Tag: gambling bets

5 Craziest Gambling Bets

We’ve had a lot of serious news to report and comment on lately.  It’s made me a little crazy.

Speaking of crazy, today let’s take a break and look at some of the craziest bets ever made. I’m not talking about taking insurance on a Blackjack hand, I mean seemingly insane.

Here are some of the craziest bets ever made – but I’m sure there are a lot more and a lot crazier!

1) Ashton Griffin, laid out 3:1 odds on himself of being able to run 70 miles on a treadmill in 24 hours, meaning if he’d lost, he would have paid out 3x the bet. By some miracle, he pulled this off, won $300K, and avoided having to shell out $900K and finished the 70 miles with 45 minutes to spare!

2) It’s almost impossible to decide which of legendary gambler Archie Karas’ bets was the craziest. The man came to Vegas with $50 in his wallet and grew that stake to a staggering $17 million over the course of three years. Whether he was playing pool or poker, Karas’ three-year streak is widely regarded as the most insane in Las Vegas history. By the end, after being banned from the poker tables at most casinos, Karas was just taking $100,000 bets on single dice rolls. And yet, just a year after that, he’d lost it all the same way he earned it.

3) Man Who Got Breast Implants on a Bet – This one, of course, is almost mythic by now, but we couldn’t not include the craziest bet ever made, bar none. Magician and high-stakes gambler Brian Zembic bet in 1996 that he would get breast implants and keep them in for a year for $100K wager. The craziest part of this story is that Zembic apparently became so enamored with his “additions,” he never had them removed.

4) Some people come to Vegas to find a mythic transformation, to leave behind everything of their old life and be born again in the fires of chance. Ashley Revell sold everything he owned, emptied his bank account and put every penny he had—$135,000—on red. One spin of the wheel later and he’d doubled his money. He gave a $600 tip to a dealer and walked out of the casino a rich man.

5) In Vegas, people will bet on just about anything. 1979 saw a great example, as El Cortez owner Jackie Gaughan decided to start taking bets on where space station Skylab’s wreckage would fall to Earth when it re-entered the planet’s atmosphere. Jackie laid odds on everything from New York City to the El Cortez itself (which paid out 10,000 to 1), but the final resting place of the downed satellite ended up in Australia.

What are some of your craziest bets? Send us a comment @NETimeGambling.com .

Binbin

Tips For Planning Your Casino Bankroll

“Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money.” — Jonathan Clements

If you think about it, every time you visit the casino, that’s the goal. To enjoy it the fullest without depleting your bankroll, ask yourself the following questions before you go:

Bankroll

1)  “How long am I going to stay?”  Decide before you go.
2)  If using bus transportation, “Do I have plans on how to spend my free time?”  (Time without bankroll)
3)  “If I get ahead on a slot or video poker machine, how will I establish a stop value to cash out?”
4)  If it’s a longer visit that spans over a meal time, “Do I have a plan for dividing your sessions?”  and “Am I taking enough money to include downtime, tips, and meals?”
5)  MOST IMPORTANT – “Does my allotted bankroll equal the allotted time for my visit?”  In other words, will your time expectations match the $$ you brought?  (If not, be careful not to make that ATM your friend)

BANKROLL SUGGESTIONS

$100 Funny Toilet Paper

 

Keep in mind that the following are suggestions.  While a suggested bankroll might give you the best run at a certain percentage of lasting, the opposite is also true. The house edge might not change in your session, but your success can get crazy bad or crazy good in a short session – after all, it is casino gambling.

SLOTS – John Grochowski says, “….as a general rule of thumb, to have a 90% chance of staying in action for three hours on the slots, your bankroll should cover 250 bets. If you’re betting 40 cents a spin on penny slots, a $100 bankroll gives you that 90% chance. If you’re betting 75 cents on quarter slots, the bankroll need rises to about $187.50, and when you bet $3 per spin on dollar slots, it’s $750.”

BLACKJACK – according to CountingEdge.com, “….always buy-in with at least 50 times the minimum bet. No exceptions. In other words, to play at a $5 minimum bet table you need to buy-in with $250. At a $10 table you need $500, and so on.

CRAPS – Its my understanding to bring to the table 7 to 10 times the amount you are betting. So a $5 table with 3-4-5x odds pass line w/ odds only ave bet $25.00 so $175 to $250.

VIDEO POKER – 150 bets to cover 400 decisions per hour (average player with perfect strategy).  In other words, playing quarter VP and five coins per single line, $1.25 X 150 = $187.50 (round up to $200).  Of course, the lower the pay table pay out, the more you will need.  Also, higher the volatility (Triple Double Bonus Poker as compared to Jacks or Better) would me a higher bankroll.

They Represent Real money! Treat these chips as such.

OTHER TABLE GAMES – Casino Player writer Basil Nestor, from “Casino Player” writes “…Blackjack and other table games are best played with a minimum of 50 bets. The only exception to this rule is Let It Ride, which requires 150 bets. For table poker, it’s 100 bets.”

REMEMBER, MY FELLOW RECREATIONAL GAMBLERS, IT’S GREAT TO WIN.  BUT IF YOU LOSE, ONLY LOSE THE BANKROLL YOU BRING AND THE MONEY YOU CAN SPEND FOR FUN.

Binbin

Remember, “Embrace the Math, not the Myth”

5 Craziest Gambling Bets

1 Comment

We’ve had a lot of serious news to report and comment on lately.  It’s made me a little crazy.

Speaking of crazy, today let’s take a break and look at some of the craziest bets ever made. I’m not talking about taking insurance on a Blackjack hand, I mean seemingly insane.

Here are some of the craziest bets ever made – but I’m sure there are a lot more and a lot crazier!

1) Ashton Griffin, laid out 3:1 odds on himself of being able to run 70 miles on a treadmill in 24 hours, meaning if he’d lost, he would have paid out 3x the bet. By some miracle, he pulled this off, won $300K, and avoided having to shell out $900K and finished the 70 miles with 45 minutes to spare!

2) It’s almost impossible to decide which of legendary gambler Archie Karas’ bets was the craziest. The man came to Vegas with $50 in his wallet and grew that stake to a staggering $17 million over the course of three years. Whether he was playing pool or poker, Karas’ three-year streak is widely regarded as the most insane in Las Vegas history. By the end, after being banned from the poker tables at most casinos, Karas was just taking $100,000 bets on single dice rolls. And yet, just a year after that, he’d lost it all the same way he earned it.

3) Man Who Got Breast Implants on a Bet – This one, of course, is almost mythic by now, but we couldn’t not include the craziest bet ever made, bar none. Magician and high-stakes gambler Brian Zembic bet in 1996 that he would get breast implants and keep them in for a year for $100K wager. The craziest part of this story is that Zembic apparently became so enamored with his “additions,” he never had them removed.

4) Some people come to Vegas to find a mythic transformation, to leave behind everything of their old life and be born again in the fires of chance. Britisher Ashley Revell sold everything he owned, emptied his bank account and put every penny he had—$135,000—on red. One spin of the wheel later and he’d doubled his money. He gave a $600 tip to a dealer and walked out of the casino a rich man.

5) In Vegas, people will bet on just about anything. 1979 saw a great example, as El Cortez owner Jackie Gaughan decided to start taking bets on where space station Skylab’s wreckage would fall to Earth when it re-entered the planet’s atmosphere. Jackie laid odds on everything from New York City to the El Cortez itself (which paid out 10,000 to 1), but the final resting place of the downed satellite ended up in Australia.

What are some of your craziest bets? Send us a comment @NETimeGambling.com .

Binbin