Hey, Rob, Get the Ball Rolling

[redietz]

Boz suggested we start up a series of retro Las Vegas threads with stories from the 70's. 80's, and 90's.

Since the following info made it into print in a book a short while back, I don't think I'm breaking any formal rules or regs by mentioning it.

The guy who "hired" Rob for his often-front-page Gaming Today column, with Rob having no gambling credentials or track record or reputation, was Chuck Di Rocco, whose wife, Eileen took over after Chuck's death. Chuck Di Rocco was one of the original "wire guys" in Las Vegas. He provided numbers to illegal books based around the country, doing something similar (although on a smaller scale) to what the Di Nero Lefty Rosenthal character does in the movie, Casino before he becomes a big deal running the "Tangiers." Di Rocco and his compadres pretty much had carte blanche in Las Vegas to hire whomever they wanted for various jobs and projects.

I figure since Rob was hired out of the proverbial blue for Gaming Today, he could share how he was recruited for Gaming Today or what led him to be offered the position. Since the folks hanging with Di Rocco at the time were quite a colorful cast, Rob likely has some good 80's and 90's stories to share, and not about the CIA. Di Rocco evidently started with a modest storefront business that fronted other things and expanded from there.

Care to share, Rob?

[accountinquestion]

This could be a damn good thread....

... if we can keep kewl one from being triggered ..

[mickeycrimm]

I think Di Rocco liked the controversy. Controversy sells. At the time there probably wasn't 100 video pokers pros in the United States. Di Rocco didn't give a rats ass about them. The masses of recreational gamblers were the market. They don't want to know how to grind out a profit. They want to know how to strike it rich.

I read Gaming Today religiously in those days. The rag came out every Tuesday. I found a lot of plays just by reading the casino news. I remember one morning walking into the Vegas Club, picking up a copy of Gaming Today, grabbing a seat, then reading "Detroit Motor City installs Anchor Gaming's Double Time System."

I immediately booked the next flight to Detroit. I was in Detroit before sundown. I had made a lot of money on that double time system when they first installed it at the Pioneer/Laughlin.

[AxelWolf]

I think Di Rocco liked the controversy. Controversy sells. At the time there probably wasn't 100 video pokers pros in the United States. Di Rocco didn't give a rats ass about them. The masses of recreational gamblers were the market. They don't want to know how to grind out a profit. They want to know how to strike it rich.

I read Gaming Today religiously in those days. The rag came out every Tuesday. I found a lot of plays just by reading the casino news. I remember one morning walking into the Vegas Club, picking up a copy of Gaming Today, grabbing a seat, then reading "Detroit Motor City installs Anchor Gaming's Double Time System."

I immediately booked the next flight to Detroit. I was in Detroit before sundown. I had made a lot of money on that double time system when they first installed it at the Pioneer/Laughlin.

I didn't know they had that system in Detroit. How soon after the Pioneer, do you remember what year? My GF(Wife now) and I did really well at the Pioneer and it was really fun. That play lead me to other things in Laughlin that were super lucrative and we had it to ourselves. Randys guys kept trying to figure out what we were doing, but they never did. I asked Randy if he could tell his guys to back off and that was the last I had to deal with them.

[mickeycrimm]

I think Di Rocco liked the controversy. Controversy sells. At the time there probably wasn't 100 video pokers pros in the United States. Di Rocco didn't give a rats ass about them. The masses of recreational gamblers were the market. They don't want to know how to grind out a profit. They want to know how to strike it rich.

I read Gaming Today religiously in those days. The rag came out every Tuesday. I found a lot of plays just by reading the casino news. I remember one morning walking into the Vegas Club, picking up a copy of Gaming Today, grabbing a seat, then reading "Detroit Motor City installs Anchor Gaming's Double Time System."

I immediately booked the next flight to Detroit. I was in Detroit before sundown. I had made a lot of money on that double time system when they first installed it at the Pioneer/Laughlin.

I didn't know they had that system in Detroit. How soon after the Pioneer, do you remember what year? My GF(Wife now) and I did really well at the Pioneer and it was really fun. That play lead me to other things in Laughlin that were super lucrative and we had it to ourselves. Randys guys kept trying to figure out what we were doing, but they never did. I asked Randy if he could tell his guys to back off and that was the last I had to deal with them.

I just caught myself remembering things a little wrong. I think my cognitives these days ain't much better than Joe Biden's It wasn't the double time system. Anchor had another system called the Lucky Coin Bonus System which you might remember was installed for the opening of Mandalay Bay. Another spot I made some money.

