I would think the odds of having four made hands, the worst being an AKQ flush, would be astronomical.

Honestly, im a newbie here and I won’t even start to pretend that I know anything about the stock market. Ive been glued to this sub for a week now and have been reading most of the DD posts. And honestly, most of it were purely speculation. They were really compelling and most of it made sense (to a degree) so that I myself bought into it when it was at 80$, averaged UP a lot (i know im a retard), missed the exit point when it was at the top and now Im holding the bag as a reminder to at least take out some cash when its going good. But thats just a side note.
All of you belittling the holders, such as myself, don’t pretend that you know what’s gonna happen next. Bc your guess is as good as anyones. You have as little information as the rest of us. We all might know whats likely to happen but you don’t run up into a casino and laugh at a guy who goes all in on a number on the roulette table. ITS A GODDAM BET. And yes, the odds of this thing going to the moon are not very good. But it could be still possible. (Don’t ask me how or why, I don’t know jack shit, remember?) So how about you take a step back and let the people who have still skin in the game gamble? If you have more skin in this than you can afford get out and get help. Seriously. But the rest of us. Fuck it ill be going through this hellhole right now just to see if there’s maybe a rocketship waiting for us after all to yeet us right up to the moon and beyond.If not. Well it’ll be the same situation as it is now, most of the money is gone anyways. Imagine texas holdem. The price to see the next card is already paid. So you might aswell stick around to actually see the next card.

Myra Kindle is an independent investigative reporter.
Her other reports:

• What does Google want with male sex workers?
  
• A Tyson Foods board member was held ransom for $87,250 in December, 2018. Now released, he says Tyson is suppressing police investigations into finding his captors and threatening legal action if he speaks about his abduction.
  
• Google’s Algorithmic Decay - A Report on the Lenoir, North Carolina Bombing
  
• In 1979, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was losing more than 120 informants a year to Russian KGB. by 1981, that number had dropped to just 10. Now, a former intelligence agent is raising alarm that the wildly unorthodox methods once used to protect Russian sources could pose a devastating new threat
  
• For Two Years a Former University Student Has Set-Up Unusual Protest Demonstrations in Buffalo, New York - No One Is Still Quite Sure What He’s Protesting
  
• Nearly Two Months After a Terrorist Attack in China Killed 337 People, Investigators Have Gotten No Closer to Determining How the Attack Was Carried Out
  
• A Report on the Grey Men of 327 Cedar Lane -- This was part of a collaborative project with nslewis, who wrote the incident that takes place prior, "The grey men of 327 Cedar Lane"
  

Boardwalk Attraction

What drives a person to cover themselves in gasoline and drop a match by their feet?
That was the question that ran through the minds of many in a crowd outside the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey on March 23rd, 2019.
At approximately 7:45PM on that cold spring eve, a Mr. James Ferdini, age 47, covered himself in gasoline and was prepared to drop a match in the fuel.
As the crowd shouted for him to stop and several witnesses called the police, Mr. Ferdini reportedly stood unfazed, simply grinning and appearing to revel in the crowd’s shock.
“It was a suicidal action but it didn’t look like a suicidal person,” says Sam Kenset, an eyewitness to the incident. “I guess I don’t really know what a suicidal person looks like, but his movements and the way he was talking -- he just didn’t seem like a man down on his luck.”
Ms. Kenset is quite astute in her observation -- Mr. Feredini was certainly not down on his luck. In fact only moments before covering himself in gasoline, Mr. Ferdini had cashed out more than $1.3 million in winnings from the Borgata Hotel and Casino, making his suicidal action all the more puzzling.
However dangerous, Mr. Ferdini’s gasoline soaked stunt would not lead to his death on March 23rd, but his life was not long for this world either. Three days later on March 26th he would be found dead from an entirely different cause.
In Mr. Ferdini’s incredible winnings and suicidal tendencies leading up to his unusual and grizzly death on March 26th, many questions remain. Who was James Ferdini? What happened to his more than million dollars in winnings? And what was the lead up of events that caused his demise?
Based on interviews with management at the Borgata Hotel and Casino, local police and investigators, and corroborated with eyewitness accounts, independent investigative reporter Myra Kindle, for the first time, brings you a report on the man who nearly bankrupted a casino, and whose luck seemed to make him invincible until his highly improbable death.

What are the Odds?

As the match fell to James Ferdini’s feet outside the Borgata Hotel and Casino, the crowd stood agasp as they waited for the inevitable fire and horrible death of a gas soaked man. This moment would never come however, and the match reportedly landed in the puddle of gasoline meeting it as though it were water.
“The crowd started to look away the moment he dropped the match,” says Matthew Gershowitz, a witness to the event. “I couldn’t though -- I needed to see what would happen. I mean we all thought we were witnessing a suicide or something, but the guy was jovial, happy, making jokes with the crowd before he lit the match. And then when it hit the gas, it just burned out, and the man started laughing. We were all amazed. It was like a miracle -- we thought he’d die for sure.”
While it’s quite understandable that the crowd believed they had witnessed a miracle when James did not burst into flames, professor of organic chemistry at Villanova University, Marcy Li, says the odds of Mr. Ferdini’s death were far less than certain.
“Gasoline is certainly flammable, but not like in the way shown in movies and TV,” says professor Li. “It’s the layer of vapor above that gasoline that is most likely to combust. There could be a number of factors like wind, humidity and temperature that improved Mr. Ferdini’s chance of avoiding being burned alive. I would certainly say he’s lucky, but I wouldn’t say it’s a miracle he didn’t burst into flames.”
If Mr. Ferdini relied on luck that day to survive, it would appear to have been with him in spades for quite some time.
Having just come from the Borgata casino floor, James was reportedly on a ‘hot-streak’, winning tens of thousands of dollars an hour over the preceding two days.
“You have to imagine we were pretty happy when he left the casino,” says Richard Markelson, a floor manager at the Borgata. “Normally we want customers to stay as long as possible so the house can win our money back, but Mr. Ferdini never had a bad roll, spin, or lever pull the whole 40 consecutive hours he was gambling at the Borgata. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Mr. Markelson was able to confirm through cash-logs and casino surveillance that Mr. Ferdini had indeed won big at the Borgata, and records show his total winnings amounted to $1,348,427.
Mr. Markelson said of the winnings: “It was enough of a loss over a short period of time that the owners of the casino were worried our insurance premiums were gonna jump. A casino in Atlantic City simply doesn’t lose that much money in such a short time, at least not to a nobody, and Mr. Ferdini was certainly a nobody.”

