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Threads 2071 to 2100

Play-Doh beats fingerprint scanners
Posted by zengrifter on 29-Dec-2005 04:20:02 (#15001)

In researching flaws in such systems with an eye toward making them safer, a Clarkson University professor and her research team found a decidedly low-tech solution for getting around fingerprint scanning: Making casts of live fingers made from dental materials and Play-Doh.

More than 60 of the faked samples were tested on standard fingerprint scanners. The results were a 90 percent false verification rate. zg

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Clarkson University Engineer Outwits High-Tech Fingerprint Fraud

By: Clarkson University
Published: Dec 10, 2005 at 07:45

Clarkson University Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Stephanie C. Schuckers, with imitation fingers. Eyeballs, a severed hand, or fingers carried in ziplock bags. Back alley eye replacement surgery. These are scenarios used in recent blockbuster movies like Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report" and "Tomorrow Never Dies" to illustrate how unsavory characters in high-tech worlds beat sophisticated security and identification systems.

... continued - http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_28878.shtml

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As & 8s
Posted by Wongster on 29-Dec-2005 21:00:37 (#15008)

Anyone employ any indices regarding when not to split these cards. I just use basic indices for standing on stiffs and doubling when the dealer shows strength and for insurance. Last night I split As several times in deeply negative counts and just had a gut feeling that this might be the wrong move.

But I have not read anything yet that suggests doing anything different and saw no reason to get the table in a row over not splitting them.

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When not to...
Posted by zengrifter on 29-Dec-2005 23:28:13 (#15009)

... split As and 8s is fairly rare - hitting AA against dealer A in a very negative count or standing 88 vs. dealer 10 in a very positive count.

Notwithstanding the above, I often hit AA regardless of dealer's card in order to keep the two Aces together (1-2D games) and it looks really stupid! zg

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Not that big a deal
Posted by Automatic Monkey on 30-Dec-2005 02:16:59 (#15011)

As ZG says there is a negative index for not splitting AA vs. dealer A but it's not very worthwhile. It's around -5 for a level 2 count I think, probably around -3 for High-Low.

If you are playing a game with surrender, surrender 88 vs. 10 in positive counts is a little more useful, as are all surrender plays.

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The only time its a big deal...
Posted by zengrifter on 31-Dec-2005 02:49:12 (#15013)

... is when you wind up splitting 8s 2-3x with max bets against 10-A and lose them all... thats when it would have been good to know the index. zg

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A's and 8's
Posted by CanKen on 31-Dec-2005 12:37:52 (#15015)

If the count is bad enough to consider splitting A's or 8's maybe you should be visiting your lucky urinal. (Mine is the third from the left:>)

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Successful Online Teen Gambler...
Posted by zengrifter on 30-Dec-2005 01:34:29 (#15010)

...(is not a good role model). zg

(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA An 18-An 18-year-old high school dropout does not often have a bright future, but one local teenager, featured in this month's Philadelphia Magazine , has left school behind for a lucrative career in on-line gambling.

"I've won probably a dozen tournaments for $50,000 or more," he said.

Berkowitz's story is featured in this month's Philadelphia Magazine.

His black and red bedroom in his mom's house is a shrine to the game. He has an $85,000 BMW and a brand new Range Rover.

"What do I want for Christmas? Well, every day is like Christmas for me," he said.

...Story and videos - http://kyw.com/topstories/local_story_362213005.html

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The Rotating Snakes Optical Illusion.. *LINK*
Posted by zengrifter on 31-Dec-2005 02:46:57 (#15012)

... impressive. zg

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Year End Results
Posted by ZOD on 31-Dec-2005 11:38:22 (#15014)

Time again for my blackjack review of the 2005 calendar year. I played a little more than in the past and managed my best yearly results in some time. 426 hours of play netted +723 units, despite dropping 145 units in my last 2 sessions of the year.

Though my preference has been to play longer 6D sessions, this year I played considerably more DD for shorter periods. My largest single session win was +105 units in 1.5 hours and my largest lost was -120 units in 2 hours, these coming in back to back sessions on the same 6D game.

