1 00:00:14,119 --> 00:00:18,640 Hey, everybody, this is Life is a Gamble, episode number eight, 2 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:24,879 and my guest today is someone I just met. His name is Bob Dancer, 3 00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:30,359 actually my long time friend and co host from Gambling with an Edge. 4 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:34,399 So Bob, Welcome to Life is a Gamble. Thank you. It's good 5 00:00:34,439 --> 00:00:39,000 to be here. Glad to be in a studio with you again. If 6 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,920 you ever need a co host, I have somebody in mind. Okay, 7 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,759 I'll keep that in mind. Okay. So I wanted to talk We talk 8 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:54,799 on this show about big gambles that come up in your life. And I 9 00:00:54,880 --> 00:01:00,640 wanted to go back to the early eighties, late seventies, early eighties when 10 00:01:00,719 --> 00:01:07,640 you were a professional backgammon player in Los Angeles. Yes, and at that 11 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:12,359 time you were playing at a place called the Cavendish Club, and there was 12 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:19,719 not a small amount of cheating going on. So let's start there about the 13 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:26,000 sort of known cheaters that were there at the Cavendish Club. Okay, maybe 14 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,719 go back a few years. Is how I got to the cabin? Yeah, 15 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:36,079 absolute, yeah? Can. I finished my PhD exams UCLA in nineteen 16 00:01:36,159 --> 00:01:41,000 seventy two and got a job at the Rand Corporation, which is a think 17 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:46,439 tank in Santa Monica. Did well there until I realized it's like two blocks 18 00:01:46,439 --> 00:01:49,439 from the beach and they didn't really keep track of your hours. And after 19 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,400 a while I got laid off for a bunch of reasons, some of which 20 00:01:53,439 --> 00:01:57,159 may have had to do like I didn't meet a few of the deadlines. 21 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:02,599 But so in nineteen seventy four I was unemployed, but by this time had 22 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:10,599 come across backgammon. I read about it in a in a magazine I subscribed 23 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:15,400 to because of the articles, which was it was called Playboy, and so 24 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:21,919 that Playboy was the first place I heard about backgammon, and they told about 25 00:02:22,879 --> 00:02:27,000 games with Billy Eisenberg and Hugh Hefner at the Playboy mansion. I was going, 26 00:02:27,439 --> 00:02:30,080 this sounds pretty good. I think I learned about this. So I 27 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,919 got every backgammon book I could find, such as they were, which is 28 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:38,520 not very good, and I became pretty good at it. On if you're 29 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:44,400 only playing against what we would now call ploppies. I had a lot of 30 00:02:44,439 --> 00:02:47,919 games in my past. It's brighter than others. Willing to read, willing 31 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:53,439 to study, and so I got pretty good. I got into the Cavendish 32 00:02:54,800 --> 00:03:00,800 and I was no longer really good backing up. At that time, they 33 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:07,479 had backgammon at discos at night, and so the people who played at discos 34 00:03:07,479 --> 00:03:15,240 weren't very good. So I took disco dance lessons, invested in bell bottom 35 00:03:15,319 --> 00:03:23,080 jeans and polyester shirts, and would go to the discos, dance a little 36 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:29,039 bit and hustle backgammon, and the going was easy. And somebody there told 37 00:03:29,039 --> 00:03:35,360 me about the Cavendish West, which is right where Sunset Boulevard meets Beverly Hills. 38 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,080 It's from West Hollywood to Beverly Hills. It's basically right in the city 39 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:44,800 limit borderline. When I get to the Cavendish West, it is no longer 40 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:49,960 It's not like the discos. I'm no longer the smartest person in the room. 41 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:55,639 The people there were professional gamblers there who were every bit as smart as 42 00:03:55,719 --> 00:04:01,000 the people I went to graduate school with people I worked with at the Rand 43 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:08,039 Corporation, and they had been playing this game longer than I had. So 44 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:12,439 I still could hold my own at the one dollar game, and probably at 45 00:04:12,479 --> 00:04:16,240 the ten dollar game if I could afford it, which I couldn't. The 46 00:04:16,319 --> 00:04:19,720 five dollar game is where the really good players played, and I had no 47 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:25,519 chance there. But I could watch for free, which was educational. You 48 00:04:25,519 --> 00:04:29,920 know, it's funny because I, first of all my back in and started 49 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:34,000 almost exactly the same as yours. I think I started maybe a year or 50 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:38,480 two before you did. But I would go to the clubs at night. 