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Tic-Tac-Dough, for the
casino, that is
Dear Mark,
I'm not sure if my Uncle is pulling my leg, but he said
that there is a
casino that offers you the opportunity to play Tic-Tac-Toe
against a
chicken. I thought a chicken dinner bet was sufficient
enough to prove
him wrong. Do you mind dispelling his preposterous
claim? Mary H.
While paying off your losing wager to your Uncle, Mary,
you certainly
won't be gobbling on Ginger, the chicken extraordinaire
that two
casinos that I know of have used to cook the goose of
many intrepids
who wanted to go up against a live chicken. They are the
Tropicana in
Atlantic City and the Trump 29 Casino in Palm Springs,
not unknown
Poultry Farms.
Furthermore, Mary, the ha-ha bettor is not playing
against some dumb,
clucking capon. Ginger, along with 14 other rotating
hens (some of her
understudies won't work either late-swing or graveyard
shift) is well
educated, reward-trained, that is, using methods
popularized by
psychologist B.F. Skinner, at the Boger Chicken
University in
Springdale, Arkansas.
Known as the "Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken Challenge,” this
specific tic-tac-toe
match-up has casino patrons challenging a chicken in
Tic-Tac-Toe for
$10,000. The object of the game remains the same as what
we all learned
as kids: the first player to get three marks in a row
wins; but the
house has a built-in advantage (they wouldn't have it
any other way, of
course) since the chicken always goes first. Another
understated casino
edge is that the chicken is probably smarter than a lot
of people we
all know.
If you ever plan to join the line of daily contenders at
either casino,
if you don't mind, Mary, the historical odds will have
me betting on
the chicken. Ginger has played for more than three years
at the
Tropicana and has lost only five times.
Dear Mark,
I thought I might give you a poker laugh to start your
day.
My husband is a most conservative poker player. One
night he was
sitting next to a fellow who picked up his cards whereby
my husband
could clearly see what cards he was holding.
After a while, my husband quietly said, "Sir, when you
pick up your
cards I can see what you are holding." The fellow turned
to my husband
and said, "What do I care? You never play a hand
anyway." Louise G.
There are certain adjectives that refer to the playing
style of most
poker players, such as, "loose" and "tight", "passive",
and
"aggressive". "Loose" versus "tight" refers to a
player's starting hand
requirements. Your husband is tight because he plays
fewer starting
hands. Poker players are also labeled as either
"passive" or
"aggressive". Passive players seldom raise, and favor a
check or call
approach. That said, I would categorize your husband's
play as
"tight-passive" and note that he's probably the most
readable player at
any poker table.
A tight-passive (or, in gamblingo, "a rock") plays few
hands, and those
very carefully. If a tight-passive player all of a
sudden starts
raising, it is likely that he's got the "nuts" (the best
possible hand
on the board).
The plus side your husband's play is that he won't lose
much money, but
the down side is that he won't win much either.
Tight-passives like
your husband are very predictable and consistent, but,
Louise, that is
why you married him, right?
Online Gambling quote of the week: "As soon as you can accept
the possibility
of losing philosophically, you automatically improve
your chances of
winning." -- Darwin Ortiz, Casino Gambling for the
Clueless (1986)
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