The Book of Ashes

Luck... 9:28PM

There was just a show on Prime on TV about a guy called Ashley in the UK who made his money through playing online poker games. He decided he wanted to do it big so he sold up everything he owned (he thought he had over 100,000 pounds but that was more cost value) to go to Las Vegas to bet it all on Red or Black. Surprisingly none of the Vegas casino owners wanted to do the bet with him. He eventually found a guy who set him up with the Hard Rock Casino owner and he agreed to do it. The thing was over there they have two house wins on the roulette wheel, a 0 and a 00. So he sold up everything, made 55,000 then a chance meeting had a guy from some gambling company offering him 20,000 pounds to change his name to Ashley [there_company_name] for three months. So he took that deal to top up his gambling fund and then... the program ended, to be continued hopefully.

But I really want to know what colour he bet on cause if he went Red and lost then I will go Black but if he went Red and won then I will go Red too.

Ha, don't worry, I will only be betting $10 not my lifes savings.

So you want me to define luck? Scientifically. It can be done but it becomes a little absurd. Kinda like the theory that the world was created yesterday by a guy named Bob and we all came into existance then with our memories of past lives that never happened. Theres no way to prove it wrong but its pretty unlikely. I mean his name could have been Jarad.

Luck. n. [luk]

Its something intangible. Theres no substance or measurable force to ascertain its existance but it can be felt. Perhaps it is hard wired into the universe by someone, or something, or perhaps it is created by each individual. One thing is for sure, it defies any kind of scientific measurement. That is because scientific measurement relies on results and expectations. Luck does not. If you say that the roulette wheel will land on a certain number then it might. If you count the past statistics then say it must now be this then it almost certainly won't be, except for enough times so that it is not a rule. Luck is a feeling. It comes from within you, maybe deep within your subconcious. Then it is filtered through the concious. This is where the problem arises. If you trust your true feeling (red) then it will most likely be right, if you second guess it (no reds come up twice already, it must be black now) then you've lost. You know what you should have choosen, after you know the results. The correct feeling makes itself known. Don't push it. Don't get on a winning streak then say, I'm lucky now, I'm taking it all to this new casino and betting it all on Black. It doesn't work that way, you're trying to force it to do your bidding. It works instead with you feeling happy and relaxed. It works with you betting where and when you feel you should bet.

So, so far this all just sounds like talk. Theres no proof here. Let me offer one. It involves physics and quantum theory and entanglement. Do you know of Youngs double slit experiment? A classic experiement taught in physics where light is shone through two slits. Light from one slit travels different distances to the wall and gets out of phase with the light from the other slit. This causes bands of light and dark patches where the light interferes with itself, cancelling out or getting stronger. But the interesting thing is that if you fire one photon through at a time then then combined hits on the wall still show interference patterns. Its as if the photon is travelling through both slits at once and interferring with itself. Now a suggestion has been made that this can be explained if the light travels through one slit, hits the wall, then travels back through the other slit, backwards in time, so that it reaches the slit at the same time the original photon was going through and interferes with it then. This is due to entanglement somehow. I forget how.

This is an interesting idea. It may or may not be true. But what if you pick a number then loose? And what if your mind is entangled with itself? This means that events happen in your mind and travel both forwards and backwards in time. This means you can have knowledge of an event before it happens or, since its coming from the subconcious, a feeling that doing that is right or wrong. What if you choose number 12 on the roulette table and it lost and your mind then created events that went forward and backward in time? What if we trace those events backwards in time to when the decision was made to choose 12. Now you are making the decision but you have an uneasy feeling about it. You don't do it and go 14 instead. This can go on until one time line gets the right number. You now come to make your decision and choose Black 8 and win. You didn't know that was a winner, it just was the right thing to do. You didn't over think it, you didn't analyse it. The time came and you just acted with a clear and relaxed mind. Quantum physics came to your aid and helped you know the future. Its not entirely impossible. Infact you can't prove its impossible becuase we don't entirely understand the physics yet.

So anyway this is my philosophy for Vegas. Go into a Casino when the whim takes me. Bet what feels right (the numbers, not the amount) and play it safe, walk away when the dealings done.

Anyone want to put money on who will make the most in Vegas?

Tom with his, I'm spending $1 on gambling approach?

Steve with his $30 a day limit?

Ash with the above philosophy?

Or a wildcard? Crispy? Martin? Jacqui? Other?

Place your bets here. My money is on the guy from New Zealand called Ashley who didn't sell all his worldly possessions to go to Vegas and bet some money on the roulette wheel.

Oh yeah. The Hard Rock Hotel were giving him their penthouse suite to stay in while he made the bet. It was $7000US a night and had a bowling lane in it. Opulence. I need a Tee-shirt that says that.

This is post number 999 for me. Turn that on its head and you have...