Question of the Day - 14 February 2021

This question came from our December 28 QoD that imparted a little history of the Las Vegas Advisor. We sent out requests to some of our better-known collaborators and here's how they responded.

Jean Scott: I started using coupons and looking for bargains, etc., on Brad and my second trip to Las Vegas in mid-'84. I first started sending Anthony information that we'd gleaned from our Las Vegas trips (before we knew they were "frugal" hints) in the late 1980s. Like Deke, we saw a copy of the Las Vegas Advisor at the Gambler's Book Club, which we also discovered early on.

Anthony started using our tips in LVA and when Deke came onboard, he met us at the Four Queens to interview us about our experiences with couponing, comps, and playing experiences. Subsequently, we met Anthony for the first time at the old office on Valley View south of Tropicana and became part of the LVA "family."

Bob Dancer: I moved to Las Vegas in 1993, trying to make it as a blackjack pro, specializing on offers aimed at out-of-state customers. I still had my California ID and, along with a girlfriend, pretended to fly in every two weeks to play. We hustled a lot of coupons. The Las Vegas Advisor was required reading.

Then I got a gig scouting casinos for Stanford Wong’s Current Blackjack News and found things that I passed along to Anthony -- usually trying for a humorous twist. Such as, “I was so hungry I was considering buying two orders of the Boardwalk’s 88¢ all-you-can-eat- pancakes breakfast.”

As I switched to video poker, I started writing and created enough material that I thought I had enough for a book. After several months of trying to edit it, Anthony decided the book wasn’t publishable by him and gave it back to me. This was a tense moment and I came close to ending my relationship with Anthony forever. But Jeffrey Compton advised otherwise and with Jeffrey’s help, I turned the book into three volumes of how-to-play books (Jacks or Better, Full Pay Deuces Wild, and 10/7 Double Bonus). Anthony was happy to sell them and they did well for both of us.

I’ve been with Anthony more than 25 years now. It’s been good for both of us.

Michael Shackleford: In 2000, I finished a rough draft of what would later become Gambling 102. I printed 100 spiral-bound copies, then sent copies to every publisher of gambling books I knew of. At that time, no one knew who I was. That might explain why I got only one serious expression of interest -- from Anthony. Fortunately for me, Huntington Press was the publisher I wanted to work with the most. 

Later that year I moved to Las Vegas. Shortly after arriving, I met with Anthony in the conference room of HP’s old office. He had nice things to say about me, my website, and my book idea. I like to think it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Since then, we’ve had too many drinks and dinners to count. I was honored when he came to my home for my 40th birthday party.

However, my fondest memory is beating Anthony in the final table at the 2011 Blackjack Ball in a card-counting smackdown to earn the World’s Greatest Blackjack Player trophy. Anthony, of course, congratulated me, but I think it was about his fourth time making it to the final two and losing. I’m happy to report Anthony finally won in 2017.

Arnold Snyder: I first became aware of Anthony Curtis when I got one of the early issues of Las Vegas Advisor in the mail at my office in 1983. I'd started publishing Blackjack Forum in 1981 and I was still struggling to make ends meet with my business. I immediately saw that LVA would have value for my readers and started offering subscriptions through Blackjack Forum. Publishing was a lot more difficult and expensive back then. By 1985, Anthony wasn't satisfied with LVA's progress and was considering discontinuing it. I didn't want to see it die, so I cut a deal with him to make Las Vegas Advisor a column in Blackjack Forum, knowing that my readers loved the information he was coming up with. For a couple years, LVA published in a scaled back form and Anthony wrote a quarterly column in Blackjack Forum that was one of the most popular features in the mag. Around 1987, if I recall correctly, Anthony went back to publishing LVA as a full newsletter in a new format and this time it worked. He's been going gangbusters ever since.

Blair Rodman: I started playing rugby in high school in upstate New York. After graduating college in 1976, I bounced around, always finding the local rugby club when I moved to a new town, as I knew I'd meet a lot of good interesting people. When I moved to Vegas in April 1980, I did the same and encountered Anthony.

In addition to being an awesome athlete and the fastest rugby player I’d ever seen (you wouldn’t know it now; after several knee surgeries, he looks like he was born straddling a horse and never got off), he was just starting up the Advisor and as much as I liked gambling, I basically knew nothing, which he didn’t hesitate to point out. Repeatedly.

However, I was eager to learn and we started doing a lot of coupon runs, playing promotions, and other cool gambling things together. Through Anthony, I had the honor and pleasure of meeting and hanging out with the late great Peter Griffin, who was the most fun genius I’ve ever met. Next was Stanford Wong, who had recruited Anthony for his casino tournament team, and Anthony convinced him I’d be a good addition. We spent much of the ‘80s traveling the world playing tournaments.

While I moved on to my sports-betting group in the ‘90s (covered in my upcoming book) and poker after that, we've remained fast friends and have had many adventures. He’s given me an outlet for my books, blogs, and articles and I’ve watched his business grow from a startup to a major force in world of gambling and Las Vegas.