51 00:04:38,519 --> 00:04:43,879 I didn't take the dance lessons, but yeah, the clubs. There was 52 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:46,360 a lot of very easy picking. And another good thing, at least in 53 00:04:46,439 --> 00:04:51,639 the Chicago area, was a lot of places held weekly tournaments, so you 54 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:58,279 could go to these weekly tournaments and then play for money afterwards. So I 55 00:04:58,319 --> 00:05:01,399 began to watch some of the very we colorful players there, not all of 56 00:05:01,399 --> 00:05:05,839 whom were honest. The one, the biggest name, the biggest cheater, 57 00:05:06,879 --> 00:05:15,800 was named Gabby Horowitz, who had this lovely wife named Marcia All. She 58 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,360 was a law student UCLA at the time. Later on she became famous after 59 00:05:19,439 --> 00:05:25,079 she divorced Gabby, and she became known as Marcia Clark, and she was 60 00:05:25,079 --> 00:05:29,480 a prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson situation. And she looked nothing 61 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:31,839 then like she did back when she was in her twenties, and we were 62 00:05:31,879 --> 00:05:40,040 all in love with her. But Gabby was basically in Israeli pickpocket. He 63 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:45,279 had grown up he was a street person. He could make checkers disappear. 64 00:05:46,439 --> 00:05:50,639 In backgammon, you move your checkers around to your homeboard and then you take 65 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:55,000 them off according to the roll on the dice. Well, Gabby could make 66 00:05:55,120 --> 00:06:00,399 checkers disappear that it shouldn't disappear. He could get five checkers off with one 67 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,160 roll, where the absolute maximum is four. Gabby could get five off, 68 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:08,879 and you could be watching him and sometimes you'd see it. Most of the 69 00:06:08,959 --> 00:06:14,720 time you wouldn't. He could when he rolled a six and a four entitled 70 00:06:15,439 --> 00:06:23,160 him to move ten spaces if if they weren't all blocked, if it was 71 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:27,519 advantageous to Gabby to move eleven, he would quickly just put it down eleven 72 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:33,519 spaces away and pick up his dice. And then most of us at this 73 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:39,560 time we're counting out ten one, two, three, four, and Gabby 74 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,519 could tell at a glance how far ten spaces away and how far eleven was, 75 00:06:44,399 --> 00:06:47,319 and so if you go, oh, no, it should be back 76 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,160 there, and he goes, no, I rolled a six five, This 77 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,600 is exactly where it's supposed to be. No, he rolled a six four. 78 00:06:54,759 --> 00:06:58,959 Well, the dice are already off the board, and nobody and there's 79 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:04,079 no witness there, and when somebody does this once, okay, maybe you 80 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:09,920 were wrong, when it becomes regular occurrence, it becomes all you better protect 81 00:07:09,959 --> 00:07:16,000 yourself. He had colorful language, but he was one of the people, 82 00:07:16,199 --> 00:07:20,600 the biggest known cheaters there, and everybody knew he was a cheater. He 83 00:07:20,639 --> 00:07:24,560 was kind of proud of the stuff that he could get away with. His 84 00:07:24,839 --> 00:07:29,920 hero was a guy named Stanley Thompson, who somebody I had never heard of 85 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,959 at the time and later learned that was one of the best gamblers in the 86 00:07:32,959 --> 00:07:39,720 world and an excellent backgammon player, and he's in Richard's Gambling Wizard's Book. 87 00:07:41,399 --> 00:07:46,079 But Tompson wanted Gabby to teach him how to make checkers disappear, and Gabby 88 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:50,519 wanted him to teach him how to play back emmon. Now my never met 89 00:07:50,839 --> 00:07:57,920 Thompson. I'm assuming Thompson wanted that information to protect himself against people cheating him. 90 00:07:58,079 --> 00:08:01,360 I have not heard rumors about Thompson cheating, but no, I certainly 91 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:07,000 never heard that. But but there was also there was another guy. Oh, 92 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,480 there were several more, yeah, but the one what I'm getting to 93 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:16,000 is the sort of danger element of this. And there was another guy who 94 00:08:16,639 --> 00:08:20,160 was sort of called out as a cheater and one