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Play the odds

Posted by Brian from Shawnee on November 21, 2005

In Reply to: Play the odds posted by Cicek on November 21, 2005

:
: question: What does the phrase "play the odds" means? The whole sentence sounds like this: I believe in my cards, and that's better than playing the odds.

In most card games, you can figure out your chances of winning or losing based on cold, hard statistics (the odds). But people often give in to a gut feeling and bet money on an irrational hunch, such as "I've been losing all night, so I'm bound to win big soon", rather than on statistics. If you believe in your cards, you may win against the odds, but more than likely you'll lose. But hey, that's why they call it gambling.

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