A Career Loser

While management at the Borgata Hotel and Casino did not know Mr. Ferdini prior to his 40 hour lucrative gambling binge, many on Atlantic City’s boardwalk have been acutely aware of James for years.
For example after James’s stunt with the gasoline, he was arrested and taken to the Atlantic City jail and held on the possible charge of disorderly conduct, but was released after the charges were dropped. The reason? The police had a long record of interactions with Mr. Ferdini and thought of him only as a minor risk.
“We were more worried about the guy’s mental health than him causing a scene on the boardwalk,” says Atlantic City officer Paul Stevenson. “We’ve known James for years -- I mean he’s a loser. Is it a shock to me that he would try and commit suicide like that? Absolutely not.”
When asked why the police did not opt to commit Mr. Ferdini to a hospital on a psychological evaluation, officer Stevenson replied: “The plan was to have him committed, but some lawyer showed up and we didn’t want a legal fight, so we decided to release him instead. I felt a bit mixed about it. I mean the guy was clearly suicidal -- why else would you douse yourself in gasoline?”
When told that Mr. Ferdini was reportedly jovial and happy during the gasoline incident, and that he had in fact won more than a million dollars immediately prior to the event, officer Stevenson struggled with the narrative: “That doesn’t sound like the James Ferdini I know. He’s always been a depressed gambler, and never won a game in his life as far as I know. He couldn’t win a hundred bucks, let alone a million. I can’t even believe they let him into the Borgata in the first place, but I guess the cash winnings explains the lawyer.”
Officer Stevenson asked if I could confirm the details of the winnings and that Mr. Ferdini was in a jovial mood during the gasoline incident. When I showed documentation of Mr. Ferdini’s winnings provided by Mr. Markelson and relayed several eyewitness accounts as to his temperament, officer Stevenson replied: “I don’t get it. So, why’d he try to burn himself alive?”

The ‘Cooler’

Perhaps no individual has a better sense of who Mr. Ferdini is and what happened to him than the floor manager at the Borgata, Mr. Markelson.
For 40 hours prior to the gasoline incident, Mr. Ferdini bet heavily at the Borgata casino, and Mr. Markelson was in close proximity for much of his hot-streak.
“I was actually supposed to be on vacation that week,” says Mr. Markelson, “but I got called in because the other cooler was sick.”
A ‘cooler’ as Mr. Markelson explained, is a relic of old casinos that today is rarely used, however some establishments still invest in what could be called ‘charms’ to bring bad luck to high rollers.
“I got hired because I’m unlucky,” explains Mr. Markelson. “I can do the job of floor manager just fine -- don't get me wrong -- but it was my knack for bad luck that got me the job for sure.”
A cooler operates by simply being present around those that are on a run of good luck. In Mr. Markelson’s account, he says that being around him will bring such bad luck to any gambler that their cards will go cold, their lever pulls result in no winnings, and their wheel spins doomed to lose money.
“It’s a talent I’ve had since, well, forever,” says Mr. Markelson. “If I just stand near someone, they’ll start to have bad luck like me. I know it sounds crazy, and sometimes I don’t believe it myself, but it’s true. I mean, like I said, I think that’s why the casino hired me. They could count on me to go onto the casino floor and bring bad luck to anyone that’s winning a bit too much. Best part, since it’s based on superstition, it’s completely above board.”
With James Ferdini, Richard Markelson found that his power did not work however.
“I don’t know about before I showed up, but for when I was watching him, that man could not lose. The casino made me stay multiple shifts, I’m talking nearly 40 hours to watch him and were hoping I’d bring him bad luck, but it never happened. He just kept on winning no matter what game he played.”

An Escalation of Bets

In attempting to find James Ferdini’s state of mind prior to the gasoline incident, floor manager Richard Markelson provided unfettered access to video of the casino floor, even though he realized he could be breaking several state gambling commission laws by allowing a reporter to look at such surveillance. In fact, more than taking the risk, it was Mr. Markelson that called me and led me to this story in the first place.
“The police didn’t send him to the hospital after the gas thing I’ve been told. I figured the truth has to be somewhere and when police won’t do their job, I guess it’s reporters that have to step in,” says Mr. Markelson. “The most important thing to be me personally is finding out why he died just a few days later in that horrible freak accident -- the one on March 26th.”
When asked if Mr. Markelson had any interest in finding Mr. Ferdini’s still missing $1.3 million, he replied: “Of course, but that’s not my primary concern here. I just want to know what the fuck happened. How does a guy who should have felt on top of the world go to dousing himself in gasoline, and then ends up dead a few days later? I really want to know.”
In the video access provided by Mr. Markelson, I managed to find new clues that might be able to explain Mr. Ferdini’s downward spiral.
It could best be described as an escalation of bets that appeared to take place soon after Mr. Ferdini began his run of good luck. According to video of the casino floor, around the time manager Richard Markelson appeared, Mr. Ferdini started his miraculous winning streak.
The video shows Mr. Ferdini starting with craps, moving to baccarat, then slot machines, and followed by a long run at twenty-one. He continues to gamble for 40 straight hours, much of it with Mr. Markelson in close proximity.
“I was the only cooler around, so the higher ups at the Borgata made me stay the whole time. I got a lot of overtime that week,” says Mr. Markelson.
Curiously, the video shows that at around the 25 hour mark Mr. Ferdini attracts something of a crowd. While the video offers no sound, it appears as though Mr. Ferdini is making several wagers with his new found groupies.
At first a few in his new entourage gamble him directly in casino floor games like Texas Holdem, but it appears as though they make several bets outside of the casino games as well.
In one instance Mr. Ferdini appears to bet that he can drink boiling hot water. The video shows him drinking a scalding hot cup and immediately receiving a small payout from several people he was talking to before beginning the stunt.
It became clear to me after reviewing the video surveillance that for this story, I would need to speak to at least one of the people who witnessed Mr. Ferdini taking on these non-casino game bets. Thankfully, with Mr. Markelson’s help I was able to track down Maria Nowak, who in the video appears to spend several hours with Mr. Ferdini.
A resident of Atlantic City, Ms. Nowak was able to confirm that Mr. Ferdini was taking part in what she describes as “extreme behavior”, and that he was seemingly willing to bet on anything and everything. Even games that were clearly not of chance, like drinking boiling hot water.

