Keno
Keno is the most diabolical game ever to gain popularity. The Atlantic City Gaming Commission bans it and Las Vegas limits house take to 25% (It takes over 90% otherwise.) It is simple to play--just choose from 1 to 10 numbers from a field of 80. There are 3,535,316,142,000,000,000 possible arrays of 20 in a field of 80...three quintillion (!). An array of 20 of the 80 numbers shows up on a screen. If you play the favorite "4-Spot" game for $1 or $2 or $5 or $10 and those 4 numbers come up on the screen you win $72. for a $1. bet and exactly proportionate amounts for a $2., $5., or $10-dollar bet. The card plainly states what the probability of winning, say, the 4-spot game is--but it gives the probability of matching 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 numbers, never stating what the probability of winning one of them is. If you play a '10 spot' game and they all come up among the 20, you win $100,000, regardless of how much you bet. You can sit and watch all night and you might see a $72. win or two. And if it's a bar, Keno players are so goofy, they immediately buy a round for the house and a pack of smokes. With what's leftover, they play more Keno. And go to bed drunk and broke with a half pack of smokes.
You can have a lot more fun lighting your smokes with dollar bills than you can playing Keno. Keno is a losing proposition. However, it has a very strong appeal in a social settings. An appealing, but fruitless pastime. You never see a loner playing Keno. Maybe it's an entirely social pastime. At least once in a while someone wins a few bucks and fellow players win with them--drinks for the house--can I bum a cigarette?
There is an even worse game, never played in casinos etc., only on the street: ''Three-Card Monty,'' a red card, to follow and bet on, and two black cards. The house takes 100%. The trick is not in the mixing of cards, though a clever over-throw and under-through is important. It is in the fact that the 'dealer' takes bets only on the wrong cards, while stalling those with bets on the right card. If you think the dealer gives away a hand once in a while to spur business, you're as much a sucker as the losers. To show there is money flowing out, you can be sure it's to a shill. Nobody, but nobody, wins The Monty.. It's not that difficult to follow the right card--but try to make a bet on it!
And there's the old ''Nutshell Trick." Again it is easy enough to follow the shell with the pea under it--but when you bet on it you find there is no pea. That dealer can put the pea under any shell he wants during the shuffle, without your seeing the slightest indication of the switch.
You can have a lot more fun lighting your smokes with dollar bills than you can playing Keno. Keno is a losing proposition. However, it has a very strong appeal in a social settings. An appealing, but fruitless pastime. You never see a loner playing Keno. Maybe it's an entirely social pastime. At least once in a while someone wins a few bucks and fellow players win with them--drinks for the house--can I bum a cigarette?
There is an even worse game, never played in casinos etc., only on the street: ''Three-Card Monty,'' a red card, to follow and bet on, and two black cards. The house takes 100%. The trick is not in the mixing of cards, though a clever over-throw and under-through is important. It is in the fact that the 'dealer' takes bets only on the wrong cards, while stalling those with bets on the right card. If you think the dealer gives away a hand once in a while to spur business, you're as much a sucker as the losers. To show there is money flowing out, you can be sure it's to a shill. Nobody, but nobody, wins The Monty.. It's not that difficult to follow the right card--but try to make a bet on it!
And there's the old ''Nutshell Trick." Again it is easy enough to follow the shell with the pea under it--but when you bet on it you find there is no pea. That dealer can put the pea under any shell he wants during the shuffle, without your seeing the slightest indication of the switch.
posted by Tom at 2:19 PM
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