luck

[jack.jackson]

Speaking of luck...Aslan, was there maybe any kind of clues, before-hand, that would of been signs, to a bad-night at the tables?? Like, maybe an arguement with the wife or a stranger? Making a wrong-turn in the car? Forgetting something important? Someone spilling a drink on you?

Call it Voodoo, but im just curious, if there were any obvious signs that it was gonna be a bad night at the tables?

Do you think its possible to know the out-come before you play? Wooo-ooooo-oooooo-oooooo, I think im on to something here. Whadaya think sage?

 

[aslan]

Speaking of luck...Aslan, was there maybe any kind of clues, before-hand, that would of been signs, to a bad-night at the tables?? Like, maybe an arguement with the wife or a stranger? Making a wrong-turn in the car? Forgetting something important? Someone spilling a drink on you?

Call it Voodoo, but im just curious, if there were any obvious signs that it was gonna be a bad night at the tables?

No. I wish I could say a black cat crossed my path as I walked up to the door, but nothing special happened. It did seem a bad omen that I won $2,000 the first day of my trip. Why? Because last year I lost $2,000 the first day of my trip. It took the entire trip to come out $500 winner.

I had had some bad variance at planet hollywood the day before. There, I was losing in positive counts and winning when minimum bets were out. It took me all night to recoup the larger portion of what I lost in the first half an hour. I did have a few good hands with $200 out on two and three hands and winning them. Those good hands got me halfway back, and then it took all night to get another quarter of the way back. lol I hate it when I dig a hole and spend the entire session trying to climb out of it.

 

[sagefr0g]

winning isn't everything, it's the only thing

I was very proud of myself in a humble sort of way, if you get my drift, when yesterday I saw my ship, the USS Bankroll, go down in flames as I repeatedly lost in positive counts, but without losing a grain of my composure, taking it like a man (like they did back in the day, when it was not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game). No whining, no depressed looks, no regrets--the dealer, sweet lady, said as I departed, "The cards just wern't going your way." And that was all there was to it. lol I actually felt good about it. I did what I wanted to do, well within my means, and it was just not meant to be. So, what's the big deal? hahaha I hope I can donduct the remainder of my life with similar poise and detachment. I think everyone would be happier if they could learn this lesson.

i think you meant it wasn't the kind of pride that sinks a ship U$$.
well anyway i don't know how you do it, conciously hold sway even in the face of adversity. lol, hats off to you, truly i can't even do it in the face of good fortune.
that's why i'm so happy to have stumbled upon the idea of tricking my fearful, distrusting trembling little self into doing the wrong thing at the right time sort of stuff.
but on your note of "what's the big deal?" i say it is a big deal. what did your courage and determination get you? i say card counting and advantage play stinks to high heaven, just as bad as if you were to dig up the rotting corpses of all the failed AP's pushing up daiseys in their tombs of the unknown AP cemetery.
AP is an imperfect system that the unwary think is perfect. flawed to it's very core it sings a beautiful song sweet as that off the rocky coast of Charybdis and Scylla where the sirens song lure maddened sailors to a watery death.
AP is a beautiful theory and either it works or doesn't work according to some poor slobs results. what's needed is protection against it's imperfection, lest the real world catchs up with us.

Now, now! [I am editing this out. I thought I was answering Sagefr0g. Duh! Why don't I pay attention! Sorry, Sir Sage. -->Don't get froggy on me!] That is not something I wish to share. lol But it all goes back to my theory about the matrix-like quality of all that is, the sense of perfect providence, and nothing being left to coincidence, since all was foreknown by an all-powerful Being who "had no choice" but to shape all things according to His Nature, which consists of Love, Justice, Mercy and infinite Patience.

uhh huh :angel:
inquiring minds do want to know lmao. :devil:
when i hear this theory i think of the story of the little boy who was afraid to go to sleep in his own bed by himself. his mom and dad lovingly tell him not to be fearful that God has his angles watching over him. his retort was, i wish i could have some angles with real skin on them watching over me.

