Comments | noobie: blackjack, math and basketball

noobie

blackjack, math and basketball

May 13, 2011 23:30

my poison of choice while going against the house is blackjack (though apparently i am supposed to be genetically inclined to baccarat). perfect strategy in blackjack is 'boring'. mathematically, every hand has an optimum statistical outcome, so it's rather an automatic game - not inclusive of counting of course. to most people much of the ( Read more... )

Comments 10

lezy May 14 2011, 18:38:59 UTC

this is way too hard to read at 2am...will attempt to devour it again when i'm more...awake. ha. night for now. :)

(great to see u writing again. :))

noobie May 15 2011, 08:25:13 UTC

haha. my ramblings that's all :)

lezy May 15 2011, 10:44:36 UTC

So...making the right decision doesn't necessarily give you the best outcomes. And even when it gives you what is defined as the best/most-satisfactory/optimal outcome, it may not be of general opinion to be so.

Erm, right?

(And if I may read your NBA analogy correctly, they got the right outcome - i.e. the 3-pointers made it - but it just wasn't the most favoured tactical move which may have demonstrated great ballplay/moves/strategy. ya?)

dashoka May 15 2011, 01:24:49 UTC

We had a discussion about the definition of a "good decision" in a class once. Of course, most people claimed that a good decision is determined by the outcome. Me, being the degenerate poker player, immediately voiced a dissenting opinion. I claimed that a good decision is one that maximizes the probability of a favorable/desirable outcome. This did not go over very well with the class, but the professor seemed pleased with it ( ... )

noobie May 15 2011, 03:43:45 UTC

man, you gotta drag the goat into this. the difference between jordan and kobe, and why one is the goat and that other isn't, is that jordan would make the right basketball play. the difference there really is obvious.

the analogy holds, in this case talent translates into your starting hand. talent gives you better odds when you make a bad decision, but doesn't change the fact that it is a bad decision.

spain had no business being in the game talent wise, but they still made it a game because they played as a team. your room mate is disappointed by the outcome, but i would still be proud of the team.

dashoka May 15 2011, 03:47:53 UTC

I disagree with your Kobe and Jordan comparison. I think the biggest difference between Kobe and Jordan is that Kobe got blown out of the playoffs, FOUR times no less. Jordan did not win every playoff series, but he would never have allowed his team to get embarrassed the way Kobe's Lakers team were this year and the other three times.

noobie May 15 2011, 08:24:30 UTC

at this point, you are just trolling. why did kobe lose four times in the playoffs? it's because he doesn't make the right basketball plays. he's got supreme confidence in his abilities which are at a very high level, but at the detriment to the team.

more importantly, losing the playoffs isn't a bad thing. losing in the playoffs when you have more talent than your opponents, and are favoured to win? that's a product of making bad decisions.

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