”For $500, Right?”

Why did Mr. Ferdini cover himself in gasoline and drop a match? It’s a question essential to understanding his mindset, and one for which the answer appears to be quite simple.
After tracking down Ms. Nowak, a long time resident who often partakes in long gambling binges herself, she claims Mr. Ferdini covered himself in gasoline and dropped a match in the fuel simply because of a wager.
“We had been doing side bets for hours,” says Ms. Nowak, who agreed to meet me at Hayday Cafe, a local coffee shop. “I was with a group of friends and we noticed that this guy [Mr. Ferdini] had not been losing any bets for hours. The guy was pretty much throwing money around and that type of attitude attracts the crowd I was with. So, we started making small talk and then made a few bets, dumb, small ones to start.”
When asked what bets her group made with Mr. Ferdini, Ms. Nowak replies: “At first it was things like, how many casino chips he could fit into his mouth. But then it escalated pretty quickly, like soon we were betting on how much money he could win in an hour. Then a bit after that he did this really stupid boiling hot water challenge -- he simply bet he could drink boiling hot water without having to go to the hospital. The bet didn’t make any sense, but like everything else, he won.”
“The gasoline challenge was the craziest though,” she continues. “It was clearly a joke when my friend suggested it, but James took him up on it right away. The challenge was, like, ‘can you cover yourself in gasoline, drop a match, and survive?’ James said he would do it for $500, and we just assumed he was kidding, but sure enough he was dead serious.”
Ms. Nowak claims that she too was present in the crowd outside the Borgata when Mr. Ferdini made good on the gasoline bet, and that immediately prior to him dropping the match, he said to her and the rest of the gambling entourage, “This is for $500, right?”
“He said it but I’m not too sure how many people heard it,” Ms. Nowak says. “I mean the whole crowd was screaming for him to stop. They all thought the guy wanted to kill himself. I guess one of us nodded our heads to James’s question, and then he dropped the match. I’ll be damned, but he won that bet too. We gave him $500 alright, not that he needed it after making all that money at the Borgata.”
When asked if Ms. Nowak saw Mr. Ferdini after he was released from the police station, she responds: “Yea, we hung out for the next two or three days -- all of us -- the gambling group that had formed at the casino, James Ferdini, and then, oh yea, that guy Richard Makel-something. I think he worked at the Borgata but he hung around with us for a couple days while we partied at a different hotel. It was around the time Richard and the rest of us left that James was in that freak accident.”

Richard Markelson

The details of Ms. Nowak’s account have confirmed two things to this reporter.
One, Mr. Ferdini’s suicidal gesture to cover himself in gasoline was nothing more than a bet to earn more money. Feeling high from his good luck at the casino, it would appear Mr. Ferdini thought himself invincible and was willing to take on any challenge, even if it put his life on the line.
Two, Borgata floor manager and ‘cooler’ Richard Markelson has not been fully forthcoming in his account of what happened. For example, he never mentioned spending time with Mr. Ferdini after leaving the Borgata.
Confronting Mr. Markelson, I ask him for a more accurate account of what happened after Mr. Ferdini’s gasoline soaked stunt. Mr. Markelson is nervous in his reply, realizing he’s been caught withholding valuable information.
“You have to understand that James is not particularly good with money,” starts Mr. Markelson. “I know I’m saying that having really only met the guy at the Borgata casino, but you could just tell he was something of a loser. Maybe other people told you that too, I don’t know. My point is James was destined to spend that money on drugs and alcohol, and well, we all kind of just tagged along for the ride.”
Mr. Markelson goes on to describe a drug fueled binge that lasted from Saturday March 23rd until sometime before Mr. Ferdini’s death on Tuesday, March 26th.
“James and I had been awake for more than 40 hours when he left the casino, and I was going to go to bed, but somehow I got roped into his entourage he found at the Borgata when he was raking in cash. I would’ve gone home, but free cocaine is free cocaine. I’m not particularly proud of saying that, but it’s true -- I really like the drug.”
Richard Markelson says that in addition to drugs, Mr. Ferdini hired prostitutes and strippers for the group’s amusement.
“I’m not into all the seedy stuff, but we had been awake for a long long time and on so much shit. I mean we were taking meth rips and stuff. Yea, it’s weird now that I look back on it, but a binge can be like that sometimes.”
The most important question to this reporter is what happened in the final hours of Mr. Ferdini’s life. In this respect, Mr. Markelson claims to know nothing.
“I left before he died on Tuesday,” says Mr. Markelson. “It doesn’t surprise me that he died though. The gasoline bet was just the beginning of it. That girl, Maria Nowak, the one that told you I was hanging out with the impromptu entourage -- it was her boyfriend that really stepped things up in a pretty violent way in terms of betting.”
When asked what he means by “violent”, Mr. Markelson responds: “I mean they were actually gambling on Russian roulette in the hotel room when I left.”

