PRESS YOUR LUCK LEGEND: MICHAEL LARSON

The man was born in a manger

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[DorvellTStewart]

I'm sick of people saying this guy cheated! Since when exactly was it considered cheating if one memorized the patterns of a computer-generated game board! There's nothing wrong with someone being smarter than the people who designed the board or designed anything period. How do you think we get people like computer hackers and what not?

[happboy1]

To Manwit2thums and miamicanes222, he memorized a patern. He is not lucky, he is not cheating, he mearly mastered the game. He was sitting at home one day watching when he realized a patern. This was supposed to be a random show, but there are 5 paterns. he practiced by pausing on the prizes using his VCR, a new tech back then. He then flew to cali, bot a cheap button down shirt at a thrift store, auditioned, and raked in his well earned winnings. Thats about it, no cheat, no luck, just skill.

[yinzjagoffs]

Yeah, lets all pay dumb so the rest rest of the dumb asses out there can still enjoy their dumb ass game show.

[101NiceNick]

@DorvellTStewart You are right. I think the same about this guy. He was smart and clever. What stinks thow is a rober broke into his house and stole all of the money he had won. He should have kept it in the bank. RIP Michael Larson.

[DrSurprise]

if he got a whammy after getting all that money, it would've been hilarious!

[mondaywar]

beasst

[mbrooks415]

@jeopardy60611 Amazingly enough, he didn't memorize all five patterns in their entirety. One of the patterns (which is seen here around the 1:00 mark) bounces in squares 4-12-17-8. Square 8 is one of the two safe squares. Michael never used that pattern to land on square 8. He waited for the 9-17-8 sequence a few seconds later to strike.

[fredfinks]

@jeopardy60611 

Which means no cheating.

EVERYONE: If he cheated, they wouldn't have paid.

[vanni9283]

@Templar613

There were also other squares that never had whammies in them too; it's just that those 2 squares were the ones that contained money + extra spins.

[jeopardy60611]

The only cheating that was going on, which isn't against the rules, was to appear on the show knowing he was going to take advantage of the patterns.

[jeopardy60611]

@SickShizta There actually was a pattern, or really 5 of them, that Michael was able to memorize and therefore anticipate when the 4th square would come on. The GSN documentary "Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal" highlights one pattern that goes "2-12-1-9-4," but there were other patterns. They show the control panel, and the patterns somehow corresponded to 5 buttons on the console.

[DzekoVelez]

@DorvellTStewart Hackers are considered bad, and they are considered as cheating in games. You gave a bad example, although I do agree with the part that he did not cheat, because he did not give himself an advantage in any way, the show was stupid enough not to randomize this.