d6d3558c   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm   
      
   On Thu, 21 Mar 2013 01:40:03 -0700 (PDT), Andy.Cooke.1973   
   @googlemail.com wrote:   
   > They will "make a heap of all their   
   > winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss" (as Kipling would   
   > say)   
   >   
      
   Actually, that's sound advice.  If you're going to gamble, your   
   chances of an overall profit get worse with every additional bet you   
   make, so your best strategy is to risk everything on one bet.   
      
   Of course "best" is relative here -- you're still more likely to lose   
   than win.  But your chance of winning one $10,000 bet is much, much   
   better than your chance of winning a majority of 100 $100 bets.   
      
   Example: bet "red" in roulette.  Chance of winning your only bet:   
   47.4%.  Chance of winning 51 or more of 100 bets: 26.5%.  (These are   
   based on the US wheel of 38 slots.)   
      
   --   
   Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA   
                                     http://OakRoadSystems.com   
   Tolkien FAQs: http://Tolkien.slimy.com (Steuard Jensen's site)   
   Tolkien letters FAQ:   
     http://mysite.verizon.net/aznirb/mtr/lettersfaq.html   
   FAQ of the Rings: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/ringfaq.htm   
   Encyclopedia of Arda: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm   
   more FAQs: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/faqget.htm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)