In addition to the good results at the tables, I made good gains with the invested portion of my bankroll, both from steady fund increases and a couple of speculative stocks that actually hit. All in all, a good year from a bankroll perspective.

But bankroll isn't everything, as Mother Nature showed us. My family and I were displaced for a little over a month from the hurricane, but we are home now, healthy, and mostly rebuilt and restored. But many, many others were not so fortunate. I traveled a good bit and had an opportunity to see some of the devastation, specifically in Biloxi and New Orleans, and to help out where I could. My heart goes out to the families who lost loved ones and possessions. The images, both of destruction and much human goodness, will always be with me. I encourage all who are able to contribute to the ongoing relief efforts.

My best to all. Happy New Year.

ZOD

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VIDEO - Computer Chess: An AI Perspective
Posted by zengrifter on 01-Jan-2006 20:35:04 (#15018)

The History of Computer Chess: An AI Perspective
VIDEO - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1583888480148765375&q=claude+shannon
Computer History Museum
2 hr 5 min 57 sec - Oct 24, 2005
www.computerhistory.org

Playing chess by computer began in the early 1950s, nearly as soon as computers became available. As a human activity, chess is believed to require thinking, yet in 1997 a massively-parallel supercomputer, drawing on over four decades of continual advances in both hardware and software, defeated the best human player in the world.Does playing chess require thinking? Or is human thinking perhaps a form of calculation, parts of which a computer can mimic? What is the tradeoff between knowledge and search? Was Claude Shannons 1950 prediction that studying computer chess might lead to applications in other areas fulfilled? This panel, comprising seminal contributors to the solution of this challengeincluding two of AIs leading pioneerswill discuss these and other questions as well as the origin and development of computer chess and what it tells us about ourselves and the machines we build."

VIDEO - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1583888480148765375&q=claude+shannon

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horrors...
Posted by stainless steel rat on 04-Jan-2006 16:06:35 (#15026)

Monty used my _real name_. Son-of-a-gun trying to out a card-counter?

:)

(Eliot will pick up on that, most others won't. )

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Anthony Curtis in LA Times
Posted by zengrifter on 02-Jan-2006 22:02:58 (#15019)

The Low Roller's Guide to Las Vegas

In America's capital of excess, newsletter publisher Anthony Curtis has dug up bargains for penny-wise subscribers since 1983.

By Sam Howe Verhovek
Los Angeles Times | January 1, 2006

LAS VEGAS — The sushi at the Bait Shoppe, a restaurant in the new Hooters Casino Hotel here, was only middling — though at $5 per two-piece order, the price wasn't bad.

Anthony Curtis' verdict?

"You won't encounter big crowds here," he said, "so it could work as a quick midday sushi play."

Curtis polished off Hooters' $7 lobster wonton, too. But unlike the sushi, that didn't merit any mention in the Las Vegas Advisor, a quirky, chatty, retro-looking monthly newsletter that Curtis has published since 1983.

The guide is dedicated to the art of doing Las Vegas on the cheap.

For $50 a year, Curtis's 17,000 subscribers get, among other things, tips on meal deals, coupons for free show tickets, news about casino openings, and tabloid-style gossip about "whales" — the industry nickname for major gamblers, people given to "opulence and extravagance and excess," as Curtis puts it.

The Advisor is not for whales.

From Hooters, Curtis, a wiry onetime middleweight wrestler at Duke who dropped out of college to become a professional gambler, shot over to the Dog House Cafe, an off-Strip hot-dog joint. He wanted to check out a tip on a two-for-one $2.75 special.

Curtis will go anywhere in Las Vegas to check out a bargain. His newsletter's most popular, venerable feature is the monthly "Top Ten Values" in town.

Atop December's list: the $4.95 complete steak dinner at Ellis Island Casino, the 99-cent shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate Casino, the $2.49 ham-and-egg plate at Arizona Charlie's Decatur Casino and the free souvenir photo at the Imperial Palace Casino.

Curtis studied the Dog House menu — "Las Vegas Gets a Taste of Chicago," it proclaimed — and gave the reporter with him a choice. Take the Chicago dog (with mustard, onions, relish, tomatoes, pickles and peppers), or take the dog with chili and cheese. The reporter took the former.

