Marks and Rubes

[bartl]

There is a BIG difference between a mark and a rube. A mark is the designated victim of a con game. A "rube", short for "Reuben", at one time a common name in rural areas, refers to local residents. It can be good, bad, or indifferent. OK, it's rarely good. Also, note the call, "Hey, Rube!" which is carny slang for "the natives are getting restless". Not that rubes don't make good marks.

Speaking of which, do you still gamble, Steven (although, IIRC, you didn't gamble; you won).

[Steven Grant]

There is a BIG difference between a mark and a rube. A mark is the designated victim of a con game. A "rube", short for "Reuben", at one time a common name in rural areas, refers to local residents. It can be good, bad, or indifferent. OK, it's rarely good. Also, note the call, "Hey, Rube!" which is carny slang for "the natives are getting restless". Not that rubes don't make good marks.

Speaking of which, do you still gamble, Steven (although, IIRC, you didn't gamble; you won).

"Hey rube" actually turned into a battle cry among carnys; it means one of the marks was getting or trying to get behind the scenes. By that time, mark and rube were more or less synonymous; they were both terms for outsiders/targets. Most carnys weren't con men per se, but salesmen whose stock in trade was feeding gullibility. Now they don't ride carnival anymore, they get on-screen jobs on Fox News.

I gamble now and then, but nothing serious. I was never much of a serious gambler, I never had the money for it. The real problem with gambling is that you CAN win at it, but in order to do that you've got to approach it as a job and follow a pretty rigid set of rules, and you don't win a lot. It's boring. The real fun of gambling isn't in winning, it's in tempting fate, but you have to go in understanding that tempting fate is usually a good way to lose. So when I do gamble, I usually go in with a very finite stake and assume I'm going to lose it, so it becomes the equivalent of going to the movies. You play for fun, and get an hour or two of cheap entertainment out of it.

I usually come out a little ahead when I gamble, but rarely enough to do me much good.

- Grant

[bartl]

The real problem with gambling is that you CAN win at it, but in order to do that you've got to approach it as a job and follow a pretty rigid set of rules, and you don't win a lot. It's boring. The real fun of gambling isn't in winning, it's in tempting fate, but you have to go in understanding that tempting fate is usually a good way to lose. So when I do gamble, I usually go in with a very finite stake and assume I'm going to lose it, so it becomes the equivalent of going to the movies. You play for fun, and get an hour or two of cheap entertainment out of it.
I recall a few pieces (OK, messages) you wrote on the slow but hard work methods (like card counting and slot teams). The only game I used to gamble on regularly was backgammon (when I played at tournament level, and frequenlty won) and bridge (taking money in rubber from the duplicate players who insisted on playing rubber bridge as if it were duplicate).

In poker (where, in the long run, I tend to break even), I use a method analogous to yours. When I start a game, I announce that I will be quitting when my losses exceed a certain amount, or a certain time comes, regardless of anything else. That limits my losses, and keeps the other players from getting too upset if I quit when I'm well ahead.

Going back to "Hey, Rube", the newer meaning is still in the right zone; it means that a local is creating trouble. I recall, when going with groups to carney games, I would get some proprietors annoyed by calculating the odds of winning (assuming that games were no more rigged than usual), and telling my friends. There was one game that was quite clever in its simplicity: You rolled dice, and won if you rolled certain numbers. The payout chart was arranged in such a way that the paying totals seemed to be evenly spaced, but, in fact (and as one would expect), they were concentrated on the low and high numbers, making the house edge on the order of 80% (that's how much the house COLLECTED).

I was actually coming along quite well with card manipulation (I did a virtually undetectible bottom dealing and seconds, and was learning middle dealing) when I got sidetracked. Strictly for magic tricks, folks, although I knew one street magician who was quite adept at reading the backs of cards just form the dirt they accumulated after about half a dozen hands.

[Steven Grant]

My easy method for winning at video poker is this:

Get a sheaf of $5 bills. (At least in Las Vegas, slot machines/video poker games no longer take coins. They take bills only and pay out receipts that you cash out as special machines posted around the casino for the purpose. This also destroys a popular old gimmick for cadging free drinks: get a $10 bill, go to one of the bars throughout a large casino, and order a drink and a roll of quarters. Bartenders would frequently comp - and were supposed to - one drink to anyone who was obviously about to play a lot of slots/poker machines. People with alcohol in their systems make bad judgment calls. Then you'd take the roll of quarters, cash it out at machines they used to have for that purpose - for people who won a pile of change on slots - for another $10 bill, then go to another casino bar and repeat. No change, though, no con.)

Put one $5 bill in whatever machine you're playing. Almost always at some point in a run, you will go over the amount you started with. When that happens, even if it's only by a quarter, cash out, take the receipt, and put in another $5. Repeat process until you're out of fives. You don't win a lot that way, but you almost always come out ahead.

- Grant

[bartl]

This also destroys a popular old gimmick for cadging free drinks: get a $10 bill, go to one of the bars throughout a large casino, and order a drink and a roll of quarters. Bartenders would frequently comp - and were supposed to - one drink to anyone who was obviously about to play a lot of slots/poker machines. People with alcohol in their systems make bad judgment calls.
As a lifelong non-drinker (and not by choice), I used to go to bars with friends. Because I wasn't drinking, I was never expected to buy a round. However, I DID volunteer to go to the bar and pick up the drinks (usually, a pitcher of beer). I'd go the bar, and order a pitcher of beer, and a soda. The bartender would almost inevitably comp me for the soda. So, I would spend the entire night at the bar with my friends, never have to spend a penny, and still never got a reputation for being cheap. Of course, I SHOULD have been "designated driver", although the term had not been invented, yet, but, being a life-long New Yorker, I didn't get my driver's license until after I stopped going to bars with friends.

[Brenz]

I had a buddy who dealt poker at a casino, and he'd occasionally pass an innocent gambler a good hand if he was bored and liked the guy, just to see if he could do it.

He also dealt to a few celebrities, notably Bill Gates, who's apparently a lousy poker player, but what it did matter if he was bleeding at the table? Money comes to home as easy as air.

My friend said Ben Affleck's pretty good, though.

[bartl]

I had a buddy who dealt poker at a casino, and he'd occasionally pass an innocent gambler a good hand if he was bored and liked the guy, just to see if he could do it.
I doubt it strongly (I don't doubt your friend TOLD you he did it; I just doubt if he did it). That doesn't get you fired; that gets you thrown in jail. Unless, of course, it's an illegal casino. Then it gets you dead.