Haha I could have been placed in that run of cards where it all went my way, counting or not counting. "Could have, would have, should have" In my theory of life you just have to trust in and through whatever happens as being in some unknown and not understood way, the best of all possible outcomes for the given person at the given time in the given manner. That it often seems to make no sense makes perfect sense to me. "My ways are not your ways." It would be good to return to the ways of former times where it was not whether you win or lose, but how you played the game. That is IMHO the ultimate goal of competition. We are limited by our ability and by circumstances, but everyone can do the best he can. Nothing more can be expected of a man. This in mind, we should be celebrating the man who gives it his best over the man who wins without honor or the dignity befiiting a human being.

yeah well lets try and do all that with out going down in a flame of glory.
Vince Lombardi's take on all that, and what he did say and didn't say is kind of interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winning_isn't_everything;_it's_the_only_thing

i'd just say this. i'm glad you gave it your all, and some how you didn't let it bother you, even when after tanking so badly and then the bastards had the nerve to back you off.:vomit: and how great it was (and maybe serendipidus) that you got five of those benny's back offa their crummy vid poke machine. :celebrate

if it makes you feel any worse, i won $138 last night playing craps and three shoes of blackjack.:devil::whip:

 

[sagefr0g]

Speaking of luck...Aslan, was there maybe any kind of clues, before-hand, that would of been signs, to a bad-night at the tables?? Like, maybe an arguement with the wife or a stranger? Making a wrong-turn in the car? Forgetting something important? Someone spilling a drink on you?

Call it Voodoo, but im just curious, if there were any obvious signs that it was gonna be a bad night at the tables?

Do you think its possible to know the out-come before you play? Wooo-ooooo-oooooo-oooooo, I think im on to something here. Whadaya think sage?

if i make a wrong turn on the way to some joint i get a 'premonition' there's gonna be trouble ahead at the joint. not sure if the premoniton usually turns out right or wrong.

not sure if your on to something or not jj. i guess you could try an experiment and make a prediction as to how a day is gonna go. write it down.
then see what happened when the day is over.
maybe set some goal and decide if you think you'll reach it or not. then at the end of the day see if you was right. :cat:
i wonder what factors you'd use to decide if you was likely to make the goal.
number of hands played, probability of reaching the goal, expected value, standard deviation of the game, how perfectly you can play.
say you had some goal, bankroll, winrate, standard deviation, time limit and you know your probability of reaching the goal. say you calculate your probability of reaching the goal and it's 85%. would this be enough to sway your prediction that you'll reach your goal. would you think any other factors could hold sway? would you think that since you used standard deviation to determine your probability that you would no longer need to consider luck as a factor in your decision?
what if you decided to some how introduce change of modus operandi into the equation for what ever reason?

 

[aslan]

if i make a wrong turn on the way to some joint i get a 'premonition' there's gonna be trouble ahead at the joint. not sure if the premoniton usually turns out right or wrong.

not sure if your on to something or not jj. i guess you could try an experiment and make a prediction as to how a day is gonna go. write it down.
then see what happened when the day is over.
maybe set some goal and decide if you think you'll reach it or not. then at the end of the day see if you was right. :cat:
i wonder what factors you'd use to decide if you was likely to make the goal.
number of hands played, probability of reaching the goal, expected value, standard deviation of the game, how perfectly you can play.
say you had some goal, bankroll, winrate, standard deviation, time limit and you know your probability of reaching the goal. say you calculate your probability of reaching the goal and it's 85%. would this be enough to sway your prediction that you'll reach your goal. would you think any other factors could hold sway? would you think that since you used standard deviation to determine your probability that you would no longer need to consider luck as a factor in your decision?
what if you decided to some how introduce change of modus operandi into the equation for what ever reason?