of the Steve Goldman, 95 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:26,279 Yeah, yeah, I don't I don't know how to describe Danny Kleinman, 96 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:28,959 but one of I guess what you would say, one of the elder statesmen 97 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:35,639 of the game, kind of called him out. And yes, Goldman beat 98 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,240 him up, yes, severely. Right. Yes, at the time, 99 00:08:39,759 --> 00:08:48,360 Goldman was maybe thirty years old and muscular and a little bit gone to fat, 100 00:08:48,399 --> 00:08:54,519 but he might have played linebacker in high school and hadn't gone all of 101 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:58,600 fat. He still had some muscle on him. Danny was probably fifty five 102 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:05,120 or sixty at the time and was a college professor sorts gammy. Danny was 103 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:11,200 a theoretician. One of the things Goldman would do, and Danny wrote about 104 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:16,039 it, was invite people to his house where they wouldn't have to play the 105 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:20,279 pay the cup club fees, and his wife would cook him a nice dinner. 106 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,759 But of course that the house, Steve's board was magnetized, and if 107 00:09:26,799 --> 00:09:31,840 you if he's flipped the switch, double fives were coming. And of course 108 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:39,200 if you can roll double fives on demand, you have a real good chance 109 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:45,759 of winning. So what how did the fight actually happen? Were you there 110 00:09:45,759 --> 00:09:48,960 when that happened. I was not. I did not see the fight. 111 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:56,720 It actually apparently happened in the parking lot of the of the facility. As 112 00:09:56,759 --> 00:10:01,080 soon as Danny got out of his car. Uh, Steve was waiting for 113 00:10:01,159 --> 00:10:07,200 him and punched him up pretty good Danny. Then you know, Steve left 114 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:13,159 and Danny went into the club and sat down and blood was streaming out of 115 00:10:13,159 --> 00:10:16,399 his nose and he was he was pretty beaten up. And all of us 116 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:20,840 saw Danny as we walked in, and so, uh, you know, 117 00:10:20,879 --> 00:10:26,639 people are going, Goldman did this, and he nods and I don't know 118 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:31,720 what kind of legal repercussions it was faced, but Goldman didn't appear back at 119 00:10:31,759 --> 00:10:39,039 the club again. So it there were lots of cheating that lots of different 120 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:46,159 ways that cheating that Goldman would do, and he didn't like being exposed. 121 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:52,399 So now I want to get to the guy you played, right, So 122 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:58,639 you now sat down with basically some mob guy to play right. Yeah, 123 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:03,120 I went, but I'll call him Angel. He was supposed to be a 124 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:09,960 mid level mob enforcer in Los Angeles in the late seventies. I did not. 125 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:13,559 I'm not positive there was mob in Los Angeles in the late seventies. 126 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:18,720 But every mobster will tell you that there is no such thing as the mob. 127 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:24,000 So and but Angel kind of looked like a fifty year old Dean Martin, 128 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:31,120 a real good looking guy. He would usually play with Manny. Manny 129 00:11:31,399 --> 00:11:37,840 was fought to be his enforcer. Mann Manny was Angel's enforcer. I thought 130 00:11:37,919 --> 00:11:41,399 Angel was a mob enforcer. No, Angel was a mob boss of sorts. 131 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:48,240 Oh okay, then Manny would have been his bodyguard maybe. Or when 132 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:54,120 Angel needed some dirty work done, he would send need collections done, he 133 00:11:54,159 --> 00:11:58,679 would send Manny to collect, and when Manny's came to collect, you paid. 134 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:07,000 So they would play by themselves frequently. In backgammon, you can play 135 00:12:07,039 --> 00:12:09,720 a heads up game, or you can use a shoette, which is three 136 00:12:09,799 --> 00:12:13,279 or more players. And there's a rotation system that we don't have to get 137 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:22,000 into now. And so one of the skills that backgammon players need to learn 138 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:28,159 is to evaluate this how good your opponents are. And so I could see 139 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,960 by watching that they were not very good players. I had read all the 140 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:39,919 books, and by the late seventies the best book was called back Emmon by 141 00:12:39,919 --> 00:12:43,879 Paul mcgreel, and that was out and that was that was really eye opening. 