{"id":123299,"date":"2022-09-15T18:06:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T01:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?page_id=123299"},"modified":"2024-01-25T13:04:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T21:04:50","slug":"too-good-to-be-true-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/too-good-to-be-true-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Too Good to Be True Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Comic Book Blackjack Systems<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

by Arnold Snyder
(From\u00a0Blackjack Forum<\/em>\u00a0March 1985)
\u00a9 Arnold Snyder 1985-2006<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just got my latest copy of Gambling Fool<\/em> magazine. As always, it contains those familiar full-page ads telling me I can haul in mucho bucks anytime I want, that I won\u2019t have to work for a living anymore and, in fact, I can even buy my own private jet and an island in the South Pacific if I just buy one of the advertised blackjack systems, which are so easy to use that some of the lower primates could probably learn them. It\u2019s a good thing casinos don\u2019t pay off in bananas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ads like this remind me of the comic book ads that used to catch my attention when I was a kid. I was a Superman addict. Every issue had a few pages of ads for mail order products that allowed me the fantasy of turning myself into the \u201cMan of Steel.\u201d Of course, there was the familiar \u201cI-was-a-97-lb.weakling\u201d pitch for turning my puny 12-year-old excuse for a body into something that looked like King Kong on steroids. According to the ad, I could do this in only 30 days with only 15 minutes per day of easy exercise. Or, for only a buck, I could get a secret ancient chart of the body\u2019s \u201cpressure points\u201d which would immediately transform me into an invincible Master of the Oriental Fighting Arts. Muggers, thugs and NFL linebackers would gasp and tremble when I entered the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My favorite, however, had to be the ad for the \u201cX-Ray Specs.\u201d Here was a 59\u00a2 pair of glasses that purported to give me Superman\u2019s incredible x-ray vision \u2014 the ability to see through doors, walls, and most importantly \u2014 clothing. This ad always had a cartoon illustration of some dodo wearing the specs with his tongue falling out of his mouth while he\u2019s gawking at a fully-clothed dish who\u2019s striking a come-up-and-see-me-sometime pose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, I read this ad and fantasized over the possibilities. Even at that age, however, my inborn cynicism told me the specs probably wouldn\u2019t work. And 59\u00a2 was too much to gamble to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll never forget that hot day in August, however, when my friend Ralph announced he had broken down and sent away for a pair of X-Ray Specs. Word spread through our neighborhood like wildfire. Every pubescent kid on the east side of Detroit had been fantasizing about owning pair of these goggles since they\u2019d first laid eyes on a Superman comic. Now Ralph was going to realize our fantasies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must have been 10 weeks before the specs came in the mail. To us it seemed like an eternity of asking Ralph day after day, \u201cDid they come yet?\u201d We all had big plans for those wonder glasses. As soon as we saw that Ralph\u2019s worked, we would all get some. We\u2019d wear \u2018em to school. The nuns would never suspect what we were up to. We\u2019d go watch the girls play softball. The women of Detroit were about to become unwary exhibitionists for a gang of horny 12-year-old Catholic boys in funny glasses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make a long story short, the X-Ray Specs didn\u2019t x-ray anything. They were ridiculous-looking cardboard and plastic gizmos that made the wearer look like a jerk. As Ralph described the phenomenal X-Ray power of the lenses when he slowly and reverently placed them on his eyes for the first time, \u201cWell . . . Um . . . they just make everything look . . . Um . . . Blurry. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, the women of Detroit were safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I haven\u2019t read a Superman comic in quite a few years, but it wouldn\u2019t surprise me one bit if X-Ray Specs are still being hawked to 12-year-old thrill seekers. Meanwhile, Gambling Fool<\/em> magazine is publishing adult variations of this comic-book-mentality advertising. \u201cWin a Million Bucks a Day Even if You\u2019re Stupid!\u201d I find it amusing how these ads for \u201cincredible and amazing\u201d gambling systems insist it doesn\u2019t take much mental effort to get rich. That\u2019s exactly who\u2019s going to fall for this nonsense \u2014 people who don\u2019t put much mental effort into anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Ralph reads this ad, he\u2019ll break down and have a check in the mail before his next mortgage payment is due. Six months later, when the bank is foreclosing on his house, if you ask him how his mail order blackjack system is working, he\u2019ll say, \u201cWell . . . Um . . . you see . . . Um . . . \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, the casinos of Vegas are safe.   \u2660<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comic Book Blackjack Systems by Arnold Snyder(From\u00a0Blackjack Forum\u00a0March 1985)\u00a9 Arnold Snyder 1985-2006 Just got my latest copy of Gambling Fool magazine. As always, it contains those familiar full-page ads telling me I can haul in mucho bucks anytime I want, that I won\u2019t have to work for a living anymore and, in fact, I can even buy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[631,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}