I had a friend named Flynn who was superstitious. He drove a group of us to work each day. On Friday the 13th he could not get the idea out of his head that something would go wrong. Also, I believe we saw a black cat on the way to work that day. that evening he appeared with his hand wrapped in bandages. Earier in the day he had closed the freight elevator door on his hand. lol We thought his belief that something was going to go wrong was what caused the "accident." Nothing happened to the rest of us. We didn't think it would. So sometimes premonitions can become self-fulfilling prophecies. OTOH, sometimes they can be legitimate warnings from a higher source. You get to decide which. lol

 

[sagefr0g]

lucky AP

going back to Schlesinger's statement with words to the effect, "if they don't get you early on, they just might not get you".
then in terms of ROR for an AP one might say that a good start has elements of luck.
it can also be said of such a conceptual frame work that by definition it's a short term (where anything can happen sort of thing) phenomenon. that being the case maybe lends more credence to the idea that genuine luck is involved.

 

[aslan]

going back to Schlesinger's statement with words to the effect, "if they don't get you early on, they just might not get you".
then in terms of ROR for an AP one might say that a good start has elements of luck.
it can also be said of such a conceptual frame work that by definition it's a short term (where anything can happen sort of thing) phenomenon. that being the case maybe lends more credence to the idea that genuine luck is involved.

What is genuine luck?

 

[sagefr0g]

kind of like the Mathew effect

Originally Posted by sagefr0g
going back to Schlesinger's statement with words to the effect, "if they don't get you early on, they just might not get you".
then in terms of ROR for an AP one might say that a good start has elements of luck.
it can also be said of such a conceptual frame work that by definition it's a short term (where anything can happen sort of thing) phenomenon. that being the case maybe lends more credence to the idea that genuine luck is involved.

What is genuine luck?

that's what i'm tryin to figure out.
the question being is there really such a thing as luck in a casino.
so far this is what i think, luck is a significant fortuitus event (or series of such events) that is completely unexpected. how to measure the significance i dunno but i think it should lower your ROR and be leverageable.
then you have a bland form that mostly resides in casino's. it's expected and part of the normal events but it's significance is watered down by it's equally expected opposite. that would be standard deviation, a mild form of luck.
just like standard deviation this ideal of a significant fortuitus event has a dark side sort of thing. just say for an AP that is realization of ruin, or even a series of ruins and maybe pretty fast and furious but also maybe long and protracted.
what ever an AP would wish to maximize his exposure to the significant fortuitus event and minimize his exposure to the ruinous event. not talkin bout standard deviation here. something else, the complete unknown.
i'm thinking that for an AP that such a significant fotuitus event is most meaningful when it shows early (in the sense of the Schlesinger quote above). maybe such a event can happen before the law of large numbers has a chance to kick in sort of thing.
kind of like the advantage (where you win even before you start sort of thing) of what's been called the Mathew effect:

KJV Matthew 13
3. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6. And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

thing is an AP can lose it all, and then could lose it all again.
it would seem prudent to have a plan with in the AP plan to protect against such events. what i've ever just heard of is decide some ROR and play the advantage sort of thing.
same goes for the significant fortuitious event (if there are such things in a casino). nothing mentioned, it's all just standard deviation, just play through it with out a second thought.

 

[sagefr0g]

a little more on 'genuine' luck

Quote:
Originally Posted by sagefr0g
going back to Schlesinger's statement with words to the effect, "if they don't get you early on, they just might not get you".
then in terms of ROR for an AP one might say that a good start has elements of luck.
it can also be said of such a conceptual frame work that by definition it's a short term (where anything can happen sort of thing) phenomenon. that being the case maybe lends more credence to the idea that genuine luck is involved.

Quote:
Originally Posted by aslan
What is genuine luck?

and too luck if it exists is thought of in various ways one being the slant on beginners luck:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beginners_luck

what ever it's just seems a lot of what ever the thoughts are on beginners luck is just a way of thinking about luck and expertise. maybe more a pondering over some dimmly percieved pattern that may or may not be real.
it does seem to have a common thread though, that being innocence, lack of pride, and ZG might know Beginner's mind as in Zen practice.
(Dead link: http://www.intrex.net/chzg/hartman4.htm) lmao i haven't read the whole link yet. sounds interesting though.

just maybe luck what ever it is seems more real when the perspective of blissfull ignorance is introduced and skillful expertice is compared.
then mixed in with the idea of anything can happen in the short run and Schlesinger's quote above perhaps a reality to the concept of luck starts having some meaning.

