Harrah's, Apollo Management, and CalPERS/CalSTRS debacle on Facebook

The "Harrah's, Apollo Management and CalPERS/CalSTRS debacle" page on Facebook.

Here is an email I sent to the California State Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes. As a ordinary concerned Californian (we are to be ignored) the message wasn't important and they referred it to a Assembly committee to die:

Dear Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes,

The Sacramento Bee's Dan Walters wrote on 3/8/10 in the article "Legislative "oversight" unit misses mark" - "How about the scandal at the California Public Employees' Retirement System over huge payments to "placement agents" who obtain multibillion-dollar investments for their clients? Many of them have been money losers, adding to the fund's huge value decline that taxpayers will have to cover.

How about the anomaly of CalPERS buying a $600 million chunk of Apollo Global Management, a conspicuous employer of placement agents, only to see that stake decline by more than 75 percent? How about a belated examination of how and why Apollo founder Leon Black persuaded U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, then the state insurance commissioner, to seize the junk bond portfolio of a big insurance company and then resell it some to some shadowy French investors for billions less than its value?

But wait. The same unions that hate furloughs also control the CalPERS board that made those sucker bets. Just a coincidence? When the Legislature stops wasting taxpayer- financed time on trivia and bores into the CalPERS debacle, maybe we'll take its "oversight" seriously."

Walters article fired me up again about the CalPERS scandal involving Leon Black's Apollo Management and the ignoring of money lost by CalPERS/CalSTRS at the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes. As a lifelong resident of California, I am outraged that Black got away with looting billions from our state pension funds and am willing to work (for free) for your office to research the "outcome" of this topic. Are California's taxpayers on the hook due to the "restructuring" of $4 billion debt announced by Apollo Management this week? Below is an article I wrote published in Nov 09 and "flash forward" to now. Google CalPERS + Apollo Management to find the article highly placed on Google Web or Blogs search engines. The article is titled "Harrah's, Apollo Management, and CalPERS/CalSTRS debacle" and it has drawn much interest.

Article sent to the Senate Committee on Facebook

Blackjack card counting: Las Vegas Strip

Playing in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, card counting can be successful. Double deck blackjack is our game of choice, and the strategy is to play mostly when we have the advantage. Be prepared to walk at least a mile, so wear tennis shoes. The casinos we will hit are Aria, Bellagio, Paris, Harrah's, Venetian, Treasure Island, Mirage, Encore, and Wynn. Consider yourself a letter carrier, delivering and collecting on the route. A profit will occur in the long run, if the method used below is executed perfectly.

The JSTAT Count is used in the extraction of money from these gambling halls. The tens are -2 and non tens (excluding aces) are +1, the aces are side counted. The aces can be side counted on a double deck with a chip or a foot. The chip rotates clockwise with each ace. 1:30 with the first ace, 3:00 2nd ace, 4:30 3rd ace, 6:00 4th ace, 7:30 5th ace, 9:00 6th ace, 10:30 7th ace, back to 12:00 8th ace. The right foot can also be used instead of the chips to track aces by using the foot count. It sounds confusing, but with practice it's a piece of cake!

The $25 minimums are expensive, but the odds can be changed to our favor with blackjacks paid at 3:2. Be aware that some casinos pay 6:5 on blackjacks, so always ask the pit, and refuse to play if it is. Buy a basic strategy card at one of the casinos gift shops. Don't deviate from basic strategy. One cannot enter during mid-deck at some joints, but leaving when there are more aces and tens played is permitted. Choose a table with 2 or 3 players and place $25. An ace should appear every 13 cards or about every round. Bet $50 in the second round if, 1) no aces appear and the count is around even or plus, 2) one ace was played and the count is +8 or more. Leave the table if the count and aces described are not met. In the third round, bet $50 with, 1) no aces played and at least a -9 count, 2) one ace with at least a -4 count, 3) two aces with a +8 count. Again, leave the table if these conditions are not met. In the fourth round bet $50 with 1) no aces played and at least a count of -12, 2) one ace played and -7 or better, 3) two aces at even counts or higher, 4) 3 aces at +8 or more. If absent,leave. Never play past four rounds and stay mobile. Go to the next double deck table or casino on the Strip to collect on the route. The surveillance personnel and the pit will think we are nuts to play on negative counts and leaving before the shuffle.

Using this card counting strategy, our money is wagered when more blackjacks than normal are present. The dealer will get the same amount of blackjacks, but we are paid 3:2, this is our edge. It sure beats the "red eye" flight home, crying from tapping out our ATM cards.