B-O-B: They are in-house, yes.
Frank: So what you’ve sensed could very well be true. You have been able through observation and that sixth sense of yours to actually pick the right machines. You could have a whole bank of joker-poker machines, all looking alike, all with the same payout scales, and one or two are programmed to hit like crazy and the others are programmed to be tight as hell. That’s because they are actually slot machines and not video poker machines.

B-O-B: I’ve always felt this. I’ve always felt that the machines weren’t exactly like the video-poker machines in Vegas.

Frank: They’re not. Or, at least, they don’t have to be.
Bulletman: So strategy decisions would be much more important for Vegas than for Atlantic City?

Frank: Machine selection would be of paramount importance in Atlantic City because you don’t know what you’re getting. In Vegas, you know what you’re getting—unless the casino is cheating. But what would be cheating in Vegas would be abiding by the rules in Atlantic City.

B-O-B: Other players have found this out too. The machines I like to play are heavily played. I have to get to them early and keep them all day because the regulars want them. So I guess without realizing it, people have sensed the same things I have.
Frank: So sum it up for me.

B-O-B: I enjoy going away and when I play my video-poker machines, I go away. It’s relaxing and thrilling simultaneously. I also like the solitariness of it. It’s just me. I teach sixth graders and I’m on the go all the time in the classroom. I’d say I answer some 400 questions a day. It’s a very intense job. I love it but this video-poker gives me a chance to get away and be…

Frank: A hermit?
B-O-B: Something like that. Playing video poker has
refreshed me. It makes me ready to deal with the tremendous activity of my regular life.
Frank: Well, I hope you have continued success and I appreciate the fact that you shared with my readers your ideas.

B-O-B: My pleasure.
Three weeks after this chapter was finished and in the hands of my publisher, Angela called me. She had gone on an overnight trip to Atlantic City. In a span of 12 hours she won_hold your breath—three progressive jackpots at three different locations in the same casino. As far as I know, this is an all-time record. bet sports

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B-O-B: I think we're more gamblers than you are. You are serious about it. To us it's a thrill. We get a kick.

Bulletman: We also get a kick about some of the comments you have made in your books that you're happy to leave with a dollar more than when you arrived.

Frank: That's how I feel. A win's a win. I don't really think of myself as a gambler so much as a David going up against a Goliath and, above all, I want to win. The thrill of gambling is secondary to the thrill of winning for me. I don't actually get that much of a thrill from the mere act of gambling.

B-O-B: That's where we are different. Winning is almost irrelevant to us. We do want the action. We're not out of control. We play within our bankroll but we go all out for the big score. That's the difference between you and us.
Frank: Big difference.

B-O-B: To you gambling is a challenge. To us it's a thrill. Your thrill is the challenge, our thrill is …the thrill.
Frank: Makes sense.

B-O-B: To us it's a pleasure. We get tremendous pleasure from gambling.
Bulletman: If we go to Atlantic City for two days and she plays for twelve hours a day, and we go home up or down, it doesn't matter.

B-O-B: I've had the best time. It's not whether I win or lose but the fact that I'm playing the game.

Frank: But you wouldn't think of yourself, yourselves as problem gamblers?
B-O-B: No, I'm actually comfortable going without it for lengths of time because I enjoy the anticipation of a trip too. It's almost as if the anticipation is half the fun. In the winter especially. I have that thing where in the winter you need extra light. Before I discovered gambling, I kid you not, winters were very rough on me. But having a trip to Atlantic City ahead of me, having that to look forward to, helps me tremendously.
Frank: Would you want a casino near you?

B-O-B: I don't think I'd like that. I like the anticipation. If the casino were right here, I don't think I'd like that. I wouldn't want to live in Vegas or Atlantic City because I think it would lose its thrill. I know you can go for two months at a time and play every day but I can't do that.

Frank: Well, I'm very controlled. But the challenge keeps me going. I don't lose that thrill of the challenge no matter how many weeks I've been doing it. And I don't have to win big. Of course, I like winning big but I take it as it comes.

B-O-B: The car ride down to Atlantic City is so much fun. It's who can get up earlier. We giggle, we sing. When we get to New Gretna [an exit that is before Atlantic City on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey], we'll shout out" "New Grrrreeeetna!"

Bulletman: And then when we get to the Atlantic City Expressway and you see the skyline, you wish you could just tilt the car back, press a button and zing! zoooom! up goes the car into the air and it heads right to the casino!

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