Detroit Motor City had been open for only 3 weeks when I got there. The Lucky Coin System was billed as MOTOR CITY MILLIONAIRE. All the machines in the house were linked together. Sometime during each month whoever bet the lucky coin received 50K a year for 20 years. So it wasn't really exploitable.

But, luckily, they had about 20 of the $5 Visions, $1 X-Factors, quarter Blue Screen Bingo's, and quarter Vacation U.S.A's. So I got to make some money but I had to pull out after a week. First of all I didn't like Detroit. 2nd, I was drawing heat. Surveillance came down twice and warned me about vulturing. One of them said "You play Visions for a living." 3rd, more and more Chinese were arriving. So I pulled the plug. Went back to Nevada.

BTW, I'm in contact with Randy. He visited me in Montana about a year ago when he was passing thru. He lives in North Dakota where he is from. He's still heavily into sports handicapping and is currently working all the new promotions in the newly legal sportsbetting states. He's holed up in one state in particular this football season because they have lucrative promotions.

He also makes appearances of the Mitch Moss Radio Show. I'll see if I can find the video of him telling the story of the $1 Full Pay Deuces Progressive with 1% meter in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Randy and Ali told me about after it ended.

I think that was about 2002 which was the year of the Pioneer Double Time System. Ali was still working blackjack promotions at Ruidoso at the time but came over for the Pioneer play. They kept delaying the installation and Ali's ole lady got into some kind of trouble back in Ruidoso. He had to go back and take care of it so he missed the Pioneer play.

After the Pioneer play I went north and played Draw Till U Win and other games around northern Nevada for the next 5 years before discovering Montana.

[AxelWolf]

I think Di Rocco liked the controversy. Controversy sells. At the time there probably wasn't 100 video pokers pros in the United States. Di Rocco didn't give a rats ass about them. The masses of recreational gamblers were the market. They don't want to know how to grind out a profit. They want to know how to strike it rich.

I read Gaming Today religiously in those days. The rag came out every Tuesday. I found a lot of plays just by reading the casino news. I remember one morning walking into the Vegas Club, picking up a copy of Gaming Today, grabbing a seat, then reading "Detroit Motor City installs Anchor Gaming's Double Time System."

I immediately booked the next flight to Detroit. I was in Detroit before sundown. I had made a lot of money on that double time system when they first installed it at the Pioneer/Laughlin.

I didn't know they had that system in Detroit. How soon after the Pioneer, do you remember what year? My GF(Wife now) and I did really well at the Pioneer and it was really fun. That play lead me to other things in Laughlin that were super lucrative and we had it to ourselves. Randys guys kept trying to figure out what we were doing, but they never did. I asked Randy if he could tell his guys to back off and that was the last I had to deal with them.

I just caught myself remembering things a little wrong. I think my cognitives these days ain't much better than Joe Biden's It wasn't the double time system. Anchor had another system called the Lucky Coin Bonus System which you might remember was installed for the opening of Mandalay Bay. Another spot I made some money.

Detroit Motor City had been open for only 3 weeks when I got there. The Lucky Coin System was billed as MOTOR CITY MILLIONAIRE. All the machines in the house were linked together. Sometime during each month whoever bet the lucky coin received 50K a year for 20 years. So it wasn't really exploitable.

But, luckily, they had about 20 of the $5 Visions, $1 X-Factors, quarter Blue Screen Bingo's, and quarter Vacation U.S.A's. So I got to make some money but I had to pull out after a week. First of all I didn't like Detroit. 2nd, I was drawing heat. Surveillance came down twice and warned me about vulturing. One of them said "You play Visions for a living." 3rd, more and more Chinese were arriving. So I pulled the plug. Went back to Nevada.

BTW, I'm in contact with Randy. He visited me in Montana about a year ago when he was passing thru. He lives in North Dakota where he is from. He's still heavily into sports handicapping and is currently working all the new promotions in the newly legal sportsbetting states. He's holed up in one state in particular this football season because they have lucrative promotions.

He also makes appearances of the Mitch Moss Radio Show. I'll see if I can find the video of him telling the story of the $1 Full Pay Deuces Progressive with 1% meter in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Randy and Ali told me about after it ended.

I think that was about 2002 which was the year of the Pioneer Double Time System. Ali was still working blackjack promotions at Ruidoso at the time but came over for the Pioneer play. They kept delaying the installation and Ali's ole lady got into some kind of trouble back in Ruidoso. He had to go back and take care of it so he missed the Pioneer play.

After the Pioneer play I went north and played Draw Till U Win and other games around northern Nevada for the next 5 years before discovering Montana.

