MONTE CARLO.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 18762, 29 December 1930, Page 11

MONTE CARLO.

“BREAKING THE BANK” SYSTEMS GAMBLERS’ LUCK. Each holiday season bring its story of someone “breaking the bank” at Monte Carlo, Le Touquet, Deauville, Trouville, or some other haunt where the gamblers go in the summer time. The latest yam is of a young American’s remarkable run of luck ui winning six maximums in succession (writes J. B. Booth, in the “Empire News”). So many other players followed his game that the croupiers had to send upstairs for money to pay out. This is technically called, “breaking the bank.” Each table starts the day with a certain amount of capital, and when this sum is exhausted play at the particular table is usually suspended for a time, and after a very bad run I have known the cylinder to be changed. Found The Flaw. i At Monte Carlo the cylinders, or roulette wheels, were fixed in the \ tables. A certain young Scotsman, a I mechanical engineer, maintained that it was impossible to construct a ] machine with thirty-seven partitions absolutely correct, and that one parti- | tion was bound to attract the little I ball more than others. So he set to work to discover the flaw in each cylinder. After long observation he found that at one table the black partition, numbered 15, won above its average, while at another table the red partition numbered 23 was favoured by fortune. He put his theory to the test, and won a large sum of money. But the management was far from asleep, and had all the tables altered. The cylinders were made removable and interchangeable, and as they are now lifted out every night no one knows in which table a particular cylinder is to be placed next day. The Fair Odds. Every year someone propounds a new system for “breaking the bank,” but the tables still go on and flourish more than ever. Old Blanc, the father of Camille and Edmond Blanc, used to say that his establishment was built upon systems. The fact of repeatedly taking “under the odds” will beat the best system that was ever invented. There are thirty-seven numbers, including zero, on a roulette wheel, and the fair odds are, therefore, 36 to 1 against any particular number. The bank pays only 35 to 1. It has, consequently, one chance in thirty-six in its favour. Every time the wheel spins nearly 3 per cent.—2.77 to be e?,act—of the money on the table goes to the bank. In thirty-six spins it practically sweeps up the full amount of the stakes. Think how many times the wheel spins every day, and then you will see what a poor chance any system, play-

ed continually, can have against luck, the law of averages, and short odds combined. Bound To Lose. The only way to win money at the tables is to win it quickly; the longer you sit playing the more “kitty” *t takes from you. Cut your losses and run your winnings, so long as luck is on your side. People who sit for hours and hours, with carefully-mark-ed cards beside them, playing progressions, intermittances, or martingales are bound to lose in the long run. One afternoon I was watching with some amusement a number of systemmongers at a table when a newcomer rolled in, with the courage begotten of a long lunch upon him. Carelessly throwing down a louis, he told the croupier to put it on zero, and up zero came. He had the money moved to the red, and up red came. He left it down for a third spin on an even chance, and was again successful. In less than ten minutes he had won 143 louis.

As he picked up his money and walked away the lookers-on asked each other what system he was playing. It was no system at all. He played quickly, blindly—and luckily. That was the secret of his success. You should always put down the biggest stake you can afford to lose, habitual gamblers tell me, for by playing in driblets you fritter away all your capital without any prospect of a substantial win. Run of Luck. Systems are all very well, but it is better to be born lucky than systematic. Some people profess not to believe in luck—they are the lucky ones as a rule why try to delude themselves that all the good things which come their way are due to their own pci> sonal and individual merit. Once at Monte Carlo a man visited the rooms with his wife. While standing by a table he caught the eye of a beautiful stage lady whose pearls were more famous than her acting. Wishing to make her more intimate acquaintance, he said to his better half when a chair became vacant: “Sit yourself down, my dear, and run this fiver into a hundred.” When his wife was engrossed in the game he strolled off with the other lady, and after a little while left the building with her for a famous supper restaurant. He stayed some time over supper, then hurrying back found that his wife had had such a remarkable run of luck that, giving her winnings a chance, she had succeeded in “breaking the bank.” But she never quite understood the point when he remarked: “That is

always the way—unlucky m love, luck> in play.” Superstitions. Your confirmed gambler is one of the most superstitious of mortals. I shall always remember a gruesome incident at Deauville. After leaving the Casino a heavy, and for a time phenomenally successful gambler, started for the racecourse to see the horses do their morning gallops. As he was ferrying across the harbour he saw the body of a drowned man dragged up, and the superstitious punter waited until the corpse was brought ashore. Then, taking a bundle of notes from his case, he rubbed them on the body. “That’s for luck,” he exclaimed; “there’s nothing like the touch of a corpse for gambler’s luck!”