142 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:48,799 And ROBERTI had a few books out, and so I had absorbed all 143 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:54,519 of the literature at the time, and so I was a strong intermediate player. 144 00:12:54,759 --> 00:12:58,600 I was not I never can make it up to expert, but but 145 00:12:58,639 --> 00:13:01,720 I was strong intermediate and these guys weren't close to that, and I could 146 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:05,759 see the mistakes that were making. So I always wanted to play. One 147 00:13:05,879 --> 00:13:09,759 day, Angel said, you wanted to play, let's play. Great, 148 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:16,240 So let's sit down just the two of us. Other people when they saw 149 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:18,840 Angel was willing to play with other people that they wanted in the game too. 150 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:24,120 Angel go, no, just play with Bomb. So there were witnesses 151 00:13:24,399 --> 00:13:31,320 watching. So early on, in backgammon, you shake dice in your cup 152 00:13:31,039 --> 00:13:37,600 and roll the dice onto your side of the board. Okay, Angel rolls 153 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,600 the dice a little bit too hard and one of them falls onto the floor. 154 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:48,240 This happens to everybody occasionally, no big deal. So Angel tells me 155 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:54,399 he has a really sore back, so he wanted me to go down and 156 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,360 get the dice, and sure, I was happy to be in the game 157 00:13:58,399 --> 00:14:05,240 with Angel. So I went down and I came back and looked like one 158 00:14:05,279 --> 00:14:09,960 of the checkers had been moved one space. I wasn't positive. There are 159 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:22,600 thirty checkers in a backgammon game and they move every move so they so you 160 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:26,720 don't really memorize a position every time. But I was pretty sure it was 161 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,320 not where it was supposed to be. So I looked at him and looked 162 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,879 at him, and he's looking staring at me, daring me to call him 163 00:14:35,879 --> 00:14:41,240 out. Don't say a word. Two or three minutes later, one of 164 00:14:41,279 --> 00:14:45,639 his days falls on the floor again. Bob, my back really hurt. 165 00:14:46,279 --> 00:14:50,159 So this time I take time to memorize a position before I went down. 166 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:58,039 Go down. Sure enough, it's changed, So I put the checker back 167 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:03,559 where it belonged. So he said, are you calling me a cheater? 168 00:15:03,519 --> 00:15:09,480 I'm going I don't know who moved the checker, but I am sure that 169 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:16,360 it's correct now. He grunted, and the game continued. Two minutes later, 170 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,279 the game falls on the floor. That falls on the floor again, 171 00:15:20,639 --> 00:15:22,200 Bob, can you go down and get it? My back is killing me, 172 00:15:24,039 --> 00:15:26,639 so I go, yeah, I can do that, but I first 173 00:15:26,639 --> 00:15:30,600 got to go to the rest room. I gotta go pee really bad. 174 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,279 So instead of going to the restroom, I left the Cavendish West. I 175 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:41,120 just walked out the door. At that time, I was stuck forty dollars 176 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:48,399 with Angel. Knew that when he could move the checkers anyway he wanted to, 177 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:50,279 no matter what he rolled, I had no chance, and so I 178 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:54,799 wasn't going to play him anymore. And I didn't think I owed him any 179 00:15:54,799 --> 00:16:02,039 money because I'm likely he was cheating. Before I got in situation, other 180 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:07,360 people saw what had happened. It was everybody agreed Angel was cheating. So 181 00:16:07,399 --> 00:16:11,080 I would get phone calls from friends I had at the Cavendish somewhere on the 182 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:17,639 order of way to go, don't let the sobs get away with that there 183 00:16:17,799 --> 00:16:22,279 there's nonsense, good way to stick up, and other people about the same 184 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:26,840 number would go, aren't you crazy as your life worth more than forty dollars? 