Yeah, I knew he was in North Dakota and was doing sports betting. We have also been chasing the sports bonuses, that cat is out of the bag and it's now dancing and singing loud from the rooftops. Draw till you win was a very fun game, but I never found it above .25 It was a great machine to play during certain promotions. I don't remember what the meter move was, but they had $1 FPDW with a Royal promotion at the Orleans lounge bar. One of the most aggravating plays I have ever been on, I could only handle about 8 hours a day because that washboard band was SOOO FUCKING LOUD AND ANNOYING.

[coach belly]

SOOO FUCKING LOUD AND ANNOYING.

Just like you, little fella.

[Rob.Singer]

First of all, Chuck sought me out by contacting my publisher; I never inquired about doing a column for GT.

He was a slick operator who had what I thought was a GIANT office for that style of paper, and he brought his French Bulldogs in with him every day. Being someone who has always believed dogs are this planet's most angelic living creatures, I saw he and I would get along right away. He was direct and bold and he wanted no BS when discussing business. I was told he had had it with the stale writings of Bob Dancer and Skip Hughes, and he wanted what he called "sensible controversy" in his video poker columnist's weekly articles. Naturally, that was me.

He took me to dinner at the steakhouse at Circus Circus and that's where he offered me $$ for a weekly column. I accepted the offer to write but refused to be paid for it, since I wanted him to understand that I only made money on VP from playing the machines. Yes I profited from my books, but how do you get around that? I gave that money to my kids anyway. But before the handshake Chuck wanted to go with me to a casino of my choice and witness me playing what hopefully would be a successful complete session using my Play Strategy--"successful" meaning winning at least $2500 in the session. He was blunt: do what I said I would do about having an 85% chance of winning and I'm his new writer; lose and we part ways.

I chose Terrible's because of their $1/$2/$5/$10/$25 machines, and I brought the required $57,200 session bankroll. I said if I needed to go to the $100 machine then I'd do that at MGM. I was concerned he'd get bored watching me play but that was short-lived as I hit a dollar royal less than an hour into what was a very complex strategy for a newbie to have to sit thru.

As time went on Chuck loved my work, and The Undeniable Truth became GT's most popular column ever. Compared to what it was back then, it's almost like a pamphlet today. I quit due to disagreements with Chuck's widow Eileen after nearly 8 years, and I never missed a week during my time there. But that was easy compared to how I felt masking my years of double-up glitch play while sometimes making up Play Strategy results in my columns. I have training for situations such as this so I plodded thru it all flawlessly. I did finally admit this to GT last year but they really didn't care about something over a decade old.

Other than that, I met and chatted with Frank Sinatra in the mid-'90's at the Tower of Pizza. His interest in talking to me was in my 100% wop ancestry, and the fact that my uncle ran the Hialeah track in Florida.

[AxelWolf]

First of all, Chuck sought me out by contacting my publisher; I never inquired about doing a column for GT.

He was a slick operator who had what I thought was a GIANT office for that style of paper, and he brought his French Bulldogs in with him every day. Being someone who has always believed dogs are this planet's most angelic living creatures, I saw he and I would get along right away. He was direct and bold and he wanted no BS when discussing business. I was told he had had it with the stale writings of Bob Dancer and Skip Hughes, and he wanted what he called "sensible controversy" in his video poker columnist's weekly articles. Naturally, that was me.

He took me to dinner at the steakhouse at Circus Circus and that's where he offered me $$ for a weekly column. I accepted the offer to write but refused to be paid for it, since I wanted him to understand that I only made money on VP from playing the machines. Yes I profited from my books, but how do you get around that? I gave that money to my kids anyway. But before the handshake Chuck wanted to go with me to a casino of my choice and witness me playing what hopefully would be a successful complete session using my Play Strategy--"successful" meaning winning at least $2500 in the session. He was blunt: do what I said I would do about having an 85% chance of winning and I'm his new writer; lose and we part ways.

I chose Terrible's because of their $1/$2/$5/$10/$25 machines, and I brought the required $57,200 session bankroll. I said if I needed to go to the $100 machine then I'd do that at MGM. I was concerned he'd get bored watching me play but that was short-lived as I hit a dollar royal less than an hour into what was a very complex strategy for a newbie to have to sit thru.

As time went on Chuck loved my work, and The Undeniable Truth became GT's most popular column ever. Compared to what it was back then, it's almost like a pamphlet today. I quit due to disagreements with Chuck's widow Eileen after nearly 8 years, and I never missed a week during my time there. But that was easy compared to how I felt masking my years of double-up glitch play while sometimes making up Play Strategy results in my columns. I have training for situations such as this so I plodded thru it all flawlessly. I did finally admit this to GT last year but they really didn't care about something over a decade old.

