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2021

Craps: One Surprising Feature of Dark Side Betting

October 24, 2021 – I’ll be honest, I don’t think that I’ve ever played the dark side in craps. However, a user of my craps simulator, Eric Hoffert, found some head-scratching results as he compared the win percentages for some dark and light side strategies. As we will see, the chance of walking away from the table is higher than 50% under some dark side strategies. This phenomenon has a few downsides, of course, but this is surprisingly different from most pass-line strategies. In this post, we’ll dive deep into this surprising feature of the don’t pass strategy and discover more unexpected results along the way. [Read More...]

Why RTP Isn’t The Best Slot Metric To Use

April 24, 2021 – If you play slots, you almost certainly know what RTP is. RTP, or Return to the Player, is a measurement calculated for each slot game that describes how much money it returns in the long run. Unfortunately, RTP is only one measure of how good a slot machine is. To illustrate this point, we will construct four simplified slots that all have the same RTP. These slots will feel incredibly different to play. Evaluating their differences will reveal other significant metrics for slot performance which could be the key to finding one that feels right for you the next time you are at a casino. [Read More on SlotsOnlineCanada.com...]

5 Systems to Try at the Craps Table

February 22, 2021 – I have often thought about testing some of my craps theories. The folks at Best Craps Strategy provided the impetus to look deeper. On their site, they have a page on craps systems: detailed strategies usually involving multiple bets at different times. Since it is tricky to know how the combination of bets will affect wins and losses, you can’t just look up the odds for these systems. My simulator offers an opportunity for a detailed and rigorous analysis. [Read More...]

2020

Summer of the Pandemic: Visualizing COVID-19 in Wisconsin

October 5, 2020 – In March—which feels like forever ago—the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. was undeniable and many were left wondering what to do. At that point, there was a lot of information circulating about COVID-19, but not a ton of centralized resources to understand the broad patterns. I wasn’t sure where to start, but I decided I wanted to help however I could. This blog post is a reflection on the past six months and highlights some of the data visualizations I used to help amidst the pandemic. [Read More...]

2019

Turning a Bad Visualization into a Good One with Beer Data

September 29, 2019 – This blog post is all about personal growth. Last year, I was playing around with some data I scraped from BeerAdvocate’s website. In particular, I was looking at their Top 250 Rated Beers list, which contains information on the beers that BeerAdvocate users rate highest. From that data, I created the visualization in the following tweet: [Read More...]

Craps: Best Strategies on a Budget

July 31, 2019 – For those that read my last post, you’ll know that if I’m in a casino (especially on a cruise ship), it’s pretty likely I’ll be playing craps. Well, back in March, I was fortunate enough to be going on another cruise and wanted to know the best strategy for myself at the craps table. If you read any craps book (or amateur blog post), they will tell you that the best bet in craps is the pass line bet with as many odds behind it as the casino will allow. I wanted to use my craps simulator to test this theory with a few other common strategies. [Read More...]

All Bets Are Off: Re-learning the Pass Line Bet in Craps

February 28, 2019 – Not too long ago, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, I was convinced that Craps is by far the most exciting game in the casino. Maybe it’s the dice constantly flying through the air. Maybe it’s the loud shouts from players and dealers: “Dice out!”, “Six, winner!”, “Odds on my ten!”. Or maybe it’s the camaraderie formed by winning and losing with (almost) everyone at the table. Whatever the case, I had to learn how to play. [Read More...]

2018

Westworld S2E10 Word Cloud

June 25, 2018 – Recap Westworld S2E10 by checking out this word cloud, which emphasizes words frequently occurring in the episode, relative to how often they occur in the show. [Read More...]

Westworld S2E09 Word Cloud

June 25, 2018 – Recap Westworld S2E09 by checking out this word cloud, which emphasizes words frequently occurring in the episode, relative to how often they occur in the show. [Read More...]

Taking Us for a Loop: Westworld’s Use of Repeated Phrases

June 22, 2018 – For those who haven’t seen HBO’s sci-fi/western/dystopian hit series Westworld, you shouldn’t have trouble finding a friend or coworker who are crazy about it. I, for one, would certainly be put in that category by my friends. The show has a way of drawing people in—be it from a plot that weaves complex themes regarding good and evil, human and machine, or ethics in the face of new technology with allusions to classic biblical and mythological stories to the beautiful cinematography and the sheer “acting Olympics” it takes to do the script justice. But, underlying these attributes is one more way that Westworld attracts its loyal audience: constant repetition. [Read More...]

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