TITLE:  Collusion on the Felt
AUTHOR:  Michael Philip Pernatozzi
Published: 2008
iUniverse Books

Novel, easy reading, thriller, Baccarat and Vegas.  Written buy a long term X-Casino industry person from Vegas and the author lives in Vegas.

I recommend this for easy reading. 

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Well, here we are, another Superbowl.  2019.

First off, I detest New England 100%.  I am from the Northeast, NYC/New Jersey born NYC and most of my life in the area or in NYC and New Jersey.  I am a Jets, Eagles and Vikings fan for the longest. 

I used to be a heavy NFL and Collage football bettor.  Did great for the longest time and stopped it all when I left New Jersey 2002 for the Midwest.

I placed on NFL wager this season a couple of weeks ago in New England and made it with the point spread, almost did not, just squeezed by.  If they were the favorites, I would have lost the wager. 

Everyone I talk to about the Superbowl is saying New England will never win.  I disagree.  Because Brady always the highest majority of the time is spot the frick on!  He is totally the go to with the know how and does stuff that is expected but the other team is counting on him to chicken out.  IMO.

My buddy, the retired NYC cop out here near me, just took his whole year of baccarat winnings, about $20,000.00 and put it all on New England as well.  I am wagering New England, not the over-under or anything else.  I am not putting life changing sums or anything of the like.

I do wholeheartedly believe that the bookies convince the press what to say and how to say it.  The last article I read last night was that it is a no brainer and the Rams will score high and walk away with it.

Seriously?  IMO and IMO only, this will be a close match, New England will win and the books want everyone to go high and with the Rams, because that most likely will not happen. 

As we all know in sports, it is not always the most talented or experienced or the best that does win.  There are numerous factors, strategy and team work that influences and changes the game and the outcome, each time.  And that is the problem with picking the winners beforehand.

Have you ever really managed your money and gave yourself the advantage with win money to turn it into larger sums at the table when you were playing?

I am not talking about wagering one or two units out of 20 units and stopping when you hit a 5 unit loss or a 5 unit win.  All that will do, 100% of the times is grind you down sooner or later, period, simple as that.  If you do not belief me, just do it and report back. 

But like I said, really give yoruself an advantage and the fuel to smack the casino with their own money you just won?  Or do you just replace your losses and call that gambling and move on?

My buy in is my risk money and that is part of a bank roll.  It is my risk capital I attmept to win with and when I win, my bak roll is replenished if it was down and then i move on to really win.  I have wrote enough here that all people know I have levels and plateaus that are vital to stay at and not gamble to always be gambling larger and larger, bigger and bigger, etc.

I have found the 3 biggest things in Money Management that give me huge advantages are the following:

1)  A system of 1/3rd, 1/3rd, 1/3rd management of my wins.  Which I have wrote about.  In brief that means, I take 1/3rd of a certain amount of win money at a certain time and put it into my buy in stack of chips, I take another 1/3rd of the win money and save it in a pocket for a possible re buy in if i feel the urge and the action is there after a certain amoutn of time that session when i lose.  I take the remaining 1/3rd of the win money and put it away and will not touch it no matter what, and that last 1/3rd would be equal or greater than the buy in I currently had at risk and in play;

2)  Postive progressions of some type when winning.  1-3-2-6 or something else.  Or, one initial wager followed by 2 parlays and then 3 pull downs and then a large 7th or 8th wager at some point with a pull down and a division of the 1/3rd MM system above.  Then to a larger inital wager bet and a pull down and saving of any wins from that wager;

3)  The employing of my (1 + 4 Side Parlay Wager) that can prove to be extremely profitable with huge returns.  Not be be confused or classified with my intiial wager, no matetr if that initial, regualr or steady wager is flat betting, progression or whatever it is.  A (1 + 4 Side Parlay Wager) of mine is a separate wager no matter what I wagered it on.  Say I won $500.00.  I might be wagering $100 or $150 on something.  Out of that $500.00, I might allocate $300.00 for 4 attempts to make a successful (1 + 4 Side Parlay Wager) be successful.  Example.  4 attempts at $75.00 no matter what I am wagering in or on something else.  The Side Parlay is never my main or only wager for many reasons and factors.  It is strictly on the side.  $75.00 and parlay the wins 4 times and then out with that.  That money or win will never touch my buy in, it is strictly win and hold.  If not I lost $300.00 of a previous win.  $75.00 with 4 attempts as I said.  $75.00 first wager.  $150.00 for the 2nd.  $300.00 for the 3rd.  $600.00 for the 4th.  $1,200.00 for the 5th.  That is 1 + 4 parlays.  The result would be a profit of $2,400.00.  I give myself 4 complete chances on the casino to accomplish that with the $300.00 of previous win money, rather than throwing that part of a previous win (the $300 into my pocket or my buy in stack, etc.).  With a $600.00 (1 + 4 Side Parlay Wager) chance, I do the following. 1st wager of $150.00.  2nd wager of $300.00.  3rd wager of $600.00.  4th wager of $1,200.00.  5th wager of $2,400.00. 

So go ahead and believe that a 3 or a 5 unit stop loss and coupled with a 3 or a 5 or even a 10 unit stop win with the grind of $10.00 or $20.00 or even a $25.00 flat bet will allow you to be a successful gambler.  I laugh until my stomach hurts when I read the gist of so many Money Management Systems that people claim allow them to employ a stop loss or a stop win and how successful they are. 

Christmas and Holiday Season

The Christmas season, also called the festive season, or the holiday season (mainly in the U.S. and Canada; often simply called the holidays), is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and Western-influenced countries that is generally considered to run from late November to early January. It is defined as incorporating at least Christmas, and usually New Year, and sometimes various other holidays and festivals. It also is associated with a period of shopping which comprises a peak season for the retail sector (the "Christmas (or holiday) shopping season"), and a period of sales at the end of the season (the "January sales"). Christmas window displays and Christmas tree lighting ceremonies when trees decorated with ornaments and light bulbs are illuminated, are traditions in many areas.

In the denominations of Western Christianity, the term "Christmas season" is considered synonymous with Christmastide, a term associated with Yuletide, which runs from December 25 (Christmas Day) to January 5 (Epiphany Eve), popularly known as the 12 Days of Christmas. However, as the economic impact involving the anticipatory lead-up to Christmas Day grew in America and Europe into the 19th and 20th centuries, the term "Christmas season" began to become synonymous instead with the traditional Christian Advent season, the period observed in Western Christianity from the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day until Christmas Day itself. The term "Advent calendar" survives in secular Western parlance as a term referring to a countdown to Christmas Day from the beginning of December.
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With that said, I sincerely wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season, whatever it is you might observe and/or celebrate.

I look forward to Santa Claus and the good will and gesture Old Saint Nick brings along with him, I know my kids are too! 

So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you! 

From, Alrelax (Glen)


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P.S. 


Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved ("good" or "nice") children on Christmas Eve (24 December) and the early morning hours of Christmas Day (25 December). The modern Santa Claus grew out of traditions surrounding the historical Saint Nicholas (a fourth-century Greek bishop and gift-giver of Myra), the British figure of Father Christmas and the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas (himself also based on Saint Nicholas). Some maintain Santa Claus also absorbed elements of the Germanic god Wodan, who was associated with the pagan midwinter event of Yule and led the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky.
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I personally have adopted the following:  Santa is really the only cultural icon we have who's male, does not carry a gun, and is all about peace, joy, giving, and caring for other people. That's part of the magic for me, especially in a culture where we've become so commercialized and hooked into manufactured icons. Santa is much more organic, integral, connected to the past, and therefore connected to the future.     

The human factor, the desire, the greed, the thoughts, the rush of winning money and all that!

No matter what you say, no matter what you figure on the computer, no matter how great your will power is, no matter how your math and stats add up to being rock solid, no matter anything, you will always have that influence brought on by the first sentence I wrote here.

If you don't, then you never won a sizable amount as compared to your buy in, within a live casino.  It changes things, lots of things and changes them real darn quick.

Knowing, Experience, The Difficulty, Balanced versus Non-Balanced versus Opportunities.  Those will also play huge roles in the outcome of your live B&M gambling sessions.  Again, if you are not affected by those things or believe in them, then you never won a sizable amount as compared to your buy in, within a live casino. 

The following is about H-Money (my Asian friend I used to write about until several on here blasted me about and questioned why I write about him or that he does not exist).  Anyway, we were at the casino last weekend.  A guy he knows very well from the Asian community was playing blackjack.  A relatively new player, maybe a year or two experience.  Usually buys in for $2,000.00 or so on the average.  Plays at a $5.00 to $500.00 table, 2 or 3 hands. 

I took a break from a baccarat shoe and went out of the baccarat room and found H-Money.  He was standing behind that blackjack player friend of his and cheering him on, with 4 or 5 other people.  The guy was up well over $25,000.00.  Playing 2 and 3 hands at up to $500.00 each hand.  Could not lose.  Was standing on dealer's 7s and 8s when he had 12s to 16s.  His reasoning was the dealer would have to pull if anything other than a 9, 10 or A came out.  And almost every time that is what happened.  A small card under the dealers up card of 7 or 8 and then pulls a 10 and busts. 

Everyone kept saying $50k or $100k in their native languages.  You could see the look, the smile, the glowing aroma of the guy playing.  Yes, no play, no win.  No pain, no gain.  If you stop playing you can't win any more.  I know all that.

By the end of the night, all gone.  He gave it all back and then some.  He was even borrowing money from everyone to continue and get all the win money that he lost, back again.  It was the most he ever won and he lost it all. 

It is not the way to play, it is sad, but so real.  It is the reality of the casino, the games, and every player.  I have protections built in against this stuff and when I win something sizable, I employ my protection and become 10 times more aware of what might or might not happen than during my previous play of winning. 

The gullible people of the internet, the gullible and simply super naive people thinking that they can get rich gambling:

"Mark Thomas Georgantas knows how to beat baccarat, blackjack, craps and roulette in Las Vegas.  He's producing a documentary about his system. Just fork over a few grand, and he'll show you how it's done.  "Once you experience winning with the 'Biggins Craps System', "you will never look at gaming the same", he told potential investors. "Talk about living the dream. Where else can you fall out of bed, go downstairs to a table, win, and go to cashier? No employees, no boss, no inventory, no hassle. Pure cash, baby!"
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'LMAO!  Sad, but always been 100% true, correct and spot on!  I promise you.  But hey, don't believe me, don't believe the State of Nevada, Don't believe 30 to 50 other states within the USA alone, believe the internet ad and the message board people promising you tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands in gambling returns for merely following their system that no one else ever tried or knows about!

Once again the MIT team brought up in another sales pitch, that move 21, made a lot of con men a heck of a lot of money!  Also great ammunition for lots of message board people that use it as defense to their mathematical concoctions describing their statistical rock solid holy grail, etc.
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PART 1:  2016
https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/pure-cash-promise-to-beat-las-vegas-casinos-leads-to-indictment/
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PART 2:  March 2018
Sentencing delayed for man accused of Las Vegas casino scam

Mark Georgantas, second from right, who persuaded people to give him money for what prosecutors said was a casino scam, waits to be sentenced at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Feb. 26, 2018. Georgantas was granted a 30-day continuance. K.M. Cannon Las Vegas Review-Journal @KMCannonPhoto

Mark Georgantas, right, who persuaded people to give him money for what prosecutors said was a casino scam, talks to his attorney, Caesar Almase, before he was scheduled to be sentenced at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Feb. 26, 2018. Georgantas was granted a 30-day continuance. K.M. Cannon Las Vegas Review-Journal @KMCannonPhoto

Mark Georgantas, who persuaded people to give him money for what prosecutors said was a casino scam, after he was granted a 30-day continuance at his sentencing at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Feb. 26, 2018. K.M. Cannon Las Vegas Review-Journal

By David Ferrara / Las Vegas Review-Journal
March 5, 2018 - 6:06 pm
 
Updated March 5, 2018 - 9:49 pm

'Mr. Smooth' walked into court with a limp.  Mark Georgantas, a 55-year-old felon whose other aliases include 'Mark Gigantis' and 'Mark G,' shuffled through the Regional Justice Center on Monday with the aid of a cane.  More than four months after agreeing to pay back nearly half a million dollars in connection with a "pure cash" promise of beating Las Vegas casino pit games, Georgantas persuaded a judge to postpone his sentencing, which initially was scheduled for last month.  He needs hip replacement surgery, said his lawyer, Caesar Almase.  In late October, Georgantas, who calls himself a "creative gaming enthusiast," pleaded guilty to one count of theft. He also agreed to pay $408,000 to eight different victims and be placed on house arrest until the judge hands down his sentence.
Part of the deal he cut with prosecutors stated that his $500,000 bail could be reinstated if he withdrew his plea, hired a new attorney or did anything else causing delay in sentencing."

Should Georgantas fail to appear at future court hearings, he agreed not to oppose being sentenced as a habitual criminal. He has a documented history of running from the law and people who lend him cash.

On Monday, District Judge Stefany Miley asked for further proof of an operation scheduled for April 9. Georgantas has long complained of hip trouble, and his potential surgery was anticipated at the time of his plea.  Prosecutors have agreed to a sentence of two to five years in prison. Georgantas is technically eligible for parole, but he also could be sentenced to up to 10 years behind bars.
He's due back in court a week before the surgery, and Almase promised that Georgantas would return to court later that month "with regards to his prognosis and an estimation on his post-op recovery."

Nearly two years ago, Georgantas, who rejects the label of con man, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he beat games like blackjack, roulette and craps on his own. Prosecutors characterized his "Biggins Craps System" and other methods to beat the houses built on lost bets as fraud, but they dropped that charge after Georgantas pleaded guilty.

Georgantas' record stretches to California, where he has been convicted of conspiracy and grand theft, once escaped jail through a storm drain and walked away from a trial on credit card fraud charges connected to purchases he made for Fire On Ice Inc., a business he still lists on LinkedIn and Facebook profiles.

In Las Vegas, prosecutors presented Georgantas' elaborate casino scheme to a grand jury, and he spent three months on the lam after being indicted. As investigators approached him in April 2016 at Mr. Lucky's, a 24-hour diner in the Hard Rock Hotel, Georgantas jumped over a half wall, faked a heart attack and tried to run, according to prosecutors.

Georgantas said he initially thought someone was attacking him for his cash. He said he spent the next three days hospitalized with symptoms of adult-onset diabetes.
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PART 3:  TODAY

Here is the current, and what is the surprise?  Are you really surprised?  Are you still in the guy's corner?  Do you still believe in systems and sellers and the likes of the gambler con man then steals money from people that read our message boards?  And I am the bad one because I expose the reality, the real B&M play, the real experiences and the real things happening or happened at various baccarat tables? 

