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Some years ago my little sister and I realized there was something fundamentally wrong with the way we'd been doing thanksgiving. We'd arrive at the place where the dinner was to be held (and were happy to see each other as we've not spent a whole lot of time together since before I went to college), and would sit for the hour or so before Thanksgiving dinner and talk and less importantly eat from the variety of cheeses and crackers that are the pre-dinner staple of our set.
There were assorted bries - plain and with fruits and other things; gouda and jarlsberg; and a whole host of spreads. There were also salsas and other things for tortilla chips and other h'ordereves brought by the many guests. Point being, that in the hour or so before we actually sat down to eat Thanksgiving dinner we were stuffing ourselves with cheese and other things and when it came to the actual meal we didn't have nearly as much room as one might want when confronted with a spread that occupied a table larger than the one that actually sat people.
And so we invented Cheesegiving, and for the past few years we have gotten together the day before Thanksgiving to sit and talk with friends and eat cheese and crackers and drink some nice wine. That way, when the holiday comes the next day we have no appetite for it and can just eat and get drunk like normal Americans.
This year, however, my sister is off at vet school and won't be joining us for Thanksgiving and so Cheesegiving will be a much less enjoyable affair for me. And so I thought instead I would share the story of the Holiday with my friends on Fu. Have a Happy Cheesegiving... I hope your Thanksgiving is nice too.
The Martingale System isn't exactly the oldest trick in the book, but it's still pretty old. Long ago (about 300 years) and far away (in France... which is far unless you're from Europe, which SNAFu isn't) The Martingale Betting System was very popular. This had much to do with the fact that people were, as they continue to be, stupid.
The idea behind a Martingale system is simple. When you're playing a betting game that pays you back whatever you bet (say Blackjack, or the Black/Red colors in Roulette, etc) if you double your bet every time you lose, eventually (when you win) you will have made up for all of your losses (in consecutive losing hands / spins / etc) and even profited the value of your original bet.
If you start with a bet of $100 - for example - and lose... next time you bet $200... and then $400... and then $800... and then $1600... and then $3200... and then $6400... and then $12800... etc etc etc until finally you win and recoup all of your losses along with a tidy $100 profit.
This is a terrible, bad, stupid thing to if you're playing with real money... unless of course you literally have infinite wealth. I don't mean Bill Gates wealth because starting with a $100 initial bet even Bill Gates would lose his entire fortune if he lost 29 times in a row. And don't think that can't happen. Just because the odds of flipping heads 29 times in a row may to some appear to be 1 in 536,870,912... its actually the case that even if you've just flipped a coin and gotten heads 28 times in a row then the odds of getting heads the next time remain 1/2. It can and does happen.
But FuBlackjack is a little different. Most importantly because it's not played for real money - so even if you lose everything you've not really lost anything. And if you play tables where the minimum bet is a sufficiently small portion of your total play-money then you should be able to Martingale and maintain a steady profit. A $13,000 bankroll on Blackjack will allow you to accept up to 6 consecutive losses on a $100 table. If you're sufficently skilled at blackjack, then give it a shot.
Or you could just send SNAFu the money. That's always a good plan.
Now this is a more complicated issue. There's really no good reason at all to play FuBlackjack, unless you're really bored. This strategy does you no good at real blackjack where maximum bets were INVENTED to prevent this strategy... and its also a STUPID thing to do if you're playing for real money anyway. But on Fu, where we get to play for fun... even if you bust yourself martingaling... it still didn't cost you anything and the game will give you some free chips to start playing again tomorrow anyway.
Have fun and Cheers.
And here's why.
Its not an investment if someone buys it back from you and you only get 90% of the value. (Duh.) Fsck that.
Here's how it SHOULD work.
Right now its not a game. Make it an investment game and ppl might actually play it.