That Other Roulette

Once again reaching out to Ms. Nowak, I ask her about Mr. Markelson’s description of partying and gambling in a hotel with Mr. Ferdini.
It was at this point that Ms. Nowak declined any further questions, only providing the statement: “I’ve said everything I’m going to say.”
While this seemed like a certain dead end to discovering what happened in the final hours of Mr. Ferdini’s life and also possibly to tracking down what happened to his $1.3 million in winnings, I by luck received a phone call shortly before I was ready to call it quits on this investigation.
The phone call was from one Mr. Samuel Howlser, boyfriend to Ms. Maria Nowak.
Mr. Howlser said he wished to speak with me to clarify a few details that Ms. Nowak had shared with me and to dispute any “lies” stated by Mr. Markelson.
“Me and Maria didn’t steal nobody’s money and we’re not gonna get in trouble for what Richard Markelson or anyone in that entourage might be telling you,” Mr. Howsler said to me in a phone interview.
When asked about details of the drug fueled gambling binge shared by Mr. Markelson and Ms. Nowak, Mr. Howsler mostly confirms their accounts, however his description of floor manager Makelson is less favorable than what Mr. Markelson told me himself.
“He was the craziest fucker of the bunch, definitely,” says Mr. Howlser. “He knew the hookups for the crystal and coke, got us ketamine too. But the nuttiest thing about him is what the fuck he’d bet on. Like if Ferdini thought he was invincible, doubly so for that manger from the Borgata. Markelson was the one that brought out a revolver for Russian roulette too, and they played like dozens of games.”
Russian roulette, a lethal game of chance that has the player hold a loaded pistol to their head and fire, is an extremely dangerous game that has been popularized in media and fiction for decades. The game requires a loaded revolver to have at least one bullet chambered before firing, with the odds of death usually being one in six.
“It was fucking crazy when Markelson said he’d play it, but the dude was having as good luck as Ferdini so he thought he could do it,” says Mr. Howlser. “So they load a pistol with a bullet and start playing each other cause they were the only two fuckers crazy enough to do it. They play one round, but no winner so they go again. Second round, no winner so a third. Eventually they play enough rounds where they figure they gotta up the odds. So instead of loading one bullet, they load two. They play round after round with two out of six chambers loaded with bullets, spinning the revolver cylinder each time before they pull the trigger. This goes on for a while right, and then they load another fucking bullet. Each round now these guys have a one-in-two chance of blowing their brains out, but they keep playing.”
In Mr. Howlser’s recounting over the phone, I hear he is deeply disturbed by this story and ask why him and everyone in the gambling entourage continued to sit in the hotel room. In response he says, “We had been up for days smoking crystal and doing other shit. We were fuckng zombies. It’s only looking back now, sober, that I can see how crazy it was.”
But the game of lethal roulette was not over yet. Mr. Howlser claims that Mr. Ferdini and Mr. Makelson continued to play round after round, occasionally loading another bullet until finally the revolver was fully loaded.
“With six out of six chambers loaded, the odds of them dying on the next trigger pull was 100%,” says Mr. Howsler. “And I’ll damned, but they both went, and they both fucking lived. Somehow, they both got dud cartridges. After that, they both just had huge laugh for a while. A little bit later, Richard Markelson leaves and James Ferdini and the rest of us stay doing drugs for a bit until the rest of us guests leave too.”
Before Mr. Howlser ends the phone call, he stresses again the reason for contacting me.
“What happened is a messed up story, I know, but the point is that me and Maria don’t know anything about James Ferdini’s death or where his money is. Once we were sober enough to leave that seedy hotel outside Atlantic City, we left along with the rest of the people that were following James. And when we left, he was alive, and he had his money.”

Bad Luck

While Mr. Markelson, Mr. Howlser, and Ms. Nowak all say they only know the most basic details of how James Ferdini died, his death has actually been well documented by investigators and the coroner's office for Atlantic City.
Prior to this report, it was the mindset of Mr. Ferdini that was previously unknown. Sill up in the air is the whereabouts of his $1.3 million. But from what I've found, the report on his death is fully accurate, and even clears any of the entourage that was following him from being involved in any possible wrongdoing related to James Ferdini’s death.
On Tuesday March 26th at approximately 4:30AM, it would appear Mr. Ferdini’s luck simply ran out.
In that early morning hour, someone on Mr. Ferdini’s floor had ordered room service. As the porter was delivering the food, he slipped and fell outside of Mr. Ferdini’s room.
The noise from the fall awoke Mr. Ferdini who opened his door to find the porter picking up a tray of food in the hallway.
Upset at the disruption and the clanging of silverware outside his room, Mr. Ferdini proceeded to yell at the porter, pushing him against the wall in the hallway.
The confrontation ended when Mr. Ferdini told the porter that he was so upset that he was going to go down to the lobby and speak to management about the disruption.
Heading to the elevator, the porter told Mr. Ferdini that it was out of service. Frustrated, he turned to the stairwell and began walking downstairs.
Mr. Ferdini would never make it to the lobby however.
What Mr. Ferdini didn’t know was that the porter had also used the stairs to walk up to his floor, and that along the way he had spilled a small dish of ketchup.
When Mr. Ferdini walked across the spot where the porter had dropped the ketchup, he slipped and fell, falling down the stairs and knocking himself unconscious on the ground floor.
While in bad shape, investigators say that Mr. Ferdini was still alive at this moment, but what came next would be the fatal blow, or series of blows.
With the elevator out, the stairwell was the only way up and down the hotel floors. While Mr. Ferdini was unconscious on the ground, he blocked the entryway to the stairwell from the ground floor. A guest a moment later would attempt to open the door to the stairwell, but found that it was blocked by some obstruction that he could not see. Bothered and wanting to get to his room, the guest then started slamming on the door, thrusting it open with all his energy. He did not realize it, but the door he was thrusting over and over was slamming into the left side of Mr. Ferdini’s temple. The heavy metal door banged away over and over again, causing Mr. Ferdini’s brain to hemorrhage, and eventually doing enough damage that it would kill him fully.
The guest only stopped thrusting as the porter came back down the stairs to see Mr. Ferdini with his head being repeatedly bashed in by the door.
The porter screamed and soon the guest was made aware that he had accidentally killed Mr. Ferdini.
In this unusual and grizzly death, a confluence of bad luck came together to end Mr. Ferdini’s life.
If the elevator had not been out. If a guest on Mr. Ferdini’s floor had not ordered room service. If the guest had not ordered a dish that came with ketchup. If the porter had not spilled ketchup in the stairwell or dropped plates outside Mr. Ferdini’s room. If Mr. Ferdini had not waken up. If he had not confronted the porter and decided to go down to the lobby. If he had not slipped in the stairwell. If a guest on the ground floor did not repeatedly try to enter the stairwell. If any of these things had gone slightly differently, Mr. Ferdini would still be alive.
It could be said that Mr. Ferdini had finally found a run of bad luck, and incredible bad luck at that.