CURRENT:  August 2018:
Alleged Las Vegas con man skips sentencing, loses plea deal

Mark Georgantas, second from right, who persuaded people to give him money for what prosecutors said was a casino scam, waits to be sentenced at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Feb. 26, 2018. Georgantas was granted a 30-day continuance. K.M. Cannon Las Vegas Review-Journal @KMCannonPhoto

Mark Georgantas, who persuaded people to give him money for what prosecutors said was a casino scam, after he was granted a 30-day continuance at his sentencing at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Feb. 26, 2018. K.M. Cannon Las Vegas Review-Journal

By David Ferrara / Las Vegas Review-Journal
August 15, 2018 - 5:09 pm

Mark Georgantas, an alleged Las Vegas casino scammer, knew that skipping court on Wednesday could expose him to five times as many years in prison.  He acknowledged as much while discussing his case in a video posted on YouTube two weeks ago, anticipating his sentencing hearing and displaying an ankle bracelet tracking device.  But when District Judge Stefany Miley called Georgantas's name Wednesday morning, she looked up and saw only his attorney, Michael Pandullo, standing beside the defense table.

"He's currently in the hospital," Pandullo told the judge without offering further details about Georgantas' condition or where he was hospitalized.  Georgantas, a felon whose aliases include 'Mr. Smooth,' 'Mark Gigantis' and 'Mark G', has a documented history of running from the law and people who lend him cash.  Miley immediately issued an arrest warrant with a $500,000 bail at the request of Deputy Attorney General Michael Viets, who indicated that prosecutors now could seek to pursue habitual criminal status against Georgantas.

"This gentleman is well-familiar with the system," the judge said.   That means the plea deal he accepted in late October for a sentence of two to five years in prison on one count of theft is essentially off the table. Prosecutors can now argue for putting him behind bars for 10 to 25 years. Georgantas has felony convictions in California, where he once abandoned a trial and later escaped from a minimum-security facility through a storm drain.

On paper, Georgantas accepted a deal late last year to pay back nearly half a million dollars in connection with a "pure cash" promise of beating Las Vegas casino pit games. Then he persuaded the judge to postpone his sentencing, initially scheduled for February. He said he needed hip replacement surgery, which was supposed to have been performed in April. He promised to return for sentencing.
But in the video, Georgantas suggested a desire to withdraw his plea.

"It's not even a legal plea," Georgantas said in the video, apparently recorded at a Starbucks.  Nevada prosecutors said Georgantas convinced at least two people to give him more than $350,000 in a promise to beat casino pit games. Georgantas told two men that he could win regularly at baccarat, blackjack, craps and roulette in Las Vegas, prosecutors said. He promised to always walk out of a casino with a profit.

Talking about his case and eventual plea on video, Georgantas said, "It's all lies just to get me to fall on the sword."  He seemed convinced that the men who said he stole from them would "never show up for trial."  But one of Georgantas' victims, Evan Rodich, arrived at the Regional Justice Center on Wednesday, prepared to speak at the sentencing hearing about how the defendant had affected his life.

Another man who sat in the courtroom gallery, Michael McDonald, had posted the video earlier this month. Asked about the hospitalization, McDonald would say only that Georgantas suffered from "debilitating hip issues."
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"Georgantas told two men that he could win regularly at baccarat, blackjack, craps and roulette in Las Vegas, prosecutors said. He promised to always walk out of a casino with a profit."

When I read that a minute ago, I should not have taken that sip of my coffee!  It went right out of my nose and unto my desk! 

Happy Monday everyone!  Alrelax, AKA: 'The Bad One' & 'The Notorious Blogger'. 

False positives are killers in baccarat.  Baccarat players, at least the vast majority of them, tend to be memory bettors for what proved them correct in the immediate past or the memorable past anyway.   What this actually does, is create a false sense of what is going to happen as believed by the player, rather than maintaining a true impartial and neutral position.  In other words, the player clouds his own mind needlessly.

I have witnessed this happen to most experienced and seasoned players for decades, everywhere I have played on a regular basis.  Problem being, the masses of players believe in a handful of believes, triggers, a method or two or three, etc.  Their vision is so small, they cannot hold up to variances appearing as they do.  Many internet message board people will claim they know how to control, recognize and handle variances.  Great, just I personally do not believe that unless those players have great losses when variances hit/appear or those same players sacrifice countless winning sessions before they actually happen for the fear of variance(s) coming out. 

You know I have an analogy here.  I moved from the New York City metro area a while back to an extremely small town in the upper Midwest.  The house I purchased I choose to upgrade the HVAC system right away while having the entire house upgrade and redone with numerous things I desired.   There were two HVAC small businesses within the town.  I choose the one that the owner resided a block away from the house I purchased.  I later learned he was by far the higher priced one out of the two and known for, his way or no way, type of customer service, etc.  Anyway, he did the job and yes it was overpriced and outside of what he quoted me.  The kind of guy that stops half way through the job with all kinds of unknown problems found with 'extra' expensive solutions, etc.  He finished.  I paid him.  I later had a problem with his work.  I got the other guy to repair it and I was charged nothing as I later had the other HVAC company do extensive work at the commercial buildings I owned within that same town.  One day the HVAC guy that lived a block away from me stops me one morning as I am pulling past his house.  I told him exactly how I felt, how I knew he over charged me and how I thought he was the scum of the earth, etc., etc.  I smiled and said bye. 

A couple months after that the local police knock on my door one night.  I knew the police office of course, small town, I also owned the largest towing and recovery company at the time and was used by that police department as well for towing anything that was wrecked or being impounded.  When I opened the door, I immediately pulled out my cell phone and said, what's the problem; your dispatch can't get a hold of us?  He said, no--hey that guy on the next block knows that you are throwing stuff in his driveway as he has had several food items or trash placed in his driveway and he knows you are doing it.  The police officer further goes on and explains that they could have the items analyzed for fingerprints and he knows, based upon what that guy told him, they would come back to me and I would be in real trouble.  I questioned the police officer as to what was thrown in his driveway.  He told me, the latest thing was some roast beef inside of the plastic see through bag it came in from the local supermarket.

I told him, better do your major investigation and get some facts.  First of all, go ahead and run your fingerprints, I know it is not going to happen.  Better yet, go to the supermarket and have them pull everything bought under my points reward account, which would have every purchase we made there most likely.  Third, you are siding with a local guy you probably known your whole life and he is pissed at me for hiring the other guy that did all my commercial HVAC and plumbing stuff at the business properties.  Fourth, your buddy overcharged me and I told him so and he didn't like the way I squared off on him after he stopped me in my car a while back.  Fifth, I don't eat roast beef from the supermarket's deli counter and never bought any there. 

So the analogy is, what do you believe?  I should not even have gone into all that with the police officer but I did.  I should have told him, go run your fingerprints and slammed the door.  But, that's not me.  I do understand why he said all that, because he believed the HVAC guy and that I was attempting to torment him and throw stuff in his driveway because that is what was told to the police office by an 'outstanding' member of the business community that was within that community a heck of a lot longer than I was, etc.  Then, I can only imagine the police officer's way of thinking was, I can tell a suspect almost anything and hopefully he will confess or curtail his actions and I solved the problem. 

But to me, that way of thinking resembles the game of baccarat in many ways and how countless players believe what is said by others like it is and has to be the truth.  That is, with the fallacies and believes that are reasoned out, digested and taken as gospel just because they were said or thought by others.   

For public record here:

Roulette Ghost's threads, about 12 of them were removed due to the following:

1)  The member abandoned the board;
2)  Indecisive and continual non-answering of questions;
3)  Contradictions in his own postings;
4)  No follow up;
5)  Numerous antiquates and plain baiting or switching of info, IMO

The member is not returning as far as I am concerned.  Someone a month ago or so, copy and pasted a posting he had on another message board and he requested his thread be deleted and he publicly stated he was done here at BetSelection, etc. 

Thanks, Glen.

Back to the Bottom Line..........

Sitting there at the bac table, really thinking........thinking from the aspect of player with my money at risk........coupled with the message boarder in me and the moderator of BetSelection......coupled with the all familiar aspect of 'experience' on top of it all.

Some of the most important things that easily get overlooked, forgotten, left out, worked before therefore I know it can't work every time, etc., etc., and so on.  In other words, self-satisfying excuses to allow me to sit there, not think so hard and just gamble.  Yeah, right, nice try.  The brain was and is always in gear at the semi circled bac table!

1)    Works for a small section, say 3 or 4 sections of the card/game. Players try everything, as far as amounts, dealers, other player's suggestions, etc.  They really need to concentrate and always remember, as rule number 1, small sections, say splitting the horizontal "big-road" up into 3 or 4 sections.  Sections tend to follow within, at a much higher and greater consistency by far, than anything else.  Problem occurs when the player wants to carry it all over the whole card and even to subsequent shoes of play. 

2)   We see, we read, we look, etc., and so on.  We are all susceptible to influence.  Be careful, no need to be real cold to others, just be 100% conscious of what you are believing and getting sucked into.  If it works within a section, great, by al means profit from it, when it stops, you stop.  Forget it, move on to something else.  What the heck?  Doesn't really matter how you made the money, you made it, hold it and turn it into more.  Do not, I repeat, do not count on what just worked to keep working, it will not, no way.  And if it does, you tend to mess up your thought train even worse because you backed off.  Figure it out, adjust and work it.

3)   Some of it vital and other parts of what we take in, need to be understood as being dangerous, extremely volatile and as well, exploitable and vital at times.  Again, be careful, do not get sucked in where you begin to believe you found the holy grail, there is none.  Maybe there is in the extreme short run, but after a while, you will finally realize, there is none. 

4)   Small grind will never work past a session or maybe, a few sessions during a few days.  Because the losses will come that will simply wipe you out of that profit quickly.  Those that talk about winning one or two or three units, consistently, every day, day in and day out, are IMO, completely fraudulent in their truthfulness on the message board thing.  Sorry, I have been around far too long at the gaming tables and seen far too many people, in fact, everyone that every tried to continuously earn just a little bit every day, go bust.  Every single one of them.  Then the rut (losses) start and set in.  Besides the immediate losses, the losses will always climb as your thinking process gets all kinds of ideas as to coming out of the losses back to even or profitable.  The losses will grow and grow and you will make riskier and riskier wagers, with a few of them winning, but the majority of them losing.  It is a cycle you need to avoid. 

5)   Human Nature.  A super important topic that most players have no clue about.  They do not factor it in, they do not think about it, they do not read about it, they chose to ignore it as it has nothing to really do with math, statistics or the game.  At least in the classical sense anyways.  But it really does and your nature will govern you in more ways than one.  Learn about it, read and explore.  Be conscious of it. 

Be Careful on the Internet!

They are getting more sophisticated and official looking. 

Yes, we all know there are scams and solicitations from all kinds of unknown people hitting our email boxes and other forms of communication on the internet. 

Personally, I don't do any buying on the internet, unless it is something from EBay, Amazon, or one of the other sites that I regularly do business with and I have to initiate it all.  As well as paying the bills, etc. 

I see all the variations of the attempts, that are blindly sent each and every day, everything from EBay to the larger United States Banks claiming something is wrong with an account I have there (and I never ever banked with them) or from some other source such as Yahoo or Gmail, etc., etc., and if responded to, the attempt will be a fraudulent approach to have me pay something to them for their scam attempt.

Every one of my utilities, credit cards, and every one I deal with, repeatedly tells me, do not respond or click on anything that appears to be from them with notices to pay, unless it is something that I know what I used or bought and I initiated, etc.

As well, there are dead set give away factors, which the solicitations are from a fraudulent source.  1) The "From" email address, it is almost always a variation of the real company.  Such as, Payments@EBay.Com, would be sent fraudulently as, Payments@e.Ebay.Com or something else, so if you click on to the reply to the header of your email, it will get bounced back to you and then you will go looking elsewhere within that email notice for another link to reply to.  And that link will go to the scammer every time.  There are different variations of what I said above, but the one I laid out is the basic set up. 

Now, I get something over the weekend.  Real strange, real good I must say.  Only problem is, I switched my PayPal account which is now in another family members name as well as another email address than my original PayPal account was for many years. 

You see with PayPal you can actually look up a user's name or email, that his account is under in order to process a request for payment or to send him money, etc.   So the PayPal can be made out to your email or you name, does not matter.  In this case I receive a processed payment, stating that I sent a payment in the amount of $108.91 USD to "Payment@Airbnb.Com" which is a new business website that lists private homes, apartments, bed & breakfasts inns, motel rooms extended stay, etc.  And yes you can pay with PayPal as well.  The bottom of it is styles after EBay, where is says Seller, Shipping Address, Note to Seller, Shipping Details, etc.  Although I have not completed a transaction on Airbnb, I went on their website last week after my wife told me about it and she used it to book a room for a trip she is on, but all that was under another email address, nothing to do with me.  But I did go on the website and checked it out last week. 

So I get the above payment conformation, like I said and it looked pretty good and at first I am like, hey wait a second no way!  I did not do anything.  Then after starring at it, I realized, wrong email and my current PayPal is not under that email any longer, no personal name and if it was really Airbnb, they would have my ID you have to submit as well.  Also the shipping address and seller and all that is from EBay types of sales, etc.

Then I noticed the TRANSACTION ID # with is a series of a long 20 capital letters with a highlighted link for itself, they assume I will click on.  I did not, but it was very obvious.

So, I called PayPal and told them all this, they transferred me to their security department and went through it all again.  They told me there is a scam going around that fits this and they told me to contact the case agent with the United States Secret Service that is working the case against these people doing this scam.  I talked to the Secret Service Agent and he told me, if I did click on the link with those 20 capital letters, I would have been redirected and the PayPal order processed, etc.  It listed the seller in Houston, Texas but that is all fraudulent anyway. 

The Secret Service Agent says they go on the Airbnb website and place a fake ad for a rental property usually a super great deal in a large metro area with a real low nightly price to get you to click on it and they obtain certain info from your computer/browser, etc., of your interest.  And that is the way it all starts.  The Secret Service Agent had me connect to his computer and I granted him permission to pull whatever info he needed from mine in regards to my browsing the Airbnb website. 

He also told me there is numerous scams of similar nature with all sorts of other larger commercial websites, and any website that forwards info back to the advertisers, of whom clicked on their ads or services can set something up like this. 

PayPal is strict on their account set up and with their verification process and holding periods, etc., I see many problems for the people using PayPal to do this.  Unlike Western Union and other money transfer services, one can continually use those services without shutdown.  But hey, maybe there is ways around all that? 

But I will tell you, there is great creativity in the new scams and it is getting more and more sophisticated. 

Be careful what you click on, even if you are thinking you are just going to check something out, it might not appear what it seems. 

 
"More than inviting people to play with me FOR FREE and putting my name on it I can't.
Telling that I'm mentoring $10k or more betting players won't' help, I guess."

Written by: as.


"Virtually yes but it will happen.  I've seen this concept and have played it some in the past."
Written by; Jimske.


