Why reduced pay tables don't matter in video poker.

[Rob.Singer]

He's not seeing this in a polygraph-compatible manner Alan. He's writing from pure emotion. I'm saying he'll do exactly as Dancer has done and what everyone knows a hooked vp player such as arci will do if and when the time comes, which is NOT stop gambling because he just can't. Once a gambler always a gambler. They will use whatever means possible to keep the action coming. I've proven that myself.

[arcimede$]

I see Singer is looking in the mirror again. Being an addict himself he simply can't let himself believe other people have control of their gambling. Hence, he MUST believe that we would all play the same crappy pay tables he plays.

Sucker.

[Rob.Singer]

You mean like the missus with the minuses?

Zinger.

[Alan Mendelson]

It seems that we have some hurt feelings from this thread. (Really?? Doesn't every thread on this forum involving certain people degenerate into hurtful exchanges?) And I have been asked to clear the air and offer some commentary.

It seems to have begun with redietz making this statement that says he would stop sports betting if the casinos changed the odds, because he sticks by his guns about being an advantage player:

If sports books ever change the house take to 6/5 instead of 11/10, I stop wagering on sports. Pure and simple. I'm not in the business to lose. I'm not in the business for "entertainment."

But Rob Singer challenged the claim, and pretty much said redietz would not stop. Well join the crowd, redietz. Rob has also called me an addict and said I needed help. Here's what Rob wrote:

Redietz, where players like you & arci get lost is in saying how you'll stop playing if the "good plays ever go away". You know you won't,...
Get real.

Our member redietz took offense and wrote back:

I know I won't, Rob?
Evidently you think you know me.
Tell you what -- let's get that polygraph operator and test me on that question. We can put up 10K, 25K or whatever figure you can afford on the outcome.
Now, Rob, I have a problem with what you just said regarding me. A serious problem. I suggest you either make the wager or retract the statement.

I even got involved and said I had doubts that a polygraph would actually test someone's convictions before the act. And in all fairness to redietz, Rob shouldn't say that redietz would not stop sports betting if the "advantage play" conditions were to change. Rob doesn't know what goes on inside redietz's head. So I have to agree that Rob should not have rushed to his judgment the same way Rob shouldn't have labeled me as an "addicted gambler" which is something I also took offense to.

There is a reason why I posted this. Too often certain people on this board (do I have to name them?) confuse discussing issues and facts and strategies with an opportunity to make personal attacks. There is no need to make a personal attack because these attacks actually stifle conversation and contributions and discussion and we all get hurt in the end.

But for the record, I once said that if Caesars Palace did not bring back the boxmen at craps that I would stop playing craps at Caesars, and I made comments like that on a forum for craps players. Well, I guess I lied, because I am still playing craps at Caesars even though the boxmen were never brought back. And I was criticized for that on that particular forum. Well... so what, I changed my mind. In the case of the boxmen issue, it was an announcement of my displeasure with Caesars management at the time.

Sometimes when you post things on the Internet you have to have a thicker skin about the reaction to it.

Getting back to the objection of our friend redietz: yes, sir, you have every right to openly say how you feel, and Rob should not label you as someone who would not stick to what he said. Rob should not have made a personal attack in this conversation or others. And that also includes calling me addicted.

I hope that clears the air... except I expect Rob to say something.

[Rob.Singer]

These weren't attacks by me Alan, because I'm drawing from publicized statements about what another AP would do if X or Y occur--and he did so multiple times. You call it the right to change a mind. That's OK, and I simply bring up the hypocrisy of saying something that someone knows they don't really mean. Everybody knows any gambler who craves action as much as all AP's do--and esp. as much as someone who has something far more important at home that he knows should come in first 110% of the time, yet still chooses to indulge....these people will never stop without catastrophic intervention.

I don't know how or why my opinion about you being an addict has anything to do with this, but I stand by it. You spend an enormous amount of time either in casinos, you seem to always be thinking about casino action, and writing about it. I add that up and that's what I get. So what. That doesn't make you the boogeyman. I admitted I was an addict long ago as an AP, and none of my family thought I was a bad guy for it. The only difference is now I control everything about what I do instead of it being the other way around.