Double Negative

I cannot speak to Mr. Ferdini. He died long before I came to Atlantic City. For this story I’ve had to rely on the video surveillance from the Borgata casino and several eyewitness accounts of the drug fueled binge at the seedy hotel outside Atlantic City.
In those accounts from Mr. Ferdini’s hotel room, I’m left with conflicting views and shattered narratives.
It is clear to me that Ms. Nowak, Mr. Howlser, and Mr. Markelson cannot be trusted to give a full accounting of what happened. In my mind, the clearest liar of them is Mr. Markelson, who both omitted his story of seeing James after the gasoline incident, and also whose story is in direct conflict with Mr. Howsler and Ms. Nowak. While Mr. Markelson claims it was Mr. Howlser that had a revolver to play roulette, Mr. Howlser and Ms. Nowak both say it was Mr. Markelson.
Embedded in these lies and less than full accounts is a still missing $1.3 million. Something I believe Mr. Markelson is desperate to try and find, and for which was his original impulse to contact this reporter.
Now with an understanding of James Ferdini’s mindset leading up to his death, I am left with the unanswered question of what happened to Mr. Ferdini’s missing money.
I head back to where this story started, the Borgata where the gambling binge took fold. I seek an interview with Bill Hornbuckle, President of MGM resorts and a majority stakeholder in the Borgata Hotel and Casino. He agrees to speak with me and provides a full record on floor manger Richard Markelson.
I start the interview by asking if he’s aware if Richard Markelson owns a handgun, and in particular a revolver. In response, he says: “Our records indicate Mr. Markelson has a concealed carry license from the state of New Jersey for a Ruger LCR Six-Shot revolver. We have this in our records because Mr. Markelson is authorized to carry the weapon on the premises.”
Mr. Hornbuckle asks if I believe Mr. Markelson was involved in Mr. Ferdini’s death, to which I tell him I do not believe he is. I give the accounts of Mr. Markelson, Mr. Howlser, and Ms. Nowak, and while Mr. Hornbuckle is disturbed by the story, he agrees that Mr. Markelson has done nothing strictly illegal outside of drug use. He does add however: “The story with Russian roulette, if true, would certainly make us reconsider allowing Mr. Markelson to carry a weapon in the casino.”
Confirming that Mr. Markelson was the owner of the revolver has led me to believe Mr. Howlser and Ms. Nowak’s account over Markelson’s. It seems likely now that like Mr. Markelson did indeed play a dangerous game of Russian roulette with Mr. Ferdini, and that it was he who provided the gun to use.
Before I leave the Borgata, I ask Mr. Hornbuckle about another detail Mr. Markelson told me that I am no longer sure is true. I ask if a ‘cooler’ is something casinos really use, and if specifically Mr. Markelson is designated as one at the Borgata.
His response is to laugh at first, but he goes on to say: “Yes, a cooler is a real term. I actually believe in them myself. Luck is real. It’s a tangible thing that follows people around -- good luck and bad luck. I believe coolers have saved my casinos a lot of money over the years, and Mr. Markelson certainly fits that role at the Borgata. He's terribly unlucky, couldn't win a game of cards if his life depended on it. Still, he's invaluable at cutting the luck high rollers short."
He pauses before continuing: “There is of course the problem of the double negative, or when two coolers are together. It happens when a cooler is around someone who has luck just as bad as him or her. Like two positive or negative charges on a magnet, they repel each other, and the cooler’s effect instead of bad luck is one of incredible good luck. I’ve never seen it myself, but I’ve heard that even the most unlikely people on earth can have incredible runs of good luck if someone as equally unlucky as them is near.”
I propose the idea that maybe Mr. Ferdini was as unlucky as Mr. Markelson, and that together they achieved this ‘double negative,’ bringing them good luck while they were together.
“Yes,” Mr. Hornbuckle says. “I suppose that’s possible. It’s a very dangerous situation though for an unlucky person to suddenly be met with non-stop good luck. It could make you think yourself invincible, unable to be defeated in any challenge. You might even start to take on bets on things that aren’t real games of chance, like harming yourself by drinking boiling water. There’s also the danger of what happens when the double negative effect is over. One cooler parts ways, then each would fall into their own run of terrible luck, not realizing that their hot-streak has ended.”
As the interview concludes and I leave the Borgata, I think about the good luck Mr. Ferdini and Mr. Markelson had. I consider the incredible odds that both survived firing a loaded gun to their temples only for each to find a dud cartridge. I ponder the unfortunate series of events that would kill Mr. Ferdini after Mr. Markelson left his hotel room.
Lastly, I think about Mr. Markelson’s own luck since March 26th. Maybe it hasn’t been as bad as Mr. Ferdini's, but I know he contacted a reporter and as a result management at his casino will be looking into his behavior. I consider and think, that is not too lucky.

Porter

What was meant to be a short report about an unusual death in Atlantic City has grown into something longer. This is now a meandering investigation with unreliable characters, newly discovered details, and a still missing $1.3 million.
Before I leave New Jersey and return to New York, I go to the seedy hotel where Mr. Ferdini and his entourage consumed drugs and played Russian roulette, and where he would eventually die. It is my hope that I can speak to the porter -- the last person to ever see Mr. Ferdini alive.
At the hotel I speak to the manager and ask her who was the porter in the early morning hours of March 26th. The manager tells me that the porter no longer works for the hotel, and that in fact he had quit the very same day Mr. Ferdini died.
“After the police left, he flipped us all off,” the manager says. “That son of a bitch quit in style, telling us he didn’t need to work here no more. He said he was set and that we can kiss his ass goodbye.”
I ask the manager if they knew where the porter could have gone, to which she replies: “No idea. After he was done talking to the police about the death in the stairwell, I think he was out of New Jersey for good. He used to live nearby so I saw him when he left. He was fully packed. Had all of his stuff with him and three really full duffel bags I’d never seen before. He really didn’t seem like he was coming back -- had everything with him.”
Like the porter, I load my bags and finally prepare to leave New Jersey. As I do a thought pops into my mind: Could the porter that night have discovered Mr. Ferdini’s $1.3 million in three duffel bags in his room? I consider and think, maybe, and if he did, maybe this porter is the luckiest man in Atlantic City.
Myra Kindle is an independent investigative reporter. She covers tech, law, politics, and other stories that would be impossible to write about in more traditional outlets.