"The Advisor always orders last," Curtis said with mock solemnity, and "he never orders what anyone else does." He downed the chili dog.

Back in his Ford Explorer, headed for the sports-book lounge at the Hilton, Curtis fretted over a demographic concern shared by many publishers: His subscriber base is aging.

Worse, he said, many younger people simply don't seem to share the satisfaction that older Americans — raised during the Depression or raised by parents who were — take in finding a bargain.

"The problem is, a lot of people don't seem quite as cost-conscious these days," he said. "Now it's, 'Damn the torpedoes, we're going to Las Vegas.' People just throw all caution to the winds.

"I'm still targeting the person who wants a deal," said Curtis, 48, who started the newsletter with a hand-crank mimeograph machine and help from his mother, back in his hometown of Dearborn, Mich.

For many, of course, Las Vegas is all about conspicuous consumption — about throwing money around at flashy places like Bellagio or the Venetian.

But Curtis is more interested in the throwback version of Las Vegas, the cheaper haunts downtown or even miles from the Strip. The Advisor functions as a sort of consumer guide to them.

"I genuinely prefer it there," said Lolly Fegley of Huntington Beach, "there" referring to Sunset Station, Green Valley Ranch, the Orleans and Fiesta Henderson, all nonglam off-Strip hotels. "It's just a more laid-back atmosphere."

Fegley, 55, who makes 10 or so trips to Las Vegas annually, started subscribing to the Advisor in 1991 and has saved every issue.

"He's a wizard. He's my guru," Fegley said of Curtis. "The LVA is my bible. I love the man."

Sue Casey, 63, a secretary who lives in DesPlaines, Ill., and has traveled to Las Vegas two or three times a year for the last 20 years, said she found the sprawling new neighborhoods of Las Vegas more interesting than the tourist landmarks.

"I almost never go to the Strip anymore," said Casey, a longtime Advisor subscriber. "I'm just not comfortable in those fancy places. I'm really not."

Curtis' typical subscriber is an out-of-towner who comes to Vegas several times a year, he said, his biggest bases being Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles.

Like just about everybody else in publishing, he's launched a website — LasVegasAdvisor.com generates about 15 million hits and 150,000 unique visitors a month, he said — but he's a bit baffled by how to make real money from it.

"The model's going to have to change. I know it is," he said as he drove around town, gesticulating a lot and showing no ill effects of his sushi-wontonhot-dog lunch combo. (Curtis is an exercise nut, and a perpetual-motion machine even outside the gym. He's up at 4:30 a.m., clipping news columns and ads from the Vegas papers.)

"People don't want to pay for information on the Internet. You either evolve or you quit. I understand that."

Curtis posts plenty of free information on his website, but tries to persuade visitors to spend $37 for online-only access or $50 for a full subscription that includes the mailed newsletter.

Curtis operates from a two-story building along an industrial strip, not far from the Rio casino. He oversees a staff of 15 or so in an office that used to be headquarters for a sheet-metal company.

His company also sells Vegas souvenirs and an array of books, including "Bargain City: Booking, Betting and Beating the New Las Vegas"; "Tax Help for the Frugal Gambler"; "Neon Nuptials: The Complete Guide to Las Vegas Weddings"; and "Whale Hunt in the Desert: The Secret Las Vegas of Superhost Steve Cyr."

But the Advisor, said Curtis, "is my baby; it's what brought me here."

He concedes that its black-and-white, heavy-on-the-type style is "aesthetically challenged," but he's loath to change the design. "If I did that, then the Advisor wouldn't be the Advisor."

The coupon book that subscribers get contains thousands of dollars worth of bargains, and many casinos gladly participate.

"The reality is, for them, it's more cheese in their mousetrap," Curtis said. "So they're happy to have a coupon in the book."

Fegley gets a thrill from spending as little as possible on food and lodging when she comes to town, she said, though she cheerfully concedes her "savings" often go into video poker.

Finding the perfect $29-a-night room is "a high, it's a win, it feels like money in my pocket," said Fegley, who works in Orange County as a sales consultant for the Pennysaver, a classified-ad newspaper.