I read those both last night, sat back, thought.  Yes, correct.  Simple but players complicate themselves past understanding, although they convince themselves that they understand 100%.  Some of the members here as well on the other boards, really do have a great deal of experience and valuable details and knowledge from their own blood, sweat and tears.  And, they are here or there attempting to share it and possibly learn as well.  But on the other hand, their seems to be, IMO, an outweighing of people that are using these boards and forums for anything but, what I just mentioned.  Which causes, again IMO, a suppression of the more serious members and people from a productive and engaging conversation and assortment of posting bringing it more personal and non-topic related.

Today's internet for the masses is viewed as the road to riches.  It is the definitive knowledge power house.  Or, something along those lines.  Which in many ways it is, but in an equal or greater amount, it is not.  Yes, the internet has answers, knowledge and lots of information.  Some of it correct and accurate and some of it false and not accurate at all.  Yet, other things on the internet or unverified and assumptions as well. There is also a great deal of thoughts, ideas and theories which are all interpreted by the reader with varying views and applications. 

You see, years ago there was basically two things published.  Textbooks and novels of one type or another.  The textbooks were for the most part, double sourced and triple sourced.  The novels were all understood to be some type of story or documentary, etc., as to the subject.  As far as all the hearsay, stories, theories, assumptions and other things of similar nature, that was accomplished by word of mouth, where one had the opportunity to size up, evaluate and weigh the information being given.  Today that same thing exist, but we are so used to Googling and things of a similar nature that usually returns correct results and info at our finger tips.  So, we get spoiled and lazy in our learning process.

What do I mean?  Well the other day I wanted a kitchen item.  So I Googled it.  Up comes 100 plus options.  The top three.  Sam's Club $140.27, Home Depot $130.99 and Sears $190.99.  All three, well known national retail stores.  No one is lying.  No scams and no phony anything.  Plain and simple.

Another one.  Watching something on TV.  The show referred to an event I never heard of.  I get on the internet and I Google it.  Up comes the Wiki write up on it.  Quick, informative, and obviously the majority of it is well researched, referenced and factual. 

So I get on a gambling site, a message board, a casino forum, etc., etc.   Is it going to be the same as Google results, Wiki factual information, other well researched and double and triple sourced newspaper or technical article publications, etc?  Is what someone called Lucky7-Joe Blow, telling us the truth about what he won using his 14 step/rule baccarat method that he tested and tested over the years, where he wagers for the cut after the 4th or 5th repeating hand on either the Banker or Player and he wins XYZ-$$$, etc.?  How about the guy named I-Been-There & Won, how he repeatedly wins at the casino because he follows so and so system or some guy's method he only paid $799.00 for and how he earned that back the first day and now is considered a professional gambler living the life of luxury as well as sleeping until noon and always having a pocket full of cash, etc., etc. 

How about the guy named Mr. Cool Always 9, how he used to work a 9 to 5 job and now he rides the subway in NYC to Queens Casino and profits and easy $300.00 to $400.00 day in and day out, making a cool $2,000.00 a week for his 3 hour total investment time per day and spends hours upon hours on the message boards creating drama and talking people down.  His response when approached is usually something like, "I kill time because I am now financially set, I mess with the people on these message boards", or something along those lines anyway.

There are countless examples I can give, but you get the idea I am sure.  But then there are those that put lots of time into explaining their way of play and several others will gang up on those types as well.  Even if the information and experience is accurate and being shared in a camaraderie type of professional way, the jokesters and the drama queens will not allow that.  So information, experience and actual hard-core vital information that could prove really useful to so many is easily pushed by the way side for many reasons. 

Then you have a whole other set of people that come on these message board, casino forums and websites to defend or retaliate against other members and website owners that have nothing to do with the site they are broadcasting their problems on, but they were banned or moderated on another site so they have to keep their agenda going by coming on and attempting the domination and misuse of the site they are currently on. 

Most of you know I enjoy cooking, recipes and restaurants, etc.  I have written about it within my own Blog here.  I was on another food related message board a while back.  I posted something non-food related in a food section and BAM, deleted and moderated within hours.  Warned and rules cited and enforced.  Yes, the way it should be.  And if you don't like it, move on.  Nothing wrong.   And there overall persona of the members, thousands of them, is if you don't agree with another members, state why with facts and experiences and supporting details and then move on.  No drama, names, calling out and challenges of childish types.

So, what do you believe, why do you believe it?  Is the internet a catch all and a free for all?  Can you base everything on something you read and actually interface with each member because they came on and stated a 10 point gambling plan or a 13 rule cancelling system that cannot hold up and will drive almost the highest 90 percentile players attempting it out of 100 to lose their buy in funds to the casino without a doubt? 

Then when someone writes details with experiences, they are literally attacked by several with short, one liners, that are the members repetitive and usually only contribution to the site, therefore bringing them attention as well as highlighting actual details and experiences being posted within a forum as a comical and hard to believe agenda because of the more seasoned and so called senior members throwing that proverbial monkey wrench into the picture so very often. 

Like being at a public library, remember those?  Where we used to actually read, study, research and gain knowledge.  But being there with just a few of the senior members and a few of the brand new anonymous ones, that claim they are the real successful ones and as they walk around, contribute nothing, lack personal hygiene, spilling their coffee laced with alcohol, reeking of cigarette smoke, bothering everyone and all the staff in sight, causing the atmosphere to be one of just a miserable place to be for the members that actually have the motivation and the energy to use the place in the correct manner.

TO RISE UP OUT OF WHATEVER YOU WERE TROUBLED BY and become what will make you 'right'.   That is what the player is pretty much always governed by, from my experience, witnessing and seeing every time I go to the casino with players I know very well or not.  Simply, the player just does not understand the psyche of gambling, winning, the effects and the consequences.  And there are countless ones. 

You fell into the game and although you won, you had no idea whatsoever what would eventually happen, always does.  "You give up your soul--the devil takes it, you have no option, none---zero".  You fail to realize it, but it happens and happens to so many in different ways, times and situations.  You justify your continuance of playing because the next session or your new information and realization as to what had previously happened, will cease.  Even if it was not negative and you won, you way of thinking was more and more, next plateau and next larger level.  You actually could not understand why so many lost as the game is really so easy.  Either way, your spiral began. 

Let's just pick it up from your losing point.  Okay, here goes.  Your turnaround is starting, a fresh new beginning to winning.    Your loyalties, your outlook and your morality have been stripped away.  You had no say-so and even if you did, you choose to continue your destructive play, because of your dreams and goals which you did not understand or realize how to bring about with the easy appearance and initial luck players have.  I will further expand upon this after the next two paragraphs.

A man named George Jung, whom was Pablo Escober's, cocaine trafficking import connection to the USA from Columbia said, "There is not a very wide gap between goodness and badness.  Who is to say what is really good and who is really bad?"   And, you want to know something, that statement applies to most people that gamble and get into trouble. 

Take it for what it is worth to yourself.  In gambling, generally, if you have not experienced it--your mind will not be able to digest it and even if you do, you generally will not believe what the more experienced players advise or plead you to adhere to.

What is always there, that almost none if any of the players saw in their first few years of playing, some for many years, was the monster lying on the horizon.  Total insanity!  And the monster does get around and has countless brothers and sisters in every place conceivable!  Like I said players do not and will not listen with an open mind and a mind that will allow them to learn, witness and merge the more experienced results and outcomes into their play.  Unlike the players other pursuits of whatever that might be, golfing, bowling, BBQ cooking, vehicle restoration, anything involving any kind of knowledge and skill.  They generally will listen, research, and tailor things that they willing seek out, been instructed and learned in most all other areas of their interests, except for gambling.  I have no real idea why except their own, stubbornness, ego and hardheadedness, that they refuse to believe or accept anything from anyone else in gambling. 

I have been thinking about this lately.  Especially, when I see a player start to really bang it out at baccarat.  Here is a typically player I saw the other night.  He wagers $500 on the Banker, presses it for $1,000.  Wins.  Cuts back to the Player with a $500 wager.  Pushes the $1,000 off to the side for locked up win money.  He bought in with $2,000.  Says he will stop with a $4,000 profit.  The next two hands he wins also with 2 Players, that match the 2 Bankers.  Then he cuts back to Banker and wagers once again.  Now he is up $2,500.  This is the turning point.  He is getting hyped and excited.  Now he is feeling good.  4 straight wins and the power starts to set in.  He really has not played that much and he is thoroughly convinced, that this is easy money and he found his new profession.  His mind is off in that magical and proverbial "LaLa" Land! 

That next wager is really the turning point to his session.  4 in a row won is not record setting, not rare, but a great start to either a great win or that classical lost buy-in session.  His face is lite up with all kinds of ideas and thoughts.  I can clearly see it.   He even says out loud, convinced in the deck cut, he sealed the deck in his fate with that magical cut of the cards a dozen hands ago.  He placed a $250 wager on the Banker for another double to happen, he announced.  Then the Player has a 1 and the Banker has a 7 and stands.  He announces once more, how his fate just came around and then the dealer pulls the Players 3rd card and out comes a 7.  His face droops pretty good, his mouth opens and then the cuss words come out and he is literally bewildered!  Amazed.  LOL. 

Now he announces once again, the Player was done and he knows the Banker will come back around and make another double.  He wagers $750 on the bank, very carefully and announcing what he is doing.  Almost everyone stops wagering and although they do not believe in what he is doing, the players just did not want to wager against him out of the old school way of playing with camaraderie, etc.  The Player comes out with a 6 and stands and the Banker has two face cards, Banker pulls another face card.  Once again, his face is in total amazement and he bangs the table with his fist.  Now he is down to about $1,500 win/locked up money if I recall and his buy in of $2,000 is in a separate chip stack.

He wagers another $750 on the Banker and almost everyone else is along with him.  He is not smiling and he is watching closely now.  Players have a 5 and the bank has a 5 also.  He is calling for a monkey or an 8 or a 9 so he will get that stop card and win or tie.  A 2 comes out and his face goes to amazement again.  Now, I and another can clearly see the Player getting stronger and stronger.  We say, "Why fight it and why keep wagering for the cut"?  He does not say anything.  Now he goes down to $250 once again and stays on the Banker wager.  Player has a natural 8 and the Banker has a 7.  He is really upset and getting more and more verbal.  Cussing the dealer, the casino and others for wagering against him. 

Now he takes the last of his win, the other $500 he had in that chip stack and places it on the Player.  And of course the Banker takes that hand with a natural over a low total for the Player.  He does what all other do, says how he knew it was Banker all along and should have just stayed on it with a larger wager.  Yeah, right.  This happens every night, never changes.  But they don't learn anything and everything happens. 

He has his $2,000 buy in left and regroups, very clearly.  With all the marking on the score card, all his pointing to the display board and all of his new thoughts.  Now he claims something about the Banker is going to match the Player with another 4 or 5 Bankers in a row, etc.  Of course the shoe goes to pure chop and just alternates back and forth for like 6 or 7 times.  He wins a couple and losses I think one more than he won.  Then he divides his remaining stack of chips into 2 wagers, I think he had $1,600 left.  He wagered the first one and lost and then same thing happened for his second wager in an attempt to come back.  He lost.

He runs to the ATM machine and buys back in.  He starts to win and then gets wiped out.  He repeats the same scenario once again.  He pretty much straight lost all his wagers until his last couple of hundred.  Then he makes a come back and get up to about $3,000.  He lost it all within less than 10 hands and started to go heavier and heavier and press every win.  Doubles up or nearly doubles up on every loss.  No matter what he did, he lost a few hands more than he won. 

Common Sense Nature Gets eroded!  Period.  In the casino as well as on the forum here.  No one likes it, wants it or takes it seriously in betting, wagering, casino theory, gambling, etc.  Translated, "it works sometimes and other times, does not".    And the magical answer that almost everyone is searching for, simply---does not exist for their repetitive questions asked each and every day.  "How do I beat the casino", or "How do I wager with an advantage", or "What is the correct trigger that will allow me to always win", etc., and everything else of a similar nature. 

Then things get posted with passion, twisted with passion, some personal and the rest commercial reasons seeking profit.  The commercial guys are the dangerous ones, twisting and turning what really happens or happened, for the sake of selling whatever they are seeking to sell.  The personal guys have no real reward for being here, discussing and holding civilized and real discussions.  The fakes, the trolls, the drama seekers, the scammers and the other people along those lines will ruin it for most all serious members not seeking to scam or sell.

For the 'real casino players and serious' members, the few with the passion and the motivation, the upsides of their actual casino gambling discussions are seldom even realized by the masses on the forums.  These types are among us, although not the majority, they are present.  But they are usually made fun of, overlooked, or what they say is dismissed as fallacy.  Things and people fade away because of those very reasons.

Initially, your assumption that we just don't get it, have you all wrong, and don't understand is charming, but tedious.  And real tedious at that!  After a while it gets tragic on your part. Why you would go off about casino properties cheating, casino hosts that don't care, marketing systems meant to screw the player, rigged games under scrutiny by state gaming agencies that would charge casino executives with criminal law violations in a heartbeat and many other things, but a fine example of what hasn't worked for you in the casino.

Since you consistently like to blame others for your gambling failure, I'll mention this: recently two representatives were involved in a fracas in the US Congress. One, a "typical" white guy congressman, was telling the black congresswoman that he knew more about prejudice than she ever would. Do you get the absurdity? Do you see how offensive that is to people that actually pride themselves on fairness and being neutral? 

That congressman and some of you guys have something in common - you don't really listen, it's all output. Remember a movie line recently, "You need to set your MotherF***er to receive."  I'd have to find the movie to get the context, but in my head, it sounds extremely spot-on and appropriate here.

Do you understand the phrase "the meaning is the message?" It means whatever your audience understands is really the message, even if it differs wildly from what you think you meant. Speaking up in public carries the reality that people will hear what they hear and it is rarely the same as what you say. When you avoid listening and show up telling us about what happened to you at the casino gambling and how you suddenly found out what you did wrong and how you will now turn everything around, does not  make it better, you already lost your audience, just like the congressman did. It's where they got the term "In LaLa Land.", or "Has No Idea Whatsoever", and "He is the Casino's New Best Friend", etc. 

Even here, while you acknowledge our intellect, you explain the most blatantly obvious things as if I or we, are just idiots and never gambled in our lives.  You then justify what you are going to do or did, by outlining a system, a plan, or explaining how we all have never seen 'such and such' appear at the baccarat table or another game, and it has always been there but you just recently discovered it. 

The thing is, simply, that you haven't listened to the people you are dictating to. That's not a misunderstanding; the actual events that keep repeating are evidence and proof of what went wrong with your plan and agenda. It's also not a "conviction" or anything. It's incredibly common and we put up with it all the time.  Always someone coming on offering to put up their money and buy tickets and pay expenses to get someone to partner up.  Yeah right.  Problem being, almost no one will ever listen in gambling ventures.  They probably do in most other things, golf lessons, bowling lessons, all kinds of hobby instructions, how to fix things, etc., but not gambling, their brains, ego's and everything else they are about will not allow them to. 

