[dogmeat]

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My father was an excellent card player. About 35 years ago his advice to me was "Win big, lose small."
It sounds really simple, but if you really think about it, he was saying, "Push small edges when you have the best of it. Make your opponents pay the maximum to chase you. Only bet a longshot if the payoff is there." Yes, he played by feel, but his "feel" was really his estimate of how much he thought he could extract if he made his hand (implied odds). I think that's more important than being able to crunch the numbers.

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Your father's advice, as translated by you, is actually a contradition.

You can't "win big" and "lose small" while pressing your small edges to the max. It just does not work that way.

As an example, lets say there are 10 red cards face down on the table and 11 black cards face down on the table. If you bet somebody even money and took the black cards as winners, and they won only on red cards, you would have a small edge - but if you are betting this type of hand to the max, you will find yourself with plenty of losing sessions. And, they may be big losing sessions.

Understand, I'm not saying it's a bad bet - and strong players press with small edges, I'm saying your variance per session is very large - and you won't be "winning big" and "losing small" very often. Likewise with the "only bet a longshot when the odds are there." Sure, it's good advice, but longshots are just that, longshots, and they don't come up very often.

Now from a long-term standpoint, it's good advice, and you'll win eventually.

Sorry to be picky, but that's the way I see it.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]