B-O-B: Yes.
Bulletman: How do you factor in luck? Frank: I wish I knew.
B-O-B: I do have hunches about progressives. At a certain point, rows are about to pop. Some machine in the row will go. It might be because the progressive is at a certain level or whatever. But I can tell when a progressive is about to go. I can't always pick the machine that will win it but I'm usually there when the progressive is won.
Frank: Well you've been there and you've won much more than anyone I've ever heard about in such a short period of time. I've heard of people winning two, sometimes three times but never what you've done.

B-O-B: I see the game through. I'll play at a carousel that I know will hit. I'll put in the time. And I always feel that I have a chance for the big one. I'm confident.
Bulletman: Part of her success is a positive attitude. She's upbeat and confident. Even though much of casino gambling is supposedly cut-and-dry, I think what makes her such a winner is this positive attitude.

B-O-B: It's a personality type. I'm not a sore gambler. Win or lose, I have a good time. I don't complain. I'm happy to be in the game. Win or lose. You can't be negative. There's always that luck factor and you waste your time cursing your luck if you are losing. Why play if playing makes you miserable? I'm not afraid of losing and I don't fear losing. I'm going to go bang it out. When I say goodbye to Bulletman, I say to him: "I'm going to go bang it out." And I mean it. I go into the game with a determination that I'm going to win. You actually have to have physical stamina to play the way I do. I'd give up all the comp if I could have someone behind me massaging me. That's so much better than the drinks lady who comes by.

I'm probably the only person who loses weight when I go to a casino. I don't eat much, I don't drink much. I'm like a fighter. I have to be in form. A good massage therapist rubbing my shoulders when I play would be heaven. So I don't go in there worrying about losing my money. I go in expecting to win. I'm going to bang it out.
Frank: What about the actual playing of the hands?
B-O-B: I'm a big player. I go for the big win.

Bulletman: She has a look. We call it the original look. It's the look she had when she won her first jackpot. I could be playing craps [Bulletman's game is craps] and I'll see her coming from across the casino and she'll have that look. She'll be holding in her hand a ticket that tells you how much you've won. I know that look. She'll start giggling. One day she won two progressive jackpots a couple of hours apart. She came up to me and she looked happy but different. Then she showed me how much she had just won. It was flabbergasting.

B-O-B: I tend to discard weaker hands, even payable ones. A lot of people play for the little wins. I go for the bigger ones. I'll discard four cards and just keep a joker because I'm going for five of a kind.

Frank: Why video poker and not the table games?
B-O-B: Because there's no rivalry at the machines. We're like one family. I'll sometimes give advice on how to play a certain hand. People give me advice. It's all very friendly. I don't find that at the tables. If I were going to play table games, I'd play craps. But at the machines I notice that people don't take the game as seriously as do the table-game players. There the players can be downright nasty when they're losing. When you win at the machines, even if some people might get jealous, they congratulate you. We exchange tales of what happened last trip, or yesterday. But getting back to strategy. Most people play conservatively. I tend not to go for straights. I'd rather discard that potential straight and go for a better hand. That might be one of the reasons I've won so many jackpots.

Throwing away an entire hand, I've been dealt straight flushes, four of a kind, five of a kind. So I'm not afraid to take that chance. I'll rarely throw away a pair. The only time I throw a pair away is usually for the straight flush.

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B-O-B: But as we started playing more and more, we started to be courted. Our weekend room rates fell to a $100, then $75, then $45, then fully comped.
Bu I let man: When we really started getting comped was when the casinos began with their computer tracking of machine players. B-O-B always puts in long hours at the machines. But before that, I was always hesitant to ask for comps. I felt funny about asking for something. It was a psychological thing. You've written about that in your books—to always ask for everything you can get.

Frank: I write that to remind myself because I used to have that problem of feeling funny about asking for a comp. I have to overcome that.
B-O-B: I don't have that problem.

Frank: When did you discover video poker?
B-O-B: I think I played them the way you would play the slots. I wasn't really that conscious of them. But when I won my first jackpot, I realized that I enjoyed this game more than slots. It just seemed easier to win at them. It's skill and knowing that every so often something will happen. At the casino where we go, I know the exact machines to play. Which areas they're found in. I know the exact machines. I only play the progressives in Atlantic City. I know that video-poker machines are supposed to be based on their payout scale but in Atlantic City I'm willing to swear that some machines are loose and some are tight—even the exact same machines. Playing so much has shown me which machines these are.

Frank: How long do you play for.
B-O-B: I'll play for ten straight hours at one machine in a carousel. I know everyone in the place. I know which machines are loose. I always play machines that have hit a lot. I prefer to play these because they keep hitting.

Frank: I think you've discovered the secret of the Atlantic City machines. They are very much like slot machines and their placement probably follows the placement philosophy of Mr. Handle [see Break the One-Armed Bandits1.]. So you know where to find the loose machines.

B-O-B: I am a joker poker player…
Bulletman: A joker-poker fanatic.

B-O-B: Exclusively. That's my game. And I only play the progressives. Now in joker poker, you want to get five of a kind. But to get this, you have to be willing to spend a long time playing. You need a big bankroll.
Frank: So you combine bankroll with machine selection and you stick to joker poker only?
B-O-B: That's right.

Frank: You play ten hours straight—how do you do that?
B-O-B: Right from breakfast to the machines and except for bathroom breaks when I have them hold my machine for me, I just play and play and play until it's time for dinner. After dinner I'll hit the machines again.

Bulletman: She combines a solid strategy with enough of a bankroll. She also plays fast. She is like lightning.

B-O-B: I also must say that I do have hunches.
Bulletman: The amount she's won, some of our friends jokingly say that she was born with a horseshoe, uh, around her neck.

B-O-B: Well, they don't say around my neck. It's a slightly more colorful expression.
Frank: I get the idea. Somewhat scatological. The point is.. .you're lucky.

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• The Bride Of Bulletman Part5 (0)