Page 25 - February 2012 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
MIaking Better Choices
was recently reading a novel by Richard North Patterson called Silent Witness. I don’t have it in front of me, so I can’t give you an exact quote, but the phrase that caught my eye went something like this. A jury had just rendered a not guilty verdict for a woman accused of murder. e
newly-freed woman informed her lawyer that she loved him.
“A married lawyer?” the lawyer remarked.“I don’t know which part of that is worse. It’s time you start making better choices.”
I decided to try to remember the line in case any of my students tell me they’re in love with me because I’ve helped their gambling results so much. I could then respond, “A married gambler? I don’t know which part of that is worse. It’s time you start making better choices.”
Although many have thanked me profusely, no student other than Shirley, my wife, has come close to professing his or her love for me. Considering everything, that’s probably a good thing. And yet, I still like the line. Making correct choices is important.
I’m old-fashioned enough to believe that falling in love with somebody else’s husband or wife is a seriously- awed plan, and that’s not what this column is about. But whether or not a non-gambler should marry a gambler, though, is fair game for discussion here.
Cindy, the ancée of one of my students, Joe, recently approached me and was seriously considering whether Joe’s propensity for gambling made him a less-than- desirable catch. She was worried about the nancial stability of someone involved in gambling. Somehow I got talked into meeting with them to discuss the matter.
I told them that in order to be helpful, I’d have to ask them questions that were really none of my business — such as how much money they had, what their jobs paid, what their debts were, etc. ey agreed.
Joe and Cindy are both around 30 years old and never- before married. Joe works as a blackjack dealer, earns about $30,000 a year, and plays video poker on the side. He’s saved over $20,000 and has no debts. Cindy works in the front o ce of a new car dealership and also earns
about $30,000 a year. She has less than $1,000 in the bank, but owns her own car and also has no debts.
Joe showed me his gambling logs for the past three years. I noticed the games he was playing and the casinos he was playing at. He was slightly ahead in 2008, slightly behind in 2009, and about $10,000 ahead in 2010. I saw this as a pattern of someone gaining knowledge and improving over time. He was disciplined about playing only when he had an advantage and was winning.
I told Cindy that with those results, Joe was most likely a gambler with an edge who would be plus at the end of most years. Perhaps not plus enough to leave a regular paycheck and become a full-time gambler, but plus nonetheless. e fact that neither of them was in debt was a good thing that spoke well of their chances for nancial stability. I didn’t think she needed to worry about his squandering the family assets while gambling.
At the same time, Joe’s gambling log showed he played video poker about four days a week. Whether this was a “hobby” or an “obsession” was a de nition about which people could disagree. ey both concurred that many of their “dates” were spent with her watching him play. She was getting rather tired of that and wished they could do something di erent some of the time.
I suggested that it was probably easier to talk him into something di erent before they were married than after they were married. I believe it is typical for most men to be more agreeable to change during courtship than during marriage. If she couldn’t talk him into other hobbies now, I didn’t like her chances later. eir choices, I gured, were either she and Joe found other things to enjoy together, Cindy learned to enjoy playing video poker herself, Cindy decided she could live with being a
video poker widow, or perhaps the two of them go their separate ways.
I believe a strong passion for anything comes at a price — whether that passion is for video poker, a particular religious belief or political cause, or raising toy poodles, for that matter. Dealing with somebody else’s passion that you don’t share is never easy. In Joe and Cindy’s case, nances would not be a problem. But deciding whether Cindy could live with Joe’s passion might be.
Listen to Bob’s radio show Gambling With An Edge, on Thursday evenings 7 to 8 p.m. Pacific Time on radio station 1230 AM in Las Vegas online at klav1230am.com. Dancer’s products may be ordered at bobdancer.com or at 1-800-244-2224 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
February 2012
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
PAGE 25