Propostion bet....ala Johnny Hearts...

[Mike Gallo]

After reading Johnny Hearts post Hustling 101, it made me think of the following situation I encountered. I would like other players thoughts on this wager.

A while ago while playing $10-$20 at the Taj a player offered the table the following wager. He will pay the time charge for all of the players at the table,$5*10 for a total of $50. Whoever won the first pot over $120 had to return the $50 to this player, plus the player who won the pot had to split the pot with him.

Who would let this player pay the time charge? Who would offer this propostion bet to a table?

I took the wager, however I feel pretty confident I did not have the best of it and took a suckers bet.

I would appreciate any comments.

Michael

[CrackerZack]

Am I getting this right?

he pays the time charge, then the first person to win a 6 BB pot (relatively small) has to give him back the 50 he layed out, and split the pot with him? split the pot before or after the 50 is returned? is the 50 return part of the split pot? how does he ever lose? if a pot doesn't get to 6 BBs? a heads up pot could easily get there.

[MrDannimal]

A famous golfer once said, of proposition bets:

"Never take a bet on someone else's terms."

The reason being, if they're offering the terms, you can be almost certain (unless they're a fool) that they've stacked it against you.

[Mike Gallo]

You got it completely correct.

The hustler would get half of the pot, at least $60 and an additional $50 for the time charge. The person who wins the pot wins $10 if the pot is exactly $120. 60 + 50 =110

Hmmmmm.........now that I think about it, I really did take a suckers bet.

Michael

[Homer]

A while ago while playing $10-$20 at the Taj a player offered the table the following wager. He will pay the time charge for all of the players at the table,$5*10 for a total of $50. Whoever won the first pot over $120 had to return the $50 to this player, plus the player who won the pot had to split the pot with him.

So he's getting his $50 back and then some? He's making money on the deal, which means the rest of the players are losing money.

-- Homer

[PrimeRoll]

He'll always win money, but everyone else gets their table time paid for for nothing. The only one who feels shafted is the one who wins the pot.

[Drunk Bob]

any body want to buy a bridge?

[Homer]

He'll always win money, but everyone else gets their table time paid for for nothing. The only one who feels shafted is the one who wins the pot.

Just because only one person gets shafted each time doesn't mean that the bet isn't -EV.

-- Homer