Introducing myself... A roulette Pact!

[Bertie]

Hello, I'm Bertie.  I am delighted to have found this forum as the game of Continental Roulette has always intruiged me.
There is this myth that the player cannot win in the long run.  I have for years puzzled over this and wondered if the tables can be turned on the casinos. 
When I was very young, and in fact still at school, I used to meet with close friends to gamble at roulette with a toy wheel and we used to take it in turn to be the banker.
But one night I took the bank and won more than Ã,£300 Sterling playing very small stakes.
(in today's money that equates to Ã,£5000 nearly).  :o
As all of us were still at school and depended upon pocket money from parents, all present found it difficult to honour the gambling debts incurred that night.  And so we made a pact.
The pact we made was never again to gamble with each other, for all debts to be wiped, and for the wheel and ball, baize and chips to be ceremoniously burnt at the beach, which we did.
I took this decision because I considered it more important to kepp my friends than to exact the winnings from them.  Today, nearly 50 years after the event, we all remain truly the closest of friends and have never broken our pact.  However, I am interested in the idea of reversing the advantage of the banker, and look forward with interest to discussions on this site.

[albalaha]

Welcome buddy.
            It is nice to have a veteran like you on this forum. This forum is the finest place to discuss your ideas and read that of others relating to roulette. I hope you would love to be here and participate positively in various discussions.

[Blood Angel]

Hi Bertie

How refreshing to hear of someone putting friendship first...your going to be very welcome here! 

[esoito]

Welcome to the forum. A nice anecdote...

And I wonder how many youngsters today would subscribe to those values you espoused? (A rhetorical question, by the way LOL))

But nobody says you have to be the casino's friend -- so may cash cascade from every orifice when you take them on !! 

[chrisbis]

Welcome! 

[Bertie]

Welcome to the forum.  A nice anecdote. . .  :thumbsup:

And I wonder how many youngsters today would subscribe to those values you espoused? (A rhetorical question, by the way LoL))

But nobody says you have to be the casino's friend -- so may cash cascade from every orifice when you take them on !! 

Yes, I will tell you more.
We were teenagers, 14, 15, 15 and a bit, 16 at the most, all Grammar School Boys.
When I won all that money that night I was very worried on the EFFECT it would have on my close friends.  The EFFECT concerned me more than the idea of having had the bank and won.
I then began to consider what a pickle they had got themselves into and how they felt and how they would each as individuals try to resolve their problem involving serious debt.
I reasoned that it would put each of them into serious trouble.  One doesn't want one's friends to be in serious trouble.  One has friends to protect them and not to damage them.  Equally one has friends in the expectation of being protected as a reciprocal sentiment and commitment.  So as a by product of this event the risk existed of them bearing me animosity too as a result of them being held tenaciously to their commitment.  I also carefully considered one particular member of our group who came from a family of (unsuccessful) serial gamblers and the damage  (I now realise with maturity and hindsight to be phsychological damage) it would do to to him in particular.  So I went home and had a quiet think about all this and came to the conclusion that if I pressed it, I would have to live with it for YEARS after the event, all my life in fact, as these experiences are never forgotten.  Then I decided I had to find an honourable solution for all of us to extricate ouselves from this devastating situation.  I found the siolution through a gambling perspective that would preserve everybody's dignity. The following day, I called a meeting of all concerned in the main square of the town.  Of course they all came.  I made the announcement that I would make all the debts null and void and that the wheel and chips and the cloth and the rake and the ball we would ceremoniously burn on the beach. . . . I gave them all this assurance. . . . and they all agreed.  Then I took out a half a crown coin and tossed it in the air (never mind the passers by - they had not a clue this was a huge drama being played out) and invited each in turn to play double or quits until I lost.  This was repeated with each one.  I can tell you that in one instance the coin ended heads up in my favour 11 times, escalating the figure into thousands. . . but eventually I succeded in losing to all of them and the debt was wiped.  We then made a joint solid pact (that has been respected for 50 years) that we would never gamble again with or against each other.  We often meet and I am reminded wistfully of that event.  I met one of them only this morning in town.  We chatted for a few minutes and then parted.  I made the decision that friendship is worth more than money.  I have been proved right.  I am sure that good friendships that can be sustained over the years against adversity are the friendships on which a value cannot be put, as they are simply priceless.

