A Compulsive Gambler

A compulsive gambler is a person who uses Play poker gaming as a narcotic. More than just needing to be in action, he has an emotional need to lose. That’s a fine distinction, but one worthy of noting. At that young age, I felt a powerful urge to be in action, to gamble. It was hard for me to turn down any opportunity. But the thing that kept my near addiction from reaching the compulsive stage was my drive to win. I was downright stubborn. Sure, I seemed to habitually find myself in situations where I had the worst of ii, but there were times, too, when the odds played overwhelmingly in my favor. No matter which the case was, my whole being cried out for victory. I never treated gambling as a form of self-punishment. Not consciously. That was always in my favor.

But we all have destructive urges. Seem like a reckless statement? It isn’t. It’s part of man’s nature to stand stubborn in the face of challenge. And many of us feel compelled to create challenges whenever none present themselves. This is not wholly unhealthy. In fact all champions share this trait. A person who skydives is tempting fate. He earns the exhileration of feeling alive.

But his activity is only healthy jf the subconscious payoff is survival and not death. We must learn to modify our flirtations with danger. Our psyches must be geared to deuling with fate while assuring ourselves that we have the best of it. When you learn to do this, you possess the temperament of a winning gambler. Challenge fate at even’ turn without modfving these destructive urges and, sooner or later, you will destroy yourself.

To be successful in the art of gambling, you must recognize that you have destructive urges, but you must treat these as a life motivating force to be controlled by YOU. The willingness to court danger, to jeopardize life or bankroll is admirable. But the undisciplined surrender to those compulsions can be terminal.

By returning to the Bridge Club under dangerous circumstances, I wasn’t using mature judgement. I had not yet learned to weigh probable gain against possible loss and decide, on that basis, whether on not to take chances.

"Decisions Making In Poker"

I’ve been playing Caribbean Stud poker for nearly 13 years and during this period I had taken many decisions related to betting most of the times I had been successful and few times I am not. Here I am sharing some information about when to bet and when not to bet.

Never call the first bet on two high cards unmatched in any way. Fold an 8 and a high card. An ace is a powerful card in this game, and a hidden pair of aces sometimes creates a very deceptive situation. In a seven- or eight-man game, most of the cards are used if four or five players stay to the end. Consequently, it is most important to be alert and remember the cards that have been turned. It is not an uncommon problem, for example, to be holding 2<: 7, 3. 4, 7, J in your first five cards. You are now faced with a critical problem of whether to discard the jack and try for low or to discard the 3 and try for a heart Hush. No such problem arises in seven-card high-low. You raise and sit back smugly waiting for the Hush, the low or both to come in. If you make neither, you may also win half the pot because of the situation you created by rising.

In making the decision of whether to go for the Hush or low, you must weigh all the available evidence. Had you seen no cards other than your own, you would know that a 7 low can be made with anyone of twelve remaining cards-four aces, four 5s and four 6s. There are only nine more hearts, so the low would be the better gamble. But, of course, you do see the table and you have noted the cards that were folded-at least those that concern you. Only three hearts have been exposed and you have seen three aces, two 5s and one 6. That means there are six low cards and six hearts-a toss-up.

But that doesn't end the problem. Will a Hush win? Will any '7 low win? What about an 8 low? Study the table again. Another player looks as though he is going Hushing, and if he hits it, hells have an ace-high Hush. On the other hand, 7, 6 might into make it, as one of the guys has bet strongly on what looks like a 7, 5 possibility. And so it goes-for this problem and for a number of others that come up in this game.

Generally it takes a good hand to win. Consequently you don't go for 8 low or expect 9s and 7s to win high unless the board suggests little competition in that direction. An important point of decision is after the fifth card is dealt. The earlier betting is ordinarily mild. From this point on, it will cost plenty. If you hold A., 7V', J 0, 4, Q" after the fifth card, you need two good draws to make a low. Furthermore, you may make the 7 low and lose, which is sad indeed. There is little in the world as pitiful as the guy who drew the card he wanted and lost anyway.

Not long ago I held two pair, 10s and 6s after the fifth card.

I dropped! The competition for high looked tough. The 10s and 6s were dead. My investment was small and it was the best action. The high side was won by a player trying to improve a pair of kings, which he never did. Another prospective high failed to make a straight on three tries. A hand that looked like a flush went low instead, as the low competition was light. The low winner made it by breaking a pair. As my cards were dead, I would not have traded, so all the draws would have been the same if I had stayed. I would have won the high. My two pair had been on the table for the entire world to see. My reputation had been damaged, but I'm sure that my pocketbook had not. If the same exact situation were repeated thousands of times with all the unseen cards considered in all possible combinations, I am satisfied that my action would prove to be the winning one. In short, I made the correct percentage play and happened to get hit with one of the instances when the result went against the odds. Long shots do come in occasionally.

POKER-THE NUMBER GAME

POKER -All About Number

The most popular form of lottery played anywhere in the world today is our own Numbers game. My survey shows that during 1973 almost three out of every eight persons who gamble in this country played the numbers. These 36 million Americans, of whom 15 million were women, wagered the gigantic sum of $10 billion in an effort to hit the elusive three digits that would pay off.

The Numbers game has different names among various segments of the population: Policy game, Mutual Numbers, Negro Numbers, Policy racket, Numbers racket and others. Foreign-born Latin Americans call it Bolita; the winners in this Latin-American lottery are usually determined by drawing small numbered balls from a box. The operators and their employees and the majority of players refer to the game simply as “the Numbers.” Most journalists, law-enforcement agents and government officials call it the Numbers racket or the policy racket.