So you show up and tell us things that we already been through, tried, believed in and otherwise already burned through with great expense, trial and error!!  Good for you for knowing that we are marginalized in the casino world and baccarat or other table games, but telling us that as if you know more than we do, is insulting, and some of us take it quite personal as well.

Oh yeah, so many will also say and claim with great conviction, that it's other people's fault.  How about instead of the attempt to rebuild Rome, find terrorists before they strike by watching; Behind Enemy Lines or Seal Team 6 The Raid, or Call of Duty, and other movies of a similar nature, etc., you pick up we left off and forget being hard headed and all the great discoveries that you think exist that we already burned through.  Maybe then, we can really get down to business, as they say?

Care to step up your game? Care to show us your winnings?  Pictures?  Casino statements of Win/Loss?  Anything at all?  Offering, Posting, and Providing Details a bit more than, I done this or that or some chart you drew on your computer of the results?  Something tangible? 

Look up Eddie Tipton. IOWA State lottery, Multi State Lottery Agency.

He was a security consultant and computer programmer.

$25  Million dollars later he and all his cohorts are in state prison.

He was able to pick the 3 winning numbers on 3 days of every year in 5 different states.  Also wipe the computers, however he eventually made some mistakes and got greedy.

Huge case for over a decade,  proves if you only did it once, most likely you would have gotten away with it.  Even said by the prosecutors.  This case 100% correct. 

Very seldom, first time financial crimes are ever recognized as well,  their perpetrators caught.  However almost every one of them will eventually catch themselves.

So true.

Also. Something else comes to mind here!  The infamous Tran Gang with the tens of millions of win bac money in collusion with casino dealers,  the same thing, sheer greed!!!

You can Google, The Tran Organization and read the Wikipedia on them.  But the loss figure is really more like 15 to 20 million.  Rather than the documented 7 million.

As well. Legitimate baccarat winners.  It all sets in, except the criminality of what the above people did,  they give it all back, lose everything and become beat down by the very game that rewarded them with financial fruit.

Learn how to handle the game. The winning,  and Yourself. 

Regarding BEAT-THE-CASINO. 

I found this on our board, never saw it before. 
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Offline jsb02009

btc lawsuit
on: March 25, 2015, 02:16:45 PM
ReplyReplyQuoteModifyRemoveSplit Topic
Hi,
New to this site.  I am looking for fellow members of btc that want to join me in taking ellis and keith smith to court for fraud.  I can't believe these scam artists have been running this scheme for so long.  My goal is to get members back their money but also prevent future people from being scammed.  If you are a btc member that has been scammed please notify me.  If we get enough people we can do a class action lawsuit.  My wife is a lawyer and I am willing to pay all legal fees."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You know I wrote somewhere on our board here my short experience with BEAT-THE-CASINO and its owner, Keith.

It was not that long ago, possibly about a year ago???  It was about the time Vic brought BetSelection down for the first time to do some attempted modifications, etc. 

I was invited on Beat The Casino by another member of BTC and I knew the member from other boards a little bit over the past few years. 

Fact:  I went on BTC with a few copy and pastes of my own, my original posts that I just put on here within my Blog I think.  The posts were mine, not threads that were common place owned and commented on gossip, just some of my own stuff. 

Fact:  I was immediately blasted and called out for posting.  I was challenged for not properly introducing myself and merging in, I guess.  The PM's I received were explaining how the most popular, about 10 members were offended as to my openness, to the point and how I copied and pasted from BetSelection, etc. 

Fact:  I was contacted by Keith and he told me to 'cool it' and 'chill out' amongst other things.  I really only posted i think 5 posts about baccarat and they were all my own info, findings and no gossip or other people's involvement, etc.  I was continually for a couple of days blasted and blasted by several of the regular members. 

Fact:  Then I discovered a regular member with a strong voice on BTC that was a 'side kick' of sorts to a previous message board owner that was heavily involved in baccarat in Vegas among other places.  I knew him personally, we gambled together several times, I wrote on his board as well.  But that person imploded while playing baccarat for extremely large stakes and wound on in debt well over $500,000.00 with outstanding markers which were or did, turn into criminal charges within the city of Las Vegas.  But what got me, was here this regular member of BTC was boasting himself, chastising new members with long standing play history at B&M's casinos, etc., and never stepped up and admitted he was the side-kick to this other person that was highly admired, imploded, lost most everything including non casino related family business assets and all, and related. 

Fact:  I realized within a couple of days, 2?, 3?, whatever, who ran BTC, the aura, the atmosphere and all the gossip type of stuff going on.  Then I realized the sales pitches, the baccarat crawls, the videos and the conferences being sold by Keith. 

Fact:  Then I was approached and squared off on that, if I did not join up for the $150.00 and $50.00 a month, I was not serious, a fake, a phony, a lair and everything else along those lines, outright and hard. 

Fact:  I called Keith and demanded in about 4 or 5 text message and/or phone calls, that he remove/delete my posts and that would be that.  He challenged me, told me to get off his board and he took at what I said as a physical threat to himself.  He also misrepresented to the police department as to how many times I actually phoned him or texted.  I said, if push came to shove, I would obtain a certify Verizon phone transcript as to shoe my daily usage and calls. 

Fact:  Keith went to his local police department and reported me.  I received a phone call from a police officer in Keith's township in Pennsylvania.  He wanted my side of the story. He said, that I could be charged with threats, etc.  I told him I was strictly requesting and demanding my posts be removed by Keith and that was the entire scope and meaning of my communication with Keith.  The police officer told me I was not to go on to the site and if I did, I would be prosecuted and charged with criminal actions.  I laughed on the phone, I repeated what had happened and told the police officer for sake of peace and to circumvent further problems, I would not go onto that site or contact Keith.  The police officer told me worse case scenario was threats and least scenario was harassment. 

Fact:  It is my opinion that the entire site is a bad influence into the message board/forum industry and is nothing more than a private site, conducted by a person selling and promoting systems, events, and a monthly pay for site, that has a handful of people grouped together that claim huge professional success and elite status. 

Fact:  IMO and personal experience, the claims to the multi millions of dollars made by several/numerous BTC players each, is fraudulent, fictitious and unproven. 

"There is no truth, there is only perception"

If someone relies on the perception of others, eventually he will with the highest chance, find himself in the same situation or level of despair as that person he is believing.  Good, Bad or otherwise. 

I can only educate those willing to listen, lean and apply what will help them control and win, at the game of baccarat.  Basically the same as other trades and occupations, where people honestly want to learn, gain experience and turn their investment of either their time and/or money into something that genuinely produces a return.  Not just words on the internet full of fallacy, dreams, hopes and desires, etc. 

Most all players, especially those with little to several years of experience, have huge tendency to flip-flop, believing that anyone claiming to be winning, is related to some type of common ground, that can be defined, learned, constantly repeated and give them a clear advantage that will allow them to make money on a consistent playable basis from any casino they so choose. 

Others will not understand the difference, which the long term players have experienced, are willing to actually share, educate and give them huge advantages to avoid suffering.  Why?  I don't know.  I can only imagine when most try to figure out why someone like me, would spend the time and all the trouble to type out long and detailed articles about casino gambling and baccarat, it is all made up fallacy and I have nothing better to do.  They compare mine to the scammers, the salesman, the shysters, the know it all that don't actually play, the paid for mentors and many other types of people that actually make their living (or extra cash) by selling hype and fallacy. 

I guess the drama, humor, trickery, one liners, attempting to control websites, small groups of players claiming high and elite gambling success status, etc., use various message boards for the spread of false beliefs they preach as real, for entertainment purposes I can only imagine.  And the sad part of it all is, the innocent and inexperienced that fall prey to those types.

The true road, with its experiences is not always the one you want to live, talk about or share.  It is not always exciting, desirous or profitable.  But it will always be there and it really does not change a heck of a lot for each of us that actually lived it all. 

Myself, been there and experienced it.  Other have not and will say it does not exist.  Any yet others will not discuss it as it is either too negative or they thing they went down the wrong road and are just too ashamed or embarrassed to honestly talk about their past gambling and casino experiences.  And it seems these days on a message board, the ones that are really lacking in years of experience talk the most and have the most energy.  They also challenge and come at the more experienced ones and I do believe that is why there is less and less real productive, conducive and honest play advice, especially in baccarat.  I have discussed this very thing with numerous members here on this board, and at least that is the consensus as to why they slacked off in posting. 

It is a shame that certain people come on these message boards solely to either scam others to sell something or for the mere purpose to antagonize and spread disingenuous information related to the games within the casino.

The real sad part is how things infect the message boards solely for the "show" of it, but it really is a worthless spread of nothing that will help the players with serious intentions to either succeed or spread the real knowledge that will help others.

The truth, the genuine, the experience, things that can help things that do not help, things that can bring success or failure with the game of baccarat.  Many are intangible, while a limited amount may actually be tangible.  The facts will always ne prevalent for me as I am living the truth. Others antagonize for the reason of entertainment, as I mentioned. And usually you can follow them for their cyclic redundancy from board to board sticking together in their small groups of poster non sense. 

My respect ends for anyone when they use a position in a certain battle amongst the innocent people for their own gain, (scammers, website owners, the naysayers, etc.). 

There are no heroes here or needed.  What is needed, I ask for is, understanding, sharing and having a positive impact on our site here. 

All I ask is not to chastise, belittle, and humiliate the other members on this board for any reason.  Educate those willing to listen.  Close your heart to those not willing.  Trust me, you will be better off to educate here, but the world is not so open to most of what we share, talk about and possess.  It comes with huge amounts of jealousy and rage at times as well as the drive to control a forum for the wrong purposes. 

Thank You, Glen.

This is a public forum.  It is open to everyone, except those that break the rules on repeated bases or are outright combative and clearly exist here to chastise, humiliate and challenge any member with those really simple, one-liners and redundant meaningless attacks, pretty much to bring about drama and arguments without any real underlying points, just challenges and call-outs.

Sometimes quantity is second rate in all reality to quality of posts/threads/info, etc.  Think about the quality and the actual informative content of those posts and threads you read.  As well, about the few (3 or 4) members that were moderated and the 1 or 2 that took up alliance for the sake of camaraderie of those and left us here. 

Everyone is entitled to the privilege of posting your own opinions, but just because you don't agree with something or someone else has said or their posts do not fall in line with your ideals, does not mean you have to sound like a bigot to their opinions, facts, research or experiences.  Usually on all message boards in the gambling field, there is one group of about 5 or 6 people that band together that will post heavily and almost all, if not all their posts are in attack of everyone outside of their circle and realm of thinking or posting, whether they really gamble or not.  Sad but true!

What I just said happens and happens pretty regular.  It's a sad truth but it is none-the-less, a truth. 

[attach=1]

The orange you do not want to be at.  I wrote what will definitely get you into the place you do not want to be.

The green is where you really do want to be at.

Stop being so hard headed and believing the wrong people. 

Please be careful with gambling you'all.

Here is an example of what it can very well bring onto you!

I have it under real good authority that this individual is attempting to solicit members and this board and myself, in no way endorses his teaching or knowledge in any way whatsoever!

I have recently allowed him to post with neutrality and using his tenure here in a level headed and reasonable offer.

Unfortunately I have information that has been double verified and checked as to his unscrupulous and senseless offers.  I will not allow it on our board.  Any question, please message me, thanks, Glen.

https://betselection.cc/gizmotron/a-very-special-apology-to-alrelax/msg64589/#new

Relevance versus Perception versus Reality.......The Brutal Honest Truth Most Cannot or Will Not Face--Admit--Even Explore!

Relevance

A very important thing to base much around when you are actually at the casino table.  For good solid reason!

I took H-Money to the casino the other night.  F***Me!
What a waste of time, action and f***ing emotions!

He won $23,000.00 and agreed, complied and then went back to the casino after we dropped him home, and gave it all back, the buy-in and borrowed additional monies to continue his attempt to recoup, recover and win, once again.  It was right at a $1,000.00 buy in.  Two shoes, done deal.  Talked until both myself and my buddy was blue in the face, pretty much a last ditch try with the man.  I can't take it any longer.  Somehow he allowed the defensives of the casino to come right through, be ingrained within himself and allow them to overwhelm himself.  Sad, but reality and relevant! 

No matter what he wins or loses, he cannot paint a picture with a decent relevant game plan that can bring him back around.  If we went tomorrow and he won $100K + he would give it all back and then some.  If he won $5k or $10k or another $23k, he would only add huge doses of failure waiting to happen, because he does not and cannot realize, relevance in the overall picture is one of the key items that he disavows even pertinent to gambling.  And, IMO it most certainly is foremost and #1.   

Emotional and childish, ego driven.  What the real problem is the false sense of perception? IMO, it is the sheer misunderstanding, fail to have explained to yourself as well as the ugly greed and reality that you have no idea how to handle, taper or deal with, when you are playing.   Leave it at the door!  Check it.  Be done with it.  All it can generally do for you, is hurt you.  Almost all of you figure you have the casino outsmarted and outwitted by reading the likes of the 3 or 4 regular members that used to write on this board until I could not put up with their game playing and their warped sense of combativeness.  Over and over and over, the same things with the same people or the scarring away of new members. 

First stop is walking through the casino doors.  Get into neutral.  No perception, None! 

Leave perception, I stress.  Engage in 'Relevance'.

Relevance means, 'Important to the matter at hand', 'being connected'.  And, that my friend will bring you laps around perception. 

Probability and Edge Variance cannot be applied to the game in every move detail, unless you have a huge, almost infinite bankroll to fund buy-in after buy-in after buy-in, to continue your pursuit of endless wagering that fails more than it wins.  When you get up a few units then you say you stop and take the profit, oh please---that story is getting real old, does not happen except repeatedly on paper. 

You either go down -OR-you succeed

Those two things happen, will happen and there is no way to stop them or pick a table without the chance that either of them will happen.  Period.  No way.

Each hand has just as much chance to happen or not happen in most situations.  Not all, but most.  There are select times (opportunities by the clear majority of the chance) that something will happen in the upcoming section, that it is a clear opportunity, but that is not the focus here. 

You can put a math spin on it to support any position you take or are against. 

Regarding Test Results

The computer test results highlighting probability and variance, cannot be applied uniformly across the board to the casino table you are playing at, unless you play the same amount of total hands in long term multimillion shoe tests.  This cannot be accomplished in the casino.  Period.

Therefore, you cannot use the results of those computer tests, divided down to small play times and hope they will match the results of the shoe in the casino you choose to play at.  Period.

The house edge might or might not happen in a shoe.  There is no way to tell what it will probably produce until very late in the shoe, say hand 65-70, you still do not have a definitive advantage, because you still have no idea the order of the cards remaining, and how they will proceed to come out.