Other than that, I met and chatted with Frank Sinatra in the mid-'90's at the Tower of Pizza. His interest in talking to me was in my 100% wop ancestry, and the fact that my uncle ran the Hialeah track in Florida.

I didn't read that publication very much(once in a while when eating a meal alone), I only have an idea of what you wrote about from what others have said here and there. Whatever the case/ content, even if it's in direct contradiction to my own beliefs regarding VP I have to give you props on getting a gig with such a well-known publication and making your articles popular with many readers. You are a skilled writer (somthing I envy in a way) and wrote for a major publication, no one can take that away from you.

Aside from that, we AP's should be happy with the content you were writing about. Guys like Bob and Skip(especially skip) took money out of our/MY pocket by giving out information for "free" by teaching and encouraging others to get involved in AP.

There are many guys that won't fault guys like that since that kind of stuff is what helped them learn and encouraged them down the path of Advantage Play.

I had been bitter towards that kind of stuff since I never got my knowledge, information, or motivation from any of that stuff, I figured stuff out as I went(I'm no longer bitter, I have learned to accept what I can not change). To this day, I have yet to read any AP books. Various things published did confirm what I suspected, or already knew, and software helped me dial exact numbers and strategies.

[redietz]

First of all, Chuck sought me out by contacting my publisher; I never inquired about doing a column for GT.

He was a slick operator who had what I thought was a GIANT office for that style of paper, and he brought his French Bulldogs in with him every day. Being someone who has always believed dogs are this planet's most angelic living creatures, I saw he and I would get along right away. He was direct and bold and he wanted no BS when discussing business. I was told he had had it with the stale writings of Bob Dancer and Skip Hughes, and he wanted what he called "sensible controversy" in his video poker columnist's weekly articles. Naturally, that was me.

He took me to dinner at the steakhouse at Circus Circus and that's where he offered me $$ for a weekly column. I accepted the offer to write but refused to be paid for it, since I wanted him to understand that I only made money on VP from playing the machines. Yes I profited from my books, but how do you get around that? I gave that money to my kids anyway. But before the handshake Chuck wanted to go with me to a casino of my choice and witness me playing what hopefully would be a successful complete session using my Play Strategy--"successful" meaning winning at least $2500 in the session. He was blunt: do what I said I would do about having an 85% chance of winning and I'm his new writer; lose and we part ways.

I chose Terrible's because of their $1/$2/$5/$10/$25 machines, and I brought the required $57,200 session bankroll. I said if I needed to go to the $100 machine then I'd do that at MGM. I was concerned he'd get bored watching me play but that was short-lived as I hit a dollar royal less than an hour into what was a very complex strategy for a newbie to have to sit thru.

As time went on Chuck loved my work, and The Undeniable Truth became GT's most popular column ever. Compared to what it was back then, it's almost like a pamphlet today. I quit due to disagreements with Chuck's widow Eileen after nearly 8 years, and I never missed a week during my time there. But that was easy compared to how I felt masking my years of double-up glitch play while sometimes making up Play Strategy results in my columns. I have training for situations such as this so I plodded thru it all flawlessly. I did finally admit this to GT last year but they really didn't care about something over a decade old.

Other than that, I met and chatted with Frank Sinatra in the mid-'90's at the Tower of Pizza. His interest in talking to me was in my 100% wop ancestry, and the fact that my uncle ran the Hialeah track in Florida.

I didn't read that publication very much(once in a while when eating a meal alone), I only have an idea of what you wrote about from what others have said here and there. Whatever the case/ content, even if it's in direct contradiction to my own beliefs regarding VP I have to give you props on getting a gig with such a well-known publication and making your articles popular with many readers. You are a skilled writer (somthing I envy in a way) and wrote for a major publication, no one can take that away from you.

Aside from that, we AP's should be happy with the content you were writing about. Guys like Bob and Skip(especially skip) took money out of our/MY pocket by giving out information for "free" by teaching and encouraging others to get involved in AP.

There are many guys that won't fault guys like that since that kind of stuff is what helped them learn and encouraged them down the path of Advantage Play.

I had been bitter towards that kind of stuff since I never got my knowledge, information, or motivation from any of that stuff, I figured stuff out as I went(I'm no longer bitter, I have learned to accept what I can not change). To this day, I have yet to read any AP books. Various things published did confirm what I suspected, or already knew, and software helped me dial exact numbers and strategies.

Rob is a good writer (when he wants to be). My degree is in writing from Penn State. But I believe Rob's "wop ancestry " had more to do with his Gaming Today gig than he modestly reports.

