If you’re heading to the casino, then you’re heading there with a strategy behind you, or at least you should be. A night at the casino is no different from 90-minutes on the football pitch when it comes to tactics.
The casino requires not only skill but concentration, an eye for detail and discipline so you know when enough is enough and choose when to cut your losses. There are two primary strategies when it comes to casino, firstly; the positive expectation strategy. Here, you can expect to win money over a long period of time, however, you must concede that in the mean-time, anything is possible. This is best used when playing blackjack.
Furthermore, the second strategy is a negative expectation strategy. Slot machines are one game in the casino which are negative expectation. Whatever your reasonable money management tactics may be, it’s nigh on impossible to overcome the game’s built-in mathematical disadvantage over the long run.
Expert players tend to stay away from slot machines (though they are incredibly fun and if you do fancy trying this strategy, there are a ton of great online slot sites out there) and spend more time playing games, as they know they have the skills to overcome them, thus winning big. One man in particular who we expect to be a dab hand in the casino and sport a brilliant poker face is Pep Guardiola, and not just for his achievements from the touchline which include three La Ligas, two Copa del Reys, three Bundesliga titles, two UEFA Super Cups and two Champions Leagues. In the transfer window, the City manager is deadly.
Being in the transfer window and casino both require extreme discipline with large amounts of money, i.e. not paying over the odds for a player, not continuing a silly bidding war and in the casino, not placing continuous bets until you recoup your losses. People have lost millions in the casino before and as football fans will well know, there have been a large number of footballers who have left for ridiculous fees and flopped, Fernando Torres’ £50million move to Chelsea may spring to mind. That said, accepting a huge bid for a player can also backfire if you don’t have an adequate replacement, Leicester City were nearly relegated last season without the influence of N’Golo Kante in the middle of the park.
Though, we’re not sure Guardiola makes much mistakes. During his time at Barcelona, is decision to pay almost €70million for Zlatan Ibrahimovic more than paid off. The Swede staked his claim as one of the best strikers in the world and scored 21 goals for the club in 40 appearances, helping his side to win the league title. Guardiola’s acquisition of Dani Alves also proved to be solid defensive buy, the former Sevilla right-back helping form part of a defence that conceded just 109 goals during Guardiola’s 150 plus games there.
Of course, being at the Catalonian giants may have helped Guardiola in the transfer window somewhat but we saw his expertise again at Bayern with buys such as Mario Gotze and Arturo Vidal. Xabi Alonso was one of his best buys of all time, an absolute steal for only €9million. Whilst the defensive midfielder was past his prime at the age of 32, even now, he his still an incredible player and although it may sound like a cliché, his experience both on and off the field is invaluable. That price is even more of a bargain if you compare it to some transfer fees of the past few windows.
Even in England, Guardiola continues to showcase his dominant force in the transfer market and may have picked up his best buy yet with teenager Gabriel Jesus in January. Arriving from Palmerias for €32million, there were high hopes for young Jesus and with seven goals in ten appearances, the striker was taking the league by storm until an unfortunate injury got in the way. Nonetheless, when fit again and under the guidance of Guardiola, he’ll be paying rent on next season’s score sheet.