A lot of people here respect what Curtis does, even if it arguably detracts a bit from a central ethos of the place: separating visitors from their money.

"He's very unassuming, but he's actually one of the most powerful guys in Las Vegas," said George Maloof, president of the company that owns the Palms casino and other Vegas properties. "He's a genius at what he does. He understands how the town works as well as anyone I know."

He also understands how to gamble, which is why many casinos no longer allow him to play blackjack or other games against the house.

Curtis said it was possible — but very difficult — to make consistent money gambling.

"You've got to be disciplined," he said. "There's no magic pill."

Clearly, one occupational hazard Curtis faces is that it's almost impossible for him to go anyplace incognito anymore.

He still does much of his own research, whispering notes into a pocket digital recorder, but he also relies on his lesser-recognized employees as well as subscribers, who call or e-mail him with tips and thoughts.

At Hooters, formerly the San Remo, Curtis was instantly recognized by everyone from the concierge and two hostesses to a retired couple from Queens, N.Y., who were huge fans.

"You're the bargain guy!" said Joseph Costa, a retired assistant auditor general at New York's Transit Authority, as he slapped Curtis on the back. "We've seen you on TV." (Curtis is frequently interviewed about Vegas deals and for travel stories in newspapers and magazines.)

Costa, 57, and his wife, Patricia, 59, swapped talk with Curtis.

"We're here for $349 per person," Joseph Costa said. "That's total — nonstop to and from New York, four nights including a Friday, and a rental car."

"Not bad!" said Curtis.

"We do splurge a bit on meals," Patricia added.

Curtis also enjoys a fancy meal, but said he still loved the satisfaction of eating a great meal for under $5.

"If there was no LVA, there'd be no $4.95 steak dinner anymore," he said. "I'd bet you on that."

Copyright © 2005, The Los Angeles Times

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NIMKA'S COLOR-CODED KO *LINK*
Posted by zengrifter on 03-Jan-2006 00:15:45 (#15020)

Leroy Nimka published his 'color-coded' KO strategy on the Web in '02 which subsequently disappeared. Using the WebWayBack Archive it is herein retrieved. zg

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what is extra edge achieve with CKO than KO?
Posted by michael on 04-Jan-2006 22:39:47 (#15030)

in the KO book written by the original inventor of KO, the is full KO matrix on the end of the book. It gave more play variation, not as complete as CKO though. In book, it shows that it only gains extra 0.2 edge with these play. so the author pointed out that the most important thing in BJ counting is betting, not play. I am wondering how much edge that the CKO get compored with the prefereed KO maxtrix used in the book which is pretty much same as I-18. I have been using KO a lot these days, I do feel that these extra play gains a edge, but I am not sure how much and if it worth the extra effort.

thanks

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Don't use KO...
Posted by Brillo on 05-Jan-2006 08:39:35 (#15033)

but do people feel about using this system on SD? I would prefer to not count 7s on SD. I think that would give me a false sense of security regarding my actual advantage.

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Lots of other options
Posted by Automatic Monkey on 05-Jan-2006 09:57:48 (#15036)

Unbalanced Zen might be your best bet for SD. The tags are {-1,1,2,2,2,2,1,0,0,-2}. What's nice is that if you count the ace as -2 instead of -1, you get RPC which is a very strong and balanced count for shoe games.

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7s are a small +card...
Posted by zengrifter on 05-Jan-2006 15:01:41 (#15038)

...infact properly side-counted, 7s are very powerful bi-valuate cards. zg

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Especially since...
Posted by Brillo on 05-Jan-2006 08:41:12 (#15034)

the IRC for KO on SD starts at 0. Why count the 7s?