 

[sagefr0g]

most likely result vs expected value

kind of interesting article, mentions 'black swan effect' in casino environment:

......There's something else. Nothing close to either what's expected or most likely in a casino will change your life for good or bad. So, other than for entertainment, why go at all? And why learn to play proficiently? The answer lies in "the Black Swan" effect a phenomenon outside of normal expectation, with major implications, that seems logical after the fact but can't be predicted before. More on Black Swans another time......
http://krigman.casinocitytimes.com/article/playing-it-smart-why-the-most-likely-result-of-your-gambling-isnt-what-you-expect-43145

 

[aslan]

kind of interesting article, mentions 'black swan effect' in casino environment:

......There's something else. Nothing close to either what's expected or most likely in a casino will change your life for good or bad. So, other than for entertainment, why go at all? And why learn to play proficiently? The answer lies in "the Black Swan" effect a phenomenon outside of normal expectation, with major implications, that seems logical after the fact but can't be predicted before. More on Black Swans another time......
http://krigman.casinocitytimes.com/article/playing-it-smart-why-the-most-likely-result-of-your-gambling-isnt-what-you-expect-43145

All events are predestined. Free will is the only variable. This is the most perfect world possible that could be built around our free will. All events and circumstances were set in stone prior to and in response to what our free will actions would be. Response before the action takes place--now that is proactive planning! Therefore, don't complain; everything is for a purpose. Don't seek vain things; you cannot possibly succeed. And don't seek after Black Swans; they could care less that you seek them. Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

 

[sagefr0g]

All events are predestined. Free will is the only variable. This is the most perfect world possible that could be built around our free will. All events and circumstances were set in stone prior to and in response to what our free will actions would be. Response before the action takes place--now that is proactive planning! Therefore, don't complain; everything is for a purpose. Don't seek vain things; you cannot possibly succeed. And don't seek after Black Swans; they could care less that you seek them. Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

lmao, aslan you just made my day!:devil:
you been makin this same ole argument every time i come up with this stuff, lol. and i never could wiggle my way out of it. the other day i found something, while reading "Lady Luck the Theory of Probability" by Warren Weaver, to at least make some kind of oblique angled attack.
so i searched the site and couldn't find a recent post of yours with stuff like above. so i gave up.
so now you up and posted it.
and i agree about the future in these senses:
Leviticus 19:26-28
26Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.
Leviticus 19:31
31Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 20:6
6And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
Deuteronomy 18:9-14
9When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
10There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.
11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
13Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
14For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

so for my response, i'll give you the future and all you say with regard to it.
all i want is the wisdom to deal with that which is unknown ie. uncertainty.:cat::whip:

 

[aslan]

so for my response, i'll give you the future and all you say with regard to it.
all i want is the wisdom to deal with that which is unknown ie. uncertainty.:cat::whip:

Uncertainty only exists from our point of view. Deal with it with perfect trust in God, for with Him there is no uncertainty. As the joke goes, "He knows where the rocks are." *


* In reference to walking on water. View attachment 1669

 

[sagefr0g]

fun with math and science

Uncertainty only exists from our point of view. Deal with it with perfect trust in God, for with Him there is no uncertainty.

oh contrar mon frien
as you previously argue, it's our job to play blackjack best we can according to the math.... (my words, your point). thats science, maths the epitamy of our current state of knowledge, lol, stuff like that there, no?
stuff like quantum mechanics might be even a higher state of knowledge than say card counting, yes?

Hawking migh be fairly sciencey, and mathy, no?
..."Thus it seems that even God is bound by the Uncertainty Principle, and can not know both the position, and the speed, of a particle. So God does play dice with the universe. All the evidence points to him being an inveterate gambler, who throws the dice on every possible occasion...."
http://www.hawking.org.uk/lectures/dice.html (Archive copy)

 

[aslan]

oh contrar mon frien
as you previously argue, it's our job to play blackjack best we can according to the math.... (my words, your point). thats science, maths the epitamy of our current state of knowledge, lol, stuff like that there, no?
stuff like quantum mechanics might be even a higher state of knowledge than say card counting, yes?

