.2-0.22% to the House Edge depending on the other rules and number of decks used.
What if all the players decide to stick at 11 and the dealer has to hit on soft 17? So we leave all the cards that can bust the dealer.