False Positives

Identify what happens, when it happens as well as when it did not happen.  That will give you sections that could allow you to be ready for opportunities that the shoe could produce.  But once again, the shoe might not.  What so many players are under is a false positive that something has to happen.  It does not.  Will it eventually, probably.  And that right there is the biggest and most dangerous misnomer of the game itself.

Even with the extensive review and analyzation of all baccarat computer test results by the world's most advanced, best qualified, highest rated mathematicians and statisticians, they will not be able to come up with a formula to outright predict randomness.  They will however, claim, they can pick the correct random outcome the majority of the time and the like--just to make themselves feel heads and tails over the rest of us.  But in reality, it does not work that way.  The sooner you digest that the sooner you will be on your way to realistic and better play. 

As far as any reoccurring events, (runs, streaks, chop chop, doubles, triples, etc.) they happen all the time, almost every single shoe.  It is just that we trained ourselves the wrong way to recognize them.  We convinced ourselves that we have to see the reoccurring events to play with them repeatedly first and then wager on them to continue or cut.  At best we win a couple or a few and then give it right back, pushing us almost unconsciously into submission or gross negligence of everything we learned, stood for and practiced.  In other words, you are approaching the selection for your wagers, the wrong way with the wrong trend of thought. Means an awful lot!  You only wind up putting yourself into a rut, a mean nasty rut that is only your fault.  Being neutral, being clear minded, possessing no scheduled types of wager selection protocol, is so vital and so crucial to winning money, the simplicity of it is tough for so many to actually grasp and understand.

There are always opportunities along the upcoming path, which are not yet presented.  All you have to do, is be on that path.  REMEMBER that above all else!   But my key to winning is the application of my chart below, not to be confused with actual BetSelection procedures.  This will enable you to win much greater amounts, than you would normally.  And that is one of the keys for stacking up the win money, something sizable anyways.

If you are going to play with the thought of one unit profit, just focusing on the 1s, which have to happen, after an unknown amount of previous repeats, or choose an entering point, way when a 3 or a 4 repeating P or B occurs and then wager for the opposite side, all you have to do is have enough to buy in and be able to stay under table max, no matter how many times you lose before the cut to the opposite side comes out. But if you win, you will not and if you lose, likewise, you become more enraged and frustrated and thus your cycle and vision is knocked so far off balance, you are only destined to lose, plain and simple.

One unit profit, two units profit.  I do not play for it.  However, if you were to do this for example, at a $2,000.00 max table, you would have the following chances to make 1 unit profit.  This has to be about the most believed in and most talked about schedule of wagering ever.  There are so many other more secure ways to wager with far less risk and far greater opportunity! 

$100 Wagers          $50.00 Wagers        $25.00 Wagers           $200.00 Wagers                 $500.00 Wagers
100.00                      50.00                          25.00                       200.00                          500.00
200.00                      100.00                        50.00                        400.00                         1,000.00
400.00                      200.00                        100.00                      800.00                          2,000.00
800.00                      400.00                        200.00                      1,600.00                    ___________
1,600.00                   800.00                        400.00                    ____________
________                 1,600.00                      800.00                    Risk  3,000.00             Risk 3,500.00
Risk 3,100.00           __________                 1,600.00
                               Risk 3,150.00            _____________
                                                                 Risk 3,175.00

3 to 7 wagers at a $2,000.00 max table, even at a $100.00 to a $10,000.00 max table, there are not a lot of greater chances left.  Huge risk, versus reward and consistent wins?  If you never witnessed 7 to 10 losing hands, you really have never got into playing baccarat yet.  You can easily finish those charts for any max limit table and figure out your risk, it is huge!  I see people do it all the time and I see more lose than even walk away with the one or two units. 

Problem being, once you lose a series of 5 to 7 wagers, as shown above with the Marty, you will be in deep by subscribing to that way of scheduled play.  Lose once or twice and attempt to make it all back at one or two units with further risk.  Nearly impossible.  I promise you that. 

I would say one of the safest, although no guarantees, is to enter after the 4th occurring same side result.  There are lots and lots of 2's and 3's and even 4's.  However, if the streak goes past the 4th repeating one, then you will lose your risk wager for that round.   And the highest majority of everyone will not stop with the first loss.  And, if you say, all I need is a $3,500.00 bankroll and I can repetitively win one or two units all day long.  Just split up my sessions, win and break, win and win and keep repeating.  Try it! It will not work, it will backfire on you and your $3,500.00 will be gone, fast.  Then attempt to recoup that by one and two unit wins of $25.00! It will take 124 times, winning 1 unit at a time to recoup.  You better have tens of thousands of dollars in bank roll to risk and lose frequently if that is your trend of thought.

There usually are short sections within most shoes, not all, but most, that do offer super opportunities for great returns in wagering if done correctly.  I have talked and exposed plenty in relationship to that.  You have to program your mind and be neutral. 
Since there are only a limited amount of repeating events, whether same side repeats, alternating, or anyone of the other possibilities, they are captivating providing a false positive believe, either by winning or losing with the hopes to win.  Stop falling prey to what the casino wants you to fall prey to.  The casino inflicts each of us with false beliefs in the upcoming betselections.  It happens.  It always did and it always will.  So face it.  However, the rest is up to each person, their style, how good or bad their gut feeling really are, and probably more so than anything else, the types of experiences the player has inflicted upon himself in an overall aspect. 

The two folded problem has to be overcome.  You don't do that by counting on winning to replace or obtain funds that you have lost.  You also do not count on future hands to produce the same results.  The list goes on, but those two will give you the basis for most of what you cannot count on and cannot do at the table.  To resolve the problems inflicted by your wrong decisions and beliefs in betselection, you must shift into a neutral frame of mind, not relying on anything to make you shift into the negative emotional and those frustration reactions of your lost wagers.  Real hard, very very difficult but a necessity of such basic knowledge that you have to master and do it flawlessly or your chances are reduced by huge amounts to win as well as walk away a winning more than you do a loser.

So, that is exactly why I attempt to follow my, "If I win I win", and "If I lose I will lose", type of play.  Not fighting it nearly as much as others do at the tables.  Relevance and Reality are what counts, not perception.  Short term success at the table is the path you want to find.  Once your mind wanders and once you start believing all the fallacy and the desires of others, you will somehow find yourself throwing gutter balls down the ally, time after time after time. 

Be extra careful, airports and other large public transportation venues, shopping malls--anything of the likes.

There has been a recent onslaught of 'Free Public WiFi' at public places such as those I listed.  They are either not from the intended source or a source that was authorized by the 'Landlord' or other property controller, and you will be hacked. 

The known mission of the ones already discovered has been 2 things.  One is installing controlling systems within your electronic device for ads and software solicitations, etc., and the other is to learn your personal ID, saved passwords and financial info, etc.

Be extra careful.

(I found the first article on the internet and I like the references to the early notable persons.  Especially, Casanova.  I pulled the Wiki on Casanova and highlighted the gambling section towards the bottom.  Good Read, IMO.)


Behind The Limits: What Minimum and Maximum Bets Are About

Have you ever thought about the reason behind the existence of minimum and maximum bets? The truth is simple: casinos want your money. As simple as that. So they restrict your possibilities to win.

It was in 1654 that Antoine Chevalier de Mere asked Pascal why he usually lost when he bet even money that are double, 6 would show up at least once in 24 rolls of two dice. Pascal demonstrated that 24 rolls would be against the gambler, but 25 rolls would be slightly in his favor.

Pascal solved the question, and sent the solution to Pierre Fermat and Christian Huygens. The science known as Probability Theory was born. Up to then gambling odds were found by trial and error. Pascal, however, was able to calculate the odds of chance in a scientific way.

But if one knows the odds he can find the way to trick them. Since that time people also began developing the schemes to beat the system. A good deal of the systems is build around increasing each consecutive bet as anticipation of winning grows, known as martingale systems. So gambling establishment elaborated a simple method shut out a game transformation in to jump with bets, where a resource-sufficient player was practically "doomed" on winning. Maximum bet has its limits.

In any world casino each table, be that roulette, blackjack or poker, features signs clearly defining minimum and maximum rate of bets on a given table. A difference between them can be in 10, 30 or even in 100 times. But nowhere to you will be allowed to multiply your bets without restriction.

Please pay attention, that the very existence of maximum bet limits proves that a system, founded on bets augmentation principle, threatens the success of the casino. Take any table in regular or even on-line casino. For example the one, on which minimum bet is $25, and maximum one is $1000. Why do you think you are not allowed to bet more than $1000 at once? Do you believe they won't have money to pay out? Or do they fear, that you will win and take your money home? But in VIP-halls of the same casino you can make a bet of $2000 or even $10000! And if you have specially requests you try negotiating with the administration to satisfy them. Most casinos have more than enough resources to meet any bet of yours.

The deal is about the correlation of maximum and minimum bets. So, in case the maximum is set at a $10000, the minimum bet will rarely be less than $100. The idea is to limit your double bets to certain number of times depending on the game. Usually you want be able to double more than 5 times. Otherwise your odd of winning become impermissible high.

In the Eighteenth century, Casanova hit upon a method to win at gambling. Each time he lost, he would redouble his bet until he won. In letters he wrote to the friends, he discusses how his martingale system would guarantee his win every time. And mere two days later, he wrote a letter from prison. The scheme had failed -- and series of losses overcame his funds, and he was now in debt. In 1755, after suffering ruinous gambling losses and participating in various illegitimate dealings, Casanova was denounced by the Venetian State Inquisitors and imprisoned beneath the lead roofs of the Venetian Ducal Palace, in place known as the "Leads".

______________________________________________________________________________________________________


Giacomo Casanova
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"Casanova" redirects here. For other uses, see Casanova (disambiguation).
Giacomo Casanova
Casanova ritratto.jpg
Drawing by his brother Francesco
Born   2 April 1725
Venice, Republic of Venice (Italy)
Died   4 June 1798 (aged 73)
Dux, Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire (now Duchcov, Czech Republic)
Parent(s)   Gaetano Giuseppe Casanova
Zanetta Farussi
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒaːkomo dʒiˈrɔːlamo kazaˈnɔːva] or [kasaˈnɔːva]; 2 April 1725 � 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice.[1][2] His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century.[3]

As was not uncommon at the time, Casanova, depending on circumstances, used more or less fictitious names, such as baron or count of Farussi (the name of his mother) or "Chevalier de Seingalt" (pronounced /sɛ̃ gɑl/ as in French).[4] He often signed his works "Jacques Casanova de Seingalt" after he began writing in French following his second exile from Venice.[5]

He has become so famous for his often complicated and elaborate affairs with women that his name is now synonymous with "womanizer". He associated with European royalty, popes, and cardinals, along with luminaries such as Voltaire, Goethe, and Mozart. He spent his last years in Bohemia as a librarian in Count Waldstein's household, where he also wrote the story of his life.

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725 to actress Zanetta Farussi, wife of actor and dancer Gaetano Casanova. Giacomo was the first of six children, being followed by Francesco Giuseppe (1727�1803), Giovanni Battista (1730�1795), Faustina Maddalena (1731�1736), Maria Maddalena Antonia Stella (1732�1800), and Gaetano Alvise (1734�1783).[6][7]

At the time of Casanova's birth, the city of Venice thrived as the pleasure capital of Europe, ruled by political and religious conservatives who tolerated social vices and encouraged tourism. It was a required stop on the Grand Tour, traveled by young men coming of age, especially Englishmen. The famed Carnival, gambling houses, and beautiful courtesans were powerful drawing cards. This was the milieu that bred Casanova and made him its most famous and representative citizen.[8]


San Samuele - Casanova's childhood neighborhood.
Casanova was cared for by his grandmother Marzia Baldissera while his mother toured about Europe in the theater. His father died when he was eight. As a child, Casanova suffered nosebleeds, and his grandmother sought help from a witch: "Leaving the gondola, we enter a hovel, where we find an old woman sitting on a pallet, with a black cat in her arms and five or six others around her."[9] Though the unguent applied was ineffective, Casanova was fascinated by the incantation.[10] Perhaps to remedy the nosebleeds (a physician blamed the density of Venice's air), Casanova, on his ninth birthday, was sent to a boarding house on the mainland in Padua. For Casanova, the neglect by his parents was a bitter memory. "So they got rid of me," he proclaimed.[11]

Conditions at the boarding house were appalling, so he appealed to be placed under the care of Abb� Gozzi, his primary instructor, who tutored him in academic subjects, as well as the violin. Casanova moved in with the priest and his family and lived there through most of his teenaged years.[12] In the Gozzi household, Casanova first came into contact with the opposite sex, when Gozzi's younger sister Bettina fondled him at the age of 11. Bettina was "pretty, lighthearted, and a great reader of romances. ... The girl pleased me at once, though I had no idea why. It was she who little by little kindled in my heart the first sparks of a feeling which later became my ruling passion."[13] Although she subsequently married, Casanova maintained a lifelong attachment to Bettina and the Gozzi family.[14]

Early on, Casanova demonstrated a quick wit, an intense appetite for knowledge, and a perpetually inquisitive mind. He entered the University of Padua at 12 and graduated at 17, in 1742, with a degree in law ("for which I felt an unconquerable aversion").[15] His guardian's hope was that he would become an ecclesiastical lawyer.[12] Casanova had also studied moral philosophy, chemistry, and mathematics, and was keenly interested in medicine. ("I should have been allowed to do as I wished and become a physician, in which profession quackery is even more effective than it is in legal practice."[15]) He frequently prescribed his own treatments for himself and friends.[16] While attending the university, Casanova began to gamble and quickly got into debt, causing his recall to Venice by his grandmother, but the gambling habit became firmly established.