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30 year old male here . As teenagers we played a bit of Texas holdem nothing really crazy and my parents I knew were into slots . Something they picked up once I was 15-16 they went to Vegas a few times and I guess 15 years ago it sounds like Vegas was a bit looser .
I never had any interest in slots at all , I always saw them as money eaters I tried them a few times once I was of age and just never got any excitement . From age 19-22 I maybe stepped into the casino once every few months and never played more then $100 bucks maybe $200 and really had no desire to go. I played limit poker and a bit of blackjack with friends . I had a few friends who could get 25-50 dollar bj hands and either they would come home with a stack or would lose a ton of money reloading at the atm . I would put 40 bucks on the table and play 5 dollar hands ....
Fast forward to the previous 3-4 years one night while drunk and just having fun blowing off some steam I hit about $1800 in slot wins . Since then it’s been on and off . My gf enjoys a few slot pulls but simply has just never won a jackpot and she can go in once every few months . Lose $100 bucks and be done with it . I’ve since hit many jackpots but also have probably easily given the casino 10-15 k in losses over the last 2 years .
Pretty much after I pay my bills any expendable money seems to just disappear into the casino . I managed to stay away from the casino for about 3 months , popped in twice in January and hit 700 both time I came up about 1200 bucks . Cleared some cc debt along with it . Finally was $1000 within clearing my line of credit I’d been dumping all of my extra funds into line of credit and visa .
3rd trip to casino with a friend I hit 450 first machine I sat at , being a drunk idiot lost it all and we left, fast forward to Saturday night I went out downtown to party and stayed at the casino by myself until 7 am . Started up $350 dollars and left down $1900 . at one point I was maybe $1000 into withdrawals and had maybe 200 bucks left . I came up to 680 , told myself at 650 I’ll get a cab and leave . Burned it to zero and then continued to get to 1900 in withdrawals , just so foolish and stupid
2–3 weeks of income gone in a single night , I was maybe only 2 paycheques left from being free of debt and to build savings again .
Just can’t understand why I’ve become to impulsive on these machines . It use to be fun to go have a few drinks , play a few hundred , sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t . Now I have to go in there chasing loss’s
Something just isn’t right , I own a home , have the sports car , have a dream girl . For some reason I just have gotten into these damn slot machines . Having just had this massive loss , maybe give me 2 weeks to convince myself it’s no biggie , I’ll knock off $1500 of the debt in a month and I’ll wonder into the casino . If I win I’ll end up putting winnings towards the debt , lose I’ll be another $1000 in the hole until the atm denies me .
I feel like I have the same tendencies my parents may have as they will go on the odd slot bender . When I lived at home I always knew when they lost .... they would be extremely irritable and they didn’t have money to lose . I don’t doubt money they should have been saving was being burned at the machines . They won every once in a while but I’m sure the loss’s outpaced the wins 4-1 if not more.