Hawking migh be fairly sciencey, and mathy, no?
..."Thus it seems that even God is bound by the Uncertainty Principle, and can not know both the position, and the speed, of a particle. So God does play dice with the universe. All the evidence points to him being an inveterate gambler, who throws the dice on every possible occasion...."
http://www.hawking.org.uk/lectures/dice.html (Archive copy)

oh contrar! encore une fois, mon frien

Yes, it is our job to play the best game of Blackjack that we can. And it is out job to pray for the best of all outcomes. But all these things, our playing and our praying, were foreseen when the perfect events and circumstances were set in place. If it was foreseen that we lazy creatures would not avail ourselves of the knowledge before us as to how to play the game, then the Almighty in His Infinite Wisdom may see fit to teach us a little lesson about due diligence. And if we think for a minute that we can do it on our own without His help, them He may decide (have decided) to teach us a little humility and dependence on Him. You see, nothing I said before negates the principle to "pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on us." It's not a 50/50 proposition, it's a 100/100 one. But it's a lot easier to do if you realize that He already attended to it eons before we were born, so that we don't have to fret as to whether or not He will turn His attention to our trivial problems and concerns. He already has before we even fall to out knees. With God the answer is sitting there waiting for our prayers, not the other way around.

No, God is not bound by the uncertainty principle. I hate to contradict someone so obviously more brilliant than myself, but on this issue he is dead wrong. Apparently, Hawking did not ascribe Omnipotence and Omniscience to the Almighty in arriving at such a conclusion. Otherwise, it would have been a simple matter to deduce. Hawking's definition of God was limited, so no wonder his limited God was "bound." Unbind Him, I say, and let God be God! My God is bound by nothing. How could it be otherwise. Before Him there was nothing. It is illogical to conceive of a God bound by His own creation! Not only that, by definition it is inconceivable to move the immovable object or to withstand the irresistible force, much less to bind the unbindable! lol

 

[jack.jackson]

Journey to the outer limits​

​

 

[aslan]

Journey to the outer limits​

​

Cool trip!! I just got back! thanx, jj

 

[sagefr0g]

journey to the outer limits

oh contrar! encore une fois, mon frien

i defer to your French.

Yes, it is our job to play the best game of Blackjack that we can.

essentially dealing with uncertainty, no? for us at least, right? perfect or what ever that God set up, we're allowed to deal with it. no?
free will, right? that's all i want, the freedom to deal with uncertainty with out some moralizing agent decreeing how i choose to do so as long as i don't break any moral decree in doing so. just as any scientist or mathematician goes about the actions of the scientific method and logic with out pause for moral principles.

And it is out job to pray for the best of all outcomes. But all these things, our playing and our praying, were foreseen when the perfect events and circumstances were set in place. If it was foreseen that we lazy creatures would not avail ourselves of the knowledge before us as to how to play the game, then the Almighty in His Infinite Wisdom may see fit to teach us a little lesson about due diligence. And if we think for a minute that we can do it on our own without His help, them He may decide (have decided) to teach us a little humility and dependence on Him. You see, nothing I said before negates the principle to "pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on us." It's not a 50/50 proposition, it's a 100/100 one. But it's a lot easier to do if you realize that He already attended to it eons before we were born, so that we don't have to fret as to whether or not He will turn His attention to our trivial problems and concerns. He already has before we even fall to out knees. With God the answer is sitting there waiting for our prayers, not the other way around.

for blackjack and for physics stuff i don't know what God's inclinations or presuppositons may or may not be. personally i doubt He cares much about all that stuff. me thinks it's the morality stuff He's into. but i would agree with the idea that He probably set it all up with our best interests in mind.
regardless i can't see how His loving provision would predispose us to not have an interest in dealing with uncertainty. assumming that is incorrect then i fail to see why we would bother to have an interest in anything that we are initially ignorant of.:whip:
but yes, it's been my experience, at least it's the outward appearance to me that He has things set up so as one pretty much has to go about doing things just so or wham it just don't work.

