Some more Monte Carlo experimentation
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form condone gambling. This posting is for entertainment purposes only.
I saw this roulette story on The Daily WTF, and thought that it merited some good ole fashioned brute force computing:
So here is the VB.NET console application code:
Module Module1 Dim rand As Random Dim tableResults() As List(Of String) Dim theWheel() As String = {"G00", "B2", "R14", "B35", "R23", _ "B4", "R16", "B33", "R21", "B6", _ "R18", "B31", "R19", "B8", "R12", _ "B29", "R25", "B10", "R27", _ "G0", "R1", "B13", "R36", "B24", _ "R3", "B15", "R34", "B22", "R5", _ "B17", "R32", "B20", "R7", "B11", _ "R30", "B26", "R9", "B28"} Dim wheelCount As Integer Dim tableBetAmount() As Integer Dim tableBetColor() As String Dim tableLostLastTime() As String Dim tables, stake, bet, matches, goal, attempts As Integer Dim cancelBetAfterAWin As String Function GetASpin() As String Return theWheel(rand.Next(0, wheelCount)) End Function Function GetABet(Optional ByVal bigBet As Boolean = False) As Integer Dim theBet As Integer If bigBet Then theBet = bet * 1.5 Else theBet = bet End If If theBet > stake Then theBet = stake stake = stake - theBet Return theBet End Function Sub Main() Dim i, j As Integer Dim s As String rand = New Random Console.WriteLine("The Perch") Console.Write("How many tables to watch? (4) ") tables = Val(Console.ReadLine) If tables = 0 Then tables = 4 ReDim tableResults(tables) ReDim tableBetAmount(tables) ReDim tableBetColor(tables) ReDim tableLostLastTime(tables) Dim stakeSave As Integer Console.Write("How many money to start with? (10) ") stakeSave = Val(Console.ReadLine) If stakeSave = 0 Then stakeSave = 10 Console.Write("How many money to bet? (10) ") bet = Val(Console.ReadLine) If bet = 0 Then bet = 10 Console.Write("How many times to hit a color before betting? (4) ") matches = Val(Console.ReadLine) If matches = 0 Then matches = 4 Console.Write("What is your goal amount? (400) ") goal = Val(Console.ReadLine) If goal = 0 Then goal = 400 Console.Write("How many times to run the simulation? (1000) ") attempts = Val(Console.ReadLine) If attempts = 0 Then attempts = 1000 Console.Write("Cancel your bet after a win? (Y) ") s = Console.ReadLine.ToUpper.Trim If s = "" Then s = "Y" cancelBetAfterAWin = (s = "Y") Dim madeGoal As Integer = 0 wheelCount = theWheel.Count Dim currAttempt As Integer Dim ctr As Integer Dim theSpin As String Dim spinsSeen As Integer Dim result As String For currAttempt = 1 To attempts ' initialize the table arrays stake = stakeSave For i = 0 To tables - 1 tableResults(i) = New List(Of String) tableBetAmount(i) = 0 tableLostLastTime(i) = "" Next ' initialize the lists For j = 1 To matches s = String.Format("{0,5}", j.ToString) For i = 0 To tables - 1 theSpin = GetASpin() tableResults(i).Add(theSpin) s = s + String.Format("{0,5}{1,-5}", "", theSpin) Next s = s + String.Format("{0,5}", stake.ToString) Console.WriteLine(s) Next spinsSeen = matches ' loop While (stake > 0 And stake < goal) ' place your bets For i = 0 To tables - 1 If tableLostLastTime(i) <> "" Then ' see if this is the 1st time losing If tableBetAmount(i) = bet Then ' we lost last time out, automatically bet 1.5x tableBetAmount(i) = GetABet(True) tableBetColor(i) = tableLostLastTime(i) Else ' this is the 2nd time losing in a row, so stop betting tableBetAmount(i) = 0 tableBetColor(i) = "" tableLostLastTime(i) = "" End If Else ' check to see if the colors match up ctr = 0 For Each r In tableResults(i) If Left(r, 1) = "B" Then ctr = ctr + 1 Next If ctr = matches Then ' it's coming up black, bet on red tableBetAmount(i) = GetABet() tableBetColor(i) = "R" tableLostLastTime(i) = "" End If ctr = 0 For Each r In tableResults(i) If Left(r, 1) = "R" Then ctr = ctr + 1 Next If ctr = matches Then ' it's coming up red, bet on black tableBetAmount(i) = GetABet() tableBetColor(i) = "B" tableLostLastTime(i) = "" End If End If Next ' now spin for each of the tables spinsSeen = spinsSeen + 1 s = String.Format("{0,5}", spinsSeen.ToString) For i = 0 To tables - 1 ' pop off the oldest spin for each table tableResults(i).RemoveAt(0) ' get a new spin for each table theSpin = GetASpin() tableResults(i).Add(theSpin) If tableBetAmount(i) = 0 Then s = s + String.Format("{0,5}{1,-5}", "", theSpin) Else s = s + String.Format("{0,5}{1,-5}", _ tableBetAmount(i).ToString + _ tableBetColor(i) + ">", theSpin) End If ' check for bets If tableBetColor(i) <> "" Then If Left(tableBetColor(i), 1) = Left(theSpin, 1) Then ' winner stake = stake + tableBetAmount(i) * 2 tableLostLastTime(i) = "" If cancelBetAfterAWin Then tableBetAmount(i) = 0 tableBetColor(i) = "" End If Else tableLostLastTime(i) = tableBetColor(i) End If End If Next s = s + String.Format("{0,5}", stake.ToString) Console.WriteLine(s) End While If stake = 0 Then result = "Busted" Else madeGoal = madeGoal + 1 result = "Won $" + stake.ToString End If Console.WriteLine("Spins seen: " + spinsSeen.ToString + _ "; Result: " + result) Next Console.WriteLine() Console.WriteLine("Total simulations: " + attempts.ToString) Console.WriteLine("Number of times goal was made: " + madeGoal.ToString) Console.WriteLine() Console.WriteLine("Strike any key to end the program") Console.ReadKey() End Sub End Module |
I kind of stumbled into something interesting here. I thought I had coded the application with the rules as described in the posting on The Daily WTF, but the results that I was seeing seemed out of whack to me. I was running 1,000 simulations and coming up with about 300 times successfully reaching the goal. After I put in the code that breaks down the wheel, bet, and stake status on a spin-by-spin basis, I noticed that I was not cancelling the bet after a win. After fixing it up by adding the code to return to the perch after a winning bet (see the section above with the comment winner), all of a sudden the number of times reaching the goal went from 300 per thousand to 0 to 5 per thousand.
So that you can try it for yourself, I put in an option to control this parameter. From the results, it would appear that if you want to play this way, you should let the bets ride. (But notice that if your bets are riding and you get the required number red or black spins in a row, the bet that is riding could switch colors.)