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Bob Dancer writes a video poker column for beginners to experts. He also writes a column with Jeffrey Compton, "Player's Edge", featuring information on promotions at various Las Vegas casinos. Player's Edge is published each Friday in the Neon section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Click here to send Bob Dancer an e-mail.

For more details and a schedule of Bob's free classes, visit www.bobdancer.com.

Sep 02, 2008

Adam Fine 1969-2008

Most of you only know Adam Fine as a name on a masthead. He was Editor-in-Chief for "Casino Player" and "Strictly Slots" magazine. I knew him as a larger-than-life man who passed away a week ago at age 39.

I met Adam Fine twelve years ago. At the time he was the 27-year-old editor-in-chief of "Casino Player" magazine. That's too young for that job, I thought, but he and his brother Glenn were the primary owners of the magazine --- and when you're the owner, nobody else can tell you you're too young or too old. Later I found he'd been working on the magazine since he was a teenager, so by the time I met him he was a seasoned pro.

"Casino Player" was, and is, the gambling magazine with the biggest circulation. I started submitting occasional pieces the magazine. At the time I was a brash beginner in the video poker field. I'd written three "Reports" on Jacks or Better, Double Bonus, and Deuces Wild, but had to self-publish them because I couldn't find a publisher who wished to take a chance on finding a market for them. Although this did demonstrate a certain amount of expertise and a willingness to write, when you have to self-publish it doesn't speak well of your marketability.

The Fines somehow chose to take a chance on the new guy. I was under no illusion that this was a "forever" position. At the time they had Lenny Frome as a columnist but they were ready to make a change. While I had strategies to three different games that were far more precise than what Frome published, I had no depth and Frome did. If they could get rid of Lenny Frome, they could certainly get rid of me. I knew nothing about Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus, or Joker Wild at the time. I had limited knowledge about slot clubs, tournaments, casino promotions, and out-of-town casinos --- or even that these things were important to know. "Learn these things and teach others," Adam told me.

My early articles were about what was important to me --- which was squeezing every last cent out of the casino that I could. My gambling bankroll was less than $50,000 at the time and I was struggling to make it as a gambler and a writer so I didn't have to go get a real job. "I'm impressed that you know one play is worth a quarter cent more than another," Adam told me, "but most of our readers don't care about that. Unless you lighten up on the minutia and speak in more general terms about video poker, we'll have to let you go."

I tried to follow his "advice." I wrote "Bob and Shirley" articles, based on fact but definitely "enhanced," where I was the "Mr. Spock" sort of video poker nerd and Shirley was the all-too-human long-suffering wife who was being dragged along for the ride. Adam "adjusted" several of these articles. Through some mixture of luck and skill (likely in that order), I started to experience considerable gambling success which provided lots of ammunition for articles.

Adam encouraged me to use catchy titles to articles. He raved about "Is a Royal Flush Better than Sex?" He thought the article was okay but the title was great. When I recently borrowed a Yogi Berra line and titled an article "We Make Too Many Wrong Mistakes." Adam thought that was wonderful. Sometimes he suggested renaming the pieces. Often I agreed, but sometimes I'd hold my ground and we would go at it for a while. It was a growing process for both of us.

With my twelve years of experience it may seem to others that I've been doing this forever. Adam and his brother took me on when I had a sparse resume as a writer and successful player. I've been able to parlay the "columnist for ‘Casino Player' and ‘Strictly Slots'" credential into several other gigs, including writing this column, teaching at various casinos, and being involved with first "WinPoker" and now "Video Poker for Winners." Without Adam and Glenn taking a chance on me and allowing me to grow as a writer, who's to say if any of this would have followed?

Adam wasn't the only one who invested in me as a writer. You'd have to include Jeffrey Compton, Anthony Curtis, Liam W. Daily, and, of course, Shirley in any such list. But Adam rolled the dice with me early on and I will forever be grateful to him.

As a man I knew Adam relatively little. Our primary "relationship" was via the 3,000 emails we back-and-forthed over the years --- mostly about articles or letters-to-the-editor for one of the magazines. Still, he was an especially good friend of Jeffrey Compton, my long-standing business associate, so I heard a lot of second-hand Adam stories.

While I knew a lot more than Adam when it came to video poker, blackjack, backgammon, and Country Western dancing, those might have been the only subjects. Adam knew a lot about everything else. His special love was Broadway musical theater. If you picked any such musical, for example "Gypsy," Adam could tell you how many Broadway productions there were, who were the stars, how long each production ran, who wrote the book, and why this particular song was cut after the Philadelphia tryouts. If you asked him the same sorts of questions about "Chorus Line," "Fiddler on the Roof," "Cats," or a host of others most people have never heard of before he had all of the information at his fingertips.

Adam got along with a huge variety of people who were smart and good at what they did. He didn't get along so well with not-so-smart people. At his memorial service an anecdote was shared that was pure-Adam.

It seems he went to a deli and ordered some sliced turkey breast. The woman behind the counter weighed some meat, got Adam to agree it was a suitable amount, and then sliced it. She then weighed it again. Adam asked her why she took the time to weigh the same meat a second time. The woman responded that the weight might have changed during the slicing process. Adam found that ludicrous (and hysterical) and spoke about it for days afterwards. Those of us who knew him smiled at the story. Yes, that was Adam.

I will miss him.