185 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:32,879 Forty dollars is nothing this guy. These guys could kill you or put 186 00:16:32,919 --> 00:16:41,080 you in the morgue anything. So about fifty fifty I finally called the current 187 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:47,919 owner of the Cavendish West. It this was a revolving door. They would 188 00:16:48,039 --> 00:16:51,879 change hands and there were a lot of people who were owners for some time. 189 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:56,399 This one was Bernie Case, who had been a foreman there for years, 190 00:16:56,039 --> 00:17:00,159 doubtfully had his own money, so he was probably somebody else was a 191 00:17:00,159 --> 00:17:03,920 bankroll behind it. I don't know who, but he was at least the 192 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:08,079 manager of the place. He had heard lots of stories, and he agreed 193 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:14,839 I didn't owe Angel any money, but said, you know, if Angel 194 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,319 decides to kill you or or hurt you really bad, don't blame me. 195 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:25,160 But now are you avoiding going to I stay out of the cabinish for two 196 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:30,119 weeks and then then I called Bernie and so I go, okay, So 197 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:37,799 I decided to go back, So welcome back. People are kind of wondering 198 00:17:37,839 --> 00:17:42,240 what's going to happen, because Angel will come in there sooner or later. 199 00:17:44,079 --> 00:17:48,920 So finally I'm in the middle of the game, an Angel shows up and 200 00:17:48,759 --> 00:17:53,240 he walks over to the table, makes eye contact with me, doesn't say 201 00:17:53,279 --> 00:18:00,480 a word until I rotate out of actively playing in the game. He gives 202 00:18:00,519 --> 00:18:06,960 me the come hither finger and come talk to me. So you know I 203 00:18:07,039 --> 00:18:10,200 have to do this sooner or later. So I go over there and he 204 00:18:10,319 --> 00:18:15,599 tells me then I'm a very brave man and also a very foolish man. 205 00:18:18,039 --> 00:18:22,240 He goes He's gonna let it slide this time, but if I ever cross 206 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:29,400 path with him again, don't expect the same result next time. Did he 207 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:34,480 ever ask for the money directly or this all sort of happened behind the scenes 208 00:18:34,559 --> 00:18:42,200 with Bernie and he didn't mention the forty dollars at that time, but actually 209 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:45,759 he did. Yes, he did ask for the forty dollars, and I 210 00:18:45,799 --> 00:18:51,839 said, I'm not going to pay you were cheating. I've checked with the 211 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,880 Bernie and others and we all agree you were cheating. I'm not going to 212 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,759 pay you. At that point, that's when he told me I was a 213 00:19:00,079 --> 00:19:06,160 rave man, but a foolish one. So he decided he's gonna let it 214 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:11,839 slide this time, but stay out of his game forever. And at which 215 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:18,359 point I promptly went into the restroom and threw up wow literally oh yeah, 216 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:22,400 because well, because I didn't know what was going to happen. I came 217 00:19:22,519 --> 00:19:27,640 away from the Cavendish knowing a lot more about cheating. And there are a 218 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:32,519 lot of cheaters there that I haven't mentioned, but they were there, and 219 00:19:32,519 --> 00:19:37,119 there were a lot of techniques. Learned a lot to protect myself. But 220 00:19:37,559 --> 00:19:45,680 so losing your money playing fairly is one thing losing your money because of cheating, 221 00:19:45,519 --> 00:19:51,319 maybe losing your life because of cheating is something different. I came away 222 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:56,680 feeling I had more to risk from cheating than I did from actually people playing 223 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:02,240 better than me. Yeah, because you get to pick spots when you're I 224 00:20:02,279 --> 00:20:04,400 mean to make money. And this is really kind of the reason I gave 225 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:08,279 up back him and was to really make money at it, you had to 226 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:15,680 seek out basically, you know, sick people. You know, the most 227 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,720 money comes from degenerate gamblers who are just going to lose their money no matter 228 00:20:19,279 --> 00:20:23,519 what happened, no matter how lucky they get. Eventually they're just gonna find 229 00:20:23,559 --> 00:20:29,519 a way to lose all their money. And it just became kind of distasteful 230 00:20:29,599 --> 00:20:34,079 to me to have to seek that out. That and in addition, there 231 00:20:34,079 --> 00:20:37,920 were just a lot of assholes who, you know, when people are losing 232 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,599 their money, they can be really abusive, and you, if you're the 233 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,440 better player and you're there to make money, you have to sit and take 234 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:52,920 it while they you know, harangue you. Yeah, poker dealers know exactly 235 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,240 what Richard is talking about. Yeah. Yeah, And so that is one 236 00:20:56,319 --> 00:21:02,799 of the reasons I never decide to put to become really good. Try to 237 00:21:02,839 --> 00:21:07,839 become really good at poker, because the same people who play who are lousy 238 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:11,640 losers at backgendmon are the same type of people who are lousy losers at poker, 239 00:21:11,319 --> 00:21:17,440 and they have different methods of cheating at poker, but they're there. 