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Monday, Dec 31, 2007 - 19:32 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

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Road Trip

Spent the 27th to 29th at Genting Highlands with five other 4O peeps, which reminded me of just how much could be done in three days, such as experiencing seventy-two hours of life.

27th December 2007

The journey began with the arduous navigation down to Lavender MRT, an undertaking remarkable if only for the unearthly hour in which it was attempted. Safely arrived alone at about 0630 hours, after an offer to band up was received when I was already at Raffles Place.

Loaded onto a coach that suspiciously looked as if it had lost its way from NUS. Passed the border checks at the Second Link, had a chicken burger brunch at a rest stop named Kim Guan or something at about ten, bought copy of New Straits Times. Entertainment provided was a screening of 兄弟. That was followed by Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which brought bad dubbing to new, hilarious heights. The mangled English changed historical drama into riotous comedy, with poor Mary Queen of Scots accused of being guilty of "threesome" at one point (instead of the more prudish "treason").


Crystal Huang in 兄弟 by consensus a solid 8

Some floating bridge games, more snoozing, a lavatory break and a skipped rest stop later, the bus huffed its way up the slopes of the Titiwangsa Mountains, and we arrived on schedule at three. Malaysia never fails to give me the impression of unutilized space, with kilometers of forests interspersed with the odd dwelling. Very rustic.


Trees, trees everywhere

Endured a trying wait to check-in, before getting assigned rooms 19825 and 19826 in the First World Hotel (formerly the world's largest with over 6000 rooms).


From left to right: twm, alvinny, triceo, law, me (colin took this photo). Inset of First World Hotel from Wikipedia
(N.B. Faces here and later will be under mosaic as this blog could not afford the requested image rights from the pictured. Blame them for being 太帅了)


Comfy enough, two beds, three guys each. Plus abstract art

Late lunch at Marrybrown, though their Tower Burger was a tad smaller than it looked on the menu. Night saw Mr. A, who wishes to remain anonymous, exercise his gambling skills by making a 70% profit off a video poker machine. Dinner at Kenny Rogers Roasters, where to my chagrin I barely found the Chicken Macaroni & Cheese on my plate. Tiny serving.



Not complete, just have a feel

28th December 2007

Big Breakfast at Macs, got the news that Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan. Not that much of a surprise really. Alvin and law got a day ticket to the theme park, while I exercised my legs by standing for hours on end - surely the longest such exertions since sentry duty in NS, and maybe longer - observing the going-ons in the casinos.

If one looks at casinos as a place to lose money, it is a wonder why they are practically a licence to print money wherever they are opened. Only, there is of course the possibility to turn a profit, however slight. The theory of gambler's ruin asserts that since:

  1. The gambler begins with far, far less capital than the casino
  2. The gambler has a negative expectation with almost every bet
It is (almost) inevitable that repeated betting sooner or later leads to the loss of all capital. However, with enough people trying their luck, it is also inevitable that some fantastically fortunate individuals who may even manage to make a living from gambling will emerge by simple probability, and be living proof that gambling works. Only thing is that it won't work for most others. This is no problem if one takes it as pure entertainment, and indeed there are few other forms of entertainment where one may be refunded his fee if satisfied; Unfortunately, this is not always true.

The disadvantage to players, if not explicitly refuted by the casinos, is at least not expressedly mentioned, and they seem happy enough to foster certain misconceptions about the games. The provision of notepaper at the baccarat tables and the helpful maintenance of the outcomes of the previous hands, for instance. Although I would think that there is no relation between the last hand and the next, the display of such information would suggest that smart players can read the patterns and ride on a streak or change sides when a switch seems overdue, giving the illusion of control - and who doesn't like to believe that he is smart? Of course, the pattern predictions will work sometimes, which further reinforce the notion that the game is "beatable" and next time, everything will fall into place.

Hope, that most precious of commodities.

Anyhow, it proved difficult to infer the finer points of baccarat from watching alone, though the basics of it being a modulo ten system was easy to figure out. For the record, the player and banker remain with two cards if and only if either scores an 8 or 9 on the initial draw of two cards, otherwise more cards are drawn - see the Wikipedia article for the full details. The house advantage is just over 1% per hand for straight player/banker bets.

Carribean stud poker involves no decision making other than whether to play a hand, against the dealer who plays on A K or higher and folds otherwise. Interestingly, the house edge appears to be over 5% although A K doesn't feel so difficult to achieve - the four hundred thousand plus ringgit jackpot for a royal flush is also alluring, though it was remarked that even with thirteen cards in the umpteen games of Bridge and Big Two we have played, a royal flush was almost never seen.