Palazzo Malipiero c. 1716
Back in Venice, Casanova started his clerical law career and was admitted as an abb� after being conferred minor orders by the Patriarch of Venice. He shuttled back and forth to Padua to continue his university studies. By now, he had become something of a dandy�tall and dark, his long hair powdered, scented, and elaborately curled.[17] He quickly ingratiated himself with a patron (something he was to do all his life), 76-year-old Venetian senator Alvise Gasparo Malipiero, the owner of Palazzo Malipiero, close to Casanova's home in Venice.[18] Malipiero moved in the best circles and taught young Casanova a great deal about good food and wine, and how to behave in society. However, Casanova was caught dallying with Malipiero's intended object of seduction, actress Teresa Imer, and the senator drove both of them from his house.[14] Casanova's growing curiosity about women led to his first complete sexual experience, with two sisters, Nanetta and Marton Savorgnan, then 14 and 16, who were distant relatives of the Grimanis. Casanova proclaimed that his life avocation was firmly established by this encounter.[19]

Early career in Italy and abroad
Scandals tainted Casanova's short church career. After his grandmother's death, Casanova entered a seminary for a short while, but soon his indebtedness landed him in prison for the first time. An attempt by his mother to secure him a position with bishop Bernardo de Bernardis was rejected by Casanova after a very brief trial of conditions in the bishop's Calabrian see.[20] Instead, he found employment as a scribe with the powerful Cardinal Acquaviva in Rome. On meeting the pope, Casanova boldly asked for a dispensation to read the "forbidden books" and from eating fish (which he claimed inflamed his eyes). He also composed love letters for another cardinal. When Casanova became the scapegoat for a scandal involving a local pair of star-crossed lovers, Cardinal Acquaviva dismissed Casanova, thanking him for his sacrifice, but effectively ending his church career.[21]

In search of a new profession, Casanova bought a commission to become a military officer for the Republic of Venice. His first step was to look the part:

Reflecting that there was now little likelihood of my achieving fortune in my ecclesiastical career, I decided to dress as a soldier ... I inquire for a good tailor ... he brings me everything I need to impersonate a follower of Mars. ... My uniform was white, with a blue vest, a shoulder knot of silver and gold... I bought a long sword, and with my handsome cane in hand, a trim hat with a black cockade, with my hair cut in side whiskers and a long false pigtail, I set forth to impress the whole city.[22]

He joined a Venetian regiment at Corfu, his stay being broken by a brief trip to Constantinople, ostensibly to deliver a letter from his former master the Cardinal.[23] He found his advancement too slow and his duty boring, and he managed to lose most of his pay playing faro. Casanova soon abandoned his military career and returned to Venice.

At the age of 21, he set out to become a professional gambler, but losing all the money remaining from the sale of his commission, he turned to his old benefactor Alvise Grimani for a job. Casanova thus began his third career, as a violinist in the San Samuele theater, "a menial journeyman of a sublime art in which, if he who excels is admired, the mediocrity is rightly despised. ... My profession was not a noble one, but I did not care. Calling everything prejudice, I soon acquired all the habits of my degraded fellow musicians."[24] He and some of his fellows, "often spent our nights roaming through different quarters of the city, thinking up the most scandalous practical jokes and putting them into execution ... we amused ourselves by untying the gondolas moored before private homes, which then drifted with the current". They also sent midwives and physicians on false calls.[25]

Good fortune came to the rescue when Casanova, unhappy with his lot as a musician, saved the life of a Venetian nobleman of the Bragadin family, who had a stroke while riding with Casanova in a gondola after a wedding ball. They immediately stopped to have the senator bled. Then, at the senator's palace, a physician bled the senator again and applied an ointment of mercury to the senator's chest (mercury was an all-purpose but toxic remedy of the time). The mercury raised his temperature and induced a massive fever, and Bragadin appeared to be choking on his own swollen windpipe. A priest was called as death seemed to be approaching. However, despite protests from the attending physician, Casanova ordered the removal of the ointment and the washing of the senator's chest with cool water. The senator recovered from his illness with rest and a sensible diet.[26] Because of his youth and his facile recitation of medical knowledge, the senator and his two bachelor friends thought Casanova wise beyond his years, and concluded that he must be in possession of occult knowledge. As they were cabalists themselves, the senator invited Casanova into his household and became a lifelong patron.[27]

Casanova stated in his memoirs:

I took the most creditable, the noblest, and the only natural course. I decided to put myself in a position where I need no longer go without the necessities of life: and what those necessities were for me no one could judge better than me.... No one in Venice could understand how an intimacy could exist between myself and three men of their character, they all heaven and I all earth; they most severe in their morals, and I addicted to every kind of dissolute living.[28]

For the next three years under the senator's patronage, working nominally as a legal assistant, Casanova led the life of a nobleman, dressing magnificently and, as was natural to him, spending most of his time gambling and engaging in amorous pursuits.[29] His patron was exceedingly tolerant, but he warned Casanova that some day he would pay the price; "I made a joke of his dire Prophecies and went my way." However, not much later, Casanova was forced to leave Venice, due to further scandals. Casanova had dug up a freshly buried corpse to play a practical joke on an enemy and exact revenge, but the victim went into a paralysis, never to recover. And in another scandal, a young girl who had duped him accused him of rape and went to the officials.[30] Casanova was later acquitted of this crime for lack of evidence, but by this time, he had already fled from Venice.


Portrait of Casanova by Alessandro Longhi
Escaping to Parma, Casanova entered into a three-month affair with a Frenchwoman he named "Henriette", perhaps the deepest love he ever experienced�a woman who combined beauty, intelligence, and culture. In his words, "They who believe that a woman is incapable of making a man equally happy all the twenty-four hours of the day have never known an Henriette. The joy which flooded my soul was far greater when I conversed with her during the day than when I held her in my arms at night. Having read a great deal and having natural taste, Henriette judged rightly of everything."[31] She also judged Casanova astutely. As noted Casanovist J. Rives Childs wrote:

Perhaps no woman so captivated Casanova as Henriette; few women obtained so deep an understanding of him. She penetrated his outward shell early in their relationship, resisting the temptation to unite her destiny with his. She came to discern his volatile nature, his lack of social background, and the precariousness of his finances. Before leaving, she slipped into his pocket five hundred louis, mark of her evaluation of him.[32]

Grand tour
Crestfallen and despondent, Casanova returned to Venice, and after a good gambling streak, he recovered and set off on a grand tour, reaching Paris in 1750.[33] Along the way, from one town to another, he got into sexual escapades resembling operatic plots.[34] In Lyon, he entered the society of Freemasonry, which appealed to his interest in secret rites and which, for the most part, attracted men of intellect and influence who proved useful in his life, providing valuable contacts and uncensored knowledge. Casanova was also attracted to Rosicrucianism.[35]

Casanova stayed in Paris for two years, learned the language, spent much time at the theater, and introduced himself to notables. Soon, however, his numerous liaisons were noted by the Paris police, as they were in nearly every city he visited.[36]

In 1752, his brother Francesco and he moved from Paris to Dresden, where his mother and sister Maria Maddalena were living. His new play, La Moluccheide, now lost, was performed at the Royal Theatre, where his mother often played in lead roles.[37][38] He then visited Prague and Vienna, where the tighter moral atmosphere of the latter city was not to his liking. He finally returned to Venice in 1753.[39] In Venice, Casanova resumed his escapades, picking up many enemies and gaining the greater attention of the Venetian inquisitors. His police record became a lengthening list of reported blasphemies, seductions, fights, and public controversy.[40] A state spy, Giovanni Manucci, was employed to draw out Casanova's knowledge of cabalism and Freemasonry and to examine his library for forbidden books. Senator Bragadin, in total seriousness this time (being a former inquisitor himself), advised his "son" to leave immediately or face the stiffest consequences.

Imprisonment and escape
On 26 July 1755, at age 30, Casanova was arrested for affront to religion and common decency:[41] "The Tribunal, having taken cognizance of the grave faults committed by G. Casanova primarily in public outrages against the holy religion, their Excellencies have caused him to be arrested and imprisoned under the Leads."[42] "The Leads" was a prison of seven cells on the top floor of the east wing of the Doge's palace, reserved for prisoners of higher status as well as certain types of offenders�such as political prisoners, defrocked or libertine priests or monks, and usurers�and named for the lead plates covering the palace roof. The following 12 September, without a trial and without being informed of the reasons for his arrest and of the sentence, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment.[41][43]


"It's him. Place him in custody!"
He was placed in solitary confinement with clothing, a pallet bed, table, and armchair in "the worst of all the cells",[44] where he suffered greatly from the darkness, summer heat, and "millions of fleas". He was soon housed with a series of cellmates, and after five months and a personal appeal from Count Bragadin, was given warm winter bedding and a monthly stipend for books and better food. During exercise walks he was granted in the prison garret, he found a piece of black marble and an iron bar which he smuggled back to his cell; he hid the bar inside his armchair. When he was temporarily without cellmates, he spent two weeks sharpening the bar into a spike on the stone. Then he began to gouge through the wooden floor underneath his bed, knowing that his cell was directly above the Inquisitor's chamber.[45] Just three days before his intended escape, during a festival when no officials would be in the chamber below, Casanova was moved to a larger, lighter cell with a view, despite his protests that he was perfectly happy where he was. In his new cell, "I sat in my armchair like a man in a stupor; motionless as a statue, I saw that I had wasted all the efforts I had made, and I could not repent of them. I felt that I had nothing to hope for, and the only relief left to me was not to think of the future."[46]

Overcoming his inertia, Casanova set upon another escape plan. He solicited the help of the prisoner in the adjacent cell, Father Balbi, a renegade priest. The spike, carried to the new cell inside the armchair, was passed to the priest in a folio Bible carried under a heaping plate of pasta by the hoodwinked jailer. The priest made a hole in his ceiling, climbed across and made a hole in the ceiling of Casanova's cell. To neutralize his new cellmate, who was a spy, Casanova played on his superstitions and terrorized him into silence.[47] When Balbi broke through to Casanova's cell, Casanova lifted himself through the ceiling, leaving behind a note that quoted the 117th Psalm (Vulgate): "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord".[48]


Illustration from Story of My Flight
The spy remained behind, too frightened of the consequences if he were caught escaping with the others. Casanova and Balbi pried their way through the lead plates and onto the sloping roof of the Doge's Palace, with a heavy fog swirling. The drop to the nearby canal being too great, Casanova prised open the grate over a dormer window, and broke the window to gain entry. They found a long ladder on the roof, and with the additional use of a bedsheet "rope" that Casanova had prepared, lowered themselves into the room whose floor was 25 feet below. They rested until morning, changed clothes, then broke a small lock on an exit door and passed into a palace corridor, through galleries and chambers, and down stairs, where by convincing the guard they had inadvertently been locked into the palace after an official function, they left through a final door.[49][page needed] It was 6:00 in the morning and they escaped by gondola. Eventually, Casanova reached Paris, where he arrived on the same day (January 5, 1757) that Robert-Fran�ois Damiens made an attempt on the life of Louis XV.[50] (Casanova would later witness and describe his execution.)

Thirty years later in 1787, Casanova wrote Story of My Flight, which was very popular and was reprinted in many languages, and he repeated the tale a little later in his memoirs.[51] Casanova's judgment of the exploit is characteristic:

Thus did God provide me with what I needed for an escape which was to be a wonder if not a miracle. I admit that I am proud of it; but my pride does not come from my having succeeded, for luck had a good deal to do with that; it comes from my having concluded that the thing could be done and having had the courage to undertake it.[52]

Return to Paris
He knew his stay in Paris might be a long one and he proceeded accordingly: "I saw that to accomplish anything I must bring all my physical and moral faculties in play, make the acquaintance of the great and the powerful, exercise strict self-control, and play the chameleon."[53] Casanova had matured, and this time in Paris, though still depending at times on quick thinking and decisive action, he was more calculating and deliberate. His first task was to find a new patron. He reconnected with old friend de Bernis, now the Foreign Minister of France. Casanova was advised by his patron to find a means of raising funds for the state as a way to gain instant favor. Casanova promptly became one of the trustees of the first state lottery, and one of its best ticket salesmen. The enterprise earned him a large fortune quickly.[54] With money in hand, he traveled in high circles and undertook new seductions. He duped many socialites with his occultism, particularly the Marquise Jeanne d'Urf�, using his excellent memory which made him appear to have a sorcerer's power of numerology. In Casanova's view, "deceiving a fool is an exploit worthy of an intelligent man".[55]

Casanova claimed to be a Rosicrucian and an alchemist, aptitudes which made him popular with some of the most prominent figures of the era, among them Madame de Pompadour, Count de Saint-Germain, d'Alembert, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. So popular was alchemy among the nobles, particularly the search for the "philosopher's stone", that Casanova was highly sought after for his supposed knowledge, and he profited handsomely.[56] He met his match, however, in the Count de Saint-Germain: "This very singular man, born to be the most barefaced of all imposters, declared with impunity, with a casual air, that he was three hundred years old, that he possessed the universal medicine, that he made anything he liked from nature, that he created diamonds."[57]

De Bernis decided to send Casanova to Dunkirk on his first spying mission. Casanova was paid well for his quick work and this experience prompted one of his few remarks against the ancien r�gime and the class on which he was dependent. He remarked in hindsight, "All the French ministers are the same. They lavished money which came out of the other people's pockets to enrich their creatures, and they were absolute: The down-trodden people counted for nothing, and, through this, the indebtedness of the State and the confusion of finances were the inevitable results. A Revolution was necessary."[58]

As the Seven Years' War began, Casanova was again called to help increase the state treasury. He was entrusted with a mission of selling state bonds in Amsterdam, Holland being the financial center of Europe at the time.[59] He succeeded in selling the bonds at only an 8% discount, and the following year was rich enough to found a silk manufactory with his earnings. The French government even offered him a title and a pension if he would become a French citizen and work on behalf of the finance ministry, but he declined, perhaps because it would frustrate his Wanderlust.[60] Casanova had reached his peak of fortune, but could not sustain it. He ran the business poorly, borrowed heavily trying to save it, and spent much of his wealth on constant liaisons with his female workers who were his "harem".[61]

For his debts, Casanova was imprisoned again, this time at For-l'�v�que, but was liberated four days afterwards, upon the insistence of the Marquise d'Urf�. Unfortunately, though he was released, his patron de Bernis was dismissed by Louis XV at that time and Casanova's enemies closed in on him. He sold the rest of his belongings and secured another mission to Holland to distance himself from his troubles.[61]

On the run
This time, however, his mission failed and he fled to Cologne, then Stuttgart in the spring of 1760, where he lost the rest of his fortune. He was yet again arrested for his debts, but managed to escape to Switzerland. Weary of his wanton life, Casanova visited the monastery of Einsiedeln and considered the simple, scholarly life of a monk. He returned to his hotel to think on the decision, only to encounter a new object of desire, and reverting to his old instincts, all thoughts of a monk's life were quickly forgotten.[62] Moving on, he visited Albrecht von Haller and Voltaire, and arrived in Marseille, then Genoa, Florence, Rome, Naples, Modena, and Turin, moving from one sexual romp to another.[63]

In 1760, Casanova started styling himself the Chevalier de Seingalt, a name he would increasingly use for the rest of his life. On occasion, he would also call himself Count de Farussi (using his mother's maiden name) and when Pope Clement XIII presented Casanova with the Papal Order of the �peron d'or, he had an impressive cross and ribbon to display on his chest.[64]

Back in Paris, he set about one of his most outrageous schemes�convincing his old dupe the Marquise d'Urf� that he could turn her into a young man through occult means. The plan did not yield Casanova the big payoff he had hoped for, and the Marquise d'Urf� finally lost faith in him.[65]

