AN INSULT TO THE BLACKJACK COMMUNITY

To whom it may concern,
I am a senior at University California, Berkeley. Here in Berkeley we have something called "Democratic Education at Cal" (de-cal, for short). This is a program where any student is allowed to teach a class in a subject that interests them. My friend and I applied to to teach a class in blackjack and counting cards. Behind us is the sponsorship of the Berkeley Mathematics department. However, when the proposal for the class was submitted to the de-cal office, it was rejected. It was rejected because blackjack is not of am academic nature. I am appealing to the blackjack community for support. If anyone would be willing to reply to this message explaining why blackjack is academic in nature I would greatly appreciate it. If you want to e-mail the de-cal office at Berkeley as well you can at decal@ocf.berkeley.edu.

My sincerest gratitude to all those who help,

Zachary Belinsky

Hand a copy of Peter Griffin's "The Theory of Blackjack" to the assholes in the de-cal office. Tell them that if anyone can understand the entire contents of the book, you will withdraw your request, otherwise, you want them to reconsider!

Don

Olaf Vancura taught a class on gambling at Harvard.

'nuf said.

Don

It is simply that gambling and education don't mix. Blackjack is an academic subject that most of those Cal weenies might find pretty tough to learn.

I went to Cornell myself but never taught nor leaned any blackjack there. I took game theory and statistics and there were several relevant blackjack examples but no class entirely devoted to the game. There are however Hotel classes on casino management that would have been fun to attend.

Maybe focus the subject on the mathematics of gambling and have blackjack simply be a subject within the syllabus.

These Weenies never cease to amaze me. By the way none of my college buddies known what I was up to then or now, they just knew I was away alot on the weekends.

Cutter

Teach a class in what our politicians failed to
learn in WW-I, WW-II, Korea, South East Asia,
and the continuing middle east Quagmire. Twice today
one of our elected fools says we are the only super-
power in the world. They all need to study geo-policics.
Less than ten years ago we left an arab HITLER in
Bagdad, and he has caused many to believe that he won
a gihad. Think about it- politics thinly disguised
as religon-IS REAL DAMNED DANGEROUS.

Olaf Vancura taught a class on gambling at Harvard.

------------

Does this mean it is an academic subject? Of course not. Is business an academic subject? No. Do they teach business as Harvard? Yes. Oh, yes. In fact the joint is world famous for it's business school. But School & Academy are 2 different things.

You know who.

Academic means anything related to school/academy. Therefore anything taught at any school at any level is academic. Perhaps another term would fit better into what you/they are trying to express. Obviously, the administrators have no understanding about how complex a subject BJ is, as would be poker, although BJ is much more grounded in math. I, for one, feel it would be an excellent subject and would be VERY interested in taking such a class. You better really know your stuff though if you teach it.

Pile it on, Downie.

"Does this mean [gambling] is an academic subject? Of course not"

It is, too! But you've obviously missed class. Completely...

"Is business an academic subject? No."

Yes. It is. We have moved beyond the classical Academy, you know. Were you asleep the last 2000 years or what?

"But School & Academy are 2 different things."

Pile it on, Downie.

What rubbish.

The University of Arizona has a world-class MIS department - esp at the graduate level. They to this day have an AI program that will turn profits at the track - it is of course not for public use, but I guarantee you academic (research) grant funds were used in part to create the code.

Academia is more than book learning - The U of A is a top-tier research university that consistently kicks Berkeley's apparently bloated posterior in a variety of areas - optics and AI being just two. I'm sure someone there would be happy to assist with a letter on your behalf. The folks I dealt with are now either retired or relocated, so hopefully you get somewhere going through the front door as it were. The websites are http://www.arizona.edu and probably http://mis.arizona.edu.

Good luck. Given that many would-be counters quit because they CAN'T HANDLE THE MATH even at basic levels, I am shocked and amused at the pomposity on the part of Berkeley that would squelch a course that would bring some appreciation of the subject to some subset of the masses.

Harcourt.

Academic means anything related to school/academy.
---------
I don't think so. Since when is say, a school of photography an academic institution? They might do SOME academic study, but learning to develop a photo ain't academic. Not in ANYONE'S fantasies. You have confused technical and academic studies.

===============
Obviously, the administrators have no understanding about how complex a subject BJ is, as would be poker, although BJ is much more grounded in math.
----------------
Obviously you have just escpaped from the local nuthouse. We don't want to find you an Academy - for you we have to start looking for a Remedy! Please keep your leg pulling to your third leg, (some metaphysics from John Donne there).