No, God is not bound by the uncertainty principle. I hate to contradict someone so obviously more brilliant than myself, but on this issue he is dead wrong. Apparently, Hawking did not ascribe Omnipotence and Omniscience to the Almighty in arriving at such a conclusion. Otherwise, it would have been a simple matter to deduce. Hawking's definition of God was limited, so no wonder his limited God was "bound." Unbind Him, I say, and let God be God! My God is bound by nothing. How could it be otherwise. Before Him there was nothing. It is illogical to conceive of a God bound by His own creation! Not only that, by definition it is inconceivable to move the immovable object or to withstand the irresistible force, much less to bind the unbindable! lol

this part is simple. it doesn't require not ascribing to His Omnipotence and Omniscience to ascribe to God the ability to transend Himself. He could in His Omnipotence and Omniscience choose to be "bound", choose to create a physics of His creation for which not even He could predict. in short if He can do anything then He can do anything. that would mean He could even know the skinny while being ignorant of it.:cat:
edit: but what ever the case, it's a good bet He's got a reason for what ever He did.

 

[aslan]

i defer to your French.

essentially dealing with uncertainty, no? for us at least, right? perfect or what ever that God set up, we're allowed to deal with it. no?
free will, right? that's all i want, the freedom to deal with uncertainty with out some moralizing agent decreeing how i choose to do so as long as i don't break any moral decree in doing so. just as any scientist or mathematician goes about the actions of the scientific method and logic with out pause for moral principles.

Yes.

for blackjack and for physics stuff i don't know what God's inclinations or presuppositons may or may not be. personally i doubt He cares much about all that stuff. me thinks it's the morality stuff He's into. but i would agree with the idea that He probably set it all up with our best interests in mind.
regardless i can't see how His loving provision would predispose us to not have an interest in dealing with uncertainty. assumming that is incorrect then i fail to see why we would bother to have an interest in anything that we are initially ignorant of.:whip:

Yes. For us it is dealing with uncertainty. From our perspective, it's as if nothing is preordained. If you snooze, you lose! (Well, you may lose.)

but yes, it's been my experience, at least it's the outward appearance to me that He has things set up so as one pretty much has to go about doing things just so or wham it just don't work.

Yes.

this part is simple. it doesn't require not ascribing to His Omnipotence and Omniscience to ascribe to God the ability to transend Himself. He could in His Omnipotence and Omniscience choose to be "bound", choose to create a physics of His creation for which not even He could predict. in short if He can do anything then He can do anything. that would mean He could even know the skinny while being ignorant of it.:cat:
edit: but what ever the case, it's a good bet He's got a reason for what ever He did.

Up until now I have been in agreement with you. But.......

This idea that God could fix it so that He knows and at the same time He doesn't know. You're blowing your mind! Omniscience says that He does know. It is not double talk, except perhaps from our perspective. The reason we are seeing eye to eye and yet not eye to eye is that you are taking man's point of view and I am taking God's point of view (which I know is reality, only I can't understand how it is reality). I am taking it on faith, while you are trying to figure it out. It cannot be figured out. It is like the story of Peter in fable that one day he was walking along the seashore trying to figure out the Trinity. How could God be One God and yet at the same time be Three Divine Persons, each Completely God in and of Himself? He came upon a child digging a small hole in the sand. He asked the child what he was doing. The child replied that he was digging a hole into which he intended to drain the entire sea. Then Peter realized the folly of his contemplation. He had been trying to comprehend the Infinite with his puny finite mind. It was no more possible for him to succeed in his deliberations than for the child to actually drain the sea into that tiny hole.

There is one thing that God cannot do, in a manner of speaking, and that is to contradict Himself, His very nature. In short, He cannot be not God. He may take on our nature, but He cannot contradict His own nature, He can become both true God and true man (Jesus), but He cannot not be God--that is Who He is. (I AM WHO AM). God therefore cannot be evil, cannot be weak, cannot be unseeing, cannot be uncompassionate, cannot be not unknowing. It's a contradiction in terms. Words in our language have finite meanings. We must keep to those finite meanings, limits if you will, or all ability to communicate is lost.