I knew DiRocco's personal history and have sat on it for 30 years because it's really inappropriate (and a terrible idea -- LOL) to tell anybody that stuff until the cats are out of the bag.

We old sports bettors were plugged into some things.

[Rob.Singer]

Az. is one of those new online sportsbetting states, and since just before NFL season began the tv and radio ads here have been relentless. After seeing there were multiple sites practically begging for our business, I got interested and took advantage of every offer I could for the max amount allowed both in my name and my wife's. Some of these opportunities were in the thousands. I won't say how much our profit was because it'll just cause distress for some. But I'm not really an interested sports bettor and I quit (us) when the initial promos were used. There's still some that pop up in my email but I got my piece of the pie. I can see how it would be well worth it for someone to chase the new states where this opened up. And more will come along.

[Mission146]

Credit where it's due, I enjoyed Rob's story. Further, he's a good writer.

[Ozzy]

Credit where it's due, I enjoyed Rob's story. Further, he's a good writer.

Very humble of you. It's always rare to see positive comments here, especially towards guys like Rob. There are many members( your not one of them) where its equivalent of pulling teeth, to see any kind of positivity dished out. Writing approved by the Marathon Man.

[Mission146]

Thanks. Emphasis on, "Quality of writing," approved. I obviously don't agree with his VP system itself.

[Ozzy]

Thanks. Emphasis on, "Quality of writing," approved. I obviously don't agree with his VP system itself.

That's very obvious, his VP system is farcical. If someone can pull it off in writing, it's old comedic Robbie himself.

[Ozzy]

A must see classic for anybody wanting to see an A+ entertaining interview(only 11 minutes, well worth it) Rob & Alan at their finest !. I can't post it, I'm currently on old back up iPad(8 year old casino gift). It's a video on YouTube with surprisingly only 4.8k views( deserves 100k). It's the very first video that pops up on YouTube with Rob+ Alan. 2 forum gambling legends that don't disappoint ! If someone can post it to the forum, that would be great.

[redietz]

Is this the one? These old videos were what got me interested in the Singer/Mendelson duo 10 years ago. It reminded me of when Uri Geller bamboozled the Stanford Research Institute using some impromptu and fairly obvious "magic tricks." The SRI and Geller wound up tied together forever.

Ten years ago, my first impression of the interview had to do with, "Why the hell is Rob wearing that shirt for a serious interview?" The rule of thumb for lectures or interviews is that if what you have to say is worthwhile and you know what you're talking about, you don't wear a distraction. Alan maybe should have coached him into different sartorial choices, but it's also possible Alan didn't want to be doing any kinds of coaching for an interview.

Looking at the videos now, I have no idea why Rob makes an occasional crack about my weight (I'm maybe 15 pounds overweight). Rob looks way worse in other sessions than I do weight-wise.

As for Rob's hair, as I say about myself, "It is what it ain't." After the first three months of pandemic, I finally took off my baseball cap, and my hair had that similar Larry Fine look to it. I immediately had my girlfriend shave it all off.

[Mission146]

All that said, I'm just opening a dialogue. I'm happy to keep it civil. Despite a few of the things you've said on the forums, you're well-spoken (more so than I expected) and fundamentally seem like a reasonable, and dare I say likable, guy.

[Ozzy]

Extremely underrated video with only 4.8k views and ONLY 2 COMMENTS ROFLMFAO ! Puts BLOAT Mitchell's views/comments ratio to shame ! For some reason "Peter Griffins" comment got deleted a few years back, along with MANY others obviously

[Ozzy]

Is this the one? These old videos were what got me interested in the Singer/Mendelson duo 10 years ago. It reminded me of when Uri Geller bamboozled the Stanford Research Institute using some impromptu and fairly obvious "magic tricks." The SRI and Geller wound up tied together forever.

Ten years ago, my first impression of the interview had to do with, "Why the hell is Rob wearing that shirt for a serious interview?" The rule of thumb for lectures or interviews is that if what you have to say is worthwhile and you know what you're talking about, you don't wear a distraction. Alan maybe should have coached him into different sartorial choices, but it's also possible Alan didn't want to be doing any kinds of coaching for an interview.

Looking at the videos now, I have no idea why Rob makes an occasional crack about my weight (I'm maybe 15 pounds overweight). Rob looks way worse in other sessions than I do weight-wise.

As for Rob's hair, as I say about myself, "It is what it ain't." After the first three months of pandemic, I finally took off my baseball cap, and my hair had that similar Larry Fine look to it. I immediately had my girlfriend shave it all off.

Yes it is, Tks Comrade.