TL;DR: Talk to a friend about his beliefs in the supernatural, he mentions demon magic, I get dealt 666 on consecutive poker hands, it's a one in three million occurrence with obvious connection to the subject of our discussion. What can I take from this experience?
I play poker professionally.
Last week, I randomly asked a dealer I'm friendly with, what does he think of magick. Sleight of hand? David Copperfield shit? No, I replied, more like supernatural, paranormal stuff. His answer was interested but restrained. A few days later, as I was entering a game, I noticed him at the next table over from my seat-to-be.
We started talking, and he half-jokingly told me not to do that in front of the general population. That he doesn't want them to see him as a kook. He asked me do I believe in aliens and/or spirits, in the possibility of conscious entities in other realms/dimensions. He mentioned a few ideas that resonate with my own personal cosmology, like our essence emanating from source energy. Another idea was related to a scenario whereby two closely connected individuals are tested, where one is blindfolded, and the presenter touches the other individual. The blindfolded person was better than chance at identifying the area of their associate's body the presenter touched. Dealer specifically mentioned a touch on the shoulder.
There were a few topics that diverged from my own experiences to date. It took some effort for me to keep an open mind and try to integrate these ideas. One that we ended up keyed in on was "Demon Magic". He mentioned the idea of a synergy between humans and these demon spirits, where they're giving humans power in exchange for whatever benefits they receive from the act of possession (*correct me if "possession" isn't the best phrase here, not yet familiar with anything in this vein other than maybe channelling).
He suggested I look up some examples on YouTube, so I took out my phone to have those videos ready to view later. At that time, another dealer I'm friends with came over to the table and somewhat playfully mentioned that because dealer #1 was sitting at a "bank table" (a table with no game running where a variety of chips are available for runners/clerks/dealers to sell to the players), eventually, a floor manager would ask me to not sit there, as only dealers are allowed to sit at bank tables.
So I stood up. At that moment, the dealer of the game I had bought chips for but not yet played in alerted me to the fact that I had been waiting too long. I could no longer enter the game for free, but it was my big blind, so a perfect time to get started.
I agreed, posted my big blind, and took my first hand of the session. I sat down in the only open seat at the table, seat 5. Given the opportunity to choose my favorite seat, barring a very specific configuration of other players at the table, 5 would be my last choice. Of the 9 seats at a table, it's my least favorite. But sitting in seat 5 meant I was sitting in line with my dealer friend with whom I'd just finished talking, back to back at a distance of about 4 feet.
Three players including the small blind limp in, and I had 66, so I just checked. So four players to the flop, which comes K86r. I flopped bottom set, 666. The hand plays out, and I won a decent size pot, especially considering it was limped preflop.
Next hand, one player limped in early position and it folds to me in the small blind. Again, I had 66. The chance of getting any pocket pair back to back is about 1 in 3757. If you pick a specific pair like 66, the odds of having that particular hand back to back is 1 in 48841. So already, this is an uncommon situation. At a rate of 25 hands per hour, a player could expect to receive pocket sixes on back to back hands about one time every 1954 hours, or approximately once in a year of playing full time 40 hours/week.
Naturally, it's much less likely to have the same pair on back to back hands AND flop sets both times. I was actually thinking about this when it was my turn to act at the onset of the second hand. I decided to raise that time because the big blind is likely to fold and if the one limper calls, playing this hand heads up will be much easier than with two or three opponents. While acting, I had the thought that there's no way I will flop another set, because it just happened and for that to happen on back to back hands is so unlikely.
The big blind folded and the early position limper called. I was a little disappointed because this coule easily turn out to be a challenging hand, and I like to ease into my poker sessions, rather than beginning at the peak of my aggression.
I found myself relieved and excited when the flop came Qs8c6c. I flopped bottom set once again, 666 on my first two hands of the night. I bet, he raised, I reraised, he went all in for a little more, I called and the entire table was astonished when I showed my hand.
Let's look at the statistics on this:
*Odds of being dealt pocket 66: 1 in 221
*Odds of flopping a set with a pocket pair: 1 in 8
*Odds of being dealt pocket 66 and flopping a set: 1 in 1768
*Odds of being dealt pocket 66 on back to back hands: 1 in 48841
*Odds of being dealt pocket 66 on back to back hands and flopping sets both times: 1 in 3125824
It's actually considerably less likely than this because in many instances, hands where we could have flopped sets, will end before the flop, either when we raise and everyone folds, or when we have to fold to another players raise/reraise. In the situation I've described, there's a nonzero chance of the limper in the second hand folding instead of calling my raise. It's also possible that had I raised the first hand, those three opponents would have folded and that would mean no flop. There's no way to quantify this possibility, so just know that 1 in 3 million is a generous estimate and the real chance of this occurrence is even less likely.
Assuming 25 hands/hour, hours to flop set of 666 on back to back hands: 125033 Playing 40 hours/week ("full time"), how many weeks to play that many hours: 3126 Playing full time 50 weeks/year, how many years to play that many hours: 63
A PROFESSIONAL POKER PLAYER PLAYING 40 HOURS A WEEK, 50 WEEKS OUT OF THE YEAR, COULD EXPECT TO BE DEALT POCKET 66 ON BACK TO BACK HANDS AND FLOP SETS ON BOTH OF THOSE, ONE TIME IN 63 YEARS.
For the "average American" graduating college at 21/22, beginning a career and retiring at age 65, that's only 43 years.
There is a total of 0 humans in history who have ever accumulated that number of hours playing No Limit Texas Holdem. ZERO. We're talking about a 21 year old player playing 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, until he/she is 84 years old, to experience this situation ONE TIME.
Step back for a second and consider the odds of doing this with ANY pocket pair. It's much more common at 1 in 240448, or approximately once per 9618 hours. For a full time player, they could expect to be dealt the same pocket pair on back to back hands and flop sets both times about once every five years.
So while flopping back to back sets with ANY pocket pair is also exceptionally rare, to do it selecting one pair in particular is rarer than a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
Note that other sets, like 222, JJJ, AAA... these have some potential "meaning". There's repetition and perhaps some numerological significance. Maybe a hand like 777 gets close because 7 is a holy number. And 7 is associated with luck. One casino I frequent is located at 777 San Manuel Boulevard. Or maybe 555 could have a correspondence to the Law of Fives.
But it's clear that no other number would have such a tight correspondence with the ideas of demons, magic, or Demon Magic.
To have flopped 666 twice in a row immediately after talking about this topic for the first time in my life, left me FLABBERGASTED. I left the table soon after.
Approaching my dealer friend from behind, I excitedly explained to him what happened. He was amazed. Mind blown, he responded with an acknowledgement of the meaning of the events and a simple positive remark.
I was standing behind him while he sat at the bank table, and I reached down to embrace him. When I reached down and playfully grabbed/slapped him on his shoulders, a surge of energy went through my body. I've experienced similar sensations, notably in situations where I anticipated crossing a threshold of some great transcendence.
I've shared this story with a couple more people and everyone has said it gave them chills/goosebumps.
This is one example of many recent instances where a topic of my attention has unexpectedly physically manifested shortly or immediately after I gave it my attention. The frequency with which I'm experiencing synchronicities is through the roof of late.
What's going on here?

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I am by no means a beginner. currently 23 years old and started playing texas holdem since i was 12. played online at 16 starting no limit 1cent/2cent with a $10 deposit and stuck with only 1cent/2cent my goal was to just have fun not make money so i didnt move up in stakes. (whats the correct term here? stakes right? or level?)
When i was 14 i read couple books on poker. however, this was when i used to live in alaska, where online poker was legal. i live in WA ever since i was 18 and i cant play online, so i quit poker. i was also overwhelmed by all the terms regarding live poker (looking at casinos websites) but now i am starting to look for places to play, obviously live though since i cant play online (graduating soon so have time to play again)
although i may not be "new" i am very lacking in terms and only know the basics, and odds. and never played live cash games (other than with friends at home games)
while going through this subreddit, i am hearing the term "spread". like on this thread
https://www.reddit.com/pokecomments/3ewue0/seattle_poker_scene/
one guy says

Tulalip - 1/3 $200 max buy in. 3/5 also always available and 5/10 sometimes running. They also have PLO games Muckleshoot - 3/5 spread, and 4/8 limit. Sometimes they have a 4/8 Omaha hi lo and a couple other games Snoqualmie - 3/5 $300 max. Sometimes a 4/8 limit and a 5/10 spread

also,

Pretty new to live poker but have been making a decent chunk of change off of a 2-100 spread in Minnesota.

so what does the spread mean? like 3/5 spread. and when it says "1/3 $200 max buy in" that means small blind $1 and big blind $3 correct?
EDIT: example of what i mean by getting overwhelmed by casino schedule http://www.tulalipresortcasino.com/Gaming/GetCMSMediaFile?mediaName=TRC-PDF-PokerCalendar-April2016&mimeTypeName=application%2Fpdf
i mean what is all that?? dont you just walk in and play some live cash games??

