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Robin Hood Lives...
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 10:51 pm
by Gob
HE CLAIMS to live in Sherwood Forest and even boasts his own ''Maid Marian''. But this Robin Hood spends much of his time on the gambling floors of casinos, taking his winnings and donating them to people in need.
All that is known about the secretive American is that he plays blackjack under the pseudonym Robin Hood 702, and he is good at it. A high-stakes player, he wins thousands of dollars at a time.
He gambles in disguise, donning beards, glasses and hats. And he will visit Australia next month to take from our casino giants and give away his winnings. He has asked Australians to visit his website and nominate a person or family in need of help - such as victims of natural disasters, illness or financial hardship.
''I will then pick a family or individual and fly them to the casino for the weekend, all expenses paid, and while they're enjoying the betterments of life I will be down at the casino playing blackjack for them,'' Hood told The Sun-Herald.
He's so far given away more than $1 million of his earnings. On the rare occasions that he loses, the people Hood has chosen to help still get half their bills paid, even if it means digging into his own pocket.
He helped one US family clear more than $35,000 in debt, which they had accumulated from medical expenses while their three-year-old daughter battled brain cancer. He gave another woman more than $20,000 to care for her elderly parents.
He has also been known to wander around food courts pretending to be homeless, asking people for a bite of their sandwich and giving hundreds of dollars to those who say yes
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/robin-hood-pl ... z1ReRM1wUg
Re: Robin Hood Lives...
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:42 pm
by Timster
I nominate Aardy or one of his neighbors. Like the one that lost her child.
Re: Robin Hood Lives...
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:48 pm
by Long Run
Problem with him doing his work in the casinos is that Fryer Tuck can't seem to get out of the buffets.
Re: Robin Hood Lives...
Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 1:13 pm
by Miles
He may be in disguise because he is a known card counter and is on the no play list. That does not, however, detract from his generous nature.
Re: Robin Hood Lives...
Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 4:45 pm
by Lord Jim
He may be in disguise because he is a known card counter and is on the no play list. That does not, however, detract from his generous nature.
I have never considered "card counting" to be cheating, or in any way unethical...
All a card counter is doing is using their natural intelligence; they are not in cahoots with the dealer, they're not using any electronic devices; they're just using their brains. Card counting doesn't guarantee that you will win; but obviously if you're able to keep track of what the likelihood is of high number cards or low number cards is based on your ability to remember how many of each have been played, you're going to win more often than you would otherwise.
Casino's have tried to counter this by putting more and more decks in the black jack shoes in order to make it more difficult to do, and that's certainly their right. But to ban people based on card counting seems really chickenshit to me. Unlike genuine methods of casino cheating it is not illegal; you will never see anyone prosecuted for the "crime" of "card counting."
What the casino owners are essentially saying is: "You're too smart to play here. We only want dumb folks gambling in our casino" . (Which seems gratuitous since the overwhelming majority of the players
are dumb...seems to me they can afford to let a few smart folks play.)
Not very sporting....