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CLAUDE SHANNON VIDEO *LINK*
Posted by zengrifter on 03-Jan-2006 15:11:39 (#15022)

At my specific inquiry, UCSD just reinitiated the award-winning Claude Shannon documentary, enjoy! zg

--------------

August 12, 2002

UCSD-TV DOCUMENTARY ON CLAUDE SHANNON WINS AURORA BIOGRAPHY AWARD

A documentary co-produced by the Jacobs School about the father of information theory, the late Claude Shannon, has won a Gold award in the Biography category in the 2002 Aurora Awards. [The program is available in streaming video at link below]

Produced in conjunction with UCSD-TV and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, "Claude Shannon: Father of the Information Age" traced the life and impact of Shannon, who died in 2001, on engineering and mathematics. Widely hailed as the "Einstein of engineers," Shannon was a Bell Labs mathematician who originated in 1948 the "information theory" on which the fundamental principles of digital telecommunications and information storage are based. The documentary grew out of the October 2001 Shannon Symposium held at UCSD, which assembled more than a dozen leading experts on information theory.

The half-hour documentary first aired in February 2002. The Aurora Awards are handed out annually as part of an "independent film and video competition for commercials, cable programming, documentaries, industrial, instructional and corporate videos." (www.auroraawards.com)

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addendum
Posted by stainless steel rat on 04-Jan-2006 16:00:30 (#15025)

I have an autographed picture of him in my office, with a "device" he built to play king and rook vs king endings back in the 1950's. Relay-based and all. I also had a couple of opportunities to sit down and talk with him, due to our common interest in computer chess (he wrote _THE_ paper on computer chess, obviously. :) )

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When I think of computer vs. computer chess...
Posted by zengrifter on 04-Jan-2006 19:29:15 (#15027)

...I still laugh, thinking of something that looks like a quick-draw contest. zg

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SHANNON'S JUGGLING THEOREM
Posted by zengrifter on 04-Jan-2006 19:40:19 (#15028)

The Science of Juggling

Studying the ability to toss and catch balls and rings provides insight into human coordination, robotics and mathematics

by Peter J. Beek and Arthur Lewbel
Scientific American, November 1995
============
...in the 1970s, juggling began to be studied on its own merits, as evidenced by events at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, Claude E. Shannon created his juggling machines and formulated his juggling theorem, which set forth the relation between the position of the balls and the action of the hands. Seymour A. Papert and other researchers at Project MAC (which later became M.I.T.'s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) investigated how people master the art of juggling, and the M.I.T. juggling club, one of the oldest organizations devoted to amateur juggling still in existence, was established. The 1980s witnessed the rise of the mathematics of juggling, as several workers developed a special kind of notation to summarize juggling patterns.

JUGGLING THEOREM proposed by Claude E. Shannon of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is schematically represented for the three-ball cascade. The exact equation is (F+D)H=(V+D)N, where F is the time a ball spends in the air, D is the time a ball spends in a hand, V is the time a hand is vacant, N is the number of balls juggled, and H is the number of hands. The theorem is proved by following one complete cycle of the juggle from the point of view of the hand and of the ball and then equating the two. ...
===========
... complete text and graphics here - http://www2.bc.edu/~lewbel/jugweb/sciamjug.pdf

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KISS III
Posted by gypsey on 04-Jan-2006 13:17:06 (#15023)

i've ben using the kiss III count developed by Fred Renzey and described in Blackjack Bluebook II-had real good results! anyone else tried it?

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Is K-III a level-1 UB'd count? *NM* *LINK*
Posted by zengrifter on 04-Jan-2006 15:33:26 (#15024)

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please help
Posted by misacar on 04-Jan-2006 20:40:17 (#15029)

I downloaded a few bj simulation programs but they are all demos and
giving wrong results, and i am not living in usa so its hard to get it . So if i am not bothering you to much i would
like you to calculate my win per hour(in units) and risk of ruin for
these rules:
6 deck(dealt 4-4.5 decks)
6 burn cards (not seen)
double allowed after split
no dealers hole card
no resplitting or hitting after split of aces
split to 3 hands
no surrender
doubling on any 2 cards
ties push
dealer stand on soft 17
suited BJ pays 2:1

I am using Hi-opt 1 without indexes , except for insurance (i know that).
So first(results) when i am playing all hands, then when i am not
playing when true count is equal or less then -1(because they are to
suspicious when i am skipping a lot).
Of course i am betting 1 unit for TC <1, 2 for 1<TC<2, 4 for 2=<TC<3,
and 6 units for TC>=3
I have bankroll of just 250 units (that is why is small spread) . Do i have advantage at TC=0 ?
P.S. I forget to mention that there is allways about 5 players at the table (including me), so i guess that i am playing less than 100 hands per hour.

