Gambling Skill

[Avrae Kyric]

"But I am in the gambling business, for good or ill; it is the business I have chosen, and the only governing rule that we all recognize is: always sit close to an exit and never trust a man who doesn't sweat."

Name: Gambling

Gambling, while generally regarded as a game of luck, is actually a skill like any other. While it doesn't help to have luck on your side, a true gambler knows how to get lady luck's attention. From reading the person you're playing against so you can call their bluff and know what move to make, to sizing up the risk you're taking, this can be a crucial skill. It's the fine line between winning a prize you could never imagine, and losing everything you have. Everything. Gambling is as addictive as alcohol, and as destructive. When you're winning, it's a high you never want to come down from, an invincibility that gives the impression of being unable to lose. When you lose... you lose hard. You can gamble your entire life away if you're not careful, desperate to return to your high. "One more bet. Just one more, and I'll win." Is a common mantra among amateur gamblers. They're only ready to stop when they have nothing left to bet and are forced to stop.

Yet then there is the true gambler. This is someone who notices the subtle signs and signals- the tells. Someone who balances the line of losing and winning carefully, because they learn what to look out for. This person knows that the game isn't in the cards, or the dice, it's in the person you're playing against. This is who benefits most from gambling. There is, of course, still an amount of chance in the game. Even the best lose, but the key is to count your losses and do better. In a way, gambling incorporates many other skills into it. There is a math to gambling, and a psychology as well. There's even intimidation. Meditation can also be counted, because being able to keep your cool is just as important. However, these are just tiny parts to gambling, and are an entirely separate matter from the act itself.

The Different Types of Gambling

Gambling is a game of many variables, and there are many different ways to gamble. In fact, gambling could be brought into every day life and situations, if you saw fit to do so. Some examples of gambling include:

Betting: This is the oldest and most common type of Gambling. You don't even have to be a gambler to place a bet. Many would place bets on every day things- such as how long it'll take for two young people in love to confess their feelings, or who can finish their daily chores faster. These type of bets can be placed for money, though may also be bet just for fun, and the pride of being right. Others will actively seek out bets, betting on who is stronger or faster, finding ways to prove their bet is the right one. Others still might

Games of Dice:

Card Games:

Gambling Addiction

Novice: 0-25

Competent: 26-49

Expert: 50-75

Master: 79-99

Legendary: 100

Credit: Avrae Kyric

"What is life, if not a gamble?"

[Linika]

Oh hey, my Skype was "not responding" this morning.
I believe there was a proposal that "Suits" be added here.
I have no objection to that whatsoever.

[Avrae Kyric]

XD Suits? (I have never gambled a day in my life so forgive my ill knowledge, I'm still doing research for this). Jade said there is a write up somewhere of different games and such in Idalos, like what kind of stuff they play to gamble, and she was going to get me the link but I think the event has distracted her, haha. ^_^

[Jade]

Made by Maltruism!

SUITS

Gambling on Idalos takes many forms. One of the popular new forms is the card game “Suits”. It uses a 60-card deck consisting of the numbers 1 – 10 in six different suits. These suits descend in tie-breaker priority in accordance with the relative height of the namesake for each suit from the surface of the world. So, the highest suit is “Stars”. Just below that is “Clouds”. Then come “Peaks”, “Kites”, "Trees" and “Stones”, in that order. Some cultures in mountainous lands insist that Peaks should trump Clouds, but the majority accept Clouds as being above Peaks.

The Basics of Game Play

Suits is a wagering game intended for three to six players. Basically, a number of cards are dealt to each player, who then take turns discarding any number of cards from their hands. These cards are placed face down in a discard pile, but are shown one time to all players when discarded. No additional cards are drawn during the course of a hand. Wagers are made on each player’s turn where cards are discarded. A player calls “Pass” when he chooses not to discard. Once passed, a player may not discard on any subsequent rounds during that hand. He may still initiate wagering however.

A three-player game has sixteen cards dealt to each player, leaving twelve cards unseen and out of play. With four players, each player receives twelve cards to begin. This also leaves twelve cards out of play. Five players can choose to receive nine or ten cards each to begin a hand, resulting in either ten or fifteen unseen cards. The maximum six players would each be dealt eight cards, again resulting in twelve cards left out of play. These unseen cards are what make it difficult to ensure the success of any strategy.

Some have tried playing “Suits” with seven players, the players getting seven cards each; or eight players, each getting six. Technically, there is no rule against such increases in the number of players. The only real effect is that, with fewer cards to start, more winners are decided by suit-based tie-breakers than the actual card numbers. But that does not make the payoffs any less rich. It is up to the gaming community to decide.

