Most gambling games are boring. They are simple games with lots of etiquette rules or other arcane scoring systems. I can never figure out what is going on. Either that or you have to dedicate time, treasure and mental resources to become victorious. This never seemed worth it to me. I’d rather just exchange money for good and services instead of trying to get a free drink.
This is true for everything except one game – The Sigma Derby Horse Racing Machine. It is perhaps the greatest mechanical game, like even better than pinball bro, ever created.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigma_Derby
Watch a video:
The game may look a bit dated, but it is truly a genius level machine considering when it was created and how complex it is. The game has a massive cult following and throughout the day at the MGM you will hear whispers of “The Dream” echoing from players headed to and from the table. Wait times to play can reach over an hour. Combine this with $9.00 32 oz. beer from the sports book and you have an OMG you can have fun in Vegas for less than $500 moment.
However the horses is more than just the only fun gambling game, it is a metaphor for life. What you learn from the horses you should use as your investment retirement strategy or even how you choose to follow sports. It comes down to a simple axiom:
Pick the right brands and throw them in the fire.
I call the strategy the HedgeStriker Think of a hedgehog that shoots lightning bolts. Here is how it breaks down. The most important thing is to not lose. (yeah, duh) You make your bets so you hopefully will recoup your spending. For instance if you see a group of horses with odds at 2, 3 or 4 bet enough on them to cover your overall cash investment. For example, if you are going to play 10 coins, make sure 5 of them are on the horses with the odds of 2. This is like having a mutual fund or blue chip stock like ExxonMobil.
Now once you hope you are covered you can pick a reach set. Don’t waste time on anything 100+ unless it is your dream team and you just want be the guy who hit the huge odds. This is like when you pick your home team in the NCAA tourney. You know they won’t win, but what if… That is how I almost won it all with Nova a few years ago until everything collapsed in a massive depressing flame out, but I digress.
You must have a favorite team. I pick 2-5 and they have never let me down. This is a like a favorite industry in stocks or a favorite sport. Usually it is a market you know about or a sport you have played. This is also known as your wheelhouse. If the odds look good for your dream team you must play it big. You just need it to hit once or twice to bring in big money. This is the same with stocks or even fishing. You pick that good looking stock and try to ride it hard. (Remember your selling rules for stocks though!)
Then you hedge. You always must hedge. If your dream is riding around 20 and you played it hard pick some 8, 10, 12 and put a couple of quarters on each. A hit of 2 on any of these should make sure you don’t lose your bank. That is the key – always have a bank to keep playing with. If you keep trolling the game like this you can make a $10 investment last for at least an hour. (That is a couple of free drinks BTW) Hopefully in that time your dream will pay off with at least one 15+ bet that you laid at least 5 quarters down on. That is 75 coins or $18.75. A very nice return on your investment.
You can keep applying these hedge and dream bets to most of your life. For instance, you should have at least 3 kids. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Three kids however should allow your genes + parenting skills to work at least once and you will get some quality grand kids out of this. Having just one kid is like betting on your dream team with all your quarters. You are playing with fire there!
Same with sports. Follow as many sports as you can because one of these is going to pay off with a championship. Don’t like baseball? Suck it up and watch and cheer if you have a good team because the parade is worth it. (You can’t bandwagon jump though. You need to deep dive the minute your team looks like it might be ready to break out. This is the cup and handle theorem of sports which is exactly like the stock version. If a team or stock is ready to break out of its base go all in.)
You have to know which brand to pull out of the fire and sear some flesh with. Life moves pretty fast. You have to keep your brands hot and ready to go.