ROULETTE, CAN YOU SPIN IT TO WIN IT?

This weeks blog was written by Ray.
I just found an interesting article and experiment on spin control with roulette wheels. I for one don't believe that any dealer can control the ball to the degree required to hit a specific number or section. If it were really possible to do this, then the game of roulette as we know it simply could not exist. And that for me is a very simple proof showing that spin control is all in the dealers head.
I started in the casino business at a major London casino, and the standard spin was very slow, only about 4 or 5 times around the wheel, and also with the wheel just turning at a fairly leisurely speed. The idea was to get as many spins in a day as possible. We never reversed the spin either, and guess what, it made not a whit of difference in anyone's ability to predict the number. The casinos P/C was the same as anywhere else. I was very surprised when a few years later I started work at another casino and discovered the dealers whacking the ball around at a hundred miles an hour, changing the spin direction and also using such high wheel speeds that the ball would sometimes bounce clean out of the wheel! No doubt this was all mandated by management’s belief that this would prevent players/dealers from predicting the outcome, or that it would make the result more ‘random’ in some fashion.

Modern wheels and even the balls are highly sophisticated pieces of fine engineering. Also nowadays the separators between the pockets are very low, ensuring that the ball will jump into and out of many pockets before coming to rest. Generally the ball will fall into a pocket when it begins to slow down, but then the ball will bounce out and around the pockets landing in many numbers until the ball finally stays in one pocket. If you spin the ball enough times a pattern will ‘seem’ to develop, just like when you flip a coin a hundred times, it will very rarely land on fifty heads and fifty tales. So some numbers will win more often on the wheel but that pattern can not be predicted. That is just the randomness of numbers and the proclivity of the human brain to see ‘patterns’ where there are none. It is simply how we have evolved to make sense of our big scary world.

About the author:

Cara Bertoia is the author of Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships. Her novel is really a travelogue, a narrative, a romance, a self-help manual for gambling and cruising, and a real-life story all rolled into one funny, obsessive, and entertaining story of two people whose separate life journeys meet at a crossroads. Kindle Fire Dept. says, "This novel is a gem that is nothing short of a vacation in a book!"

Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships

Click the link to find at Amazon.com
Click here to find at Amazon Canada
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany

Click the link to find at Amazon France

Click the link to find at Amazon Italy

Click the link to find at Amazon Spain 

Click the link to find at Amazon Brazil
Click to find at Barnes and Noble
Ray and Cara have also produced the number one guide on walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
The Desert Woman calls it inspiring. 
Click the link to find the DVD Camino de Santiago a Walkers Guide at Amazon

THE TEN TOP REASONS TO WORK IN A CASINO

When I was younger and working at Caesar’s Tahoe, players would sit down at my game and invariably the following question would come up. “What’s a nice girl like you doing working in a joint like this?” I would always look around me where there were rows of dealers just like me, fresh-faced recent college grads trying to postpone adulthood as long as we could and Lake Tahoe (America’s all year playground) is a great place to do it.  Over the years at one time or another most of us have left the casino business, but in the end the majority return. So let me tell you the top ten reasons for working in a joint like this.

1. You get paid for playing games all day but you really don’t get paid much. The majority of your income comes from tips. Remember punters there is one person in the casino that wants you to win, and that person is the dealer. Because if you don’t win she won’t make tips and everybody likes to eat. There is nothing more exhilarating than sharing in a big win with a player.

2. Every casino that I have ever worked in provides health insurance because we are all going to get carpel tunnel from pitching cards for years.

3. You can work any shift that you want to. Can’t stand sunlight, you just sign up to work the graveyard shift. A morning person, well day shift is for you. With casinos open 24 / 7, including the holidays there is a perfect shift for everyone. Dealers who have children don’t need child care they just work opposite shifts.

4. Gambling is a growth industry. With more states and cities in desperate financial straits, they are turning to casinos. Fifty years ago there were casinos only in Nevada now according to Wikipedia there are casinos in 19 states.

5. You can’t be outsourced. Someone does have to actually pitch those cards on a blackjack game. I know they have been working on perfecting a blackjack machine, but then you might as well-just play the slot machines, Table game gamblers don’t trust machines. So we’re safe for a while.

6. You can get a job at almost any age. I have seen dealers in their sixties get hired. This is great because at some point most people in the casino get fired. But it is a small enough industry that you probably know someone in management somewhere, and they will juice you into a job.

7. Free food is a great incentive. Most casinos I’ve worked in have provided free meals and drinks and if they do charge the cost is minimal. If going out to lunch costs $5 a day, then that is like a $25 raise every week. It can get even better, when I lived on a ship I also got free room and board.

8. You don’t have to buy clothes, because your company will gladly provide you with a uniform. It will be ugly, it will be made of polyester, but it will be free.

9. You get to live in nice places which is what got me into the business in the   first place. Besides Tahoe, I have lived on a cruise ship circling the world and  I now live in Palm Springs. My husband has worked in Moscow, London, the Czech Republic and the Bahamas.

10. You get to meet celebrities. I am just thrilled whenever anyone from General Hospital plays on my game. Well, okay to me they are big celebrities. My husband dealt to Pamela Anderson and Kirk Douglas. Some of them are nice, but you soon realize that the rich and famous aren’t “all that.”

