News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The Kelly criterion: How to size bets (2019). Parent comment

Re:The Kelly criterion: How to size bets (2019) by modeless on Tuesday February 08, 2022 @08:24PM (#30267405)
The assumption is that you want the maximum return for any given number of bets. If you have unlimited bets then sure, maximizing the return per bet is not really important. But where can you find unlimited bets with positive expected return?

There are other assumptions in there, like that there's no minimum bet and you can divide your bet to arbitrary precision. Always check your assumptions! I'm sure someone has modified the Kelly criterion for minimum bets and quantized bets, but a cursory search didn't turn it up immediately.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Kelly criterion: How to size bets (2019) by cortesoft on Wednesday February 09, 2022 @01:55AM (#30269749)
That assumption was never stated in the question. It didn’t say there was any cost to placing a bet, and I learned quite quickly that I could mash the bet button very fast… why would I take any risk at all when I can get a guaranteed win betting small and mashing the button?
[ Parent | on HN ]