How many times have I said in the past that if your entire world is comprised of playing video poker, thinking about video poker, reading about video poker, and writing in forums about video poker, you really have a failure of a life. And yes, I’ve met with quite a few people who fit that category and agree to it, and MANY MANY more who have been so very weakened by their compulsion with the game that they are unable to admit to the amount of irreparable damage it has already inflicted upon them.

Harsh words, right? Well, the truth hurts only those who shy away from it. And if you came here for some soft talk and coddling like you get on the other gaming sites that want you to believe everything's fine & dandy with a gambling compulsion - or that because you're an "advantage player" you for some reason are not a gambler - you're in the wrong place.

First off this week let’s talk about the upcoming NFL season. After a vacation hiatus last year I’m going to start my pro football betting up again this year, only I haven’t yet decided if it’s going to be every week or how much I’m going to put aside to gamble on the games with. I’m not a big time sports bettor so it won’t be a lot compared to what you hear about on the Internet forums. But, since I've started out with some success and I’ve won around $2000 in each of the two years I bet then I’ll probably kick it up a notch or two this time around. It’s rather funny, but the only reason I started on this endeavor was because I wanted to give a facial to my old friend Fezzik, and that has definitely occurred. Ask him - if you can find him.....

For those who have inquired, yes it is a little rough getting back to this oppressive 110 degree+ heat here in Phoenix after 5 weeks of driving around the country in temps anywhere from 48 degrees to maybe 90. Since we’ve done so the past 3 years, we’re now officially people who leave the city every summer for 4-6 weeks to get away from these constant triple digit temperatures. And when my wife retires in 10 years I can see that being more like 8-10 weeks. Next summer we were going to do a drive up through Alaska, but we decided to postpone that until the summer after. We have to do one more drive around the USA to see more relatives, check in on her ailing mom, and visit a few more remaining sites we’ve always wanted to see before we venture way up north. Getting older is tough, but it does have so many advantages that make the younger folks wince.

I’m not really sure if I'll start playing a few sessions of my ARTT video poker soon, but I don’t really expect to get too deep into it if I do. I don’t have as much time to make the Nevada trips starting later this month because I’ll be picking up my grandchildren from daycare almost every school day and watching them until their parents return home from work. And guess what? IT’S A WHOLE LOT MORE ENJOYABLE THAN SITTING AT THE VIDEO POKER MACHINES IN ANY CASINO ANYWHERE, AND IT IS FAR, FAR MORE PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITY. But don’t tell any of the advantage playing addicts that one. They’ll just make believe such ideals don’t exist in order to safeguard their insatiable and wasteful habit. Speaking of which I went by a few of the Indian casinos around here last week and actually went inside one of them to do some machine testing. It's amazing the numbers and types of locals who waste their valuable time away in such smelly, smokey places. White trash heaven personified. The Indians from the old West do have their revenge....

Again, speaking of such people, it’s been more than entertaining watching the goings on at videopoker.com – from both recently and during my weeks away from it all. It certainly does appear that they are officially obsessed with me over there, seeing that they have now honored me with the most viewed/most replied to thread in recent history – or maybe ever! Actually, a quick look on that forum by anyone can easily tell that if it were not for me, the Action Gaming bosses would pull that plug faster than any advantage player would respond to a double points offer! And I wholeheartedly applaud them for the honor, and do give them my continuing & unwavering permission to do whatever they have to do to keep the attention coming my way. I also can’t thank them enough for the hundreds of new subscribers who’ve signed up to receive my e-newsletter, which as everyone in the industry already knows, is the ONLY available vehicle to receive the absolute truth about the game of video poker.

Since I have told their administrator I will not break in or post under any aliases - which I never have – and because the 6 critics who like talking to themselves all read my columns (guys, you don’t like that do ya!?) let’s hurt them a little more today! First, New2vp seems to thrive on wordy posts that serve as feel-good numbers crunching as well as his not-so-successful analysis of what I say in my columns & newsletters. So let's start off by breaking down his masterful ramblings.

