CH 19: Casinos Heart Math
The modern casino is a truly intense form of applied mathematics at work. All casinos trust on the certainty of math to ensure they are viable businesses with healthy profit margins. From the increasingly sophisticated slot machines to the action one finds at the craps table, all games are mapped and analyzed in order for the casino to establish confidence in being able to make money, aka setting the house odds. What makes casino games differ is the way in which the element of chance figures in each game. There is a great deal of mathematics to analyze behind each game and each reveals interesting consequences.
For example, it is known that certain video poker games, baccarat and the game of craps are considered to be among the best odds in a casino. With craps, not surprisingly there are a great number of rules that one must abide by in order to ensure you have access to those favorable odds. A game that requires far less in terms of learning rules is the game of blackjack. When you play with little errors your odds are just off being a coin toss. An example of an error is not hitting on your 16 when the dealer is showing a face card.
One of the greatest nexuses of mathematics and chance is the card game poker. Poker is a mathematically intense game, and has many examples of surprising results. Consider the chances of getting a royal straight flush in the Texas Hold'em version of poker. There exist only 4 chances out of 2 million plus total permutations. Poker is a game where you want to become as acquainted as possible with the probability of various events occurring. You want to first consider your starting cards and how good they are, part of that decision is also how many players there are, and where you are in the blinds. You then must reevaluate that probability after each event, namely the flop, turn, and river, as well as the number of players. Certain hands, combined with the cards on the table, ensure that you are the winner, in this infrequent and powerful position, the mathematics is complete and it is up your poker persona to extract as much money as possible from the table.
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