What's my edge in craps?

[monet]

You should go to Red Rock and throw dice.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

...

[kewlJ]

That was a wonderful post, Boz. It was from your heart, and yet still based in the reality of this sad situation. My own post on the subject, earlier today, was not gloating. Just making sense out of everything based on new information.

Like I said, I long suspected Alan has a gambling problems as I similarly suspect with several others of the AP hate brigade. And that explains the bitterness.

I no longer will fight with Alan, no matter what he says about me in attempts to discredit me, to somehow make himself feel better. And when I have my daily chat with God today, I will ask him to give Alan the wisdom and strength to make good decisions, turn his life around and make amends to his family life with children and grandchildren.

[monet]

I really don't understand how these guys aren't some of the richest people in town. I mean they are buddy buddy with Rob Singer who has the stone cold nuts on how to beat Video Poker! How the Fuck can they be so broke?

I blew over 10 grand going to hockey games in the last two months from playing Video Poker and taking advantage of Promotions, Mistakes and Mailers but these guys tell the APs that APing is BS and their system is how you win in the Casino.

[MaxPen]

I own that camera. I purchased it with my money. You own the case. Unless you can come up with some other arrangement you can pickup the camera case, microphone, and computer. Not the camera.

If no one is paying then you can save 10K a month by not putting on the show and start paying me from the pension / social security like you agreed a year ago.

I bought the original camera and you lost the charger. So you volunteered your own camera.

Where is my charger?

The charger is probably in the pawn shop. We all know Alan is attempting to shift blame. Jason don't let your dad get his mitts on the camera or it will probably be there as well.

[redietz]

Good post, Boz. Nice to see you're still hale and hearty.

As a couple of other forum folks can attest, I felt this coming. A couple of clues stood out like the proverbial sore thumbs. I'm not going to do much piling on, though. I'm sure Mr. Mendelson knows his business inside and out. He probably has exhausted most reasonable options and strategies. Businesses fail, despite decades of work.

If the financial downhill snowball was a business/gambling intertwine, well, I've seen it before. It provides an opportunity for the person trying to save the sinking business to bury himself in distraction and debt. An excuse to amp up the degeneracy. And as funds shrink, the tendency is to play longer odds events. Parlays in sports. Small and tall in craps. Trifectas in horse racing.

It's all sad. But it's not surprising.

[MisterV]

Jason and I have a new plan with a new direction.

Is it your new plan to have 18 shows in a row?

[a2a3dseddie]

Jason and I have a new plan with a new direction.

Is it your new plan to have 18 shows in a row?

[RS__]

Can someone give us a TLDR, especially since it appears Jason has deleted his posts?

[MaxPen]

Can someone give us a TLDR, especially since it appears Jason has deleted his posts?

Alan is a degenerate gambler.

Alan is neglecting his family responsibilities in order to fuel his negative EV pursuits as a dice player. Kid can't get him out of the casinos.

The fun has stopped for Alan and his family. It is now time for him to up his bets to get even again.

Just another boomer squandering the remainder of his resources and fucking over his kid. Pretty typical actually.

Oh yeah, Alan wants the camera so he can pawn it and settle up on some markers. Seems the pension and social security isn't quite making ends meet due to his addiction.

[MisterV]

In hindsight, alan moving from So Cal to Las Vegas probably didn't help things too much.

Oh well, a gamblin' man has to do what a gamblin' man has to do.

[monet]

The Troubleshooter or The Money Man Alan Mendleson?? I guess he is now the Dice Shooter!

These guys always have a hard time around this time of the month. After the 3rd rolls around everything will be peachy again.

Alan Mendelson, the former Channel 9 business and consumer reporter, talks to the L.A. Business Journal about his kidney and pancreas transplant, his infomercials pitching paid products and how he sees his firing from KCAL after 16 years.

They said, “We can replace you with two or three other reporters.” They let go of me and a bunch of other people over the age of 50. No mistake about it. We were replaced by younger people with blond hair and C-cups who made a lot less money. That’s the reality of the business.

----------------------------------------

Alan Mendelson, the onetime business and personal finance reporter for KCAL, spent years telling viewers he could help them find "best buys." But he lost his job in 2006 and has since made his living producing infomercials (many for lawyers) and a weekend "Best Buys" show that airs on KCOP Channel 13. The website for the program promises an expert with a "black belt in shopping" but the bottom line is that Mendelson features only companies that paid to be on the air.

Mendelson, 58, told me he took a certain pride in being a survivor and striking out as an independent operator, after years on local TV. But he acknowledged he wouldn't have plotted his career this way.

"I didn't want to do this. I was very happy in the news business," he said. "I loved my job. I had a following. It broke my heart to leave. But I had to eat and I was too young to retire. I had to do something."

Mendelson sees himself as a pawn in a much larger chess match. Back in the early 1980s, so many TV professionals were doing business reporting that they formed the Economic News Broadcasters Assn.

Mendelson served as president in 1981, when the group had 237 members. But the organization died before the end of the decade, as stations laid off business and consumer reporters and other beat journalists in droves. "The concept of specialist reporters just died," he said.