Casanova traveled to England in 1763, hoping to sell his idea of a state lottery to English officials. He wrote of the English, "the people have a special character, common to the whole nation, which makes them think they are superior to everyone else. It is a belief shared by all nations, each thinking itself the best. And they are all right."[66] Through his connections, he worked his way up to an audience with King George III, using most of the valuables he had stolen from the Marquise d'Urf�. While working the political angles, he also spent much time in the bedroom, as was his habit. As a means to find females for his pleasure, not being able to speak English, he put an advertisement in the newspaper to let an apartment to the "right" person. He interviewed many young women, choosing one "Mistress Pauline" who suited him well. Soon, he established himself in her apartment and seduced her. These and other liaisons, however, left him weak with venereal disease and he left England broke and ill.[67]

He went on to the Austrian Netherlands, recovered, and then for the next three years, traveled all over Europe, covering about 4,500 miles by coach over rough roads, and going as far as Moscow and St Petersburg (the average daily coach trip being about 30 miles). Again, his principal goal was to sell his lottery scheme to other governments and repeat the great success he had with the French government, but a meeting with Frederick the Great bore no fruit and in the surrounding German lands, the same result. Not lacking either connections or confidence, Casanova went to Russia and met with Catherine the Great, but she flatly turned down the lottery idea.[68]

In 1766, he was expelled from Warsaw following a pistol duel with Colonel Franciszek Ksawery Branicki over an Italian actress, a lady friend of theirs. Both duelists were wounded, Casanova on the left hand. The hand recovered on its own, after Casanova refused the recommendation of doctors that it be amputated.[69] From Warsaw, he traveled to Breslau in the Kingdom of Prussia, then to Dresden, where he contracted yet another venereal infection.[70][71][72] He returned to Paris for several months in 1767 and hit the gambling salons, only to be expelled from France by order of Louis XV himself, primarily for Casanova's scam involving the Marquise d'Urf�.[73] Now known across Europe for his reckless behavior, Casanova would have difficulty overcoming his notoriety and gaining any fortune, so he headed for Spain, where he was not as well known. He tried his usual approach, leaning on well-placed contacts (often Freemasons), wining and dining with nobles of influence, and finally arranging an audience with the local monarch, in this case Charles III. When no doors opened for him, however, he could only roam across Spain, with little to show for it. In Barcelona, he escaped assassination and landed in jail for 6 weeks. His Spanish adventure a failure, he returned to France briefly, then to Italy.[74]

Return to Venice
In Rome, Casanova had to prepare a way for his return to Venice. While waiting for supporters to gain him legal entry into Venice, Casanova began his modern Tuscan-Italian translation of the Iliad, his History of the Troubles in Poland, and a comic play. To ingratiate himself with the Venetian authorities, Casanova did some commercial spying for them. After months without a recall, however, he wrote a letter of appeal directly to the Inquisitors. At last, he received his long-sought permission and burst into tears upon reading "We, Inquisitors of State, for reasons known to us, give Giacomo Casanova a free safe-conduct ... empowering him to come, go, stop, and return, hold communication wheresoever he pleases without let or hindrance. So is our will." Casanova was permitted to return to Venice in September 1774 after 18 years of exile.[75]

At first, his return to Venice was a cordial one and he was a celebrity. Even the Inquisitors wanted to hear how he had escaped from their prison. Of his three bachelor patrons, however, only Dandolo was still alive and Casanova was invited back to live with him. He received a small stipend from Dandolo and hoped to live from his writings, but that was not enough. He reluctantly became a spy again for Venice, paid by piece work, reporting on religion, morals, and commerce, most of it based on gossip and rumor he picked up from social contacts.[76] He was disappointed. No financial opportunities of interest came about and few doors opened for him in society as in the past.

At age 49, the years of reckless living and the thousands of miles of travel had taken their toll. Casanova's smallpox scars, sunken cheeks, and hook nose became all the more noticeable. His easygoing manner was now more guarded. Prince Charles de Ligne, a friend (and uncle of his future employer), described him around 1784:

He would be a good-looking man if he were not ugly; he is tall and built like Hercules, but of an African tint; eyes full of life and fire, but touchy, wary, rancorous�and this gives him a ferocious air. It is easier to put him in a rage than to make him gay. He laughs little, but makes others laugh. ... He has a manner of saying things which reminds me of Harlequin or Figaro, and which makes them sound witty.[77]

Venice had changed for him. Casanova now had little money for gambling, few willing females worth pursuing, and few acquaintances to enliven his dull days. He heard of the death of his mother and, more paining, visited the deathbed of Bettina Gozzi, who had first introduced him to sex and who died in his arms. His Iliad was published in three volumes, but to limited subscribers and yielding little money. He got into a published dispute with Voltaire over religion. When he asked, "Suppose that you succeed in destroying superstition. With what will you replace it?" Voltaire shot back, "I like that. When I deliver humanity from a ferocious beast which devours it, can I be asked what I shall put in its place." From Casanova's point of view, if Voltaire had "been a proper philosopher, he would have kept silent on that subject ... the people need to live in ignorance for the general peace of the nation".[78]

In 1779, Casanova found Francesca, an uneducated seamstress, who became his live-in lover and housekeeper, and who loved him devotedly.[79] Later that year, the Inquisitors put him on the payroll and sent him to investigate commerce between the papal states and Venice. Other publishing and theater ventures failed, primarily from lack of capital. In a downward spiral, Casanova was expelled again from Venice in 1783, after writing a vicious satire poking fun at Venetian nobility. In it, he made his only public statement that Grimani was his true father.[80]

Forced to resume his travels again, Casanova arrived in Paris, and in November 1783 met Benjamin Franklin while attending a presentation on aeronautics and the future of balloon transport.[81] For a while, Casanova served as secretary and pamphleteer to Sebastian Foscarini, Venetian ambassador in Vienna. He also became acquainted with Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart's librettist, who noted about Casanova, "This singular man never liked to be in the wrong."[82] Notes by Casanova indicate that he may have made suggestions to Da Ponte concerning the libretto for Mozart's Don Giovanni.[83]

Final years in Bohemia
In 1785, after Foscarini died, Casanova began searching for another position. A few months later, he became the librarian to Count Joseph Karl von Waldstein, a chamberlain of the emperor, in the Castle of Dux, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). The Count�himself a Freemason, cabalist, and frequent traveler�had taken to Casanova when they had met a year earlier at Foscarini's residence. Although the job offered security and good pay, Casanova describes his last years as boring and frustrating, though it was the most productive time for writing.[84] His health had deteriorated dramatically, and he found life among peasants to be less than stimulating. He was only able to make occasional visits to Vienna and Dresden for relief. Although Casanova got on well with the Count, his employer was a much younger man with his own eccentricities. The Count often ignored him at meals and failed to introduce him to important visiting guests. Moreover, Casanova, the testy outsider, was thoroughly disliked by most of the other inhabitants of the Castle of Dux. Casanova's only friends seemed to be his fox terriers. In despair, Casanova considered suicide, but instead decided that he must live on to record his memoirs, which he did until his death.[85]


Dux Castle, c. 1900
He visited Prague, the capital city and principal cultural center of Bohemia, on many occasions. In October 1787, he met Lorenzo da Ponte, the librettist of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, in Prague at the time of the opera's first production and likely met the composer, as well, at the same time. There is reason to believe that he was also in Prague in 1791 for the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II as king of Bohemia, an event that included the first production of Mozart's opera La clemenza di Tito. Casanova is known to have drafted dialogue suitable for a Don Juan drama at the time of his visit to Prague in 1787, but none of his verses were ever incorporated into Mozart's opera. His reaction to seeing licentious behavior similar to his own held up to moral scrutiny as it is in Mozart's opera is not recorded.[86]

In 1797, word arrived that the Republic of Venice had ceased to exist and that Napoleon Bonaparte had seized Casanova's home city. It was too late to return home. Casanova died on June 4, 1798, at age 73. His last words are said to have been "I have lived as a philosopher and I die as a Christian".[87] Casanova was buried at Dux (nowadays Duchcov in the Czech Republic), but the exact place of his grave was forgotten over the years, and remains unknown today.

Memoirs
Main article: Histoire de ma vie

Page from the autograph manuscript of Histoire de ma vie
The isolation and boredom of Casanova's last years enabled him to focus without distractions on his Histoire de ma vie, without which his fame would have been considerably diminished, if not blotted out entirely. He began to think about writing his memoirs around 1780 and began in earnest by 1789, as "the only remedy to keep from going mad or dying of grief". The first draft was completed by July 1792, and he spent the next six years revising it. He puts a happy face on his days of loneliness, writing in his work, "I can find no pleasanter pastime than to converse with myself about my own affairs and to provide a most worthy subject for laughter to my well-bred audience."[88] His memoirs were still being compiled at the time of his death, his account having reached only the summer of 1774.[89] A letter by him in 1792 states that he was reconsidering his decision to publish them, believing that his story was despicable and he would make enemies by writing the truth about his affairs. But he decided to proceed, using initials instead of actual names and toning down the strongest passages.[90] He wrote in French instead of Italian because "the French language is more widely known than mine".[91]

The memoirs open with:

I begin by declaring to my reader that, by everything good or bad that I have done throughout my life, I am sure that I have earned merit or incurred guilt, and that hence I must consider myself a free agent. ... Despite an excellent moral foundation, the inevitable fruit of the divine principles which were rooted in my heart, I was all my life the victim of my senses; I have delighted in going astray and I have constantly lived in error, with no other consolation than that of knowing I have erred. ... My follies are the follies of youth. You will see that I laugh at them, and if you are kind you will laugh at them with me.[92]

Casanova wrote about the purpose of his book:

I expect the friendship, the esteem, and the gratitude of my readers. Their gratitude, if reading my memoirs will have given instruction and pleasure. Their esteem if, doing me justice, they will have found that I have more virtues than faults; and their friendship as soon as they come to find me deserving of it by the frankness and good faith with which I submit myself to their judgment without in any way disguising what I am.[93]

He also advises his readers that they "will not find all my adventures. I have left out those which would have offended the people who played a part in them, for they would cut a sorry figure in them. Even so, there are those who will sometimes think me too indiscreet; I am sorry for it."[94] And in the final chapter, the text abruptly breaks off with hints at adventures unrecorded: "Three years later I saw her in Padua, where I resumed my acquaintance with her daughter on far more tender terms."[95]

In their original publication, the memoirs were divided into twelve volumes, and the unabridged English translation by Willard R. Trask runs to more than 3,500 pages. Though his chronology is at times confusing and inaccurate, and many of his tales exaggerated, much of his narrative and many details are corroborated by contemporary writings. He has a good ear for dialogue and writes at length about all classes of society.[96] Casanova, for the most part, is candid about his faults, intentions, and motivations, and shares his successes and failures with good humor.[97] The confession is largely devoid of repentance or remorse. He celebrates the senses with his readers, especially regarding music, food, and women. "I have always liked highly seasoned food. ... As for women, I have always found that the one I was in love with smelled good, and the more copious her sweat the sweeter I found it."[98] He mentions over 120 adventures with women and girls, with several veiled references to male lovers as well.[99][100] He describes his duels and conflicts with scoundrels and officials, his entrapments and his escapes, his schemes and plots, his anguish and his sighs of pleasure. He demonstrates convincingly, "I can say vixi ('I have lived')."[88]

The manuscript of Casanova's memoirs was held by his relatives until it was sold to F. A. Brockhaus publishers, and first published in heavily abridged versions in German around 1822, then in French. During World War II, the manuscript survived the allied bombing of Leipzig. The memoirs were heavily pirated through the ages and have been translated into some twenty languages. But not until 1960 was the entire text published in its original language of French.[101] In 2010 the manuscript was acquired by the National Library of France, which has started digitizing it.[102]

Relationships
For Casanova, as well as his contemporary sybarites of the upper class, love and sex tended to be casual and not endowed with the seriousness characteristic of the Romanticism of the 19th century.[103] Flirtations, bedroom games, and short-term liaisons were common among nobles who married for social connections rather than love.

Although multi-faceted and complex, Casanova's personality, as he described it, was dominated by his sensual urges: "Cultivating whatever gave pleasure to my senses was always the chief business of my life; I never found any occupation more important. Feeling that I was born for the sex opposite of mine, I have always loved it and done all that I could to make myself loved by it."[98] He noted that he sometimes used "assurance caps" to prevent impregnating his mistresses.[104]

Casanova's ideal liaison had elements beyond sex, including complicated plots, heroes and villains, and gallant outcomes. In a pattern he often repeated, he would discover an attractive woman in trouble with a brutish or jealous lover (Act I); he would ameliorate her difficulty (Act II); she would show her gratitude; he would seduce her; a short exciting affair would ensue (Act III); feeling a loss of ardor or boredom setting in, he would plead his unworthiness and arrange for her marriage or pairing with a worthy man, then exit the scene (Act IV).[105] As William Bolitho points out in Twelve Against the Gods, the secret of Casanova's success with women "had nothing more esoteric in it than [offering] what every woman who respects herself must demand: all that he had, all that he was, with (to set off the lack of legality) the dazzling attraction of the lump sum over what is more regularly doled out in a lifetime of installments."[106]

Casanova advises, "There is no honest woman with an uncorrupted heart whom a man is not sure of conquering by dint of gratitude. It is one of the surest and shortest means."[107] Alcohol and violence, for him, were not proper tools of seduction.[108] Instead, attentiveness and small favors should be employed to soften a woman's heart, but "a man who makes known his love by words is a fool". Verbal communication is essential�"without speech, the pleasure of love is diminished by at least two-thirds"�but words of love must be implied, not boldly proclaimed.[107]

Mutual consent is important, according to Casanova, but he avoided easy conquests or overly difficult situations as not suitable for his purposes. [108] These claims however contradicted with some of his acts which included rape of a 12 year old. [1] He strove to be the ideal escort in the first act�witty, charming, confidential, helpful�before moving into the bedroom in the third act. Casanova claims not to be predatory ("my guiding principle has been never to direct my attack against novices or those whose prejudices were likely to prove an obstacle"); however, his conquests did tend to be insecure or emotionally exposed women. [109]

Casanova valued intelligence in a woman: "After all, a beautiful woman without a mind of her own leaves her lover with no resource after he had physically enjoyed her charms." His attitude towards educated women, however, was an unfavorable one: "In a woman learning is out of place; it compromises the essential qualities of her sex ... no scientific discoveries have been made by women ... (which) requires a vigor which the female sex cannot have. But in simple reasoning and in delicacy of feeling we must yield to women."[31]

Casanova writes that he stopped short of intercourse with a 13 year old named Helene: "little Helene, whom I enjoyed, while leaving her intact." In 1765, when he was forty, he purchased a twelve-year-old girl in St. Petersburg as a sexual slave. In the memoirs he described the Russian girl as emphatically prepubescent: "Her breasts had still not finished budding. She was in her thirteenth year. She had nowhere the definitive mark of puberty." (III, 196�7; X, 116�17). In 1774, when he was almost fifty, Casanova encountered in Trieste a former lover, the actress Irene, now accompanied by her nine-year-old daughter. "A few days later she came, with her daughter, who pleased me (qui me plut) and who did not reject my caresses. One fine day, she met with Baron Pittoni, who loved little girls as much as I did (aimant autant que moi les petites filles), and took a liking to Irene�s girl, and asked the mother to do him the same honor some time that she had done to me. I encouraged her to receive the offer, and the baron fell in love. This was lucky for Irene." (XII, 238).[110]

