High Roller Radio

"I used to be a heavy gambler. But now I just make mental bets. That's how I lost my mind."
- Steve Allen


"A Gentleman is a man who will pay his gambling debts, even when he knows he has been cheated."
- Leo Tolstoy

"Someone once asked me why women don't gamble as much as men do and I gave the commonsensical reply that we don't have as much money. That was a true but incomplete answer. In fact, women's total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage."
- Gloria Steinem

Beatable Casino Games

& Why He Chose Video Poker

(Above) High Roller Radio spoke to author Greg Elder, Gamblers Fight Back, about his quest to survive and thrive inside a casino.

"I have always looked for an edge. I probably only played without an edge twice in my life. At least, every other time I thought I had an edge. I remember those two times I played without an edge very clearly. I remember the thrill, which is totally different than when you’re gambling for a living."

- Al Francesco, the Godfather of Team Play Blackjack


"Poker is like sex. Everyone thinks they’re great at it but most don’t have a clue!”
- Dutch Boyd


"Treat poker like an English dinner; they're the fish and you're the chips."
- Derrick Oliver Dewan

A Gambler's Word?
"A gambler's word is as good as his bond, and that is more than I can say of many businessmen who stand very high in the community. I would rather take a true gambler's word than the bond of many businessmen who are today counted worth thousands. The gambler will pay when he has money, which many good church members will not do."
- George Devol, legendary riverboat gambler who had a knack for cheating cheaters, from his autobiography.

Athlete Gamblers &

Why Jordan Really Left the NBA?

(Above) Author Brian Tuohy, The Fix Is In & Larceny Games, is the world's leading sports conspiracy theorist and believes all sports are fixed. Did he leave the NBA because of a gambling problem?

2-to-1 you'll LOVE it!

Game Protection?

(Above) Dan Lubin, table games designer for Galaxy Gaming in Las Vegas, talks about game protection, cheating and how the casinos protect themselves.

"Well, I could have won. We played back and forth for a long time and finlly a hand came up where, if I had won this hand, I would have broke Johnny. I had a big lead on him in chips anyway. I flopped three sevens and he slow played two aces. He checked the flop and the turn and, even there was an ace on the river, I was convinced I had him. That was a hand I'll never forget. Then we played and played and finally I tried to win with a pair, but he had turned a set of threes on me and that was the end of the game."
- Crandall Addington, on finishing second to Johnny Moss at the 1974 World Series of Poker main event.

"Ill be damned - this is funny."
- Doc Holliday, believed to be the last words of the legendary Faro and poker player, who died in 1887 of ill health. Seems Doc was surprised his death was not the result of bullets.  

(From the outstanding book, Ghosts at the Table by Des Wilson.)


Fun Fact: Val Kilmer portrayed Doc Holliday in the movie Tombstone.

How Poker Rooms in America Became Non Smoking

(Above) Tom McEvoy, 1983 world champion and member of the Poker Hall of Fame (Class of 2013), led the charge to clear the air. Poker history!

"To be a road gambler you had to do four things: 1) find the game, 2) beat the game, 3) don't get arrested and 4) don't get robbed"
- Amarillo Slim Preston

"We used to call it the three if's...IF you can beat the game, IF you get paid, IF you get out of the place with the money. It was tough."

- Carl Mckelvey, on the Texas Road circuit days.


"I don't gamble, because winning a hundred dollars doesn't give me great pleasure. But losing a hundred dollars pisses me off."
- Alex Trebek


​"Last year people won more than one billion dollars playing poker. And casinos made twenty-seven billion just by being around those people."
- Samantha Bee


“You best chance to hit a Royal Flush at the casino is in the bathroom.”
- VP Pappy


"At gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck.”
- Ian Fleming, (from Casino Royale, 1953)


"Poker is a fascinating, wonderful, intricate adventure on the high seas of human nature."  
- David A Daniel​​

"In the poker game of life, women are the rake."
- 'Worm', Ed Norton in Rounders

"Poker Quotes"

Words from 'The Mad Genius'
“Poker isn’t a game that requires cards. Really, it doesn’t. The nature of poker is brilliant. It is simply this: (1) There is something wagered before the battle begins, igniting the conflict; (2) There is something owned temporarily by each contestant that has comparative strength; (3) There is wagering, leading to a possible showdown in which strength is compared to determine a single winner; and (4) Any wager can win without a showdown, if nobody calls. poker. You can quibble that in high-low split there are multiple winners, not a single one. But, not really. There are actually two pots – one for the high hand and one for the low hand, each having a lone winner, barring a tie.  In keeping with this “nature of poker,” cards are unnecessary. The nature itself is the great idea, the brilliant concept. As such, you can wager over the weight of secret stones that you possess – or myriad other things. Cards aren’t required, and poker in some form will endure, always.”
- Mike Caro, author, The Book of Tells


“Poker is an art form, of course, but sometimes you have to sacrifice art in favour of making a profit.”
- Mike Caro