[Bertie]

And now that I have the means, the time and the advantage that any winnings I might make are tax free, I am willing to consider the possibility of taking on the casinos, and that, gentlemen, is why I am here. 

[chrisbis]

Which part of the world are U from Bertie?

States?

[esoito]

Which part of the world are you from Bertie?

States?

Seeing as Bertie is ex-Grammar School, and referred to "half-a-crown" in his post I'm surprised that his fellow countryman is asking that question!  

[chrisbis]

Seeing as Bertie is ex-Grammar School, and referred to "half-a-crown" in his post I'm surprised that his fellow countryman is asking that question!  

I didn't read that reply.  

The Text construction was not pleasing to the eye, and besides, he was just re-editing the earlier story he already told.

I knew he was English.(the education u know dear boy)

But that didn't tell me where he Lives NOW did it my Antipodean friend  

I just wondered that's all.

And how he had avoided playing at a casino for all those years.

Some pact he and his Friends kept up isn't it.

.............

Good to have friends isn't it Esoito?


Sorry, Bertie, If it feels like we are talking about U..................well, suppose, we are really!!

Unusual story all the same tho.

Any questions yet relating to Roulette?

Fire away buddie.  

[macduff]

jeezo, 5grand as a 15 year old, you should have bolted with the cash, think of all the lady friends you would have had. 

[MAX]

Welcome and have a enjoyable  stay.


Regards
Max

[Bertie]

I didn't read that reply.   :yawn:

The Text construction was not pleasing to the eye, and besides, he was just re-editing the earlier story he already told.

I knew he was English. (the education you know dear boy)

But that didn't tell me where he Lives NOW did it my Antipodean friend  ::)

I just wondered that's all.

And how he had avoided playing at a casino for all those years.

Some pact he and his Friends kept up isn't it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Good to have friends isn't it Esoito?


Sorry, Bertie, If it feels like we are talking about U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . well, suppose, we are really!!

Unusual story all the same tho.

Any questions yet relating to Roulette?

Fire away buddie.   :-*

Yes, I have not so much a question as a matter for you to think about.
When I lived in London, I had a friend who was an inspector at a casino in the West End.
He invited me to become a member (for social reasons) but advised me not to gamble, as, in his experience, the casino takes all in the end.

I didn't have a problem with this as a consequence of my early experience.  So I just visited occasionally to have a drink or a meal.

I observed how the public was made to disconnect from the reality of what they were engaged in.

There were no clocks on the wall, no windows, and the money being betted on the tables was in the form of plastic chips.

I also observed how there were scattered groups of disappointed punters wandering around with their hands clasped behind their backs and observing the gaming from roulette table to roulette table but not betting, because presumably they were broke.

This conflicts with the idea that winning systems exist.

Any comments ?

[chrisbis]

U description is exactly how I had always viewed the world on Bricks & Mortar Casino's, from the outside- looking in.


I have never been inside a real casino.

Not even for a meal.

But I would like to go.

Thought, if I intended to play, then I would want to be "For-armed".

A system or two Up my sleeve so2speak!!

Maybe one day.

But only, when I make enough to fund the venture, with real money, generated on-line.

Cheers Bertie. (Fellow Brit) 

[Bertie]

Jeezo, 5grand as a 15 year old, you should have bolted with the cash, think of all the lady friends you would have had.   :P

That's another sort of gaming.
The technique is to flirt and tease.
Women are not attracted to men they can manipulate easily, they are attracted to men who present a challenge.
But that is another interesting topic of its own.