As a sort of test, ask yourself this: if you lived where we are now, would you be able, after going on the extraordinary run that I went thru a few weeks ago, to say you were not going to play again for months and actually DO it without using "I changed my mind" as your out? Would you ever get sick of playing as I am because of the control I now possess, even after we spent a night at Harrahs Reno, one at the Hyatt in Incline Village, and a night at the Peppermill last week? There are other things in casinos besides the machines, the tables, and those colorful little slot club cards.

Let's see if we can discuss this without being offended.

[regnis]

Come on--once and for all--a cage match no disqualification.

[Rob.Singer]

Arci thinks he has the hulk's body, so if he shows up with a couple of scorpion tattoos on his neck, we'll give him the belt.

[regnis]

LOL--early money is heavily on singer

[arcimede$]

Hypocrisy ... thy name is Rob Singer. I can't count the number of types Singer claimed that anyone who lived in NV was a loser and that he would NEVER be found living in those areas. Chuckle, chuckle.

[Alan Mendelson]

These weren't attacks by me Alan, because I'm drawing from publicized statements about what another AP would do if X or Y occur--

I guess you don't understand the problem here, Rob. You are using information about "Player X" and applying it to "Player Y." Meanwhile, you have no knowledge of "Player Y." So how can you brand him with the information you have gathered about "Player X"? You can't and you shouldn't.

[Rob.Singer]

Hypocrisy ... thy name is Rob Singer. I can't count the number of types Singer claimed that anyone who lived in NV was a loser and that he would NEVER be found living in those areas. Chuckle, chuckle.

Haha! If you weren't so "stuck" for the rest of your life with what karma handed you, you'd see that we don't "live" anywhere but in S. Dakota. Did you see the SD plates on our car? And because of our good health and a future that we properly prepared for instead of me making my wife chase 5X & 10X points at the casinos all day long, we'll be off and travelling this summer before heading south for the winter. (while you struggle with more tundra).

[Rob.Singer]

I guess you don't understand the problem here, Rob. You are using information about "Player X" and applying it to "Player Y." Meanwhile, you have no knowledge of "Player Y." So how can you brand him with the information you have gathered about "Player X"? You can't and you shouldn't.

Very easily. These are all AP's I'm talking about. I was an AP who, after getting hammered said I would quit, but instead "changed my mind" and decided to find a different way. Someone like arci--and of course many like him--are prone to claim, for their own reasons, that when the "positive plays" go away, they'll also quit. And what gives them away after I say this is when they point at me and say "just because you were an addict AP who failed doesn't mean the rest of us will do anything just to keep playing". That shows me they're worried I'm right.

So I've applied the same logic to what redietz said. None of it is mean-spirited either because I've been there. And after seeing top AP dog Dancer go back on his word 3 different publicized times which I wrote about twice in GT, I believe history will continues to repeat itself with these guys.

[Vegas_lover]

None of it is mean-spirited either.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, why didn't you say so immediately? That makes all the difference. That takes care of everything and we all feel ok again. geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzz Alan, did you really think your post would change anything? You know better than that.

[arcimede$]

Haha! If you weren't so "stuck" for the rest of your life with what karma handed you, you'd see that we don't "live" anywhere but in S. Dakota. Did you see the SD plates on our car? And because of our good health and a future that we properly prepared for instead of me making my wife chase 5X & 10X points at the casinos all day long, we'll be off and travelling this summer before heading south for the winter. (while you struggle with more tundra).

So, northern Nevada is now considered to be "south"? Kind of goes with all the other nonsense you spew.

Since we never played in casinos "all day long" I can only assume you are lying again to cover up your own addiction problems ... and ... I know why you never brought your wife along ... you were off chasing skirts and cheating on her. Yes, the truth hurts and trying to claim my wife and I spending time together was bad only makes you look more pathetic.

[Rob.Singer]

You must be more shaken than anyone thought. South DAKOTA my friend, just as the license plate says.

Is there a wheelchair built for two?