But, if you are genuine I am sory if I appear too harsh. If you are simply flexing the muscles of your ingenuity, well...come on down!

to the "The matematics of chance" go to the library or amazon.com and
find several textbooks on this topic and find several university that
offer such a course. Write up a syllabus, with prerequisits of statistics, calculus and linear algebra. Now you would have enough material for a 3 credit or more course. I don't think there would be enough if you only covered blackjack and card counting. But you could include that as part of the syllabus. It could be half the course. Even Griffin's book covers other material, for example Baccarat and material that could be set in a more general setting, for example kelly criterion betting.

I think that Griffin's book is only a half semester text.

If you were to have the students also write a simulator then
I agree it would would take up a full 3 credit course. But I don't
think this is what you want to do.

Having said all that. Do you really want to generate a bunch of counters that will compete for the scarce amount of blackjack action that is available to you? Think about it.

probability theory was founded by the Chevalier de Mere, who was working out a dice proposition at the time! You might add that virtually all studies of blackjack are tied to probability theory and combinatorial analysis, but by now, you will have probably lost the morons on the academic committee.

Don

I study at Groningen university in the Netherlands and right now I'm involved in three projects that have gambling as a subject.

The first one is a project were I state that children in the age 14-16 learn more easily when the subjects are interesting (I even think this is true for everybody, but I have to test it in this age category). For this I will rewrite a chapter about statistics. My teachers allowed me to make the complete chapter about gambling since I believe gambling is a natural interest-catcher. They even said I should try to get the class I will investigate in the local casino with some sort of assignment (although legally they won't be allowed in the casino for at least two years).

The second project is one where I have to design a graphical user interface. I choose to design one for learning to count cards, complete with information and practicing tools. My teacher also allowed this.

The third project is for the course "History of mathematics". Here, every student has to give a 25 minute presentation about one of a given list of subjects or chose a subject himself. I choose to do it on the history of the mathematics of card counting and the teacher allowed it.

I find it very strange that what you described isn't allowed, since not only were my subjects allowed, my teachers were all very enthusiastic about such an original subject. I hope you will finally get permission to do what you want.

Good luck,

Peter Woerde

"The Theory of Gambling" (BJ is illustrated), etc

The contents of what U'd teach:

1st half of the semester: Maths
Probability, Calculus, Statistics, Game theory

2nd half: Applications of Maths in Gambling (BJ as an example)
Rules, Strategies
Optimal Play
Improving the Edge by CC + Shuffle Tracking

Anyway, the most important things is appealing to the department. COME + TALK TO THEM . I m not telling u to flirt with them (a cheap way actually to get what u want by flirting) but Uni's lecturers/ head of dept/ Dean/Uni staff are wonderful people who always try to compromise their views + yours. Unlike high school environment where u r somewhat considered as "kids", Uni students are treated like adults.

Just some thoughts, may not be helpful but that'd be what I'd do if i were u... Well, until they say Yes

Queen

Blaise Pascal, A French philosopher and mathematician, was working along the same lines in the mid 17th century. He is also the reputed inventor of the roulette wheel.

Perhaps broadening the scope of the course would make it more acceptable

Greetings young man Zack,

I'm with the Chairman of De-Cal. If I were the Chairman, I would not allow it because it's morally wrong to teach your classmates how to gamble in college (Hey I may be sued by the kids' parents for allowing you to teach them gambling). Besides the moral sense, the majority of your classmates will get hurt. For 100 classmates you teach, 98% of them will be losers when they take on casinos. It's like the Ponzio scheme in which 2% of participants do well and the rest is going to get screwed. As a result, lots of your classmates' lives will get ruined, and the casinos'll get rich.

Don't promote gambling while in college. I'd seen some college kids who threw away their futures in the name of counting cards. The incident took place in "John Doe" Casino. 3 college kids came onto my table. Through my eardroppings on their conversations, I know what they're up to. We couldn't do no wrong while the dealer dumped. A bit later, a pitcritter showed up and asked the college kids for driver licenses for proof of age. Driver licenses were presented for inspection. The pitcritter collected and scrutinized the licenses. Then with the IDs in hands, the pitcritter walked over to the podium and made a phone call. A few minutes later, a suit and 2 security guards came over to our table. The securites picked up the IDs from the pitcritter, then the suit flashed his gold batch and walked the 3 kids away. I asked the lady pitboss what's going on. She said the 3 kids used fake stuff...not too smart.

Freedom of choice for gambling shouldn't apply to you guys until you guys graduate & become more mature. Then feel free to play with fire.

on slot wonging and overpayers.Where you have an edge but cant determine how much.