Gambling
Gambling was a common recreation in the social and political circles in which Casanova moved. In his memoirs, Casanova discusses many forms of 18th century gambling�including lotteries, faro, basset, piquet, biribi, primero, quinze, and whist�and the passion for it among the nobility and the high clergy.[111] Cheats (known as "correctors of fortune") were somewhat more tolerated than today in public casinos and in private games for invited players, and seldom caused affront. Most gamblers were on guard against cheaters and their tricks. Scams of all sorts were common, and Casanova was amused by them.[112]

Casanova gambled throughout his adult life, winning and losing large sums. He was tutored by professionals, and he was "instructed in those wise maxims without which games of chance ruin those who participate in them". He was not above occasionally cheating and at times even teamed with professional gamblers for his own profit. Casanova claims that he was "relaxed and smiling when I lost, and I won without covetousness". However, when outrageously duped himself, he could act violently, sometimes calling for a duel.[113] Casanova admits that he was not disciplined enough to be a professional gambler: "I had neither prudence enough to leave off when fortune was adverse, nor sufficient control over myself when I had won."[114] Nor did he like being considered as a professional gambler: "Nothing could ever be adduced by professional gamblers that I was of their infernal clique."[114] Although Casanova at times used gambling tactically and shrewdly�for making quick money, for flirting, making connections, acting gallantly, or proving himself a gentleman among his social superiors�his practice also could be compulsive and reckless, especially during the euphoria of a new sexual affair. "Why did I gamble when I felt the losses so keenly? What made me gamble was avarice. I loved to spend, and my heart bled when I could not do it with money won at cards."[115]

Fame and influence
Casanova was recognized by his contemporaries as an extraordinary person, a man of far-ranging intellect and curiosity.[citation needed]Casanova has been recognized by posterity as one of the foremost chroniclers of his age. He was a true adventurer, traveling across Europe from end to end in search of fortune, seeking out the most prominent people of his time to help his cause.[citation needed] He was a servant of the establishment and equally decadent as his times, but also a participant in secret societies and a seeker of answers beyond the conventional. He was religious, a devout Catholic, and believed in prayer: "Despair kills; prayer dissipates it; and after praying man trusts and acts." Along with prayer he also believed in free will and reason, but clearly did not subscribe to the notion that pleasure-seeking would keep him from heaven.[116]

He was, by vocation and avocation, a lawyer, clergyman, military officer, violinist, con man, pimp, gourmand, dancer, businessman, diplomat, spy, politician, medic, mathematician, social philosopher, cabalist, playwright, and writer.[citation needed] He wrote over twenty works, including plays and essays, and many letters. His novel Icosameron is an early work of science fiction.[99]

Born of actors, he had a passion for the theater and for an improvised, theatrical life. But with all his talents, he frequently succumbed to the quest for pleasure and sex, often avoiding sustained work and established plans, and got himself into trouble when prudent action would have served him better. His true occupation was living largely on his quick wits, steely nerves, luck, social charm, and the money given to him in gratitude and by trickery.[117]

Prince Charles de Ligne, who understood Casanova well, and who knew most of the prominent individuals of the age, thought Casanova the most interesting man he had ever met: "there is nothing in the world of which he is not capable." Rounding out the portrait, the Prince also stated:

The only things about which he knows nothing are those which he believes himself to be expert: the rules of the dance, the French language, good taste, the way of the world, savoir vivre. It is only his comedies which are not funny, only his philosophical works which lack philosophy�all the rest are filled with it; there is always something weighty, new, piquant, profound. He is a well of knowledge, but he quotes Homer and Horace ad nauseam. His wit and his sallies are like Attic salt. He is sensitive and generous, but displease him in the slightest and he is unpleasant, vindictive, and detestable. He believes in nothing except what is most incredible, being superstitious about everything. He loves and lusts after everything. ... He is proud because he is nothing. ... Never tell him you have heard the story he is going to tell you. ... Never omit to greet him in passing, for the merest trifle will make him your enemy.[118]

"Casanova", like "Don Juan", is a long established term in the English language. According to Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., the noun Casanova means "Lover; esp: a man who is a promiscuous and unscrupulous lover". The first usage of the term in written English was around 1852. References in culture to Casanova are numerous�in books, films, theater, and music.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WHO WAS CASANOVA?

Today, Casanova is best known as one of the most famous lovers in history. But the Venetian was more than a womanizer. He was a scam artist and scofflaw, an alchemist, spy and church cleric. He wrote satires, fought duels, and escaped from prison more than once.

And? Casanova was simply fascinating.

In homage to Valentine's Day, we bring you... the real Casanova. Read on—and prepare to be shocked!

Church to military to music... and womanizing

Born in Venice in 1725, Casanova was a sharp child—so sharp, in fact, that he entered the University of Padua at the age of 12. After graduating, he took up some of the vices that would make him a name Europe-wide. Gambling, for one. Women, for another. Whether it was his wit, his charm, or his style (or maybe just his hair, which he powdered, scented, and curled), they loved him. But it's said that he really found his passion for them, too, when he had an affair not just with a 16-year-old girl, but with her 14-year-old sister... at the same time. (If that weren't bad enough, years later, Casanova wound up in bed with one of the two sisters again—and her daughter... who was also his).

At the time, Casanova worked as a church cleric. It didn't last long. His gambling debts landed him in prison, and after a couple of other false starts in the Church, he had to start over. His new career? As a soldier. "I bought a long sword, and with my handsome cane in hand, a trim hat with a black cockade, with my hair cut in side whiskers and a long false pigtail, I set forth to impress the whole city," Casanova writes in his memoirs. But, finding military life boring and owing yet still more money from gambling, Casanova quit the military.

Now 21 years old, Casanova became a violinist. There, he caught the eye of a senator—being in the right place at the right time and saving his life certainly helped—who invited Casanova into his house and became his patron. But Casanova ran into trouble again. He fled Venice, escaped to Parma, fell in love, and had his heart broken. He went on a Grand Tour and seduced dozens of women. He became a Freemason, wrote a play, and finally, on 1753, returned to Venice.

And things were just getting started.

Escapades and imprisonment

The Doge's Palace, where Casanova was imprisoned—imagine trying to break through that roof!

News of Casanova's escapades—his tawdry affairs with everyone from married women to nuns to virgins, his gambling, his association with Freemasonry—had caught up with him. At 30 years old, Casanova was arrested by the Venice Tribunal, "primarily," the Tribunal said, for his "public outrages against the holy religion."

He was imprisoned in "The Leads." And sentenced to remain there for five years.

The cell, so-nicknamed because of the lead plates covering the roof, was thought to be completely inescapable. Almost pitch-dark, and with such a low ceiling Casanova couldn't even stand up straight, it was located on the top floor (of five) of the Doge's Palace. Like the rest of the prisons, it was heavily guarded. Escaping seemed impossible. Escaping and not being seen on the roof of the most famous building in Venice... or not being heard while clattering down the lead tiles? Even more so.

Casanova remained in "The Leads" for 13 months. His patron, Count Bragadin, finally convinced his keepers to move him. And Casanova was heartbroken.

Why? Because he had been thisclose to breaking out. One day, while on a walk that he was allowed to take for exercise in the prison attic, he'd found a piece of black marble and an iron bar; he'd shaped the bar into a sharp chisel against the marble and then started to dig through the wooden floor beneath his bed. He knew his cell was right above the chamber of the Inquisitor—an issue he'd deal with after he escaped. But he never got the chance.

Instead, just three days before he planned to escape, he was moved into his new, larger, and more lit cell. But he didn't languish in despair for long. It was time for Plan B.

Casanova's daring escape

A priest lived in the cell right above Casanova. The priest liked to read, and the jailers were okay if the two educated prisoners exchanged books. Casanova wrote a note, using mulberry juice for ink, and stuck it in the book's spine. The two started writing back and forth. Casanova told the priest he planned to escape—and asked for his help. All he had to do, he said, was break through his floor into Casanova's cell. Then Casanova would spirit them both away.

The priest, Balbi, agreed. Casanova sent him the spike he'd made: It was hidden in a Bible, which was carried under a big plate of pasta. After weeks of work, the priest broke through. But there was a new problem. Casanova had a new cellmate.... and he was a spy for the Doge's Council of 10, something he immediately told Casanova. Ever the trickster, Casanova played on his new cell mate's extreme faith. It had been revealed to him in a dream, Casanova told the man, that an angel was going to come deliver him from prison. When the two of them heard the priest digging away, that, Casanova said, was the angel.

The man believed him.

Balbi's cell was right under the roof of the palace, so the two of them pried their way through the lead plates and, using the sheets, blankets, and even his mattress cover that Casanova had cut up and tied together to make "rope," hoisted themselves onto the roof. But it was much too far to jump. Casanova searched everywhere. Nothing. Finally, after an hour, he saw a dormer window, two-thirds down the roof's slope. Using his pick, he pried off the grate over the window—and, after a perilous attempt that included Casanova himself almost sliding over the roof to his death, he was able to get both him and the priest inside.

And Casanova escaped on a gondola...

After resting, the pair broke a lock, walked into a palace corridor, and strolled out. They escaped by gondola at sunrise. "Thus," Casanova wrote, "did God provide me with what I needed for an escape which was to be a wonder if not a miracle. I admit that I am proud of it."

Casanova's many scams

As much of a close call as his imprisonment was, Casanova didn't take it as a sign that he should give up the game and retire to something a little more staid.

Instead, he fled to Paris—and pretended to be an alchemist. Every patrician wanted a piece of Casanova. He told them that he was 300 years old, that he could create diamonds from scratch. He caught the eye of a count, who saw through Casanova and decided that—given his ability to say anything with a straight face—he'd make an excellent spy.

One of his missions was to sell state bonds in Amsterdam. He became a wealthy man... and then lost his wealth, particularly by spending it on his many lovers. Between his debts, and his many enemies, he found himself on the lam again.

In 1760, completely penniless, Casanova's schemes became wilder and wilder. He made up a new personality for himself: He was now the "Chevalier de Seingalt." He went back to Paris and convinced a noblewoman he could make her a young man, using occult means... if she paid him enough. He traveled to England and scammed his way into an audience with King George III. He met with Catherine the Great, trying to sell her the idea for a Russian lottery scheme. He dueled a colonel in Warsaw over an Italian actress.

Casanova in 1788

In 1774, after 18 years of exile, Casanova won the right to return to Venice. Just nine years later, he wrote a vicious satire of Venetian nobility that got him expelled once more.

In his later years, Casanova slowed down—slightly. He became the librarian to Count Joseph Karl von Waldstein in Bohemia, a position Casanova found so lonely and boring he considered suicide. He resisted the temptation, but only in order to record his memoirs.

Venice was seized by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797. Casanova died the following year. He was 73 years old.

Closing Argument
By: Bruce Cutler
Published:2003
Publisher:  Crown Publisher

Book mostly about John Gotti and the his defense attorney Bruce Cutler.  It is a deep and emotional factual based story as told mostly by Bruce Cutler. 

Lots of history here and lots of open ended innuendos.  If you are familiar with John Gotti and the Mafia, you should read this book.  It is an easy read, not complicated and not a book you need to research things to figure out, etc. 

If you did not know, Bruce Cutler was partners with Barry Slotnick a very famous criminal attorney in NYC.  Slotnick's clients were, Joseph Colombo, Carmine Persico and Bernard Goetz, among hundreds of other headline defendants charged with crimes.

Bruce Cutler won several acquittals for John Gotti, earning Gotti the nickname, The Teflon Don".  Bruce Cutler was not allowed to defend John Gotti in his last trail, the one that sent Gotti to prison where he past away. 

Here is what Wiki wrote about Cutler:

"His father, Murray Cutler, was a New York City detective who later became a criminal defense attorney. While being interviewed on the radio program Conversations With Allan Wolper on WBGO 88.3 FM, Cutler said that he was inspired by his father's pro-labor, pro-union loyalties to a FDR-style Social Democratic position.

Cutler gained notoriety in the 1980s when he won three acquittals for Gambino Crime Family boss John Gotti (including one where at least one juror accepted a bribe in return for voting to find Gotti not guilty).

When Gotti was indicted in 1990 for the 1985 murder of Paul Castellano and several other crimes, presiding judge I. Leo Glasser disqualified Cutler and two associates from representing Gotti. Citing evidence from wiretaps at Gotti's Ravenite club, prosecutors contended that Cutler and his colleagues may have known about criminal activity. Since the attorney-client privilege doesn't apply in these circumstances, prosecutors argued that Cutler was "part of the evidence" and thus liable to be called as a witness. They also argued that Cutler had represented other potential witnesses and thus had a conflict of interest. Glasser sided with the prosecutors, contending that Cutler was the "in-house counsel" for the Gambino family.

Cutler appeared in the Robert De Niro and Ed Burns film, 15 Minutes, playing himself. He also appeared on Court TV, with attorney Ed Hayes, discussing criminal cases and current events on Cutler and Hayes, and on the CW network has his own TV show, Jury Duty. He also made two guest star appearances in the episodes "Drawing Dead" and "Open Secrets" of the 4th season of the CBS show Blue Bloods. He is godfather to Hayes' daughter, Avery.

Cutler had served as the lead defense attorney for Phil Spector until August 27, 2007, when he announced that he was leaving Spector's defense due to "a difference of opinion between Mr. Spector and me on strategy."

Between October 2014 and February 2017, the law office of Bruce Cutler maintained an Of Counsel relationship with The Law Firm of Dmitriy Shakhnevich."

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in the subject or the people. 

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Deal With The Devil
By:  Peter Lance
Published: 2013
Harper Collins Publishers


Good read, one of the best for factual and background events regarding the Mafia families.  This book focuses on Gregory Scarpa, Sr., whom was an informant for the FBI.  Scarpa was in the top ranks of the Colombo crime family. 

The book brings out official corruption as well as the dealings of the mafia.  Extensive factual acknowledgements, appendix and references as well.  Hundreds if not thousands of factual references and notes regarding each chapter. 

Great book IMO, if you are at all interested in the subject at hand.  BTW, I am from NYC and I had a partner who happened to be a brother to one of the infamous mob bosses of NYC as well. 

Highly recommended.  Thanks, Glen.

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http://www.autonews.com/article/20171011/OEM02/171019849/billy-gwalters-prison-indictment-dealer

Man, these people let gambling go to their head, no matter what they have or what they can legally do in a non-gambling atmosphere.  LOL, as many of these I see, I can't understand how they think and what they do!