How Long Do You Go Without Playing A Hand of VP?

[Rob.Singer]

After returning from our trip we're taking it easy for a few days with, you know, us walking for a few hours along the beach, going out for nice dinners, having breakfast outside, and all the things deserving people our age enjoy doing if they've led respectable lives leading up to their early 60's....I have a bit of r&r time, so I thought I'd ask this question to see who can take not playing for how long.

In my case, I haven't played since we left Pahrump when the hot weather came, and I won't play again until probably early Oct. And even though we stay in RV parks in Nevada where there are machines and casinos all around, I play no more often than once every two weeks for as long as I can take it--which is rarely longer than 45 minutes or so.

This is in very stark contrast to when I was an AP from 1990 thru 1996. Even though I was in constant travel around the world for work, I made it home once a month for marathon visits to casinos, playing at least 16 hours a day for at least three days straight. I kept in top physical shape partially in order to be able to handle those long hours at the machines.

When I smartened up and became a professional player with my own self-developed approach, I played almost once a week for nearly 11 years--tailing off sharply once I got near 60, the age I retired from that gig. But my play in many cases was not long at all--sometimes less than 15 minutes, many times under three hours, and few times much longer than that. It all depended on when my win goal was hit.

I compare all my experiences of time played with what I've seen here, only I don't know how much time...if any...these personalities can or actually have been able to stay away from the machines. No one here will admit to being addicted to the game as I have, and in my studies prior to writing my first book I found that there will never be more denial seen than in a roomfull of video poker players.

So let's start the denial parade now!

[Alan Mendelson]

Rob, what's your point? Why don't you conduct a survey at any of the big Southern California poker casinos: Commerce, Hollywood, Bicycle, Hustler. You will probably find a large percentage of players who not only play 365 days a year, but play a large number of hours every day.

Last night I was at Hollywood Park for a few hours at a $100 buy-in No Limit Hold 'Em table. (Finished up $307, thank you.) And some of the players at the table told me that as of July 4th they had already been scanned for 30+ hours each. (Hollywood pays cash to players after a certain number of hours, it's part of their comp system. One player told me he got $3,000 as a bonus for his play during May.)

In any casino game, there are going to be people who play and play... far more than what the rest of us consider to be normal and healthy. But these people actually consider themselves to be "professionals" and this is their job. Some of them make a living at it.

One of the players at the table told me his income in June was a bit more than $7,000 playing at $100 and $200 buy-in games. No W2Gs either.

[arcimede$]

Alan, you have to understand that wheels considers anyone who plays and was successful to be the hated enemy. He has failed over and over again led to unbridled envy of those who have been successful. As a result he must find a way to denigrate them in order to maintain his fantasy that he is some kind of expert.

It's really a bunch of silly nonsense, but you have to consider the source.

[Rob.Singer]

Alan, ... (deleted by moderator)...
So I thought a discussion on craving to gamble and the reasons surrounding it was appropriate for a thread on gaming.

[Rob.Singer]

Well at least you read it and you should be able to comment, even if it's the hard truth about how pathological gamblers justify what they go thru.

I thought you'd like the part about Gablingers, a true American classic brew

[Vegas Vic]

I have gone months at a time with no visit to any casino, with the longest stretch being 7 months, I think. If the VP bug hits hard, I simply pull out the laptop and go to Videopoker.com for a "fix". For me, VP has never been a gambling for money issue, but one of mental exercise and a "VP workout" now & then here at home is just fine.

[Rob.Singer]

Then you get a gold star Vic....except for the part about going to the biggest hack site on the web for vp. Try vpgenius's for just about any game--without the anti-singer hate speech. But you know how most of those hacks end up anyways.

[Vegas Vic]

Then you get a gold star Vic....except for the part about going to the biggest hack site on the web for vp. Try vpgenius's for just about any game--without the anti-singer hate speech. But you know how most of those hacks end up anyways.

"Hack site" ? It doesn't cost me anything and the games are just like those in a casino. As far as the vpgenius site, it's fine once you get past the cartoon-like game format that looks like it was designed for your Commodore 64 computer.

[slingshot]

Rob, what's the best stay away time and how do you determine when you're ready to play? Thanks.

[slingshot]

I have been going twice a week. I really think the reason is because I love playing, but I may be addicted. What should I do?

[redietz]

I last played video poker sometime in February, but I wonder about the question. Would practice time on software count? Why not?

I think the word "addiction" is waaayyyyy overused in today's culture. It covers such a broad span of possible definitions that it's almost worthless. Everybody could be said to be addicted to something, so what's the point?

