I'm not struggling with the sequence. It's ABAYABAYABAYAB ABAYABAYABAYAB. I know that. I just can't do it because I get too frustrated. Usually, frustration for me is alleviated when games have multiple ways of beating a particular challenge. That's why I don't get frustrated playing first person shooters unless there's a quicktime event. And lookie, another quicktime event. The frustration is literally a mental block that will prevent me from 100%'ing this game. If I lose two or three times, I get so angry my hands start to shake, and when I come back to the game I'm just too nervous to play. This is also what put my hard mode Resident Evil 4 playthrough to a premature halt (the horrible Indiana Jones sequence where you have to escape that boulder). I really wish developers would realize by now that if you're going to make a rhythm minigame or interactive cutscene, don't just fucking plaster buttons on the screen and expect the player to have fun. I don't play these games just to be put through hand-eye coordination tests. If I wanted to be tested on finger finesse, I'd go play Rock Band.

The third guy is way easier than the second guy on default, and the the third guy is a 25$ bet. His is ABAYAXABAYAX, there's a fourth button but it means you go round in a circle on your face buttons, and right back round to your next one, making it flow much nicer. So i didn't try this myself, but i imagine if you put the second guys bet up to 25$ you may find it slightly easier. 
 
I really struggled on the second guy but i got lucky, only to breeze by the third guy.

It's Simon Says, not a rhythm game.  Memorize the order and then just concentrate on your pad.  I fucked it up every time until I stopped looking at the screen.

$100 Bet -   X O X Δ X 口 X O X Δ 
 
Just keep repeating that.

I ignore the buttons and just read the finger spaces by associating each space with the button ahead of time.

This allows me to read ahead by looking at where I am in the finger sequence. This is better than watching for each button, reading the button, and then reacting to the button at the last second.

Took me a while. The third guy was the hardest while the last one was much less unforgiving.

Yeah I just needed to do it enough times for my finger memory to kick in.

 @jmrwacko:  
This is the exact problem I had, it's so frustrating because you cant save in the area and it's also a complete bastard to get up there again. I thought I would have to give up on 100 %, but using this - 
 http://reddead.wikia.com/wiki/Five_Finger_Fillet   and just concentrating on hitting the buttons from that sequence, without looking at the screen, I got through it. 
 
Also - don't bother with rhythm, just hit the buttons as fast as possible.

Five Finger Fillet sucks. Even worse when I learned it involved a knife and your hand. Every time I screwed up I kept imaging a knife slicing through someone's thumb or finger. Luckily, I managed to beat it somehow after fifteen minutes or so.

Yea it is hard, but I didn't know about changing the difficulty.

"  @jmrwacko:  
This is the exact problem I had, it's so frustrating because you cant save in the area and it's also a complete bastard to get up there again. I thought I would have to give up on 100 %, but using this - 
 http://reddead.wikia.com/wiki/Five_Finger_Fillet   and just concentrating on hitting the buttons from that sequence, without looking at the screen, I got through it. 
 
Also - don't bother with rhythm, just hit the buttons as fast as possible. "

I never want to play five finger filet ever again

I read a tip on another forum that seemed to help a lot of people.  
 
Write the sequences down on a piece of paper, big and easy to read. Then don't look at the screen while doing it, just read off of the paper and press accordingly.

It's best to think of going around the controller in a half-circle, but always coming back to home base (A or X) in between. That's how I think of it, and I made $4000 dollars on Five Finger Fillet in two days.

I lost over 300 dollars..