Dear Mark,
On my last six trips to Gulfport, MS, I've come home a winner playing slots.
I believe it's beyond luck now. I just have this certain feeling when to
play a particular machine. I've been so successful lately that I feel I
should go to dollar machines, or higher, versus the quarter ones and win
even more money. Am I on to something here? Jon P. Pensacola, FL
Jon, may I share two stories with you? One deals with arrogance and the
other with the incessant craving for more.
An old Polish folk tale tells of a fisherman who lives in a hovel by the
sea and catches a magical fish that grants his humble desire for a cabin
and enough to eat. After a week, he is no longer satisfied and demands larger
quarters, and once again the fish grants him his wish. The sequence of catch
and release repeats itself for six weeks until the fisherman lives in a
castle, then demands the finest palace. For his insolence, the fish casts
him back to the hovel by the sea.
For the second story, let's stick with the water theme. "God himself
cannot sink this ship." Those were the quotes throughout the newspapers
prior to the Titanic making her first passage across the big pond. She was
appropriately named, as Titans always dared to challenge the gods, and for
their arrogance they were cast down into hell.
At best, Jon, by challenging the gaming gods absorbed in your spirit of
rapacity, you're on the Atlantic ocean in a one-man lifeboat with a slow
leak. And the sound I hear? Pssssssss.
Dear Mark,
I very much enjoy the historical questions you answer. Where do you find
the answers to the most obscure questions? Also, how about trying mine?
Tell me about the history of keno in this country. Sylvia R. Mt. View, CA
Around 200 B.C. in China, Cheung Leung introduced the lottery, the forerunner
to modern day keno, to fund his army. Because of its overwhelming success,
it continued, and additional proceeds from future lotteries were used to
fund major projects such as the Great Wall.
In the 1860s when the building of the railroads in the United States offered
promise to Chinese immigrants, they brought a game, the Chinese lottery,
to America. As the game's popularity grew, it evolved from a 120-grid ticket
used in the railroad camps to an 80-number ticket called Keno.
You wanted to know my sources,Sylvia. This sweetmeat of enlightenment came
from the placemats at the coffee shop at Karl's Silver Nugget in Sparks,
Nevada. Found above the placemats were cheap, terrific breakfast specials-and
for some readers, that's more valuable information than the keno answer.
Dear Mark,
Your columns now have me thinking about the mathematics of all my gaming
plays. One book you recommended was The Mathematics of Gambling by Dr. Edward
O. Thorp. The only bookstore in my town is unable to get it. Any suggestions?
Samuel S. Internet
How about a gambling bookstore where gamblers, theorists, the brilliant,
the dreamers and the system players can browse to their delight? Try the
Mecca of gambling bookstores, the Gamblers Book Club at 630 South 11th Street
in Las Vegas. This store has the largest selection of gambling books, video
tapes and software on the planet earth.
I've been a mail order customer for years, and I highly recommend that you
call for a catalog. It lists everything they have, plus it's FREE. 1-800-634-6243.
Before I Shuffle: "A gambler with a system must be, to a greater
or lessor extent, insane." George Augustus Sala (1828-95) English writer
and journalist
Got a question about gambling? Write to: Deal Me In, 774 Mays Blvd.
Suite 10, Incline Village, NV 89451 or e-mail:winners@winner.com
· To order Mark Pilarski's "Hooked on Winning" audio cassettes-laminated
win cards package ($12.95 plus $2. S&H) call (800) WINNERS.
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