I have a trip coming up in about week to Las Vegas. I have never been there before and don’t have any firm plans because it was a spur of the moment free trip. One thing that caught my eye was a jump off the Stratosphere tower. It is like vertical zip-line in semi free-fall from 108 floors up that looks like fun. The question about whether I should do it or not is not about whether it would be too scary. It is the opposite. It costs $110 and I would be pissed if it wasn’t worth it. Have you or anyone you know done it and is it worth it? I don’t want to pay $110 dollars for a thrill I could get at any large amusement park.
My other question is about gambling. I am too good at statistics to be a big fan of gambling. However, I want to do it once. I want to place exactly one bet at a high stakes table for $1000 - $2000 and have at least a 2/3’s chance of winning 50% over the bet (e.g. if I bet $2000, I want to have at least a 2 in 3 chance of walking away with $3000 and just using the $1000 gained to have fun elsewhere). What is the best bet to place to do that and where should I go? I know some split bets at Craps could do that but I don’t know much about Craps.
No. I am not paying for the bet either but I get to keep half of any money I make from it and don’t have to pay anything if it fails (long story). I just need the most efficient bet possible for meeting or exceeding my goals. The statistics part is why I am just limiting it to one bet. The house advantage on some games in minimal if you don’t play long. Of course, you can also lose it all instantly but I am not concerned about that in this case.
Dude, you’re not gonna get those odds on a table game in vegas, unless the casinos are drunk. That’s positive expectancy and they don’t give you that on one bet!
I am well aware of that. My criteria are generous to the casino and I know I will lose if I play for the long-haul. That is the reason I just want to lay it down and take like man win or lose. Do the math again. Either I lose $2000 outright or I gain $1000. I know you can do that on some split bets, I just don’t know the best place to put down just one (I am not going to tell them that in advance) or what the most efficient bet to place is. I am using rounding here so that a decimal point or two doesn’t matter much for just one bet. There is no positive expectation.
I am more concerned if I should jump off that tower or not.
Let me give you an example. Roulette has 36 numbers and multiple ways to play. One of the bets covers twelve numbers. You can do two of those at a time if you want and get 3x your bet back and expect to win a little less than 2/3rds of the time. The problem with Roulette is that there is also a 0 and 00 on the board which makes the odds less than ideal because they don’t pay at all for number bets.
I am asking if there is a better bet than covering slightly less than 2/3’s of a Roulette board on one bet.
The bloke I was going to jump with asked me if I was nervous. I replied that I was about to jump out of a perfectly good plane, so yeah.
He replied that it wasn’t a perfectly good plane.:eek:
As far as the tower goes, go and watch some other poor sod jump first and see if it looks worth it.
Thanks. That is what I was worried about. I only have a set budget for jumping off of large things per year and I really want to go skydiving as well. If it isn’t worth it, I could just go skydiving around here when the weather warms up for not that much more.
Believe me, I will do it and I have done it before and won for bets in the sub $1000 range. That was with Roulette though and I know there are smarter bets out there. I just don’t know how Las Vegas works and I think a $2000 bet would require a high stakes table. I don’t really care about etiquette except for the aspects that are required to get me to the table in the first place. I just want to place one big bet with more chances than not that I will come out ahead and walk away no matter what after that.
Yeah you should jump, that tower is higher than an amusement park ride. Also do the rides on top, they are a bargain in comparison and just as fun. I did them all last week.
Nah, you can throw down two large pretty much anywhere on the Strip. The max for regular tables is usually $5000 or $10,000.
Expect the people around you to go “ooohh.”
This reminds me of my Best Las Vegas Story.
I was playing nickel blackjack at the Excalibur. Dude walks up to the table and doesn’t bother to sit down. Wordlessly drops a freshly wrapped stack of $10,000 on the table. Bets $2000 a hand. Loses five hands in a row. Then he just walked away.
Technically zero expectancy. But you specified that that was your minimum, so given zero can be positive (;)) I think I’m justified in calling that +ve expectancy.
However it has just occurred to me, given your indignation and the fact you’re no fool that maybe you meant some other type of odds - I know Americans can put them in other ways but I thought most of them were about “line” betting. So maybe I misunderstood?
If by “one bet”, you are also implying “one chance”, then I think the roulette plan (play 2 of the 12-number blocks) is the only way to achieve your desired payout.
If “one bet” doesn’t also mean “one chance”, then you could play two hands of blackjack (at the same table) of $2000 each on the same deal. It depends, but most casinos will allow you to play two spots on the same table if you bet at least double the table minimum. But because of the possibilities to “push”, you might lose it all (both hands lose),
or not lose at all (break even):
one hand wins, one hand loses
both hands push
or win something:
both hands win: double your money (100% profit)
one hand hits blackjack, the other loses: 25% profit (your $1000 win)
both hands hit blackjack: 150% profit
As to craps, depending on the “point”, there would be ways to achieve your 25% profit (I think), but this would involve multiple rolls (multiple “chances”). You would need to wait until you either win, or you lose. And this could take a number of rolls (but typically not, sad to say)
