No, my friend is Jan Fisher. There were 3 inductees; Jan Fisher, Cyndy Violette, and June Field.
Most of my casino "life" has been playing live poker and tournament poker for the past 20+ years.?Usually red chip mid-limit games.?I have had some moderate success and long term am ahead even after the airfare and paying for rooms/meals etc?----- which is what you have to do if you only play poker. Poker players are on the bottom rung of the ladder in a casino in terms of comps.?Best we usually get is a reduced casino rate room and an occasional meal voucher.
It is only over the last 5-6 years that I became?a VP player first and?live poker player second.
It was about 5 years ago in Reno at the then Reno Hilton (now known as the Grand Sierra Resort) when I was waiting for my name to be called for a seat in the poker room, that I sat down and played some VP just to kill time. I hit the RF (first ever) on a quarter machine after about 10 minutes and I realized how much fun VP could be.?
For me, initially it was a way to take a break from sitting the long hours at a poker table and then the offers started rolling in for RFB all over the place.?I then realized how valuable VP and slots players were to the casinos.? My mailbox overflowith with offers and I have more offers than time for free rooms, free play, birthday gifts, tournaments to enter, free flights, gift shopping and you name it.But in terms of this group, you already know all this.
It was at about the same time that poker exploded due to the 2003 WSOP{ "Moneymaker" effect and online poker.? Since then, poker as?I knew it has changed dramatically.? The red chip games I like are more difficult to find in Vegas and the games are filled with relatively new players who haven't had a lot of live poker experience.? They may have 10's of thousands of hours logged online at poker, but real poker experience is lacking.? It just isn't as much fun as it used to be.
So................my life now is?VP 75% of the time when I go to a casino and the occasional "fun" slot foray for $20 at a time.? Right now I am in Vegas for a week's vacation tied to the induction event as my reason for coming.? I am on day 5 and have played live poker twice and one live poker tournament.? The rest has been VP and some small slot play.? Both live poker and tournament were highly profitable, but I still would rather sit at that machine for hours staring at the cards and hitting buttons.? It's at my own pace, no one bothers me, and I don't have to listen to young wet behind the ears poker players tell me what to do or how to do it........
Rambling aside, I am glad I found vpFree group and enjoy the posts from just about everyone.?It is similar to the Rec. Gambling Poker Newsgroup I used to avidly participate in for many years ---- but better since this is moderated/controlled to keep out most of the garbage and personal attacks. I rarely go to RGP newsgroup it is?filled with ads, sexual offers, and personal attacks for no reason.?
I have really?appreciated the tips and updates this vpFree group shares and I try to give back when I have something to add.?I also volunteered and became the monitor for my casino back home in GB, although it's tough to find any +EV games there.
I am still learning the ropes here and may screw up on the vernacular and protocols, so forgive my occasional mistakes and I will try and get rid of those annoying "?" marks that show up in my posts when I don't remember to single space after a sentence.
Diane
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