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Book Review, © Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
This book is the story of a bunch of computer wizards who tried to win at roulette. They went to Las Vegas and played roulette, in disguise, with computers in their shoes.
Roulette is fairly close to even money. The house has a relatively small advantage, and there are no really bad bets. But, there are no winning systems, as there are in Blackjack. But, using physics, a computer can actually predict, fairly roughly, where the little ball will land. And the person with the computer in his shoe bets on the numbers all around that predicted number, and gains a fairly strong advantage.
Two players play as a team. The croupier spins the wheel, and one of the players times the wheel, by pushing a button with his toe twice, as the zero goes by twice. The croupier rolls the little metal ball in the opposite direction, and the same player pushes the button twice more, as the ball goes by twice. The computer calculates where the ball will land, and sends that info to the computer in the other player's shoe, by radio. That player's computer nudges his toe to tell him where to place his bets. The little ball eventually drops down below the rim of the wheel, hits a few obstacles, and then settles into a little rectangular area with a number on it. The first player, who pushes the button loses. The second player wins.
The first player places low bets and loses. The casino folks will become suspicious if someone who concentrates so heavily on the wheel, keeps winning. The second person, who is obviously not paying attention to the wheel, wins without attracting suspicion. Are these people cheating, by using computers?
They buy a roulette wheel. They make their own computers. They are frustrated with various problems (electrical shorts, radio interference, ...). And eventually, do they make millions? Read the book and find out. It's a pretty good story.
Eudaemonic="conducive to happiness", Webster's New World Dictionary. Pie="a baked dish consisting of fruit, meat, etc., with either an under crust, and upper crust, or both", Webster's New World Dictionary.
Apparently, roulette wheels are now vastly different than they were when this story was written, although they look the same. Apparently they are much better balanced, and are fine tuned so that a very small change in the trajectory of the ball will have a vastly different final number. In other words, the ball bounces around a lot more. This change was introduced because of this book, and other computer roulette schemes.
The casinos would call the people who use computers in roulette "cheaters." Nevada law backs up the casinos.
This book is out of print. To attempt to order it anyway, click Amazon.com (goes directly to this book).