[extropy-chat] About ESP, etc.

[gts]

On Mon, 30 Apr 2007 13:12:00 -0400, Damien Broderick  
<thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:

> Suppose someone *did* have an ESP capacity applicable to such card
> games (leaving aside such miraculous powers as being able to change
> one card into another or derandomize the shuffle etc). Would it
> operate differently from card-counting?

Yes. An infallible clairvoyant would know the dealer's hole card and the  
next cards in the deck and have a huge advantage, probably on the order of  
something like 30%, whereas the card-counter has an advantage of only  
about 1% to 1.5%, depending on rules and other conditions. The clairvoyant  
would need to lose purposely on a large fraction of hands to avoid  
suspicion of being an out-right cheat.

The typical casual player plays with about a 4% disadvantage.

-gts