240 00:21:18,279 --> 00:21:26,000 Yeah. So so now I play mainly video poker, and I'm not too 241 00:21:26,039 --> 00:21:33,759 worried about casinos cheating. I play slots and there are casinos that I know 242 00:21:33,039 --> 00:21:37,799 are not playing fair. Whether it's legal cheating or not, I don't know. 243 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:42,759 But there are casinos here in Vegas and elsewhere who are not who are 244 00:21:42,799 --> 00:21:47,480 taking unfair advantage of players, and you just have to learn what those are 245 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:56,440 and avoid that situation. And yeah, that's because life is a gamble, 246 00:21:56,599 --> 00:22:00,279 right as life is a gamble. Yeah, well, good, thank you 247 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:03,920 for doing this. I think that's a good place to end it. And 248 00:22:04,519 --> 00:22:11,079 as a tribute to gambling with an Edge, we should do a recommended for 249 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,559 the end of the show. Do you have a recommended? I have a 250 00:22:14,599 --> 00:22:18,960 couple. Let me try the first one and see if that goes. I 251 00:22:18,079 --> 00:22:25,440 just finished the book called American Prometheus, which is the book in the Night 252 00:22:25,519 --> 00:22:32,839 the two thousand five book on which the movie Oppenheimer was based. So Oppenheimer 253 00:22:33,759 --> 00:22:38,240 is of course, he was the father of the atomic bomb. He led 254 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:47,440 the Los Alamos laboratory where the first atomic bomb was done. Later in life, 255 00:22:47,759 --> 00:22:56,200 regretted what he had done, was taken down by political enemies later. 256 00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:07,279 So Prometheus is a person in Greek mythology maybe who did really really well, 257 00:23:07,319 --> 00:23:11,440 but they ended up killing him because he'd had done so well well. My 258 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:18,480 recommended is a book that we have been recommending for over a year has finally 259 00:23:18,559 --> 00:23:25,119 come out, and that is James gross Jean's new book called The Ultimate Report. 260 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:32,160 And it is a book that has the basic strategy for I believe it's 261 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:37,640 six of the most popular carnival games in the casinos, Ultimate Texas, Hold 262 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:44,279 Him, Mississippi stud Criss Cross Poker. And if you play those games at 263 00:23:44,319 --> 00:23:48,640 all, you really need this book because the vast majority of people play these 264 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:56,319 games so horrendously you would have no chance of ever winning any money just because 265 00:23:56,319 --> 00:24:03,079 people play the game so badly. And so this book has a basic strategy 266 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:08,720 for each of those games and a simplified basic strategy that is easy to memorize 267 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:14,359 for each of them as well. And so that's if if you like those 268 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:19,599 carnival games and casinos, that is my recommended I'm actually looking forward to get 269 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:26,640 to reading that book. One of my biggest disappointments on Gambling with an Edge 270 00:24:26,839 --> 00:24:30,200 is James. We never got him on the air. Yeah. Well he 271 00:24:30,279 --> 00:24:36,880 was one of those most frequently asked about by listeners saying can you get him? 272 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,799 And I always said no, you know, there are a few guys 273 00:24:40,799 --> 00:24:45,279 like that that just you know, don't want the Gelco was another one. 274 00:24:45,519 --> 00:24:49,720 Yeah, yeah, so but yeah, I mean the thing is, even 275 00:24:49,759 --> 00:24:53,759 if you don't play the games, uh, he's such a good writer, 276 00:24:55,519 --> 00:24:59,839 you know. And so yeah, so I'm not a carnival game player, 277 00:25:00,079 --> 00:25:04,559 I will definitely read it. I will learn something about video poker by reading 278 00:25:04,759 --> 00:25:11,319 James write about carnival games. He just has the things he looks at are 279 00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:15,039 good. I've not seen the book yet and I'm looking forward to picking it 280 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:18,880 up a copy. Yeah. So that's it for this week, and as 281 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:23,920 always, you can reach me at life is a gamble Pad at gmail dot 282 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:30,359 com or I'm on Twitter at r WM twenty one and I'll see you next time.