The next time you play at a table you don’t have to ask, you will already know why that dealer is working there. Read my suspense novel Casino Queen if you want to find out what it is really like to work in a casino.

Cara Bertoia is the author of the critically acclaimed Casino Queen, a new suspense novel published by The Wild Rose Press. She has drawn from her years in the casino industry to create a fascinating thriller. It is all true although the names have been changed to protect the guilty. It had been featured at The Big Thrill and Women Writers Women's Books and at many other sites. Read the blurb here.

Click the link below to order at Amazon

Casino Queen (Night Hawk Casino Series Book 1) - Kindle edition by Bertoia, Cara. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Click the link below to pre-order at Barnes and Noble 

Casino Queen by Cara Bertoia | NOOK Book (eBook) | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Caroline Popov, alone, heartbroken, and deeply in debt ends up in glamorous Palm Springs, California where Native casinos have just opened, offering employment to thousands. She lands a job at the Palm Oasis Casino and is mentored by the charismatic tribal chairman, John Tovar.

Embraced by casino culture, Caroline works her way up to casino manager of the Night Hawk, in the High Desert town of Joshua Tree. There, she is responsible for managing multicultural team members, satisfying the demands of challenging guests, growing revenue while rooting out corruption.

In the process of rediscovering her inner strength, she learns, you have to gamble like your life depends on it. Because it often does.

 

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HURRY UP, MY DATE METER IS RUNNING

This is an updated version of the first newspaper article I got paid for!! I am including it in my blog because I want to know if dating is easier in the Internet age does it make finding a relationship harder?


I was sitting at a table in a restaurant last week, answering typical questions. Where did I go to school? What is my present job like? Where do I see myself in five years?
I congratulated myself on how well the interview was progressing, and then I had to remind myself that I was on a date.
In this world of fast foods, ATM machines and high speed cable, what could make more sense than the 45-minute date?
What is the 45-minute date? It's the sanctioned time to meet a person of the opposite sex at a sanctioned place. The place should be public, in case he or she exhibits psychotic tendencies, and should be open, in case someone needs to make a fast getaway.
Ladies, if he suggests you go Dutch, my advice is don't wait by the phone.
The purpose of this meeting is to decide if this is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. At first blush, 45 might not seem like a long time to devote to this search. But professional daters have told me "that you know, you just know." Some theorize that "you know" within five minutes, but you stay the full 45 minutes.
How did the 45-minute date get to be so popular?
My own personal theory is that it started sometime after school.
Your college relationship breaks up or you get divorced, so you look around and realize you don't know anyone want to date.
There are several routes you can take to reach the same end. Some people turn to match.com or e-harmony, organizations designed to promote the 45-minute date.
A dental hygienist told me last week she goes on 45-minute dates all the time. She said it takes the same amount of time as cleaning teeth, and during brief interludes she pretends she's cleaning teeth. She also makes plans before or after because she has already put on mascara and doesn't want to waste a good outfit.
Of course, this is a two-way street. She once met a lawyer who spent the entire time looking at his Rolex. At the end of the date she was surprised that he didn't present her with a bill for the hour.
A guy who belonged to an internet dating site for a while said there were so many more women than men that he could have met someone new every day. He finally got tired of having the same conversation.
There lies the failure of the 45-minute date. It's impossible to make conversation, impress someone with your wit, look great and check them out all at the same time,
Remember the good old days, when you sighted someone on campus you were attracted to. You studied them for a few days, asked around and found out who they were. By the time a full-length date came around you usually felt somewhat comfortable. I even recall having fun. Fun, I believe, was the reason I used to date in the first place. (although it's been a long time so I can't honestly say for sure).
Can you meet your true love in three-quarters of an hour?
My second cousin is living proof that this method shouldn't be dismissed so lightly. She decided she wanted a doctor, and fifty dates later she met the right doctor.
A very attractive former boss of mine who was meeting all the wrong people went on the radio and asked for a nice Jewish girl, Well, a nice Jewish aunt heard him, called her niece and begged her to give it a try. I mean, what the hell, it was only 45 minutes - halfway between a sitcom and a drama. It worked out, and now the happy couple live in Queens.
The record though was a woman I saw on a national talk show. She went on 500 dates before she finally found HIM.
I love the advice you get from married friends. Date someone you work with. We all know what that leads to - you either get married or one of you has to quit. Date a friend of a friend. When it doesn't work out, there goes the friend.
What's the answer? Do you walk around with a sign that says "I'm single."
Okay, I'm exaggerating, but not by much. Face it, dating sucks. At least the 45 minute date doesn't discriminate.
My research tells me both sexes find dating awkward as hell, but I guess it will be around until someone comes up with a better idea - or hell freezes over.

Below is the links to Cruise Quarters - A Novel About Casinos and Cruise Ships
Click the link to find at Amazon.com
Click the link to find at Amazon United Kingdom
Click the link to find at Amazon Germany

Click the link to find at Amazon France

Click the link to find at Amazon Italy

Click the link to find at Amazon Spain 

 
Click to find Cruise Quarters at Barnes and Noble