But surely such a fate couldn't have also befallen the man once known in these parts as "The Troubleshooter." You may recall how Judd McIlvain of KTTV and KCBS would descend on malefactors, hidden-camera style, demanding repairs on junky cars, refunds for bad merchandise and the like.

[Dan Druff]

It is foolish to criticize Alan's show as deceptive.

Even though it's called "Alan's Best Buys", even the dimmest of viewers should be able to tell within moments that it's simply an infomercial to advertise products and services for local merchants. The show doesn't even have commercials, so it should be obvious to the viewer that the money is coming from the businesses being profiled. If anything, Alan's model is more honest than the countless "advertorials" we see nowadays on sites like Yahoo, which run paid pieces to promote businesses under the guise of real news.

So I have no issue with that, and you shouldn't, either. Alan aged out of viability as a TV reporter, which forced him to reinvent itself. That's showbiz. Even highly respected DJ Rick Dees, who basically put Los Angeles' KIIS-FM on the map, is having a hard time finding work in his later years.

I don't want to get much into discussing the situation between Alan and his son, but if I can offer a little advice to Alan, it's to have an open dialogue with him (in private), and come up with a payment plan which you can stick to. Alan, I believe your son is mostly upset that you have seemingly made little effort to pay him anything recently, yet he sees you're wasting money gambling on -EV games, so he feels that you're putting -EV casino games over him. You should stop gambling (at least until this is rectified), and then come up with some sort of reasonable plan to pay him. If you really cannot afford to keep the business afloat these days, perhaps it's time to shut it down, and live on your pension and social security. At least you have those. I think that all he's looking for is a commitment you can stick to, even if it's for a lot less money than originally planned, and even if the $1000/week payments stop going forward. That's what I got from reading his messages.

I will say that it's not your responsibility anymore to support your adult children, especially if you are having a hard time yourself. However, you should keep any promises you made to them, and if you can't afford to do that, then talk to them and come to some compromise.

My son is only 7 years old. It will be a long time until I have to deal with adult-to-adult issues with him, but it would break my heart if my relationship with him deteriorated like this in my later years. You only have two children, and those are the only two children you'll ever have. While that doesn't mean they should take advantage of you, if some of the situation here is also your fault, you should do your best to come to terms. That's more important than gambling or anything else.

[LarryS]

I disagree with the folks that tell Alan to stop gambling because of what his son said.
Now I didnt get to read that stuff....but since when is a job salary also an entitlement?
is there a verbalor written contract that Alan is breaking Jobs in the real work can end in the blink of an eye."at will" ..and people can leave their jobs " at will".
So what is the big deal. A young adult needs to find income on his own? Cry me a river. Did i miss something..is he hanicapped? Or is he able bodied and can go off on his own and earn a living.

If his dad wants to piss away his money....that not any of his business...as long as he can afford to do so. When I was a kid i got an "alllowance" for doing minor chores but there came a time when it stopped and I never complained that my dad needed to keep it up...as happens with most able bodied children.

if alan is guilty of anything its not making his boy stand on his own 2 feet earlier....and cut off the excessive by for the small amount of work. It seems his son has an expectation that the payday would never end

[kewlJ]

The turn this thread has taken in the last 24 hours is crazy. Show just how looney tune this site is. A guy comes here trashing Alan, who is his father, over business and professional issues. Goes as far as to make statements referencing Alan's gambling addiction, which isn't anything new to most of us. And then they kiss and make up and worst of all, Alan's son deletes all his posts and everything he said. That in itself is pretty sleezy.


I have deleted things myself, when after a bit of time, I thought better of it several times. Sometimes things I said about my play and a couple hours later when I read it, I say, "oh I can't say that, it is too identifying". Other times it hasn't been about my play, but maybe I just said something nasty that I regret. But to delete numerous posts, with the charges that Alan's son made is crazy. It changes the conversation. Shouldn't be allowed. I guess the way around that is to quote everything so there is a record.

[Alan Mendelson]

Thanks kewlj. I took your suggestion and deleted my comments as well.

You should delete all your comments that say I'm anti AP because they're just not true.

I'm not anti AP but I am anti unsubstantiated claims such as plays worth $500 an hour or counting two tables. Of course you clarified what counting two tables really means so there is nothing to discuss any further.

I'm also not anti YOU. Though I must admit you seem to have a lot of enemies and I can understand how you might list a lot of people as anti YOU.

The discussion about your EV-whatever was not anti YOU either. I just didn't understand how you could change the definition of EXPECTED Value after the play was made. But now that I understand that you did alter the definition that discussion is over as well.

So I can't think of anything else that might make me anti YOU and I certainly can't be anti AP when I myself attempt to have an advantage at craps and I have even played 100%+ VP at Red Rock even if it was just at the 25 cents level.

So please delete those anti YOU and anti AP comments because they're just not true.

[kewlJ]

Thanks kewlj. I took your suggestion and deleted my comments as well.

You know I am not the least bit surprised Alan. That is just another act of a dishonest person. You seem to re-affirm that is who you are almost everyday.

