# Man to bet everything on one spin
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 9, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122 "2004-04-09T04:03:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/1 "2004-04-09T04:03:29Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/08/people.bet.reut/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/08/people.bet.reut/index.html)
> [@](#):
>
> A British man who has sold all his possessions, including his clothes, will stand in a rented tuxedo on Sunday and bet everything on a single spin of the roulette wheel.
> If he wins, he doubles his money. If he loses, he will be left with only the television crew documenting his every move.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think this is a really, really stupid thing to do?
---
### Author:  [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/2 "2004-04-09T04:32:53Z")
Yeah, he’s a moron.
---
### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/3 "2004-04-09T04:33:15Z")
stoooopid
---
### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/4 "2004-04-09T04:34:58Z")
Dude is insane.
---
### Author:  [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/5 "2004-04-09T04:35:45Z")
Betting literally everything on a single spin of the wheel, eh? Hm, sounds pretty foolproof to me; nobody ever walks away emptyhanded in Vegas, right? :rolleyes:
Seriously, though, he must have some sort of contingency plan. I don’t think they’d’ve agreed to make a reality show about a homeless man. Not without some kind of twist, at least; maybe they’ll offer him bikini-clad models or something. That’s certainly never been done before.
---
### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/6 "2004-04-09T04:37:42Z")
Ahhh, big whoop. People do this in Vegas every day.
Of course, it’s with a life savings bet of around 15 bucks, but it’s all the same…
---
### Author:  [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/7 "2004-04-09T04:46:54Z")
If he loses, then what? The rest of the series is him wandering the streets and eating out of garbage cans? Well, at least the food will be better than fear factor.
---
### Author:  [@coop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coop)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/8 "2004-04-09T05:09:54Z")
I seem to recall a few years ago that a Texan? - who had never bet in his life - had been saving money for a rainy day. He had approximately $200,000 (I think) and he went to a casino just to have one bet to see what the fuss was. He bet - and won - never to be heard from again.
I have tried to Google it but have come up empty-handed. Maybe someone else will be able to find it 😕
---
### Author:  [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/9 "2004-04-09T05:22:36Z")
actually that’s the best possible strategy you can possibly have. It’s when you play time after time that the house always wins.
Of course he’s an idiot but at least he’s smarter then people that go there and lose $5,000 every year and get all excited the one year they come back with an extra $1,000.
---
### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/10 "2004-04-09T05:34:40Z")
> [@coop](#):
>
> I seem to recall a few years ago that a Texan? - who had never bet in his life - had been saving money for a rainy day. He had approximately $200,000 (I think) and he went to a casino just to have one bet to see what the fuss was. He bet - and won - never to be heard from again.
> I have tried to Google it but have come up empty-handed. Maybe someone else will be able to find it 😕
Yeah I recall that. He bet his whole life savings in one go and then left. The only reference I could find that sounded like it was:
> [@](#):
>
> There’s a legendary story — I have no idea if it’s true — about an old silver miner who worked up in the hills of Northern Nevada his whole life. Mining silver out there in the dust and the dirt, spending as little money as possible. And finally, at the end of a long, back-breaking career, he walked down into Reno with a satchel full of money. He went into a hotel and announced his intention of betting the entire suitcase, his life savings, on one spin of the roulette wheel. In the suitcase was $750,000, which was somewhat over the limit at that hotel’s roulette tables. But the pit bosses, after a huddled discussion, knowing they had a 5.39% advantage, agreed to accept the bet.
>
> And now this guy had a big decision. Red or black? Should he put forty years’ worth of work, his livelihood, his retirement future on red . . . or black? So the story goes, he picked a color — let’s say red — and put the whole suitcase on the red square. The croupier spun the wheel, and it went round and round and round . . . and neatly dropped into a red square. And the old guy calmly took his one-and-a-half million dollars and disappeared into the night. True story . . . maybe.
from [this site](http://www.vop.com/previous_broadcasts/2001/jan/01016.html) but I’m sure I read it as a news story.
---
### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/11 "2004-04-09T05:38:40Z")
> [@Darkhold](#):
>
> actually that’s the best possible strategy you can possibly have. It’s when you play time after time that the house always wins.
>
> Of course he’s an idiot but at least he’s smarter then people that go there and lose $5,000 every year and get all excited the one year they come back with an extra $1,000.
And funnily enough if he lost it in a business venture or the stock market people would just shrug and go bad luck even though his odds are better than those of the average person starting a small business.
---
### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/12 "2004-04-09T06:13:14Z")
> [@Darkhold](#):
>
> … actually that’s the best possible strategy you can possibly have. …
bacarrat \> roulette
---
### Author:  [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/13 "2004-04-09T06:20:21Z")
It rates right down there with the couple who sold their house and possessions to buy big jackpot lottery tickets, in the apparent belief that the size of their stake improved their odds.
They lost.
Yep, he’s a moron. A colorful, optimistic one, but still a moron.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/14 "2004-04-09T06:58:23Z")
He’ll come out ahead somehow. He’ll get some kind of deal if he loses and end up plenty happy.
Maybe he’ll host the next reality TV series.
---
### Author:  [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/15 "2004-04-09T07:37:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> bacarrat \> roulette
I don’t know the odds on the games so you could be right.
This all reminds me of a gambling documentary I saw once where the casino owner went through all the games what the long term pay offs were and how every second you spent in a casino is a losing one.
He summed up by the end saying the smartest thing you can do is go in place one bet (I forget what game it was craps maybe) and walk out.
Maybe that guy saw the same documentary.
---
### Author:  [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/16 "2004-04-09T11:46:28Z")
Doesn’t he get paid by the tv crew regardless of winning or losing? Or is that already included in his bet?
---
### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/17 "2004-04-09T11:50:28Z")
> [@Johnny Bravo](#):
>
> Maybe he’ll host the next reality TV series.
“Hi, I’m Ashley Revell, and welcome to this episode of _Fricking Moron Challenge_!”
---
### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/18 "2004-04-09T12:20:01Z")
> [@Fat Bald Guy](#):
>
> Is it just me, or does anyone else think this is a really, really stupid thing to do?
It is a _very_ dumb thing to do.
I’m sure it’ll be fixed so he’ll win though. Or they’ll give him the money back somehow.
---
### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/19 "2004-04-09T13:23:09Z")
> [@ronincyberpunk](#):
>
> Doesn’t he get paid by the tv crew regardless of winning or losing? Or is that already included in his bet?
According to the news story, he is not being paid for the tv show.
---
### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122/20 "2004-04-09T13:43:18Z")
Even with Roullete, on a red and black only bet, you don’t even have a 50/50 chance. Your chances are worse because they have 0 green and 00 green in there too.
The best bet is to watch a BJ game, keep a decent track of the hi and low cards and when the + or minus count gets to where you want it nand they are deep into the shoe, place a bet behind a player who is playing strictly basic strategy. It’s the only time in a Casino you could find a situation where you know the odds are something better than 50/50.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-to-bet-everything-on-one-spin/239122.md?page=2)