[SoothingDave]

But, here's the kicker, and many are not considering it as they think about an open convention and Cruz perhaps emerging victorious on some subsequent ballot. Cruz would STILL need those 469 delegates to close the gap to reach 1237 on the 2nd ballot. Even worse is that a huge percentage of his bound delegates can desert him on the second ballot.

You are forgetting that the same rules apply to Trump. Trump does not retain all of his first ballot-bound delegates, either. Trump will see more desertion of "his" delegates to Cruz than vice versa.

[xzins]

I’m not forgetting anything. We’ve been told the number of delegates that Cruz has perhaps picked off for the 2nd round of voting. It isn’t nearly enough.

So, in your opinion if neither can close the deal on the 2nd ballot, they will lose even more delegats on the 3rd ballot, then who will settle it?