comps playing basic

If you are playing basic strategy at one of the nicer casinos on the strip and you are betting $100 per hand if you consider that you are playing 100 hands per hour with a disadvantage of .5% then your average hourly loss would be $50. If you played for 2 hours your average loss would be $100. If you were presenting a comp card as a new player isn't it likely that the value of the comps you receive such as free night at the hotel and free meal at a nice restaurant would be greater than your average loss? This of course assumes that you also consider these things to be of roughly the same value.

I'll let someone who plays BJ for comps answer your question, but here's some info about the possible outcomes of flat betting $100 for 2 hours assuming 100 hands/hr.

Your EV = -$100 like you said. But after 2 hours, you may not be close to -$100.

One standard deviation = approximately $1550. That means approximately 68% of the time your result will be between -$1650 and +$1450 and 95% of the time the result will be between -$3200 and +$3000. About 2.2% of the time your result will be worse than -$3200.

Now you can decide if it's worth the risk.

Also, if you're betting a minimum of $100, you can play a game with a smaller house edge than .5%. The risk is essentially the same.

One more thing earlthepearlmonroe: you need to check out that NBATV special on Dr. J!

Thanks for that info. How about doing it with no risk this way? You and a friend go to a mini baccarat table. You each have a new comp card and you're at a strip casino. You have pooled your money and it is not known to the table personnel that you are friends. Each of you bets $100 per hand for one hour. You make every bet for player and your friend makes every bet for banker. The disadvantage is slightly greater than 1%. There is no risk since your bets offset each other. If the dealer deals 100 hands per hour the teams' total action for the hour is $20,000 and you are guaranteed to lose slightly over $100 each. If the casino gives both you and your friend one night free stay and one free meal at a nice restaurant(maybe the coupon will be made out for two people) then some might see it as a sweet deal if they value those 2 comps as being roughly equal to the market price. Yes I'll check out the Dr. J thing. Unbelievably Earl the Pearl is broke now and needed charity for operations on his knees. I'm all about back in the day - I can't relate to the modern world.

... and let us know how it turns out. :-)

Alternatively, go to the craps table and bet pass and don't pass together.

You aren't exactly the first ones to think of this.

Don

If they give you and your friend each one free night at their hotel you each actually got 2 free nights since most hotel rooms have 2 beds or you can get 2.

In addition to the variance/SD mentioned by 22/Dreams, which basically says that you could lose far in excess of your $50 theoretical loss. That term- theoretical loss-is key.

The reason: your comps are based on a percentage of your theoretical loss. So your comps will never exceed the amount you should theoretically lose playing basic strategy.

Exception: hosts can comp you more if you have large "actual losses". You definitely don't want to be that guy either.

This is why I have gotten away from the comp game through the years.

There are considerable variance-reducing benefits from less obvious schemes.
Say, one player uses a D'alembert system and the other a Labouchere. It is difficult to work out those players are colluding since this you'll see this type of play happening all the time naturally.

Greetings GBV!

What have you been doing to extract the largest amount of EV from the tables? My guess is Spanish 21.

Not my thing really, too damn tough for me:).

I'm about 70% online gambling these days. I still put in several hundred hours offline including Vegas trips. I've been focused on sorts-type plays recently, with a spin....

Why bet pass/don't pass? Don't pass is -1.36 whereas covering both sides of the line costs -2.77. Finally, who says you can't play craps with an edge?

to make the House Edge negligible. Could imagine one could get the edge to +, if comps are good.

Haven't seen the name Green Baize Vampire in a long time.

Odds bets are 50/50. You know that and you also know that are worth nothing in comp value.