Misc WizardOfVegas Forum is Dying

I have no idea where Larry is, but I heard somewhere that President Trump is seeking a personal adviser. He could hardly find a better man for that job than Larry!

 

He understandably seems to have put this site on "ignore."

He still posts a bit at the glen.

He's not the right man to advise Trump: a perfect choice would be Frank Stanton.

 

Glad to see Larry hasn't been posting. He's likely out enjoying life to the fullest -- smelling the roses, taking long walks on the beach, infuriated he's unable to dig more dirt on WOV, rambling on gamblers glen.....ya know, all the stuff any normal human would do.

 

Larry would make a good political hack. He could make Mother Theresa look bad.

 

Someone should tell HotBlonde there are staking forums in the Marketplace section of 2 + 2 Poker Forums.

 

" . I've always said that single-deck is a fundamentally different game. "

Now I see why WOV suspended kewlJ at Qfit's demand. I mean what an insightful statement from QFIT on WOV PRICELESS

 

“Single deck game is fundamentally a different game”...yeah he’s a f-ing genius!

First that he would even post in that thread….a thread by ZenKing, who Qfit banned from his site. First he allowed the membership at his forum to attack ZenKing mercilessly, hoping ZenKing would just leave and when that didn’t happen and ZenKing fought back, Qfit banned him. That scenario has played out repeatedly on Qfit’s site, as Qfit systematically eliminated a whole list of members.

So Qfit banned ZenKing from his site, and now he wants to pretend he is a good guy and wants to help him? Give me Freaking break!

Now let’s take a look at this brilliant advice from Qfit. First line: Ignoring heat and just looking at performance… This is so typical of these math guys where everything is about simulations. In the real world...it’s all about heat! Those of us that play for a living or even just play seriously...it’s all about heat! It’s about what you can and can not get away with and still be welcome to play. We don’t ignore heat or what may or may not cause heat.

Yeah, it’s easy to sit at your computer and run simulations and declare this or that to be the optimal play or way to play. Any monkey can do that. Literally….a monkey can be taught to play winning blackjack. The real skill is to figure out how to be allowed to play, win and welcome back to play and win tomorrow and the next day and next week. THAT is the skill in playing winning blackjack in 2017! And to that end we don’t ignore or dismiss heat.

That brilliant statement by Qfit..."ignoring heat and just looking at performance" is the difference between getting advice from a professional player (and I am not saying just me), and someone that plays recreationally, or occasionally, or however often Qfit plays these days, if he even still plays.

ZenKing is moving to Las Vegas (or so he says) to play professionally and Qfit’s great advice….Ignore heat. When in fact heat, and what draws heat and attention, is the number one consideration that he should be concerned with.

 

Now let me update you a little further on the whole Qfit/WoV situation. You may notice LVkid went red today at WoV, with no mention or explanation. So here is that explanation:

I was LVkid. Probably few are surprised at that. Registered a few days ago and made two post in blackjack threads offering advice to two different newer players. I didn’t particularly go out of my way to disguise who I was. I mean LVkid. I also have a rather distinct writing style. Axel knew immediately as I suspect many others did. But all I wanted to do was offer a bit of advice to a couple newer players. That’s really all I ever wanted to do. Give back a little to some newer players and aspiring blackjack enthusiast, just as others did for me a decade ago. But anyway…

I picked this particular time to register and offer my opinion and advice because I wasn’t particularly happy with advise these two individuals, Lost Wages and ZenKing had received recently. I mean there are some good, knowledgeable, successful blackjack guys still at WoV, Romes, and RS (I don’t know how much BJ he plays these days, but still knowledgeable), among others. But in these two instances, I just didn't feel that the knowledgeable BJ guys met the challenge.

For instance, Lost wages, made a post, referencing “loss stops” and “win stops”, not to mention he had a BR consisting of 4-6 max bets. Loss and win stop limits are all but a voodoo concept in AP BJ play. Your play is really one big session. You change nothing by artificially setting stop limits based on some wins or loss target. And 4-6 max bets! That almost assures at some point you will be forced to walk away from a strong +EV situation or not be able to double down or split to optimally finish a play. That is giving away EV!

So registered to I could respond and share my opinion with these two newer players. And I figured I would continue to occasionally chime in in blackjack related topics involving newer players. In other words I was conceding that Michael Shackleford and Norm Wattenberger had succeeded in taking away any enjoyment I had from participating in ‘other’ topics, but figured I would still be allowed to offer my opinion as a professional player to newer, aspiring players, even if it was incognito...sort of.

In addition, I made exactly two post on Qfit’s site under this handle, LVkid. Well this morning, days after my last post there, Qfit banned LVkid, stating that he had confirmed that it was me. And guess what? 5 minutes later….LVkid was banned at WoV.

This means the very first thing Qfit did was contact Michael Shackleford and cry and once again demand that Mike stop LVkid from posting. And once again, Shackleford did exactly as he was told. This relationship where Qfit controls and demands from Shackleford is bizarre. I recently referred to it as Qfit’s hand up Shackleford’s ass controlling him like a puppet. I said that to be mean, but I can think of no more accurate discription of what has and continues to occur.

