Quick Follow-Up to Failed Gotchas

Well, let me repeat a couple of quotes from the "Rob Singer didn't beat video poker" thread. Let's start with:

Post 83 (coach belly): "The sports books pay off winning bets with chips?"

Post 86 (Alan Mendelson): "Never heard of such a thing. And I made a few calls after that."

Post 88 (Alan Mendelson): "I don't know why anyone would be stupid enough to make up a story about being paid in chips for a sports wager."


Let's skip, for a moment, Argentino's incessant chiming in and ridiculous commentary. We'll get back to that, because I was shooting for irony.

Immediately after Post #88, I sent an email to Jimmy Vaccaro, the legendary sports book manager and current oddsmaker for South Point. Mr. Vaccaro is the gold standard in sports gambling credibility. He has been doing it forever. I told him "...the Mandalay Sports book paid in checks (chips). They made (E.C.) lug 36K to the cashier...Nobody believes me."

Now, it being very busy with World Cup, I wasn't sure I'd get an answer anytime soon. But Mr. Vaccaro was good enough to have Bill at Vegas Insider respond,

"Jimmy says you are correct. That's the way the book paid off. He added that if someone wanted to wait around for about 45-minutes to an hour, they would have given him a regular check."

Now, regarding spelling and Argentino and such. You'll notice, first, nobody corrected my spelling. Maybe they agreed with Wikipedia, or perhaps they were being nice. Now the ironic point -- I thought it was especially great that Mr. Vaccaro would respond and go to bat for me. You see, he does a weekly column. He's the most prestigious columnist in the history of Gaming Today.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redietz

But Mr. Vaccaro was good enough to have Bill at Vegas Insider respond,

"Jimmy says you are correct. That's the way the book paid off. He added that if someone wanted to wait around for about 45-minutes to an hour, they would have given him a regular check."

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by redietz

E.R. had mentioned that he took the checks to the cashier and had them write a check.

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Is that what your cousin ended up doing...he lugged the chips to the cashier then waited around for 45-minutes to an hour for a check?

Would a check from the sports book window have taken longer than a check from the cashier, such that he saved a considerable amount of time by lugging the chips to the cashier? Ask Bill or Jimmy about that and get back to us.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redietz

They made (E.C.) lug 36K to the cashier...Nobody believes me."

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I can't speak for everybody else, but I believe that sports bets can be paid in chips, and that they also can be paid with cash or a check.

I think that's been established....agreed?

What I don't believe is the entire story, primarily because I don't believe you even had a cousin E.R Dietz...or as you wrote above..."E.C."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redietz

What idiot would make up a story about getting checks as payment for a sports wager? What purpose would it serve to invent something like that?

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Ya got me, ditz...why did you make up the story?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by coach belly

Is that what your cousin ended up doing...he lugged the chips to the cashier then waited around for 45-minutes to an hour for a check?

Would a check from the sports book window have taken longer than a check from the cashier, such that he saved a considerable amount of time by lugging the chips to the cashier? Ask Bill or Jimmy about that and get back to us.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redietz

They made (E.C.) lug 36K to the cashier...Nobody believes me."

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I can't speak for everybody else, but I believe that sports bets can be paid in chips, and that they also can be paid with cash or a check.

I think that's been established....agreed?

What I don't believe is the entire story, primarily because I don't believe you even had a cousin E.R Dietz...or as you wrote above..."E.C."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redietz

What idiot would make up a story about getting checks as payment for a sports wager? What purpose would it serve to invent something like that?

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Ya got me, ditz...why did you make up the story?

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Well, you know, the only evidence would be a copy of the check from Mandalay Bay, and that's a real long shot to be in that box of E.R.'s stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redietz

Well, you know, the only evidence would be a copy of the check from Mandalay Bay, and that's a real long shot to be in that box of E.R.'s stuff.

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A real longshot...as opposed to a fake longshot? Are you trying to sandbag us?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redietz

I may have found a photocopy of E.R.'s check from Mandalay in that box.

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BTW...Is it E.R. or E.C.?

I have many cousins, can't recall ever forgetting their names.

Well, some people called him E.R. because he lost a hand of hold 'em once and whizzed the cards at his uncle. One caught the uncle above the eye and cut him so bad, Uncle Roy had to go to the ER. Other people called him E.C. because he always wanted an extra serving of cantaloupe at family picnics. My sister called him E.Z. because he found it so easy to make fun of people who weren't very bright, and she was one of them. I already mentioned this on the forum here, but my great aunt sometimes confused us because she said we looked so much alike. But she may have been dyslexic.

Now, it seems to me if a check showed up from the days after that Rams Super Bowl for precisely the amount E.R. said that he won, that would at least be reasonable evidence that the story is true. Not likely I could find a copy of that check, though. Not without some wagering motivation, anyway. But I don't suggest anyone do that -- earfuls of cider and all that, like Guys and Dolls warned you about.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redietz

Well, some people called him E.R. because he lost a hand of hold 'em once and whizzed the cards at his uncle. One caught the uncle above the eye and cut him so bad, Uncle Roy had to go to the ER. Other people called him E.C. because he always wanted an extra serving of cantaloupe at family picnics. My sister called him E.Z. because he found it so easy to make fun of people who weren't very bright, and she was one of them.

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Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.

Even a photocopy of a check payable to E.R. Dietz won't make the story believable...as the cashier may have been dyslexic too.

Personally, I'm still upset that I bought into that whole Macy's Santa Claus thing. It traumatized me.

Coach, you'll never get an angry oddball like him to shine a bad light on himself. Do what I do when he puts up these foolish, neurotic threads: take enjoyment from the fact that he's been made to suffer elsewhere because of the stupid things he writes, and now he's simply trying to ease the inflicted pain. It IS a lot of fun seeing him go thru this so often. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rob.Singer

Coach, you'll never get an angry oddball like him to shine a bad light on himself. Do what I do when he puts up these foolish, neurotic threads: take enjoyment from the fact that he's been made to suffer elsewhere because of the stupid things he writes, and now he's simply trying to ease the inflicted pain. It IS a lot of fun seeing him go thru this so often. :)

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So Argentino, have you read any of Mr. Vaccaro's Gaming Today columns? He really knows everything there is to know about Las Vegas bookmaking history. I appreciate the fact he verified Mandalay's protocols, and I'm going to drop into either South Point or the Gaming Today office to thank him. Have you ever met him?