Some people could be said to be addicted to self-aggrandisement. So when's the last time all of you posted something self-aggrandizing on the internet?

[slingshot]

I last played video poker sometime in February, but I wonder about the question. Would practice time on software count? Why not?

I think the word "addiction" is waaayyyyy overused in today's culture. It covers such a broad span of possible definitions that it's almost worthless. Everybody could be said to be addicted to something, so what's the point?

Some people could be said to be addicted to self-aggrandisement. So when's the last time all of you posted something self-aggrandizing on the internet?

Why, I can't think of anyone! LOL.

[Rob.Singer]

"Hack site" ? It doesn't cost me anything and the games are just like those in a casino. As far as the vpgenius site, it's fine once you get past the cartoon-like game format that looks like it was designed for your Commodore 64 computer.

I know the games are free - that's not the point. The guy who designed and runs vpgenius is an actual genius of vp, similar to the wizard. Videopoker.com is for-profit, it has the dumbest collection of hypocrites and uneducated gamblers in the business, and it has a hack administrator who allows lies and badmouthing of myself only. The only way it's ever controlled is by attrition, and several of those idiots are rightfully eating dirt these days.

Vpgenius's games don't have all the bells and whistles. I haven't played them in over a year but I never had any trouble either.

[arcimede$]

"Hack site" ? It doesn't cost me anything and the games are just like those in a casino. As far as the vpgenius site, it's fine once you get past the cartoon-like game format that looks like it was designed for your Commodore 64 computer.

You have to understand that Singer was banned from vp.com for his behavior. He was even given 3 extra chances to change and failed.

[Rob.Singer]

Rob, what's the best stay away time and how do you determine when you're ready to play? Thanks.

It's different for everyone. The only generalization I have is if someone can't get enough that they have to MOVE just to be closer to the machines, or if they find themselves playing several times a week and the have to talk, think and write about it most of the rest of their waking hours--and have not really been able to take vacations that didn't include at least some play--then they have a big problem and it is probably accompanied by just as much denial.

[Alan Mendelson]

Rob, take a deep breath and a step back and listen to yourself. You're starting to sound like you-know-who who also had a problem with the rest of the world when really he was the problem.

[arcimede$]

Rob, take a deep breath and a step back and listen to yourself. You're starting to sound like you-know-who who also had a problem with the rest of the world when really he was the problem.

Alan, this is nothing new. He has sounded like this for a decade. You have to understand you are dealing with a malignant narcissist. In general, they are not nice people.

[Vegas Vic]

I know the games are free - that's not the point. The guy who designed and runs vpgenius is an actual genius of vp, similar to the wizard. Videopoker.com is for-profit, it has the dumbest collection of hypocrites and uneducated gamblers in the business, and it has a hack administrator who allows lies and badmouthing of myself only. The only way it's ever controlled is by attrition, and several of those idiots are rightfully eating dirt these days.
.

U mad bro?

VP.com has great games. That's all that matters.

[Alan Mendelson]

I play the games on videopoker.com and play for free, without paying any membership. Great games, great fun. Rob, if Bob Dancer were not connected with the site, and if you weren't a persona non-grata would you feel differently?

[Rob.Singer]

I play the games on videopoker.com and play for free, without paying any membership. Great games, great fun. Rob, if Bob Dancer were not connected with the site, and if you weren't a persona non-grata would you feel differently?

Nothing to do with Dancer--we both post on vpFree (the REAL vp site and the one arci's been permanently banned from for causing trouble with Dancer, in fact ). I also don't really care about the games because unlike you, arci, and others, vp and/or gambling action doesn't control and take over most of my waking hours day after day. How and why people waste so much time at machines or inside casinos--and then when not at the machins, to WRITE about it constantly--after they reach 60, baffles me. All I can think of is they struggle financially or face other hardships (see: arci) and welcome the challenge of living on the brink, because I can tell you that if you're relaxed, secure, and happy at that age, you DO NOT care in the least about gambling very often at all.

I'm banned from vp.com, but when you think about it, is it more humiliating to be banned from vpFree or that hack site? No I wouldn't feel better if I could post there. The admin., Thor, is a coward who lied to my face about not allowing any more lies told about me there any longer. I hardly ever visit it any more, but just like clockwork whenever I do, a lie shows up about me within seconds, and I understand my name supposedly isn't allowed to be typed there. But I got the last laugh on a couple of those clowns. What goes around comes around works wonders, and the footsteps the ex-hacks hear dancing on their graves are mine.