Pontoon (a Blackjack variant) differs from the above games as players' decisions to draw cards may directly affect the fortunes of all other players, as they change the cards that the dealer eventually gets. Things can get get a bit uncomfortable when the other participants try to influence decisions from evidence of revealed cards, though thankfully this does not seem to occur often. Some participants got into the spirit of things with shouts of "Picture, picture!", though I don't think it availed them much.

Another difference is that pontoon admits active strategy, since the probability of receiving certain cards changes as additional cards are revealed. Indeed, the house percentage can be cut down to below 1% with proper counting and possibly even yield a positive expectation with good enough technique - but the variance is huge and requires a large initial bankroll to be worthwhile, and obviously the casinos won't be too pleased and can exercise their rights to ban the counter. Genting already uses continuous shuffling machines for all its card games, so the effectiveness of counting is drastically reduced.

Only one brief altercation occurred which brought a mass of people moving towards its source. Definitely bad for business. The croupiers weren't an exceedingly happy bunch either, perhaps due to interaction with customers being frowned upon as a matter of policy, and in fact I only observed one guy who made the effort to inject some showmanship into his opening of cards. One of them even had a low-octane argument over his assigned shift with the pitboss while doing his duties, which required a translator as he knew no English and the pitboss knew no dialect.

Can't blame the croupiers too much, as the casino management does not exactly give the appearance of trusting its employees - uniforms are designed with tight sleeves to preclude hanky-panky palming of chips or cash, and the croupiers have to reveal both palms each time they handle stuff to the eyes in the sky carpeting the ceiling. Then again, the nature of the business probably necessitates such precautions.

There were a couple of highrollers who put in excess of a thousand ringgit (approx. S$440) a hand. Now that would be some thrill, but I can think of better ways to use money.

Pizza Hut for dinner and some walking around the mall. Prices were at or above Singapore levels sadly, with a Manchester United home jersey at 299 ringgit (S$130), about one and a half times the price at Queensway. Watched National Treasure 2 at the cineplex, and as with action films of this sort credulity is stretched thin. Quick question: Would you break into the private residences of a head of state or even kidnap the person on an unproven and vague clue? Well, that is why most of us aren't treasure hunters - we wouldn't have the luck to splash water on exactly the right bit of rock on a nondescript plateau with some bottles of water either.

It was then back to the casino for more observation, before retiring at 4 a.m. Our little group got a furtive "Pssshhttt (thanks edchong for duplicating the exact sound effect), 你们要小姐吗？", which was of course ignored.

29th December 2007


Alvin bids tata. Note Law's matching colour scheme

Woke at eleven, BK breakfast, then tottered around the arcade till two-plus. Loaded on the same bus that got us here, which screened I Am Legend for the first half of the journey back. The empty cityscape made a strong impression, though the CGI Infected zombies still had a bit to go. Zombies appear to have sped up of late, as the traditional ones moved at a shamble and simply aren't much of a threat if the humans walked slightly faster away from them and not scuttle off to the nearest corner to scream their hearts out. Since Will Smith has access to an entire armoury, it would have been slightly unfair not to upgrade the zombies too.


The Petronas Twin Towers in the distance


Chicken biscuits as recommended by Law

A brief local produce shopping stopover, then a repeat screening of 兄弟. Discussion turned to whether counterattacking with a gun at the back of one's head is feasible, from a scene in the movie. Research in The Elite Forces Handbook of Unarmed Combat page 153 maintains that having a firearm pointed at one's head is in fact better than having it at the torso, since the head is quite a bit more mobile. Of course, the enemy actually preferring a live capture helps a lot (which could be assumed to be the case since the trigger has not yet been pulled). Cue Tip #7 for being an Evil Warlord: "When I've captured my adversary and he says, 'Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?' I'll say, 'No.' and shoot him. No, on second thought, I'll shoot him and then say 'No.'"


Use only when someone *really* doesn't like you

Last meal in Malaysia was a Ramly Burger (supposedly banned in Singapore?), then automated clearance with a biometric passport at the Singapore checkpoint. Two elderly travellers were displeased with having their queue held up, and their belligerence was matched by a youthful customs officer who responded to their not completely unreasonable complaints with "你知道我是谁吗？", which was both rather uncalled for and amusing.

Dropped off at Tang Dynasty where it took over half an hour to walk home.

And oh, edchong, it's too late for you. The Hamster Fighting Machines are on their way now.


(Click to enlarge - Source)

Good luck.



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1 comment

Mm:) said...
Wishing u al e BEST in the Year 2008. Cheers!


January 1, 2008 - 00:04 SGT     

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