God cannot transcend Himself, because outside of God there is nothing (by definition). Assuming "all" means "all" there is nothing left to transcend the all-knowing God. He cannot hide from Himself. He cannot say "No" to Himself, He cannot deny Himself. These are all definitional terms. I guess in the final analysis, even the definition of God must be taken on faith.

Another way to look at it is that God exists outside of time. Think about that for a while. The past and the future are all compressed if you will into the present moment. He is. Our future is as present to Him as our now. This is why quantum physics keeps getting wrapped around itself and declaring such things as the ability to go backwards in time. Science is now beginning to grapple with the reality of all things, with the infinite, but by and large it does not know it. All of a sudden it is contemplating things that a few years ago it would have dismissed as rubbish. Now it is a victim of its own efficient quest--the quest for truth, the meaning all that is, the theory of everything. Science is butting its head against infinity and all it will get is a headache. At some point one must make the leap of faith. Otherwise, bring plenty of Advil.

In sum, it is all fixed, yet as you point out, we must act as if it were not fixed. But at the same time we can take solace in the fact that it is all fixed with out best interests in mind even when it seems that everything is conspiring against us. Faith is the name of the game. Christians are advantage players who know they will win in the long run. So my advice is that when you know a certain course of action is the right thing to do, do it. Take the shortcut and do what is right. Quit the rationalizing. Quit the double agenda. Quit being double minded. Choose the straight and narrow. It's the shortest distance to the Truth. As the Bible says, "All things work unto good for those who love God."

 

[sagefr0g]

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yes to all that with a few variations on the theme that are reflected by theological and philosophical questions that mankind and individuals are wrestling with. :whip:

So my advice is that when you know a certain course of action is the right thing to do, do it. Take the shortcut and do what is right. Quit the rationalizing. Quit the double agenda. Quit being double minded. Choose the straight and narrow. It's the shortest distance to the Truth. As the Bible says, "All things work unto good for those who love God."

and this is fine with me as well as long as we don't confuse it with the question of dealing with uncertainty.
this goes for advantage play. advantage play as percieved by this most fun and esteemed community of forums on blackjackinfo.com et. al is not a matter of Truth. advantage play as such is a body of knowledge, in essence a theory only analogous of truth in the sense of logical conclusions drawn from assumptions for which there is no way possible to prove that those assumptions are truth.
if you still want to play blackjack according to the premise "Yes, it is our job to play the best game of Blackjack that we can." and if you want to "know a certain course of action is the right thing to do, do it. Take the shortcut and do what is right. Quit the rationalizing. Quit the double agenda. Quit being double minded. Choose the straight and narrow."
then consider the theory of blackjack and consider the implications about theories, science and mathematics compliments of Goedel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gödel's_incompleteness_theorems
hence:
too me (according to my current state of ponderance) in essence the question of blackjack advantage play boils down to uncertainty and therefore for the prudent minded risk, risk that is above and beyond theoretical ROR. this is true for me for two reasons:
1. i'm not capable to understand the complete logic and maths of blackjack theory.
2. even if i were capable, i'd still (in my mathematical & scientific enthusiasim) have to realize that Truth it is not. close maybe, but no cigar.

so in the end i'm stuck with my trembling fearful self and the uncertainty/risk of the theory of blackjack when i take a seat at a blackjack table.
in short just like all of the other challenges of life i'm not about to reliquish my rationality over the theory of genius's when faced with uncertainty and risk.

i've seen in my escapades in casino's obviously groups of young fellows putting all of their faith in blackjack theory. the dejected looks as they leave the tables with pockets turned inside out stands testimate of a likely large and unknown cemetary of failed AP's. unsung hero's that don't post on blackjackinfo.com.
lol, no brag just fact, i'm still here posting after nearly three years. not rich by any means from my blackjack endeavors but not broke either.:cat: