Intro Rob Singer

Many video poker enthusiasts know who I am, and many of them are critics. Most, however, have never taken the time to understand my message about how I've been so successful over the past 15+ years of play. My two books from the early 2000's ("The Undeniable Truth About Video Poker" and "Ramblin' & Gamblin' Thru Nevada") don't really detail my play strategy, which is why I've sat with, advised, and trained hundreds of players over the years without charge--unlike the rest of the guru crowd--because I actually win money from the game and don't need other people's money from the sale of programs and services in order to do my gambling.

I've been on numerous radio shows, I've appeared on The Travel Channel and ESPN, and I've written columns for various gambling publications, including for nearly 8 years with my weekly Undeniable Truth column in Gaming Today. When its owner, the great Chuck DiRocco read my first book, he immediately sought me out as his new video poker writer, having tired of the monotonous & repetitious "expert-play only" articles of Skip Hughes and Bob Dancer. I accepted....with one difference: I refused to be paid like his other gaming columnists were. I won my money directly from the machines.

You hear a lot about people who like to give the perception they win, simply because they say they play strictly according to the math, and the math doesn't lie. And that is inherently true--for the casinos. For players, 103% does not mean you will win, nor does 98% mean you will lose...over ANY amount of time. Come up with a strategy that is based on optimal play, know when and why to deviate from those rules to your advantage, use the proper bankroll and the right games, have a reasonable win goal while always avoiding greed, have the discipline & determination to do exactly as you said you were going to do prior to beginning your session, AND UNDERSTAND THAT EACH INDIVIDUAL SESSION IS COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO ANY THAT HAVE COME BEFORE OR THAT ARE YET TO COME--similar to the relationship between each individual hand--and you will quickly realize that you too can become a consistently successful player playing in these short-term, totally unrelated bursts.

It's just simple common sense people. Just like knowing not to get caught up in using the various tools casinos throw at gamblers in order to make it seem more comfortable handing over your money. Ever use a casino ATM? It's one of the most unintelligent things any player could do. Got a special feeling because you've got a casino line of credit? Just as dumb. And are you someone who slobbers all over casino hosts, because you want to believe they're there for your interests and that they're your "friend"? Please....the marketing offers spit out by their computers are far more lucrative than anything any human could give you, and the marketing computers don't have eyes. In all my years as a vp player, I've only sought out ONE host for anything. These people are not your friend at your "home away from home" or anywhere else.

Finally, since I started playing professionally in late 1999, I have never once tipped any casino cashier, change person, or on the infamous hand pays--and I've received millions and millions of dollars worth over my career. These people are just doing their jobs according to casino rules and regulations, and aren't performing any service I'm asking for. Do you tip bank cashiers? Clerks at drug stores? How about the UPS or FedX driver? Folks, the only reason jackpot-hitting players tip the hand pay floor person is out of intimidation. And while most will talk themselves into denying that one simple fact with a myriad of excuses, it IS the undeniable truth.

Anyone who wants to discuss any of this or anything else related to video poker further, we can either do it here if I'm not banned for speaking the truth, or you can email me at: [email protected]

 

Interesting comments.
I am not a VP player, however I cant argue with anything you said,

The thing about tipping is very true. But I will take that a step further. I think "tipping" has gotten out of hand overall across all of america.

There are tip jars where there never used to be 20 years ago. At the registers after a 17 year old scoped some ice cream into a cup for you. At the register when someone made you a sub sandwich. How about at the premier coffee shops where you are paying premium prices to begin with...wouldnt you expect the ingredients to be put together in the proper proportions....do you need to give extra money for that service?
Or at chinese take out....all someone does is spoon out food into a white container for you. When you go to the supermarket and you have someone spoon out a container of cole slaw, or weigh 1 pound of roast beef.....do you give them a tip? Supermarketshave hot food sections...do you give a tip to the cook when you get a container of mac and cheese or chicken wings??

I would say that the cashier at the supermarket that rings and bags your groceries does much more service for you than any of the above...but do they get tipped?

It seems more and more in this current society.......more and more people have their hand out.

If you need more money to raise a family......or live your life.....get a better paying job.....dont look for others to subsidize you for no apparent reason.

 

Few others have the insight and amount of sense you do about tipping casino employees. Most would argue "but gee Rob, they don't get paid a decent wage and it's up to us to help them". But of course it isn't--and precisely because of your last statement. Others have proclaimed "Rob, you're a cheapskate, and no on wins who's a cheapskate". Well, I'm actually a strong, intelligent gambler who learned long ago that the only way to consistently win is to do exactly the opposite the casinos want & expect you to. Tipping these people is one of them. I recently bought a new car with probably the amount of money I didn't hand out after hand pays in my career.

People just don't think when they go to casinos. They allow themselves to be fascinated and led around by the ambience and excitement, rather than by their own common sense. Casino employees take advantage of gamblers at their times of weakness. Hit a big jackpot and the gambler is feeling giddy all over. So they pounce on you expecting to cajole a big tip out of you. They know how intimidated you'll then feel if you don't just hand it over. They're preying on the perception-of-feeling, and they usually win.

 

Rob, as you know, I follow your articles. I have always wanted to ask this question. As a quarter VP player, what is the SMALLEST win goal per session, how do you arrive at it, and what would you THEN do as far as continue playing? Thanks.

 

That of course depends on how many and how high a denomination above 25c you will go to. As you know, it's improbable for any player to come out ahead at the end of their session playing only one denomination. While it's true 90% of players are ahead at some point in their play, greed, addiction, and the inability to just get up and leave while ahead take a big chunk out of that number.

 

Thanks for the response and I have a few follow u questions. But I will ask one at a time to allow a response without clutter.

John Patrick would brag that he would drive 210 miles roundtrip to AC 5 days a week. He also says that you never count travel expense when you are a professional gambler...its just the cost of doing business. However when I calculate it out....in 20 years thats 1 million miles. One million miles worth of gas, tires, oil changes, new cars. tolls, repaires. To me that is a real expense. An expense that someone who lives next to a casino does not have to endure. So I dont buy his argument

Having any positive is great. But is your 984K net expenses subtracted? And what type of lifestyle did you live with that. And over how many years did u accumulate 984k.

 

If John Patrick said that then he was making it all up. Any professional gambler knows that you file a schedule C, and when you file a schedule C you deduct travel expenses for your profession directly out of income.

I chose to rent cars continuously for 10 years rather than have my fairly expensive cars take the hit. These were 100% deductible as well, as were many other expenses associated with my profession. I 've said this on other forums, and all it did was elicit envious comments of "liar" and "impossible" from the collection of losers who troll the sites.

That $984k (accumulated over a 10-yr. period) was what I won directly from the machines without adding in any of the slot club crap. Because I knew the IRS rules I was able to keep just about all of my winnings. Yes the expenses were there, but there are similar expenses in everyday living such as meals etc. that I did not have much of the time because I was on so many "business trips". Most people do not know or take advantage of all the detailed IRS rules regarding deductions etc. I did. Because of that, there are a number of losers on other forums who'll suddenly appear here with lies and misrepresentations about me, and none of it means a thing. Why? They're not me.

 

If a person in NJ worksin NYC and pulls in 100k a year. In effect after taxes, and travel expenses and sometimes parking expenses...he will have maybe 50 k spendable income at the end of the year.

When all is said ad done....what was your spendable income at the end of the year when you take out travel expenses, lodging expenses, etc.

I know some rooms were comped, or food was comped. But if you play a day and lose 100 dollars, but get a 100 dollar steak dinner comps....you cant say you broke even. Had you stayed home and had some homemade pasta and meatballs....the cost would be 4 dollars for that meal..and thats what the 100 dollar steak house comp saved you....and you wouldnt have lost 100, or spent money on gas.

That is my type of accounting that deals with reality.

So using real accounting in your head......out of the 98k per year.....when you subtract out real expenses, and add in real benefits....when the smoke clears...what is the real net let over I am not talking about tax return amounts.

 

I think what you're talking about is how anyone who works and clears say $50k/yr., then after living expenses outside of housing and food, how much is left over. In this case, maybe $25k?

In my case, first off I never paid for food or rooms, and they never figured into my earnings. Expenses related to casinos were all related to vehicles. I'd have to guess: I had maybe $15k/yr. avg. in expenses. But I was also a gaming writer, and I trained/advised hundreds of other players, so I had a number of other deductions unrelated to going to casinos. The main point is that I never offset anything received from slot club benefits. Those were and continue to be loyalty rewards to me, over and above anything having to do with gambling. If I never received any of them it wouldn't make a difference to me.

 

Mr Argento please stop telling lies, it's getting to the point that NO one wants to read your stories...Mickey has sliced and diced you to pieces. Just leave the forum soon

 

Why do you consider yourself recreational now? Are results different when you are a pro or recreational////do you not use the same strategy and principles???

I always thought that as you are successful, and you build a banjkroll, you can bet more per spin, and win more in the same amount of time...and as the bankroll continues to rise...your bets can increase ...and it snowballs?

If you have a consistent winning method....then the consistent growth leads to bankroll increases.....and the expected increase in bet amounts...which in turn leads to even bigger bankrolls

If you are a 5 dollar bettor in craps and win consistently x amount of dollars.......then if you bet 50 dollar bets....you will make 10x dollars. The dice dont know what you bet.