Recently he claimed, via some sort of geeky spin, that I said I was going to test 45,000 hands on the 5th card flip-over, but then he thought he was slick in catching me lying about it all because I only tested 40,000. Now the facts. Here’s the exact wording in my May 14th e-newsletter as read by thousands: "I've spent a lot of very boring time playing and recording machine stats through 40,000 hands on this subject over the past few months and my trial was going to go another 5000 hands, but I've decided to forego that part." So let me see...does any responsible person not know the definition of always doing what one says they’re going to does include alerting those involved when there’s a change coming? Ooops again nerd! Geez you’re not doing too well now that you’re not lecturing and lying to your video poker fairies, are you. NOTE: I have, since returning from vacation, decided to do at least 20,000 more test hands and will continually report on how that evolves.

Sorry New2vp, but I have to make you look even dumber here. He tried to make the other five goofy critics believe he was being so smart again (that’s what geeks do when they readily exhibit that they have no real life) by saying how he caught me in another vp.com style lie, by my not detailing exactly where I am in this testing. Well, hold on my friend because this is gonna hurt! Another passage directly from my April 25th e-newsletter: "Over these 10,000 hands I had 1188 more opportunities resulting in 535 "flip-overs" - or about 46%. That brings my overall totals to 40,000 hands played, 4685 opportunities, and 2211 "flip-overs" - or a rate to date of 47.2% vs. the "theoretical" 6.38% that the math tells us it should be in a totally random situation. For comparison purposes, over the past several months I've played 1000 hands with a real deck of cards using an electronic shuffler here in my home, and the flip-over rate is running at about 8%." BTW, just for fun I kept the part in about how those flip-overs are unfolding at home...on a manual deal from a real deck instead from what are obviously not 100% random video poker machines.

Lastly, and this is as silly as it gets when math geeks are reaching for straws, he believes he “got me” when I mentioned my flip-over rate was 40% after 40,000 hands instead of the previously mentioned 50% after 30,000 hands. There’s no typo—the correct number is 47.2%. I used 40% because I’M NOT AN ANAL GEEK, AND IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER WHEN IT’S SO FAR OFF THE EXPECTED NORM OF 6%. Ha! You can always identify the people who spend their entire lives hidden behind their computers being critics of anyone who doesn't think or believe as they do. Inexperienced loners is being kind. That's why I saw the entire world by the time I was 30, I saw it again between 30 & 40, then I saw it a dozen more time between 40 & 50....while he sat by himself and sought refuge by finding tiny faults in other people's beliefs. Once more, please get the cloth out soon to wipe that embarrassing egg on your face, New2vp! You might be something special to the 5 or 6 goobers over there, but in front of the whole vp world right now, you ain’t lookin’ too good.

Sure I have fun with these bozos, & it's an absolute certainty they’ll keep the record threads going once they try to stomach what I’ve written here. One of their favorite "dumb downs" is when anyone makes a post that even begins to agree with what I say. The fun starts as a very envious/delusional oej719 (remember him from "gee Rob, but I don't gots the money to play like you trained me to in order that I may becme a successful pro like you" fame?) shows his ignorance and claims it's RS making the post, and he whines like a little lost child (with empty pockets, of course) for Webman to banish him. Yet no matter how many times he and a few others there finally realize it's just not me, this stoopid clown seems to have no problem stepping in his same pile the next time someone similar comes along. Hilarious is not the word for it! Please OEJ, do not EVER die as long as I'm still around! So is it any wonder not one of these vp.com geniuses accepted my offer for a live debate in front of a neutral crowd, but instead, claimed the people in attendance would be idiots, and therefore, they'd unfairly side with me? Yes folks, this is the level of mentality we're dealing with at that site.

I’m also going to keep on testing, keep on reporting, and apparently, keep on hurting them. People who will never understand or want to believe that the machines do not run in 100% random mode nor are they programmed to do so, will never comprehend that they are not privy to the confidential agreements in the regulations between the casinos and the game manufacturers. Neither am I, but instead of blindly marching on, I've made it a point to know the right people in the right places to confirm what it is that I've been finding out. The critics see only what the state allows them to see (which they want to believe is complete) which is fine with them in their small little worlds. These people and others as misled as they are, refuse to go any deeper into any of this, because if they ever discovered for themselves what I’m telling them it would simply turn their whole video poker-playing worlds upside down. In other words, it would be a life-changing event. Now THAT’S funny!