Shoe used to rob casinos

The Daily Telegraph (Australia) ^ | March 14, 2005

[Cowman]

I wouldn't want to figure out something like this only to get hemmed up by Lucky Lenny and Tony Two-toes. Those types of guys play for keeps.


I agree, but the organization has lost some of it's muscle since Meathook Manny and Vinnie the Fish took over the Turnpike Authority

[MindBender26]

>Clearly, the speed of the ball and the wheel position need to be taken into account. The player with the wheel speed can do this with training.

Stop and think for a moment. The smallest difference in ball speed changes the position at which the ball leaves the rim. Any change, even less than 1/256th of an inch changes where the ball hits the pyramid deflector. Any change in that changes the angle at which it hits the rotating projections of the wheel. Add into that the variances between the "bounciness" of various balls, even variations in bounciness on different parts of the same ball, the breeze moving through the casino, the temperature as it effects air density, the bounciness of the ball, size of the ball and the humidity as it affects those elements as well, the variations in the surface of the ball and the polished surface leading down to the wheel, any skin oil that has gotten on ball from the dealer's hands, tobacco residue from cigars and cigarettes, basic variations in the weight of the ball itself.

It goes on and on.

Since the ball bounces many times before it settles into a pocket, even the most minuscule variations in the initial two or three factors or bounces would cause complete variation in the result.

Finally, bet we now know where the story came from. Someone Down Under watched "Vegas" and an urban legend was born.

P.S> Casinos love these stories. Gives people hope that "the little guy" can beat the system. Turns people out to the tables in droves.

[decal]

The Eudaemons didn't bet on specific numbers; they bet on octants (eighths of the wheel - 4 or 5 numbers). Did they hit every time? No - but they hit often enough to maintain an edge over the house.

They used a foot-switch like this guy did: the first two for the wheel speed, the second two for the ball speed (btw, they determined the deceleration of the ball is almost entirely due to wind resistence, of all things).

The two biggest participants among the Eudaemons were Doyne Farmer and Norman Packard.

http://www.santafe.edu/~jdf/

http://protolife.net/packard/

[KC_for_Freedom]

Yes, I believe data exists from tables where the ball location is electronically displayed to show that numbers represent a random distribution.

I do not know if any test has been done with say a constant ball, constant wheel speed, same wheel and ball position each drop and whether the results were random or favored say one side or the other of the wheel? This test could certainly be done?

[supercat]

Stop and think for a moment. The smallest difference in ball speed changes the position at which the ball leaves the rim. Any change, even less than 1/256th of an inch changes where the ball hits the pyramid deflector.

Different casinos have different rules about when the final bet must be placed. In places which require the final bet to be placed before the last time the ball hits a deflector, I don't think one could do much. But if some casinos are willing to accept last-moment bets, it may be possible to come up with an edge.

One doesn't actually have to have terribly strong predictive ability to have an edge over the house. On a 38-spot wheel, if one could identify a half of the table on which the ball was likely to land (19 numbers) and be right 53% of the time, one would have an edge over the house if one selected one of those 19 numbers at random. Probably not a terribly huge edge, but an edge nonetheless.