When an entire round of turns passes with no further discards, players show their remaining cards, resolution takes place, and the pot is divided by the winners. There are three winners, though there is no rule that it must be three different people. Often a player takes more than one part of the pot. The definitions of victory are called “Quantity”, “Quality” and “Quandary”.

The Three Conditions of Victory

“Quantity” is claimed by the player with the lowest numbered card in that suit with the highest number of cards still in play. For instance, if there are more total “Peaks” cards than any other suit, in all player’s hands combined, at resolution, then the player with the lowest “Peak” card wins this prize. If it should occur that players discard so many cards that there are no more than one card of any suit still in play, the player holding the card in the lowest suit wins.

“Quality” is claimed by the player with the highest numbered card in a run of consecutive numbers of a single suit. For instance, if among all the cards left in play, there is a seven, eight, nine, ten of “Clouds”, but a two, three, four, five, six of “Stones”, then the player with the “six of Stones” wins this prize. It does not matter that the cards in “Clouds’ were higher numbers. There were only four in a row, whereas there were five cards in a row in “Stones”.

Often, there are hands where the longest streak is only two cards. If players go on a real discard binge, there may be no streaks at all. In this case, the “Quality” pot is not claimed, and rolls over to be added to the next hand’s “Quality” pot.

“Quandary” is awarded to the player with the card whose number equals the total number of cards in play. Since there are frequently hands where there are more than ten cards left in play, the digits used to form a two-digit number are added together to form a single digit. For instance, if there are fifteen cards left in play the “one” and “five” are added to make “six”, which becomes the official “Quandary” number for that hand.

Since there may be more than one card of the same “Quandary” number, the player with that number in the highest suit wins. If it should occur that no one has a card of that number, the “Quandary” pot rolls over to be added to the next hand’s “Quandary” pot.

Dividing the Pot

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It is not hard to keep the different pots separate, because they are kept separate throughout the game. This is done using one or more “Suit Stack” arrays. This is made up of a series of connected tubes, set side-by-side, on a base for stability. The standard game uses five tubes, but players can decide on using more. Most "Suit Stacks" are made to accommodate custom games. These tubes are wide enough to hold standard gambling chips. As wagers are made, the wagered chips are placed in the tubes in as equal proportion as possible; meaning that there must be a chip placed in each tube before a second can be placed in any of them.

There is still plenty of manipulation of the pots that can be accomplished. For even though a player cannot put, say, a fifth chip into one of the tubes until there are four in all of them, there is no rule as to the denomination of the chips as they are placed. All players must match the total amount of a given wager, but the placement of the wager does not need to be equalized in value among the three tubes. This means that players could always place gold chips in the same tube, while only putting coppers in the others, meaning there would be a rich payoff in only one of the three winning categories. This is because the three different categories only win certain tubes. “Quantity” always collects the coins in the two tubes on the dealer’s right. “Quality” always collects the two tubes on the dealer’s left. And “Quandary” collects the center tube. If players decide to use more than five tubes, they must agree beforehand how the additional tubes are to be divided among winning pots.

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When pots roll over to a second hand, a second “Suit Stack” is placed on the table, aligning the tubes to their appropriate positions. Or a Suit Stack array may be provided that already has double the number of tubes. This is so the upcoming hand can still maintain equalized stacking of new chips. Then when resolution occurs, the appropriate tubes are collected from both “Suit Stacks” by the winner of that category.

In Parting

Since winning categories are decided by cards collected from all players’ hands together, it is very difficult to be sure that what you discard will ultimately benefit you. You may have cards that would win you all three categories, only to have a single card, discarded by one of your competitors, ruin all of them. Or, the lack of knowing what is in your competitors’ hands may lead you to discard a card that would have won you one or more categories.

This risk is partially reduced by getting to see all the discards as they are discarded. Depending on the accuracy of his memory, a player can get a good idea of what remains unseen in other players’ hands. But then this is also countered by the fact that not all of the sixty card deck is dealt at the beginning of each hand. Players do NOT get to see these cards, so there will always be uncertainty. This is the fun – and risk – of Suits.

Good luck, and may Xiur reward your hope.

[Jade]

!	Message from: Jade
	Since the player designing this skill is not active anymore, this skill may be developed by another individual. Thank you.

[Avrae Kyric]

Note: I have returned and- as long as it's okay with Jade- will continue working on this skill.