In previous episodes we met TC, who is a typical table coach. In a strange turn of events, TC has ended up with a grumpy genie (known as Dave to his friends) as his tutor.

Last month, however, things took a sinister turn when it was discovered that there are people out there who want Dave removed forever. Ironically, Dave was also having similar problems from characters within the story as well...

TC sat looking at the computer screen in what looked a bit like a prison cell except there was no furniture at all, just the computer. The two choices were still flashing before him. He decided that he should reflect on everything that had transpired today before he got into this position in order to give himself the maximum chance of choosing the right option.

He had gotten out of bed early to discover Dave pacing back and forth in the living room.

"I want you to answer the next question without thinking," frowned Dave. "I suspect that you'll manage that quite easily," he added.

TC nodded.

"If I told you that there was an evil genie about to enter the room, what would he look like?" asked Dave.

"Old, thin and with shifty eyes," said TC.

"Well, it's not you, then," replied Dave mysteriously.

TC looked confused. This would happen on several occasions today.

"I guess I'll explain," sighed Dave. "When a genie is summoned to the world, he takes on an image and name drawn from the subconscious of the mind of the person who summoned him. When you opened that book, for some odd reason you associated poker strategy with someone called Dave who bears 'more than a little resemblance to a 50-year-old man, thinning on top, but with a healthy 'tash and beard."

Dave paused for effect, and then continued.

"You can, however, see other genies, but they will appear to you as they appear to the person to whom they are bound," he concluded and decided to continue pacing up and down.

TC didn't find any of this information very interesting and couldn't see the relevance of it.

Dave couldn't be bothered to explain any further at this time and changed the subject.

"We need to know more about the ways in which Brandon works," he explained to TC. "You're going to have to apply for a job there."

Even TC felt underqualified to be applying for a job at Brandon's house of hi-tech gambling, but he felt he owed it to Dave to do what was requested of him. He did, however, have one concern.

"Won't it be obvious that I'm there to try to find information?" he asked.

"Probably," replied Dave. "It is likely that Brandon will be expecting it, but there isn't much that he can do about it. He needs to pretend to trust you. If you actually, really were intent on helping him, he would do so much damage by not trusting you that it would not compensate for the reasonably small downside of us gaining information. It's called an unexploitable strategy. We benefit, and there is nothing our opponent can do about it."

TC grinned stupidly. It certainly sounded very clever.

TC's interview was short, and he had no idea how it had gone. He didn't mess around with pleasantries; he just explained to Brandon that he loved the place so much that he wanted to work there.

"I assume you don't know much about handicapping?" asked Brandon.

"Not much, although I understand how to bet. Surely there is something I can do around here?" replied TC.

"We have a vacancy for an arber. Would you like to try that?" offered Brandon.

"I've never been to Michigan," replied TC.

"Not the place," sighed Brandon. "You would become an arber here."

"I haven't heard of her," said TC, shaking his head.

Brandon bit his lip and offered TC what looked like a credit card. "Take this, and go through those doors in around three hours time," he pointed towards what looked like an elevator door.

"What is it?" asked TC.

"It's a kind of automated interview," replied Brandon. "You'll start with 100 points. If you can get enough points on the card, you'll get the job," he explained.

TC took the card and went home.

When he arrived, Dave was still pacing. "How did it go?" asked Dave.

"I think it went all right," grinned TC, "although I may need to learn a bit about other forms of gambling," he said sheepishly before going on to explain the situation.

Dave nodded grimly at this news, although he didn't seem surprised. "I have too much on my mind to really teach you much, although I suspect we'll be okay if we cheat. I'll come with you."

TC screwed up his nose in disapproval. "Surely you can't come with me. If you come into the house of the people that are trying to get rid of you, they're bound to detect you," he observed.

Dave was not impressed with this criticism of his plan. "I have a full grasp of long term strategies and even better instincts..." Dave began.

"I was reading an article. Sometimes an incorrect move can be a correct one or something like that," noted TC.

Dave ignored TC and continued, "Anyway, I'm certain that Brandon cannot see me. In fact the only person who can see me in this town, other than you, has already seen me."

"Who's that? How do you know?" asked TC.

"You weren't interested earlier," sulked Dave. "Just think about who might be interested in pirates and claims that he always loses at gambling. It's all pretty obvious really."

TC hadn't really expected things to get more complicated. "Pirates?!" he muttered, under his breath.

"Now bring two dice, and let's get you this job," concluded Dave.

TC was let into Brandon's house by the doorman. Dave had decided to find another way in and joined TC a few minutes later.

The elevator-style doors turned out to be operated by TC's credit card. Written on the grey metal doors in big white letters were two words that terrified TC: "GAME THEORY." The credit card slot indicated that it would be 10 points to operate the doors, and TC decided that as there were no other options, 10 points would be a wise investment.

As TC went through the doors, they slammed behind him. He assumed he could get out if he wanted, but didn't really want to check.

The room was empty except for another set of doors at the far end of the room and a computer terminal with three buttons labeled "Rock, Paper and Scissors." There were several security cameras built into the top of the walls, and there was also a small camera built into the floor at the place where TC was going to have to operate the computer.

