Biology and RNGs

[arcimede$]

They analyzed sequences of several hands. After some set number of hands they could figure out where they were in the 4 billion total hands. Kind of like going down a road. You might not know where you were until seeing some familiar sights. Once they found the location their algorithm would compute how far out in time the next RF would occur. They could then determine if it was reasonable to continue with that machine.

Since the shuffle was going on between hands but not between the deal and draw and they knew the speed of the hand generation logic, they could sit around and wait until the RF was about to occur. They used stop watches. They mentioned they got to be quite adept at timing.

The continuous shuffle now makes this nearly impossible. You would have to time both the dealt hand and the draw.

[Lucky(St)Louis]

I mentioned this very briefly in a previous post somewhere, but let me expand on it. What Count Room was talking about in the post about timing has been investigated by paranormal researchers. I don't personally think the evidence, as of 20 years ago, was very convincing, but some people did.

Back in the mid-80's, I actually visited a laboratory in Princeton that was doing just what Count was talking about -- checking for statistical anomalies with people trying to influence RNG's or time their responses to RNGs. I was briefly wired to some machines and we had a couple of sample runs so they could show me what it was like to work with the machines.

I'm honestly not up to date on what kind of research is currently being done like this, but the topic is real. According to the published research, some of the results back in the 80's were impressive. I have a hard time buying into the concept, but the work is being done.

So no, Count Room, you're not off base to bring up this kind of stuff.

I've been meaning to log back in and give credit to The Pear Proposition referred to here. I've posted this video in many other places, too, as I firmly believe all advances are not from the mainstream. Anyway, with Alan's OK I hope, here is that "official" video. I also see someone has added a newer video on this subject but I haven't had the time to check it out.

Also, a fellow named York Dobyns from the Pear lab had some excellent videos years ago as well.

[Alan Mendelson]

So, a question: does this mean I should go to a casino when I feel lucky, and I should not go when I don't feel lucky?

[Count Room]

Also, a fellow named York Dobyns from the Pear lab had some excellent videos years ago as well.

Fascinating video, Lucky (St)Louis. Thank you very much for posting it. I wish I had more time to research things like this. RNG timing & biological interactions are just an intellectual curiosity at this point for me, but thanks to your video and other posters here I know I am not alone in at least acknowledging the possibilities of this field of exploration.

Alan: I wish I could answer your "feeling lucky" question, but you seem to be timing things quite well so far this year! There's nothing stopping you (technically speaking) from continuing to time those "home run hits" correctly. Keep it up!

[Alan Mendelson]

It's funny, Count Room, but on Saturday night I said to John Crossan "I have to play this game, I think I'm going to get the quad aces" and I did. And last night I also had a "feeling" that the aces were coming. It's too bad that I don't get the "feeling" that I am not going to win when I have those losing nights... and it would save me the trip to the casino.

[Count Room]

It's funny, Count Room, but on Saturday night I said to John Crossan "I have to play this game, I think I'm going to get the quad aces" and I did. And last night I also had a "feeling" that the aces were coming. It's too bad that I don't get the "feeling" that I am not going to win when I have those losing nights... and it would save me the trip to the casino.

Alan: I will say that those feelings can change quickly even during a session. I've had both good feelings of anticipating those A-C-E-S and bad, sinking feelings when I can never seem to connect those trips into quads for hours...

Rob actually wrote a very good article once about the 4 stages of a video poker hand. You have the choice to deal with bad feelings directly in between each hand. There's no law saying you have to keep playing fast when a bad feeling strikes. Like Rob says, "Just close your eyes and the feeling of incompetency will pass". I'm not saying good/bad feelings will improve the timing, but I'd rather press that button feeling at least neutral than I would feeling bad!

This is tricky, for if you follow "feelings" in a session the casino ambience itself can work powerfully against you. I think it can be much harder for the player to stay in touch with his instincts in the middle of the casino environment. Depending on the mood I'm in I'll sometimes wear shotgun-grade foam earplugs (33 decibels) to help tune everything out when I really want to focus.

EDIT: If you go to high-stakes table game areas you'll notice it's much quieter than in the low-stakes pits (same thing for the machines) as a customer service. Those earplugs help replicate the placid higher-stakes environment when out on the main casino floor.

[Alan Mendelson]

If you go to high-stakes table game areas you'll notice it's much quieter than in the low-stakes pits

I always attributed that to otherwise smart, hardworking business owners and professionals realizing how much of their personal wealth they just transferred to the casino.

[arcimede$]

There's another well known construct known as confirmation bias. When you feel something and it doesn't happen you tend to forget about it. When something good happens you remember it.