I mean god forbid, I, a 14 year professional player should offer advice to newer, aspiring BJ players. Oh the crime of it!

 

There is an old saying that goes something like “Those that can....do, and those that can’t….teach”.

In the AP world it should be modified to “those that can play and win….do, and those that don’t have what it takes to AP, run an AP website”.

And these guys while considered part of the AP community….really aren’t. They make their living OFF the AP community, but their interest really isn’t the same as an AP. They are on the fringe of the community at best. Their interest is in themselves, not the community.

Just to prove that point, often these guys will go as far as to “consult” with or for the casino industry working against AP’s. Shackleford, Stanford wong among others. Don’t even get me started on Eliot. Their loyalty is not with the AP community but with whatever benefits themselves.

So here you have two of these guys, Shackleford and Qfit running their website, “for the good of the community”.....forming an alliance to dictate who is allowed to participate and share their experiences and opinions and who isn’t. And that is based on what? Personal friendships and grudges….not on what is best for the members of the community.

I knew Qfit was completely nuts, not only from the many stories told by true legit members of the AP community that he has feuded with, but watching that behavior play out on other sites. It is no surprise that when BJinfo shut down and Qfit sort of inherited that membership that many chose not to migrate. Many good, smart, knowledgeable, successful AP’s just wanted no part of a site run by Qfit. And those that did migrate to his site that he had any kind of issue with over the years, he just systematically eliminated or made feel so unwelcome that they left. His behavior was completely predictable because he is so nuts and his interest isn’t in what is best for the community, his interest is in Qfit, marketing his products and settling scores. Always has been as long as I have known him.

It is Michael Shackleford that continues to be the one that surprises and disappoints me. I really thought him to be someone else. Someone better than this. Someone with some integrity. He portrays himself differently than his actions. Very disappointing.

I tried to give Shackleford the benefit of the doubt. I really did. I tried to cut him some slack thinking he was put in a tough spot by someone he considers a friend that was out to manipulate and use him. But his dishonesty...the fact that he admits things privately that he is afraid to say publicly, is really inexcusable. Michael Shackleford, you really has proven to be a very small and weak man of zero integrity.

I am done with these guys. I am a professional AP and blackjack player, who has earned more than a million dollars in my 14 year career, over 800k of that from the blackjack. I don't need them or their sites to be successful. I already am successful doing exactly what I want to do. They can take away my ability to give back to the younger guys in the community and they can take away my enjoyment of participating on their forums, all based solely on personal vendettas, but that just goes to prove once again, their interest never was about the community.

 

I think shack is a closet gay and qfit is gay. What do you think that means between them? Did I read here you may be gay to? If that is true, then I think there's a love triangle thing going on with the 3 of you and you aren't telling the whole story.

I think you jilted shack, or qfit. Or they jilted you? Anyhow, there's much more to the story we will never know.

 

You always respond and contribute in such a mature manner.

I have heard rumors that I am gay. I think my boyfriend (whom I am now married to for nearly 3 years) started those rumors.

I have not personally met either Shackleford or Qfit, nor care about either's sexuality. Shackleford is married (to a female) isn't he? Qfit claims to have a girlfriend or had a girlfriend. I only know this because there were rumors (not started by me) that Qfit's GF left him due to hygienic issues. He claims those rumors are not true. I don't care either way, although do find it humorous.

But again, I don't really know or care about either persons sexuality. It has nothing to do with this situation (at least to my knowledge). I am only interested in the AP/AP community part of their 'relationship'.

 

Yea okay. I've known men who are gay, and one who was open about it went into politics and suddenly he was married to a woman just before getting on the ticket. But years later he came out and dumped his 'wife'.

who you're married to doesn't seem to matter much any more. Guess I'll just take your word with a grain of salt as you do mine. No biggie.

 

I'm glad Norm is back on WOV, contributing to the forum and AP community. He has some interesting stuff to say regarding the math and whatnot part of AP. Idk about all that other shit I don't read, talking about micro-reversible economics or some shit.

 

It is interesting how you have done a complete 180 on the topic.
Let me remind you of some things you posted on WoV:

May 19: when RonC posted “WoV was a lesser place with Qfit here and KewlJ gone”, you responded “At least Qfit isn’t really here”.

May 22: “If you guys want Norm to come here to post (seems odd people would want that, IMO).....you can't just say Norm or QFIT....ya gotta type something that'll show up on his google search”.

May 20: “Norm came here only to get KJ banned”

March 15: (after Wizard announced my nuking): “I've been reading through some recent ZZF posts, particularly those of KJ. I'm still looking for the "privacy violation". Is saying someone sent someone an e-mail (or multiple e-mails) a privacy violation and can get someone nuked on this forum?”

March 15: (in response to Norm posting that I was posting on an anti-Semite site) “Multiple times you've attacked KJ, trying to paint him as a white supremacist and anti-Semite....yet, he never wrote anything of that nature”.

