I’ve had some time on my hands to do some reading recently because, well, I’m RETIRED! from any and all type of work. My Corporate America days were finished in late 1999 and my professional gambling days ended when 2009 did. And thanks to both, I should have an easy walk from here on out to my final days on this earth. Of course, Obama’s trying his best to screw that up as he plays the distribution game with other people’s lives & money, but I believe I remain one step ahead of even that.

I’ve never been able to understand how I’ve always seemed to be so blessed with such near-perfect health for my entire 60 years thus far, or why I’ve never had to go on a diet of any kind in order to stay in shape. Lack of issues in those two important areas—knock on wood—is a major contributor to the amount of spare time available to me right now. Critics of my video poker success have voiced their hate of that about me too - which is what frustrated people do when they are unable and/or incapable of arguing the facts - but I guarantee, I won’t remain this healthy forever. So when my cars don’t require attention and my bike’s not growling, when my grandchildren aren’t sick and when we’re not out driving around the country – I’ve got the time to catch up on what other people are writing and to form an opinion on just what it is that they’re trying to say.

I read in somewhat of a surprise a few weeks ago, as Bob Dancer wrote about the Patriots/Indianapolis game earlier in the season, and how Bill Belichick ended up looking like a goat because his gamble play at the end of the game didn’t work. I happen to agree with that, but the rest of his article seemed like it was taken out of The Idiot’s Guide On Theories. As just about all of these long-term advantage players like to immerse themselves into, he was trying hard—and failing miserably—to sell us on the fact that the only meaningful measurement in video poker play is in what choices occur BEFORE you play.

What Dancer was trying to do was to mock anyone’s after-the-fact analysis of the event as irrelevant. Instead, questions were planted such as “Was it an advantage play based on the facts available before it went down?” and “Does it make any sense to form a view based on actual results?” I mean, is it ANY WONDER that this guy still has to hold down multiple jobs as he touts being a good video poker player? I suppose I'd now have to be collecting a paycheck too if the game weren't so very kind to me over the years playing what he calls "negative expectation" games in a way to make it sound like they are unbeatable over time. Hmmm....WHAT a thought.

When these people get it wrong they really get it wrong. They think the whole world revolves around theory rather than actual events and results, and the reason they do this is to help justify their mistakes. In that football game, the gamble did not pay off so the Patriots absorbed a loss in a game they should have won. If it worked they most probably would have won. But the fact remains, no one knew beforehand and the only analysis that means anything at all here is the one that was performed after the game.

When you go into a casino to play video poker Bob Dancer contends that you should only play when you have the theoretical advantage, even though he knows full well that, regardless if it’s a 100.2% game or a 108.5% game, you will always have a much better chance of losing the session than winning it. And because of this one simple well-known fact, the only thing that matters is what you walk away with. You got a handful of cash? Great, and if you’d like you can calculate what your actual value really was. Have an empty wallet? Too bad, but you can still perform the same calculation. Either way, it’s very easy to see how and why those 100%+ numbers that advantage players are so giddy about as they anxiously THINK about their journey, mean nothing in the real world of actually having TAKEN that journey.

An interesting note came to me from another player earlier this week. He’s a member of videopoker.com, and he said that ever since a poster named Johnnymustang (I think that’s it) smacked down the vile Singer-hater and ultimate jealous soul OEJ719 a few months ago, OEJ has vanished! Good job Johnny! I suspect such a disappearance means he was banned for his vulgarity & hate speech, however, if he passed on (as the person who wrote me the e-mail thinks) then the world and his family are much, much better off.

I’ll be heading out to the M on Sat. for a few days of relaxation and fine dining. They originally sent an invite for a few comp nights along with entrance to some sort of chocolate fantasy on Valentine’s night. But since I didn’t respond to that they threw in a $300 VISA gift card and $100 in food, so we’re going. At the same time I received a South Point offer and something from the Fiesta in Henderson, so I’ll report in my next article how all that went down.

On a final note, I’m still happy to let everyone know that the reports of winning this year—and some are very big wins—are running at least 6-1 over losing reports. Several have had $5 royals and one person said she’s hit two of them! And these from people who never played that high before learning of my strategies. Good luck to everyone this coming year!