So with machines.... does that analogy apply? Or do they set the higher cost machines at an unfavorable payout??... or can it be said, ..if you consistently make x dollars on a dollar machine......you can make 5x dollars playing a 5 dollar machine?

 

Good questions & points.

As a professional gambler that was the source of MY income. I also filed a Schedule C for those 10 years. I did not play to build a bankroll--I went into the "job" with a defined bankroll and used that same base for my 10 years. The strategy is bankroll-specific, meaning if I lost it then my career would have ended, and it played 6 denominations from $1 thru $100. There are no higher denominations in vp. I won around 85% of my sessions, my session BR was always $57,200 (total gambling BR was 3X that or $171,600), there were some large losing sessions (largest being close to $34,000), and there were more larger winning sessions than larger losing sessions (largest winning session being in the mid-$90k range).

I did continue to play as high as the $25 machines after retiring (albeit on my other 2 self-developed strategies), but after a few years of seeing how insanely negative our AGI was affected by all the W2G's without filing Schedule C any longer, I've since lowered my highest bets to the $2 games.

I consider myself a recreational player now (like most players are) because: I broke up the gaming-only bankroll and use disposable income these days, I might play once every 2 or 3 months instead of weekly, and I have decent retirement income because I prepared for this long ago.

I understand the idea of successful gamblers building a bankroll etc. That however was not how I approached this. I wanted a steady income level, and that's basically what I got.

 

I watched a couple of your short online videos each going over a single hand on an easel .
And I if I had to explain your general approach, its something like...i'm not here to win 5 dollars on a hand, I am here to win something big enough to send me home...often going against the math. Which is fine with me,...its gambling afterall

So I ask, this question. If people follow your advice..... where are all the followers touting your virtues? Are there other folks who using your methods, have also won 100k in 10 years?(or more). With the internet around....its pretty easy to get testimonials.

I asked the same thing about john patrick , who claims to have superior methods leading to consistent wins. He has 1 or 2 posts on his website every other day...so where are all the people who read his books, saw his videos, tv shows, seminars.....who over the last 40 years had the opportunity to be successful with his methods. Where are all the thank you..Johns.

So, I ask you the same question. With the internet available over the last 10 years for people to use your methods,,,with your methods being seen by probably hundreds of thousands of people over the years.......where are the ones glowing about your methods.

I ask this out of ignorance...maybe there is a website with alot of testimonials....I dont know.

Dont get me wrong, I like your attitude to go for the bigger wins in exchange for trying to get a push. But I dont know that it is in reality better than chosing the math play in the long run.

If someone is going toplay VP one day in vegas and then go home.....of course the long run doesnt really apply. Anthing can happen in a short sample size.
But you have proven that going against the math can win in the long run, since betting every week for 10 years had to approach a long run number.

 

Sorry for the vaqueness on my post. I play the 5-10-25c artt strategy and therefore consider myself a 25c player. FWIW, I had the best day of this year today, so I'm kinda high in the head and really awestruck. I hit the Royal on a QJ of clubs draw and it kinda took me by surprise. And that was AFTER hitting 4 A's w/kicker for $500. And if that doesn't take the cake, I hit 4 A's TWICE after that. All 3 quad A's were hit by holding a single A on ddbp. The excitement kinda tired me and I wisely(?) decided to walk out with $1,700. Sorry, but I'm kinda walking on a cloud right now.

 

If you hit all those hands then you didn't stop when you hit the magical win goal.

 

Don't talk about the long run. You'll drive Rob crazier than he already is.

 

The "magical" win goal is PER SESSION and is according to how alert you are- and I know this as a fact. Today was HIGHLY unusual because the usual sessions run something like: +$80, +$25, and sometimes a -$25. I usually try to win $100. I WAS JUST PLAIN LUCKY!!

 

Okay, so you just start over again after you hit the win goal. This is exactly what I would do if I felt like the system worked....instead of driving to Scottdale and tagging the building. If we take Rob at his word that he made $1,000,000 in ten years with this system....then I would have made that $1,000,000 in one year, that is, if the system really works.

 

Good luck with that. Even I understand too much play is a losing proposition.

 

Why would a successful pro gambler live so far from his job. Why not live near vegas, or reno and vacation in arizona or have a second home in arizona if you love that state so much

And I agree with MC.If you have a system that brings in 100k a year.......why wouldnt it bring in 500k a year by using it more. Why only 100K?
Just rent a condo in vegas for a few months and get to it. Forget about all the wasted time driving to your job....that is time that could be used to win with your system. Time is money. Dont only go to the casinos when u have a comp to stay. Have your home right there and just take food comps...feed the family with them with take out.....and collect your days pay 52 weeks a year.