muddyfunster said:
When you say Cipher's reputation was good between October 2005 and March 2006 what do you mean? What led you to that conclusion? Where did you get you information from? Who recommended Cipher? Where they reputable?
Well, in the beginning of my post, in Cipher- The Wizard of BJ, I mentioned that I read nearly all of Cipher's postings on Casinomeister, Online Players Union, and Winner Online. In fact I did even more reading from Googling 'Cipher' and 'Bruce Holway.' Cipher did get banned one time from Casinomeister but that was from a pissing contest between him and another poster, not from doing shady deals or anything. But the overall "feel" I got from the people who responded to Cipher was one of respect. Usually people wouild say, "why don't you contact Cipher" when a big winner complained that they weren't able to get their money from an online casino. Hell, he even held the record one time at Harrod's for the biggest win in betting on a college basketball game. His address and phone number was readily available and his website seemed intelligently written. Are you getting the picture? To me, a scamster would use a P.O. Box and wouldn't be too open as much as Cipher has/is. I expected many more people to be critical of him than they have been if he was considered shady. So I trusted him....and got burned. I want others to learn from my mistakes.
I'm just trying to understand why, out of all the ways you could have invested your money, you went down this route? If you'd asked a 100 random people whether it was a good idea I would be suprised if more than 5 said go for it! If you'd have come to this forum or others like it before you invested and asked the question, you'd have got 100% no, don't do it!!!
Well, I was trying to grow my funds so that I could take care of my mother for the longer term if it came to that point. 5% on $20,000 wasn't going to last very long when your nursing expenses is above $3,000 a month. It was only recently that I learned that Medicaid DID pay for nursing expenses from the home- I was given wrong information. But nevertheless, if my mother received Medicaid, then the $20,000 would have to be given over to Medicaid anyway. Well, back to the point, Cipher seemed to play online blackjack very very well and to me, it was possible for him to be able to make a whole lot more than $3,000 that he would pay me on the $20,000.
As for the story being true, well I'm more convinced that it is now, but one thing I do know is not to trust everything I read on the internet.
MF
I've learned the hard way.
Thanks for your other comments.