Today’s Numbers game is a variation of the Italian national lottery (see page 207) which has been in existence since 1530. In America, during early colonial days, clandestine lottery operators, like their English contemporaries, permitted players to wager on two or more numbers of their choice, the winning numbers being determined by the last two or three numbers of the first-, second- and third-prize numbers drawn in some legal lottery.

Since most players played a combination of digits derived from the five-figure number on their weekly lottery ticket, this illegal wagering was called “insurance betting” and the operation itself was known as “policy shop,” both terms deriving from “insurance policy.”

In 1973, the $10 billion numbers handle in the United States was greater than the total handle of all the combined foreign government- sponsored lotteries in Europe, Asia and Latin America plus the privately operated Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes and the legally run football pools in England and other European countries.

The largest handle of any type of lottery outside the United States, contrary to the statements made by some so-called gambling experts, is grossed by the British football pools. The eight major pools took in $339,360,000 in 1972. The players got back 50% of this ($169,680,000) in prize money, called ‘dividends.” About 30%, or $101,808,000, went to the government in taxes, 17%, or $57,691,200, went for overhead, and the legal limit of 3%, or $10,180,800, to the promoters as profit. The top prize award for a two pence wager can run as high as $1,500,000 or more.

The $10 billion U.S. Numbers handle for 1973 broke down approximately as follows: 47% came back to players as prize money; 40% paid salaries, operational expenses, lawyers’ fees and fines: 7% ($700 million) was retained by the operators as profits. The final 6%, or $600 miffion, went to corrupt politicians and law-enforcement agents as the illegitimate tax called graft or ice. It is called ice because it is used to cool off the officials so the heat won’t go on.
The state and Federal share in taxes was: 0%.

Playing a Crossruff

On some hands the declarer does not attempt to draw trumps at any point of the play. Instead, he makes as many tricks as he can in the trump suit by taking ruffs in each hand.

When North, in response to the Blackwood four no- trump, shows two aces by his five-heart bid, South judges that the small slam may require a successful heart finesse, at worst.

The play of the hand will depend to some extent on the defense. Suppose, first, that West begins with two rounds of clubs. After ruffling the second round South can see twelve almost certain tricks by way of a CROSSRUFF. He will plan to make all the trumps separately. First he should cash the ace and king of spades and the ace of hearts. Then he can claim all the rest of the tricks, for nothing can prevent him from making the next eight tricks with high trumps.

Suppose, however, that West leads a trump at trick 2. South will need then to finesse the queen of hearts, cash the ace, and proceed with the crossruff as before. If the opening lead is a trump, South must be careful about the order of play: win in dummy, finesse heart queen, ruff heart; ace and king of spades, ruff heart; ruff spade, ruff last heart.

Reversing the Dummy

While it is usual to look for ruffs in the hand that is relatively short of trumps, sometimes it pays to take several ruffs in the longer hand. Suppose you begin with three trumps in dummy, five in your own hand: if you can ruff three times in your hand, then draw the outstanding trumps from dummy, you have extended the trick-winning power of the trump suit from five to six.

South plays in a contract of six hearts and West leads the king of spades. The declarer has eleven top tricks. Looking at it the other way, he has two possible losers in clubs.

The simplest way to make a twelfth trick may appear to lie in club finesse. A much stronger line is to take three spade ruffs in hand. This is called REVERSING THE DUMMY.

South wins the spade lead, ruffs a spade, and can afford to test the trump situation by leading the ace of hearts and a heart to the 9. If it turned out that the trumps were 4—1 he would have to abandon the dummy reversal and rely on the club finesse. As it is, all players follow to two rounds of trumps.

South ruffs the third round of spades, crosses to the jack of diamonds, and ruffs the last spade. Then he enters dummy with the king of diamonds and uses the last heart in dummy to draw the outstanding trump. It is the mark of reverse dummy play that at the finish dummy has the long trump.

As all have followed to four rounds of spades, it is safe now to finesse the queen of clubs for an overtrick. The finesse loses but South makes the rest of the tricks.

Establishing a Suit by Huffing

One of the most valuable uses of the trump suit is to establish a side suit by ruffing. At no trump not much can be done with a combination such as A x x x x op. posited a singleton, but in a trump contract it is quite common for the declarer to establish the fifth round. Here the side suit is somewhat stronger:

South plays in a contract of four spades. The defenders take the first three tricks in hearts and then West switches to a low club.

It is unlikely that West would have led a club from the king at this point, and as he has other chances South goes up with the ace. His general plan is to establish a winner in diamonds, on which his club loser can be discarded.

It would be a mistake to draw more than one round of trumps, because the trump suit may be needed for entry to the table. Declarer takes one round of spades with the ace, and then plays the king and ace of diamonds, followed by a low diamond from dummy.

When East follows to the third diamond South has to decide whether to ruff low or with the queen. Since the contract will be safe if either trumps are 2—2 or diamonds 3—3, it is right for South to ruff with the queen, avoiding a possible over ruff. When West shows out, South plays a spade to the jack, and his worries are over when both opponents follow suit. He leads a fourth diamond and ruffs, then enters dummy with the king of spades and cashes the fifth diamond, discarding the queen of clubs. His last card is a winning trump.