March 15: “If it looks like an agenda and smells like an agenda....well, perhaps that's why KJ said you have an agenda.”


And in private conversations you stated:

5/31/16: “Yes, Norm's an asshole and what you said is true. My point isn't than an injustice was done -- I think we all agree on Norm's contribution or lack thereof getting you banned from WOV”

5/08/16: “On the bright side (sorta?), it looks like just about everyone on WOV isn't putting up with Norm's bullshit.....and based on a post or two from Mike, it looks like he's starting to side on that side more”.

3/06/16: “Hopefully Norm will stay off WOV”.

So I am just curious as to exactly when did you do this about face and decide that Norm was so valuable?

I don’t disagree with this. I have learned and benefitted plenty from Norm regarding BJ and AP.

But this whole thing was not about BJ or AP. Norm participated briefly at WoV in 2010. He then stopped participating for 5 years and 9 months. And during that time he even addressed on his own site why he did not participate at WoV. He said he did not trust Michael Shackleford after Mike’s association with Venetian.

Then on Dec 31, 2015, after 5 years and 9 months, He did an about face and showed up at WoV for one reason only….to get me banned because he didn’t like my opinions of his site and the people that were dominating his site and misleading other players.

You knew this back then. You wrote “Norm had an agenda” and “Norm came here only to get KJ banned”. RS were one of my biggest defenders, even fighting with Norm on Norm’s site concerning his treatment of me.

Yet, somehow with the passage of time, you have decided that Norm was not that bad guy with an agenda and you are glad to see him contributing.

And by the way, I don’t want to make it seem like Norm shouldn’t be allowed to contribute and I should. I never said Norm shouldn’t contribute. Nor did I beg Mike or any other site owner to ban, suspend or limit what Norm could say as he did.

And BTW, Norm is only now participating because I pointed out that he hadn’t contributed since he achieved his goal of having me silenced. So he started participating so I couldn’t claim that. He has no interest in participating at WoV. Never did. He both stated that publicly and with his actions (not participating for more than 5 years). He is participating out of spite...we’ll see how long he continues to participate.

 

Your incessant nagging and bitching about the whole situation, for starters. People would expect after some time you'd figure what's done is done, and if you truly wanted to help new BJ players on WOV, you would have let the dust settle for a few months or whatever, make amends (not that you have to admit guilt) and be back on WOV. I believe I recommended that to you shortly after you got banned. If this all happened 12 months ago, all this shit you're posting has gone on for about 23x as long as it should have, IMO.

What's the purpose of me being "on your side" or not? As far as it seems, you're never getting back on WOV (you put the nail in your own coffin on that one). There is no fight to be fought. It's a moot point, as you haven't even attempted (AFAIK) to make amends with Mike and get back on WOV. It seems your own purpose in bringing this shit up is.....just to bring it up, and attempt to make Mike & Norm look bad. If that's all you're trying to do, what makes you think I want to "be on your side" (no gay pun intended).

 

This was my first thought when I seen he was posting on WoV.

 

Na, people have been pointing that out to him from the very beginning. He knew there was a sense of "you just came here to do x and you haven't been back other than to XYZ."

I think that Norm reached out to a few members of the forum regarding all this and he got a better understanding what people thought about him regarding all this. It was no longer a matter what the truth was/is, it's what people believe to be the truth. At VERY minimum he looked like a bully.

It seemed that Mike got sucked in and caught heat because of him. People probably helped convince Norm his name was not totally poisoned at WOV, but the continued lack of participation was not helping his case. Stomping off(some may call it running away) just because people are giving you a hard time made evryones perception of him worst. People can usually forgive and forget....if you show you are at least trying.

 

You guys are missing out. Norm popped his head up on 2 + 2 and kewlj got the best of him again.

I hope kewlj keeps sticking it to him forever. Fuck giving that ratfink a break.

 

Omg stfu up KJ. You are almost making shack/QFIT look like the good guys now. YOU are doing that. Stop with the "but they started it" crap. Move on man. You say that you don't need them or the sites, but refuse to move on, and are primarily the one making it a personal vendetta.

 

Thank you Mickey. You seem to be one of the few that really gets it.

This simple fact is that a guy (Qfit) showed up on a site he didn’t participate at and didn’t want to participate at, for one single reason….to bully and use his influence to get someone (me) banned that was voicing an opinion that was unfavorable to him.

Shackleford was weak and allowed himself to be used in this manner out of some very odd sense of friendship or "owing a favor". (that is the definition of being manipulated).

Shackleford admitted to me privately that he handled this badly and “couldn’t say no to Norm’s request because he felt he owed Norm a favor”. And that is bullshit.

So no Shuffleupagus and RS, I will not let it go and go quietly into the night. I tried to tell Mike that I would not let it go and that I would bring it up every chance I got and I will continue to do just that.

I was banned from a site that I participated at for 4+ years for the simple fact that I expressed a negative opinion about members of another site that were misleading the community. I deserve better than that.