Not to mention it shows a total lack of respect for Dan Druff and his site as it leaves big gaps in the discussion.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

I disagree with the folks that tell Alan to stop gambling because of what his son said.
Now I didnt get to read that stuff....but since when is a job salary also an entitlement?
is there a verbalor written contract that Alan is breaking Jobs in the real work can end in the blink of an eye."at will" ..and people can leave their jobs " at will".
So what is the big deal. A young adult needs to find income on his own? Cry me a river. Did i miss something..is he hanicapped? Or is he able bodied and can go off on his own and earn a living.

If his dad wants to piss away his money....that not any of his business...as long as he can afford to do so. When I was a kid i got an "alllowance" for doing minor chores but there came a time when it stopped and I never complained that my dad needed to keep it up...as happens with most able bodied children.

if alan is guilty of anything its not making his boy stand on his own 2 feet earlier....and cut off the excessive by for the small amount of work. It seems his son has an expectation that the payday would never end

You have no fucking idea what you are talking about.

[Alan Mendelson]

Thanks kewlj. I took your suggestion and deleted my comments as well.

You know I am not the least bit surprised Alan. That is just another act of a dishonest person. You seem to re-affirm that is who you are almost everyday.

Not to mention it shows a total lack of respect for Dan Druff and his site as it leaves big gaps in the discussion.

It's funny you would say that I have a lack of respect for Dan because I criticized Dan for letting certain posters make anti Gay comments as well as anti Jewish comments. The anti Gay comments were not directed at me you Bozo.

[monet]

I disagree with the folks that tell Alan to stop gambling because of what his son said.
Now I didnt get to read that stuff....but since when is a job salary also an entitlement?
is there a verbalor written contract that Alan is breaking Jobs in the real work can end in the blink of an eye."at will" ..and people can leave their jobs " at will".
So what is the big deal. A young adult needs to find income on his own? Cry me a river. Did i miss something..is he hanicapped? Or is he able bodied and can go off on his own and earn a living.

If his dad wants to piss away his money....that not any of his business...as long as he can afford to do so. When I was a kid i got an "alllowance" for doing minor chores but there came a time when it stopped and I never complained that my dad needed to keep it up...as happens with most able bodied children.

if alan is guilty of anything its not making his boy stand on his own 2 feet earlier....and cut off the excessive by for the small amount of work. It seems his son has an expectation that the payday would never end

I don't know you and you don't know me. If you know Alan that is your problem...

When someone hires you for a job and says they will pay you something are you expected to be paid for the work or not? I stand on my own two feet just fine thank you... However when someone says they will pay me for a job / service I expect to be paid for it. I have forgiven much of the debt by reducing my rate for the shows produced I was not paid for. I still have yet to be paid that lesser amount and if I ever will who knows... Even though Alan is my father I expect to be paid especially since the money has already been collected...

See this is how it works...

Each client pays - X

X becomes a total amount of Y

Part of Y goes to Z
Part of Y goes to A
Part of Y goes to B

Well, Y went to Z and A, but it never made it to B even though the amount of Y was satisfied... Y may not have been satisfied on time by the clients who pay X, but that doesn't mean I should not ever be paid or still be waiting over a year.

With current "work" where I am told I would get a certain amount, I still do not get it.... How long would you continue to do work?

Well... I've only continued to do work for him because he is my father. That is the nicest way I will put it.

With the amount this has grown to over a year we are pushing the amount of a $10 royal.

Alan may say it's "Part Time" work... What he leaves seems to forget is:

• Editing which he is not there for: Anywhere from 4-8 hours. Not including rendering time and making sure full upload of the 30GB file is completed successfully.
• Being there to take his calls to hear him bitch about this client didn't pay and this client didn't pay. Crazy ideas about this or that kind of like the whole one dice shows X whats the probability of the other dice showing X as well... The exact same as that but in relation to the business.
• While I stopped "filming" with him... He always expected me to be available any day to go do a shoot. While the shoot may only take a half hour or so... We would sometimes spend an hour or two in the car each way getting there (my car)((in all fairness he has offered his car, but its a deathtrap... 300K miles on it now, suspension bushings are all worn, horribly harsh seats and ride, it is scary)).
• The daily rate of what he would pay someone else to do the same work... Even if I just work for 2 days is GREATER THAN what he is paying me... Yet he always threatens to hire someone else... That is fine if he wants to do it. If he can't afford to pay me how is he going to pay someone else?
• I am a partner in the business the way things were originally setup. Yet I have not been paid my set share per show.

You don't know the entire story and situation so it is best you just STFU and stay out of it. I'm fine dropping this and moving on. But if you or Alan are going to say something I'll speak my mind.

I don't have it wrong and if Alan is going to say something I'll be glad counter what he claims.

Lets just say... When I purchased my house they told me they were not going to look at my income from the TV show... I was like, why its significant... That is when I found out that I made 20% of what I was supposed to from the work I performed.

Go play poker in a casino and get pushed 20% of the pot you won... Do that for over a year... See how you feel.

Preach It Brother... Amen!