TC smiled happily. He remembered how he was so unlucky against the players from the bar at this game and had no intention of getting unlucky today.

The instructions on the computer screen explained that TC could only gamble on an all or nothing basis at this game. At the bottom was a note explaining that TC would require an unexploitable strategy to stand any chance at all as the computer was programmed to the highest level of artificial intelligence.

For the first time TC was a little worried. He thought back to Dave's description of an unexploitable strategy and didn't think it applied here. So he decided to sit and think for a while.

Incredibly he put his hands into his pockets and found the two dice. Even more incredibly he connected them with the problem in hand.

What was bothering him was that the only unexploitable strategy he could think of involved picking at random, and there were two huge problems with that.

The first problem was that picking at random wouldn't win him anything unless he got lucky, and the second problem was that rolling two dice gave eleven different numbers, and this was not divisible by three.

It took him 30 minutes to work out a way around the second problem. He would, of course, throw both dice. If they totaled six, five or four, he would play rock. If they totaled eight, nine or ten, he would play paper. and if they totaled something else, he would play scissors.

Each combination had the same chance of coming in. He remembered now what a true genius he really was.

He could think of no way around the other problem, but decided that not losing would have to do. He played the game using his strategy for a few minutes, and eventually the computer displayed a message. "Despite you randomly forgetting which roll was rock and which was paper, your strategy was still unexploitable." You have doubled your 90 credits. Congratulations."

TC spent 30 of his hard earned credits to get through the second game theory door and into the next room.

This room was identical to the first one as far as TC could see.

This time, however, the question was far more worrying.

"You are supposed to have entered this area by yourself. However, it appears that someone else also attempted the first room. You have been placed in separate rooms. It is obvious that you have an accomplice, but because we are fair here, we'll offer you the following deal. If you admit that the two of you are working together, we will use your confession to punish your friend for all of his credits, and he will also get a visit from the head of the entire operation which may be very unpleasant. We will not punish you at all. Of course, if neither of you confesses, you will be fined 50 credits each for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Should you both confess, then you will both be fined 100 credits, which is the standard punishment for cheating in this establishment."

TC was in rather a dilemma as to what to do here. The obvious thing was to just stay quiet and to assume that Dave would do the same, but he knew that Dave wouldn't trust him. He also knew that Dave could not afford a visit from any genie-hating "boss," and this could be avoided by simply confessing that he knew TC was here. On the other hand, although TC pretty much trusted Dave, he still had a few doubts about him, and he didn't really fancy a visit from the head of the operation either. TC also didn't want to lose any credits. Losing 50 credits each might be enough to make them both fail.

After going through the entire day's events in what passed for his mind, TC decided that he would trust Dave's "instincts" and "grasp of long term strategies" and keep quiet. If Dave's instincts were that good, he would do the right thing whatever TC did anyway. TC pushed the "Don't confess" button.

"Both of you have elected not to confess, which was the best play for the team. Your credits have been doubled," declared the computer.

TC rushed to the door and paid 45 credits to go into the third room. He wanted to leave this room as quickly as possible.

The third room was once again identical to the other two, except that this time there was no slot to insert the card into the exit door.

Before TC even had time to read the question, Dave entered the room behind him.

"I have no idea how they split us up for the first question," smiled Dave, "but I'm impressed that you didn't betray me on the second one."

TC had never been so pleased to see someone that nobody else could see in his entire life.

"Let's get this over with," he said, and motioned towards the computer, which this time had a numeric keypad.

Dave agreed, although he couldn't help adding, "But we'll have to play that prisoner game at home sometime and see who ends up losing the fewest credits. That's far more interesting."

The third question was as follows: "You can gamble any amount of credits on the spin of a roulette wheel Red or Black. You can keep gambling until you either win, or go bust. Of course if you go bust, then you won't be progressing any further. If you win, then you will go through the next door.

Dave frowned. "This one is impossible," he explained. "There is no play that gives us a long term edge."

TC thought he had a solution. "I want to have a go at this," he told Dave.

Dave shrugged. "There is no correct answer, so you might as well do what you like."

TC placed a bet of one credit on Red. It lost. He then bet two credits on Red. It lost again.

"You cannot win with this doubling-up system," shouted Dave. "It's called the Martingale system. It is doomed to failure. Trust me on this — you will regret this. These people know all about negative expectation."

TC did some quick counting on his fingers and looked back at Dave. "I have enough credits to bet eight times. I'd be pretty unlucky if they all lost," he explained.

TC proceeded to lose the next five bets of four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two and sixty-four credits.

Dave was looking at his own card and wondering how best to solve this problem. At least they still had a second chance.

TC typed in the last bet, hit red, and waited.

To his surprise, the game didn't play, and a message came up on the screen.

"You win. This was the right strategy to make a profit nearly every time. Despite the plays being negative in the long run, they were the best available to solve the problem."

Dave didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"You see," gloated TC. "Sometimes an apparently wrong decision can be correct. I learned that recently. Aren't you impressed?" he smirked, as they walked through into the fourth room.

"This was not one of those times," sighed Dave and nudged TC, so that he would look into the room.

The fourth room contained a lone figure sitting behind a desk. It was Patch, the barman, and he looked extremely pleased with himself.

To be continued...

Lorinda