Put Your Stock in Craps!

My friend Barbara is a successful stockbroker, and an old school classmate from New York. She was in Las Vegas for a Brokers Conference at the same time I was there for a Craps Tournament. Over lunch we talked about old times and growing up in Brooklyn and how our lives had taken such different courses. She already knew I made my living as a gambler and writer, but we had never talked about her tremendous success as a stockbroker.

"Well, to tell the truth," began Barbara, "I have a system that always seems to work when I buy stocks. And it's so simple, I can't understand why everyone isn't doing it. I just track my stocks and when they are going up I just buy more, and when they are going down, I just buy less."

I smiled. "That all? Do you ever increase your buys exponentially when things are really going good?"

She looked surprised. "I knew it! You buy stocks too! Yes, I increase my buys progressively. If I make the equivalent of one purchased unit, which is a specific number of shares, I set an upside limit of, say, 20%. When I hit that I buy 2 units, set another upside limit, then buy three, and so on. If the stock starts going down in value, I start to sell using the same progression, but in reverse . Which stocks do you own?"

"Eh, do you ever play craps?"
"Of course not, you know that. No stocks?"
"Well maybe a few."
"Is that how you know about progressions?"
"You done with lunch?"
"Yes but. . ."

"My turn to buy. Come on, let me show you something." We went, of course, to the craps tables. I bought in for $100 and turned to Barbara. "Voila! Here is your stock market!"

"Huh?"

"Look, I'll bet one unit ($5) on the pass line. If I win the decision, I'll bet two. If I win that, I'll bet three, and so on. If I lose I'll just bet the same bets, but in descending order."

"Hey you stole my system" she said with a smile. I placed my pass line bet. "No, it's been around for awhile. But there's a lot more bets here to make than just the pass line. You can also bet progressively on the field, the come, the don't pass and don't come."

I explained what these various bets were, and she grasped them all immediately. The first point was four, so I decided to augment my pass line bet with a progressive field bet. I explained everything to Barbara as I bet $5 on the field, and increased my bets by one unit while winning and decreased them by one unit when losing.

After eight rolls, the shooter somehow made his four point, and it looked like I was ahead, having won both the pass line bet and several field bets.

Barbara was impressed, especially when we counted up the chips. "Wow, you made $45 in ten minutes! I guess the stock market progression I was using really is a lot similar to the one you use to play. Can I give it a try? I have an idea."
I shrugged. "Sure! What's your idea?"

"You'll see." She bought in for $100, and put her $5 bet on the don't pass.
"New shooter coming out," said the dealer.
"Why the don't pass?" I asked her.

"Well, the last fellow just made his point, so I'm betting that he or one of the next four people up will lose their point. If any one of them does lose, I'll make a profit by increasing my bet a little more every time."

The current shooter had an eight point and made it. Barbara had bet $5 and lost it.
He shot again and Barbara bet $10 and he made his second point, so she was now down by $15.

Now she bet $20, and he had a nine point, but sevened out. Barbara had made three bets, lost two of them ($5 + $10) , but won her third bet ($20), and still emerged with a $5 profit. If her third don't pass bet lost also she would have bet $40 and if she won, she would still have a $5 profit.

"I knew it!" she said triumphantly. "And I'm sure I can come up with lots of other, better winning progressions as well! These progressions are fun! Why didn't you tell me about this game before?"

"Gee I must have forgotten to mention it .Want to play again?"
"No, I have to go now, but what about later? How about at 8pm, right
here?"

"You have a date!"
"Fine. See you then!"

Barbara stopped and turned around to everyone at the table and shouted back "Isn't this a great game!!"

Cheers and whistles made her laugh as she hurried away.
I went back to the game, and someone asked me who she was.

"She's a stockbroker."
"Oh, so do you own any stock?"
"A little."
"Make any money that way?"
"A little."
"How?"
"Well, you see I have this progression system. . . ."