Holy chit!!! Hiya BGP, long time. How you been?

I'd like to settle for interpretive, drunken dance...if that's cool

I couldn't find the actual clip on youtube, this will have to do.

Fine addition, well played

Wait.. we need 11t to weigh in before we stop these hot takes ITT

Feel like we could guess pretty accurately.

Trackable (shuffle trackable): Randomizing 6 decks o cards is tough. Casinos know if they are shufflin then the cards aint in the air and they are not generating ev for the casino. THerefore they have bean counters who try and figger out the best ways to mix em up w/o taking too much time. This results frequently in a Non random shuffle (NRS). NRS can be taken advantage of in a number of ways. Smaller casinos are generally the best for NRS as they are usually not as sophisticated as big vegas ones.

HOWEVER - we absolutely blasted 2 large casinos in Las Vegas back in the day. get got over 600k from one and close to 300k from another in very short time using nrs. When I got back roomed in Uruguay we were doing NRS - it was funny b/c they said we were "controlling the 10's and Aces". Which I guess we were.

Finding games - I spent the better part of a decade travelling North America and the carribean as a road gambler. That is how most games are found. You literally stumble into a gold mine where they are missing some critical aspect of game protection and win AMAP. THe game in Curacao was found by a pal of mine who was a major player in the MIt group that went there to see the solar eclipse. He stumble upon this game and pretty much kept it in his back pocket. Its been so long so I cant remember exactly how the negotiations went but he knew I was travelling a bunch and offered it up.

Griffin - was the big detective orginization that was originally established to minitor for cheats. They made piles monitoring and catching high stakes advantage players. They had agents all over the place and we played serious cat and mouse with them. Without griffin I would be stoopid rich


Welome back BGP...good to see you. Hope life is treating you well!!

If I ever get to Vegas I just might do something like this.
The hands would be LOL bad and you guys would probably roast the crap out of me, but I think I'd still have fun doing it anyway.

(might bury it inside the trip report I was planning to do as well... we'll see)

A Massive-Ass Pile?

Which is much better than a massive ass-pile.

garik - AMAP

As Much As Possible. There has always been great debate amongst us as to the best approach to a small game that is vulnerable to advanced maneuvers. Do you milk it and come back over and over again? Or do you camp out and play till they stop dealing the cards? I have done both. Over the small sample I have it seems the best thing to do is to camp out and win AMAP.

Lookin to get myself a new electric guitar. Will probably be a Jazzmaster or a Jaguar, will probably play some this weekend and see what I think. Was originally leaning to Jazzmaster but now have the excites for the Jaguar as its slightly smaller size / more knobs is appealing to me. Cuz I still have a case of the lifenits, will likely just go for the more affordable Squier model rather than the actual Fender.

GcluelessguitarshoppingnoobG

Splurge on the fender, your home value will pay for it.

Yeah, I go back and forth. I can easily afford it. But paying > $1K for a guitar doesn't quite sit right with me either.

GbutI'llseehowitgoesG

treat yo self!

seriously.

Bluegrassplayer,

Good to hear from you again. Hope you're well.

We'll see what happens.

I've prolly told the story of the only electric guitar purchase I've made up until now, but...

I think it was '91ish and I had just moved into a basement suite (first time really having my "own" place, as I had been room & boarding up until then while going to university). But before even getting myself a TV (a TV I still use in my man-room to this day, lol @ me), I wanted to get an electric guitar. Knowing nothing of electric guitars, I went into the local mall and into its music store. It mostly looked to sell pianos, etc. But on the wall hung a lone guitar. I asked if that was an electric guitar, they said yes it was, and so I bought it.

It's this Samick "Super Strat" design (I still know nothing of guitars, actually looked this up yesterday when researching) with this Floyd Rose bridge and kinda ~leopardish print, apparently very popular in the 80s shredder / heavy/hair metal scene, a scene and look that is pretty much the antithesis of my aesthetic. Still, I've enjoyed plonking away on it all these years and it's the only electric guitar I've ever purchased.

But now thinking of finally getting around to purchasing something that's a little bit more "me".

GstorytimewithgrandpaG

lifes short man. You stated you can afford it. Treat yourself to something nice (it seems like you seldom do). Very unlikely you will be on your death bed regretting purchasing a sweet guitar, especially if having that nice geetar causes you to play more. I know I get immense satisfaction from sucking a little less every day at guitar. For what its worth I have yet to have buyers remorse from buying a nice toy and my toy budget is quite high.

Anyone that plays guitar for enjoyment even a moderate amount of time should 100% treat themselves to a +1k guitar ASAP. The difference between a $500-600 guitar and a 1k-1.5k guitar is substantial and it makes playing instantly more fun and engaging.
I second Skwid’s opinion that it’s highly unlikely that you’ll regret it, and in the unlikely chance that you do, you can always sell it for a very similar price that you purchase it.

Cliffs: buy now, regret never

Yup, definitely hear you guys. I'm sure I'll be spending the next few weekends browsing some guitar stores and getting a feel for what direction I want to go.

GcluelessguitarnoobG

While there are some fine sounding lower end guitar models out there you really can tell the difference at the top of the food chain. My tele is the real dea and I’ve used it on almost every recording I’ve done so far.

I guess I can say that for my strat and les Paul as well.

Just get the good one GG. You’re almost dead for Christ’s sake. Enjoy it while you can.

What squid wrote doesn't apply to only guitars, of course.

Don't be that person who's old and unable to do much anymore, sitting on a pile of money, thinking, "I wish I'd done this or that or the other when I could've."

Of course, all things within reason. Only you can provide the value judgment of whether thing/experience/whatever X in 'worth' it to you.

Course, I've never been a real gear head in terms of playing, recording or listening. To be honest, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to tell a difference sound/play-wise, but I guess I'll experiment and see.

GcluelessguitarnoobG

I think everyone has his own exit ramp from the social media expressway. For me it is watching a video of someone doing a simple oft-repeated action.

The strings are tightened for you?
Or the wood comes from an endangered tree? (which shouldn't matter because it's lol-electric)

Cool, I had heard of that registry but wasn't aware it was called that.

The term "behemoth" seems like a compliment if given to a man.

Spy: It's important to realize that if you do something that loco can't then it's because you have some sort of unfair advantage. Let me guess, you're not under 8% BF therefore your strength isn't real, it was all fat gains? He's used this logic to make himself feel better for years. He refuses to get on trt, therefore anyone who does owes all of their strength to the roids, nevermind that they work their ass off. If someone is above 10% BF, then they're stronger than him because they are willing to be fat. Someone is smarter than him at math? Well he'd be teaching complex math courses at Harvard if his parents had put him in the correct classes when he was in middle school.

FWIW I know I often speak in hyperbole, but those three examples are somehow actual things he's said, often repeatedly.

Fascinating stuff, thanks for answering!

Hey glad to see you're posting here!


Covid has been rough. I was in Denver for a wedding late March and had to cancel my trip back to Asia. I've been trapped at home since then, and while 35 and living with my parents for 2 years was not what I had in mind, it's probably been for the best. It was an awful year for my family so I'm glad I was in the states to help.

Don: I have officially moved to playing poker just for fun (although still a major source of income) and have been able to start contract work building apps, thanks again for the resources you sent me.

I hope everyone is doing well.