[Jeff Chandler]

gamble, and occasionally win, tens of thousands of dollars in one sitting

Years ago my SIL gave me a casino gambling tutorial program. Here is what I learned:

The amateur bets a hundred in hopes of winning a thousand.
The professional bets a thousand in order to win a hundred.
The best odds are at the Blackjack table
The second best odds are full-pay video poker machines with nothing wild.

I studied and practiced every night for a month, at which point I could play indefinitely and continue to break even. Then I realized I had broken even before wasting my time playing poker.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

I play a little video poker when I'm in Vegas.

Did the strategy for playing video poker suggest that you should always keep cards that make a royal flush (even if you have to break a pair) due to the payout? Or were you just supposed to go for royal flushes when there was nothing else better?

[justa-hairyape]

Video poker is the perfect game to launder money. You can play a long time and not lose a lot. For me it is a time killer. Waiting for my friends who dragged me into the casino to lose all their money lol.

[LouAvul]

Then I realized I had broken even before wasting my time playing poker.

And at that point you were light years ahead of 99.99999999999% of every other sucker who tries to get "something for nothing."

[RightGeek]

A very astute summary. There may be professional gamblers who make money playing against other players. Against the house/on a machine - not likely.

[wheresmyusa]

It has always been my understanding that playing Craps, darkside, is as close to house odds that a player can get in a casino. In this case, the casino has only a less than 2% real advantage.

[JoeFromSidney]

I'm a professional statistician. I once remarked to a fellow statistician that I didn't gamble, because I could achieve the expected value by not playing. His responses? "You must think it's a fair game." He was right. I can do better than the expected value by not playing.