BTW I am programming in VB.Net from Visual Studio 2005 and this is for
a desktop app.

Okay here is what I did to solve this. What I did was put 1st round of
grouped data into a new table created on the fly and perform a count
and group on that new temp table. If anyone can offer this ole dog
some advice or critique of this code I would appreciate.

My end goal was to update some values in a listview.

There may be an easier and more elegant way but at least this works.

 'need to update point count
       Dim sqlTabExist As New SqlCeCommand("SELECT * FROM
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'tblPtSum' AND TABLE_TYPE
= 'TABLE'", saveconn)
       Dim readerTabExist As SqlCeDataReader =
sqlTabExist.ExecuteReader()

       Dim boolTabExist As Boolean = False
       While readerTabExist.Read
           boolTabExist = True
       End While

       readerTabExist.Close()
       readerTabExist.Dispose()
       readerTabExist = Nothing

       If boolTabExist = True Then
           Dim sqlTabDelete As SqlCeCommand = saveconn.CreateCommand
           sqlTabDelete.CommandText = "DELETE FROM tblPtSum"
           sqlTabDelete.ExecuteNonQuery()
           sqlTabDelete.Dispose()
           sqlTabDelete = Nothing
       End If
       If boolTabExist = False Then

           Dim sqlTabCreate As SqlCeCommand = saveconn.CreateCommand
           sqlTabCreate.CommandText = "CREATE TABLE tblPtSum(PtTot
NVARCHAR(100) NULL, Stand NVARCHAR(100) NULL)"
           sqlTabCreate.ExecuteNonQuery()

           sqlTabCreate.Dispose()
           sqlTabCreate = Nothing
       End If

       Dim sqlPtCt As New SqlCeCommand("SELECT ta_point, ta_stand
FROM tblTally GROUP BY ta_point, ta_stand ORDER BY ta_stand",
saveconn)
       Dim readerPtCt As SqlCeDataReader = sqlPtCt.ExecuteReader()

       While readerPtCt.Read
           Dim sqlInsertRow As SqlCeCommand =
saveconn.CreateCommand()
           Dim sqlPtCtAdd As String = "INSERT INTO
tblPtSum(PtTot,Stand) VALUES ('" &
readerPtCt.Item("ta_point").ToString & "', '" &
readerPtCt.Item("ta_stand").ToString & "')"
           sqlInsertRow.CommandText = sqlPtCtAdd.ToString()
           sqlInsertRow.ExecuteNonQuery()
           sqlInsertRow.Dispose()
           sqlInsertRow = Nothing
       End While

       readerPtCt.Close()
       readerPtCt.Dispose()
       readerPtCt = Nothing

       sqlPtCt.Dispose()
       sqlPtCt = Nothing

       'now add grouped contents to listview
       Dim sqlPtAdd As New SqlCeCommand("SELECT Count(PtTot) As
TotCt, Stand FROM tblPtSum GROUP BY Stand ORDER BY Stand", saveconn)
       Dim readerPtAdd As SqlCeDataReader = sqlPtAdd.ExecuteReader()

       While readerPtAdd.Read
           Dim item As ListViewItem
           For Each item In lvStands.Items
               If item.Text = readerPtAdd.Item("Stand").ToString Then
                   item.SubItems(3).Text =
readerPtAdd.Item("TotCt").ToString
               End If
           Next
       End While

       readerPtAdd.Close()
       readerPtAdd.Dispose()
       readerPtAdd = Nothing

       sqlPtAdd.Dispose()
       sqlPtAdd = Nothing