The Big Billionaire Gamblers (may be controversial)

Hi Bob,

Thanks Bob, Michael, and Jason -- all very interesting stuff! :)

Several years ago, I was getting low on money.... so I figured I knew how to make money. I'd make it at the casino.

I consulted with a friend of mine who has a lot of experience gambling, and he loaned me a book about blackjack.

The book was full of tables which told you pretty much what action you should take (hit, pass, split, etc.) depending on the cards you had, and the dealer's card that was showing, to give you the best possible chance of winning.

However, even using this method, about the best odds you had was something like 49.5 % chance of winning -- still less than 50%. The (only) way to get OVER 50% is by card-counting -- though of course, the casinos don't like that.

Anyway, I thought I'd start with just this method first (without the card counting). I memorized the table in the book, and practiced first by using it with a blackjack computer program I downloaded from somewhere.

Then, ready to roll, I headed for the casino. (All Australian cities seem to have fully-fledged casinos nowadays....)

Actually, I did pretty well. I didn't bet very high, and over about a month I built my winnings up to around $500. That's nice for a university student. :)

But then, my luck began to change, and I lost it all -- plus an extra $50 -- in one night. That's when I decided to quit.

I figured that there must be better ways to make money.... The problem with casinos is that if you really do know how to win (like by card-counting at blackjack) -- even if they don't catch you explicitly card-counting, if you keep winning large amounts consistently they'll still ban you. The casino always wins in the end.

Seeing the movie "Casino" with Robert de Niro also didn't encourage me! I like my bones intact, thanks.... :)

(By the way, after saying all that, some people really do have a serious addiction to gambling.... It's important to know the serious down-side to casinos.... I haven't played blackjack for several years....)

> Re investing games, Robert Kiyosaki (of Rich
> Dad/Poor Dad fame) has a couple of board
> games out called Cashflow I & II that
> teach basic and advanced investing, money
> management, options, etc. The commodity
> trader's coach Van Tharp uses them in his
> trader training programs.

I have Cashflow 101 (the first one) -- it's pretty good. It mainly teaches you about real estate investment.... Stocks also appear in the game, but the game is not sophisticated enough to really teach you much about stocks (in my opinion). But for real estate -- from what I can tell -- it's great. :)

I think simulation games will probably become bigger and more popular -- both the "board" kind (like Cashflow 101 or Monopoly) and the "computer" kind....

They are a *fantastic* way to learn without losing "real" money. I found that playing Cashflow 101 really starts to change the way you think, and the way you view things. That's something you don't get from just reading....

> Simulations are a great way to at least
> learn the framework of a situation so when
> the realworld unexpected situations hit, you
> can cover the basics without thinking and
> innovate from there to handle the
> unexpected.

Yes, good point....

By the way, does anyone else recommend any other business or investment games they know of? I'd be very happy to learn about more.... :)

Thanks,

Dien