Thanks to my iPod touch, I am on my way to developing the fastest thumb in the west. Which may not be anything to boast about...

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One last little thing this time out!

A skeptical reader (the one who said I'm too obsessed with simulations to play real table games!) now accuses me of mounting a campaign to put casinos everywhere out of business.

Quelle crappe, as they say in Montreal. Or is it quelle merde?

I admit to being no admirer of casino operators, especially the saintly 60 Minutes subject who put a stop to all the good "RFB" deals that made Las Vegas affordable fun, and replaced them with outright rip-offs that set Sin City beyond the reach of most people's wallets.

I also despise craven "lawmakers" who would rather pretend that legalized gambling benefits the national economy (and morals) than fearlessly do their jobs and fund state and federal services by legitimate means.

But I know that barely one gambler in a thousand has any serious interest in learning how to win consistently, and most members of that microscopic minority doubt that it can be done.

Even Saint Youknowwho boasts that gambling's only long-term winners are the people who own casinos.

My best hope is to be a mosquito who extracts a little blood here and there while buzzing under the "gaming" industry's radar and avoiding its gilded (and guilt-free) swatter.

Gambling without a viable strategy is, in my opinion, akin to setting your money on fire and flushing the ashes down the toilet.

Gambling without casinos would be a frustratingly unprofitable proposition (although as long as there are suckers, there will always be games for them to bet on).

I will tire of one-thumb 21 soon enough...and then I'll be back to the casinos in my neighborhood.

Let's be clear: I love casinos.

I just don't think they should be allowed to get their greedy hands on our hard-earned money without a fight that the math says they will probably lose.

An important reminder: The only person likely to make money out of this blog is you, Dear Reader. There's nothing to buy, ever, and your soul is safe (from me, at least). Test my ideas and use them or don't. It's up to you.
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