WSOB IV: Episode 8

memorizing the score

It is relatively easy to make mistakes when keeping bankroll differences in head.
Then, one may ask why keep the scores in head when the chips were in front of our noses and could be counted?
Apparently - it is actually easier, for me and a few other players, to keep the scores than to concentrate on looking down and counting all the chips, do some multiplications for different denomination, etc., and finally come up with the score that still needs to be kept memorized.
Paradoxically, I may double check other players chip count when having only one or two opponents but with more I prefer not to be “distracted” and just keep the score in my head.

Here is one of the insides on when and why mistakes happen most often for me.
I silently repeat bankroll differences (theirs to mine) for all important players couple of times, and later when they place their bets I immediately say/think two scores: one for if they win and the other if they lose.
This way I have the “prepared” outcomes; Then as dealer pays or collects the bets one already calculated number becomes official and the other gets discarded/forgotten.

On a few occasions I made mistake and only later found out the reason. When the opponent makes an important bet there are some emotions involved, whether we acknowledge it or not. I probably think: will they lose or will they win, will they lose or will they win. When the opponent has a pat hand and pushes and his win would hurt my situation, there is a relief that he only pushed and has not won. Wee, he didn’t win!
Almost automatically the other number comes into the existence, yeah the one prepared for the opponent losing – though he really didn’t lose.

S. Yama

 

"right-on", Jim

My grandpa used to say, "It is better to remain silent and appear to be a fool than to speak and prove it."

A great post Jim. Some folks need to heed what my grandpa used to say!



tgun

 

There are few players ....scratch that ..... there is NO player I fear more to be seated with at a Final table than Dannye Long. While I was at it, I would also try to avoid being seated at a tournament table with Mr. O, Jim P., or Papa Goose on them. Besides being great players, these guys are great people, too.

 

I just add my voice to those espousing the gentlemanly ways and tournament prowess of Dannye and Marvin. I've played against Dannye more in blackjack tournaments and Marvin more in craps tournaments but both are very skilled and just as friendly after a loss as after a win. I don't think I have ever heard a cross word from either.

I happened to be on the same table at a tournament with both of them the night after their episode aired. I don't get GSN on my cable now so I had to ask Dannye how things had gone while we were getting registered. Without remorse or excuses, he pointed over to Marvin and explained that Marvin had won. He then took full responsibility for his chip count error. No whining, no blame game, just an accurate accounting of what happened.

 

must win multi-bet

I just rewatched this show.
Arlalik has found very interesting situation and provided logical possibilities for the player realizing that his opponent made mistake – check out post #14 in this thread.
This is yet another very complicated case. Let’s minimally simplify the real play from the episode 8 to a plausibly manageable level.

Player A has bankroll of 200,000 and bets 10,000
Player B has bankroll of 230,200
And to make it more interesting/manageable NO surrender is allowed, bets are from min 100 to 50,000 max.
At this point both players will play computer perfect.
Would you bet minimum 100, 10K, 20K, or 30K? How much these bets differ in theirs effectiveness?

Without digging for the data (I lost titles and dates of creation for over 200 different bj tournament calculations as result of computer disaster that had happened couple years ago :sad: ) I would say that the chance for winning (must win specifically that many hands) three-bet is about 4%, four-bet 2%, five-bet 0.8%, and six-bet 0.25%.
Watch out the chances of winning x number of hands can be misleading for our challenge .

Can you guys set strategies for both players?
How many hands does player A need to aim to win and what would be best response for player B?

S. Yama