A friend says they received 4 aces during a game of Texas Holdem and were beaten by a Royal Flush. This seems so improbable that I'm really curious about how to calculate the odds.
Even more specific, I'm curious about it happening in this manner, so not using the final shared card(The River).
Player 1: A A (any suits)
Player 2: K J (same suit)
The Flop: 10 Q A (same suit as player 2's cards)
The Turn: A (final suit for aces)
The River: (irrelevant)
And a final complication, they were playing at a table with 10 players, so Player 2 could be any of those. Also it's at a casino, so probably some large number of decks, like 7.
My laymen attempts resulted in reading up on calculating 7 card poker hands, and then coming up with this equation for a 1 deck answer. Essentially it's calculate the odds of 8 cards coming out, and then calculate the odds for each hand happening from those 8 cards.
So my question is, how do I calculate the probability?

Online Bitcoin Texas Holdem Overview
Texas Holdem is one of the most popular variants of poker and has fascinated players for many years. The history of Texas Holdem is full of intrigue, mystery and full of interest. The popularity of this game has continued to grow and players are flocking from all over the world to get a piece of Texas Holdem poker.
In Texas holdem, players are dealt two face-down cards. Afterwards, each player gets a chance to exercise his betting options. Next, three cards are dealt simultaneously on the table for all players to share. This is called the flop, and it is followed by another round of betting. A fourth card, called the turn, is then dealt, and it too is followed by a round of betting. One final community card called the river is dealt followed by a final round of betting. When all bets have concluded, there is a showdown, in which the highest ranking hand in play wins the pot. Visit our hand rankings page for an overview of poker hand rankings. For more Poker Games
The History of Texas Holdem
The invention of Texas Holdem is unclear but Robstown, Texas is the official birthplace of the game as declared by the Texas State Legislature. This poker variant is believed to have started sometime in the early 20th century. After the game gained popularity throughout Texas, it was taken to Las Vegas in 1967 by Texas natives. After its initial introduction to Vegas, the game was only offered at the Golden Nugget Casino. This casino did not draw in many high profile players so the game did not receive much publicity until 1969 when Texas Holdem poker was made available at the Dunes Casino. In 1971, the directors of the World Series of Poker decided to feature no limit Texas Holdem as the Main Event tournament and Holdem has been played in the Main Event ever since. The popularity of Texas Holdem surged during the 2000s because of its exposure in literature, the internet and television. The popularity of this game can also be credited to its combination of simplicity and complexity. The structure and rules of Texas Holdem can be easily learned while allowing for a complex interaction of strategies. Currently, Texas Holdem one of the most prominent poker variants in online casinos, bitcoin casinos and U.S. casinos.
What Makes Texas Holdem Fascinating
For many players, there simply is no substitute for a rollicking game of Texas Holdem poker. This game first captivated the public's attention in the 60s, and it's global popularity has swelled since. The widespread appeal of this game is owed in part to the simplicity and entertainment value inherent in it. Players are tasked with forming the best 5 card hand possible. It's a simple proposition, but mastering this game certainly takes tremendous insight, practice, and poker smarts. The games take place in an interactive and wildly entertaining arena. Skill, strategy and luck play their part in determining the outcome of Texas Holdem showdowns. For players though, there is but one reality: Texas Holdem variants reign supreme. The game can be enjoyed by players of any bankroll, both low rollers and high-rollers alike. Thanks to the inclusion of pot limit, fixed limit and no limit Holdem, everyone scores with this feature rich attraction. And then there's the psychological aspect of the game: bluffing! The art of maintaining a poker face against overwhelming odds is certainly an enviable characteristic. But that's what it takes to rise to the top and become the crème de la crème of Texas Holdem poker. The art of the bluff is crucial in Texas Holdem and because of this, players sometimes spend years just perfecting their bluffing skill. Professional Hold'em players prepare for their tournaments by studying the subtle tells of their opponents, from the movement of their eyes to the way they hold their cards. This bluffing preparation has gained attention from poker players and fans from all over the world as it truly pushes the game of Texas Holdem into the realm of art instead of a simple game of poker.
The Use of Probability in Texas Holdem
One of the most important skills that players can use in Texas Holdem is probability. There are many players who get into the game without understanding how to calculate the odds of completing their hand. Players may get lucky every now and then but more often than not they will lose if they do not know the probability of filling their hand. An easy way to calculate the odds of completing a hand is to compare the number of cards that are needed to complete the hand to the number of unknown cards. As an example, if a player needs to complete a flush and already has 4 cards that are suited, the number of unknown cards is 46. In addition, because the player has 4 suited cards and there are 13 cards in a single suit, there are 9 possible cards that could be used to complete the player's hand. This means that the player's chance of filling his or her flush is about 19%. These odds get worse when the hands of other players are taken into account as these players could hold some of the needed cards because these cards are completely unavailable. When players understand the odds in Texas Holdem then they know when to play more tightly and are able to more easily recognize when to place a bet. Another important consideration that players should take into account is their starting hand. The strength of starting hands will determine how the player will proceed in the game. In many cases, players will not be a dealt strong starting hand and therefore should not get into the game. The probability for being dealt various Texas Holdem starting hands is as follows:
Pocket pair: 6% Suited cards: 24% Non-paired and non-suited cards: 71% Ace/King: 0.3% Ace/Ace: 0.5% Suited Ace/King, King/Queen, Queen/Jack or Jack/10: 1% Ace/Ace, King/King, Queen/Queen, Jack/Jack or 10/10: 2% Suited Jacks or higher: 2% Suited 10s or higher: 3% Connected and suited cards: 3.9% Connected 10s or higher: 4.8% Any pocket cards with rank of Queen or higher: 5% Any pocket cards with rank of Jack or higher: 9% Any pocket cards with rank of 10 or higher: 14% Any connected cards: 15.7% Any pocket cards with rank of 9 or higher: 20.8% Non-suited or connected cards with at least 1 card between 2 and 9: 53.4%
These probabilities show that premium starting hands are rare and players should expect to fold more often than placing a bet or a raise. A mix of calculated poker plays, tactics and strategies form the bedrock of any successful poker player.