Bob Dancer

Bob Dancer is a video poker expert and gambling author. He is best known for his book "Million Dollar Video Poker" which recounts six years of video poker experiences. The book also details a six-month period, between Sept 2000 and March 2001, in which Dancer and his wife parlayed a six thousand dollar bankroll into over one million dollars playing video poker.

Career

Dancer started as a professional backgammon player in 1973, at the age of 26. He was a regular player until 1991 at the now-defunct Cavendish West Bridge Club in Los Angeles. In 1980, after running out of money, he took a job as a data administrator. Although he could not devote as much time to backgammon while working a full time job, he continued to study the game. He became a skilled card counter in blackjack, though not a consistent winner. When the company that employed him merged with another firm in 1989, Dancer was not retained. He again turned to gaming as a full-time occupation.

From 1989 to 1994, backgammon again became his chief pursuit, though he continued to play blackjack, and he began dabbling with video poker, which was at the time still a marginal game found in the corners of gaming halls. From 1991 to 1994, he began to build a small bankroll which he would eventually use to stake himself.

At the same time, Bob met Ginnie Shen, also known as Virginia Woo, a Taiwanese-American, who became his girlfriend and was his gaming partner from 1991 to 1994. The two moved to Las Vegas in 1993 and became serious professionals. They split a year later. In 1996, Dancer met his fifth and future wife, Shirley Smith, at a country and western dance.

Current activities

Dancer uses his own experiences playing video poker to enlighten other players on how to manage bankrolls, negotiate with a casino, evaluate promotions and exploit the best opportunities. He conducts live seminars on video poker games and strategies and also writes articles for novice to expert players.

Dancer co-authors a weekly column with Jeffrey Compton entitled the "Players Edge" which lists various promotions at Las Vegas hotels and is published each Friday in the "Las Vegas Review-Journal". He also is a [http://www.compdance.com contributor to the "Las Vegas Advisor"] and to the monthly magazine "Strictly Slots".

Dancer and Compton run a dozen-person consulting firm. In addition to direct consulting, it also sends out an electronic trade newsletter (CDC Gaming E-Report) each business day to more than a thousand executive subscribers in the gaming industry.

External links

* [http://www.bobdancer.com/ BobDancer.com]
* [http://www.compdance.com Compton Dancer Consulting]
* [http://www.casinogaming.com/columnists/dancer/index.html Casino gaming column]
* [http://www.videopoker365.com/video-poker/bob-dancer/ Video Poker 365 profile]
* [http://cache.zoominfo.com/cachedpage/?archive_id=0&page_id=270635613&page_url=%2f%2fwww.englishcasinos.com%2fCasinoNews.asp%3fc%3d350%26a%3d302&page_last_updated=3%2f16%2f2002+11%3a21%3a30+PM "The Czars Of Video Poker"] , March 16, 2002