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:

Knocking Me Off The Perch

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.)

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