(January 8, 2015 at 1:40 pm)robvalue Wrote: I claim that games such as roulette have no system. You lose over time, the end.
There are no bets in roulette that have positive expectation. The only "systems" I'm aware of for that game involve fallacious predictions of statistical outcomes (e.g. the last 20 spins have fallen on red, therefore black is more likely [gambler's fallacy]).
Card counting can certainly turn blackjack into a positive expectation game, at least until you get banned from every casino on the planet.
Skilled play can turn poker into a positive expectation game (which the casino could care less about, as they always are going to collect the rake regardless of who the pots get pushed to). Poker is, as far as I know, the only casino game where it's possible to have +EV without risking running afoul of casino management and/or the authorities.
There were at one time some poker machines in Vegas that were marginally +EV if you played perfectly, but they were still -EV for the vast majority of players. They may still exist.