Please this will mean a lot to me.
Thanks!!!

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Somebody please help him! (run sim)
Posted by zengrifter on 05-Jan-2006 14:59:45 (#15037)

Misacar, you should switch to HiLo (count the 2 +1 and the A -1). zg

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Here you go!
Posted by Sonny on 05-Jan-2006 20:53:52 (#15040)

The suited BJ rule really gives you a nice advantage off the top. Enjoy it while you can!

EV: 3.91 units per 100 hands.
You are probably getting about 40-60 hands with 5 other players at the table.
SD: 24.72 units per 100 hands.
ROR: About 4% with a 250 unit bankroll.
N0: 4,007 hands for 68% confidence, 16,028 for 95% confidence.
SCORE: About 250!

You have over a 1% advantage at TC=0 (closer to 1.5% TBA).

It is almost pointless to sit out negative counts since only TCs below -3 have a negative EV.

-Sonny-

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I never realized that suitedBJ 2-1 was so valuable! *NM*
Posted by zengrifter on 05-Jan-2006 21:07:30 (#15041)

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really 30% edge to manipulate the exposed face card?
Posted by michael on 04-Jan-2006 23:08:25 (#15031)

In the book busting vegas,it mentions that if they managed to see the last card the the deck, they have the skill the cut exactly 52 or 53 card and they tried the count the dealt cards and make sure that that 52th card is used by dealer, if dealer need to hit. It said the increased 30% edge on each bet on the table since dealer has better chance to bust. the question is even they can cut the card and count the card so accurate that dealer would need that T value card in case dealer has 17 or less or S17, it really increased the edge by 30% without consideration the count?
Also, the book seems exagerate the edge of Ace locating. even they saw on ace on the exposed card and manage the bet big when Ace come, they really have over 50% edge when receving the Ace? remember, you have only 1/3 to get a BJ after getting an Ace.

thanks.

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Somewhat misleading
Posted by Sonny on 05-Jan-2006 09:34:54 (#15035)

> the question is even they can cut the card and count the card so accurate
> that dealer would need that T value card in case dealer has 17 or less or
> S17, it really increased the edge by 30% without consideration the count?

Yes, they could have a 30% edge on that particular hand only. As you can see, there are a lot of "IFs" involved. IF they see the card, IF they can cut accurately, IF they can steer the card to be the dealer's hit card, IF the dealer needs that hit card. Also, the advantage will only be on that one hand, not overall. It does not take into consideration the hands played, and possibly misplayed for steering purposes, at a disadvantage.

> Also, the book seems exagerate the edge of Ace locating. even they saw on ace
> on the exposed card and manage the bet big when Ace come, they really have
> over 50% edge when receving the Ace?

Again, even more ifs. In theory, yes, they could enjoy over a 50% edge on that hand if they can predict the ace accurately. Unfortunately, there are numerous mistakes that would reduce, and possibly nulify, that advantage.

The advantages from these techniques are very difficult to estimate because of the many factors that must be satisfied for them to be effective. The skill involved and the accuracy that is humanly possible is also very subjective. The only way to estimate the advantage is to practice at home and calculate your accuracy.

-Sonny-

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so what is the edge you get when receive an Ace?
Posted by michael on 05-Jan-2006 17:37:32 (#15039.tmp)

regargless the count the the deck, what is the edge you can get for a specific hand when you received an Ace? You have about 1/3 chance to get BJ, and Ace can be used for soft double down again a bust card. Based on my own playing experience, getting an Ace at a low count part is not very helpful , in consideration of lower chance to get BJ , and dealer is hard to busy when DD with softhand again bust card.

seems many said there is over 50% advantage for that any hand reveiving an ACe, I am a little confused.

thanks

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CC.com just took a turn for the worse...
Posted by zengrifter on 05-Jan-2006 21:11:28 (#15042)

...the homepage has become less personal and more generic. zg

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