Seeking Long-Term VP Success

What I usually write when you ask me to autograph one of my books:  “The more you study the ‘luckier’ you will be.”  And there are many versions of this concept.  But people often ask me for specific ways they can implement this general advice, so here are some that Brad and I have used down through the last 30 years, first when we played blackjack and then when we switched to VP about 25 years ago.

Remember our goal has always been “not to lose.”  We always said we would be happy to just “break even” on the money part and be able to enjoy the comps, which we considered the “gravy.”   That is still our plan even though, because of some of the “secrets” I will talk about here, we have always been able to achieve a long-term profit plus enjoy the comps.

  1.  The main “secret”:  We only play when we have the advantage over the casino.  Yes, once in a while we stray from this rule, but VERY VERY rarely.  I would guess that over the years we have played with an advantage 99.99% of the time.  Whenever we did stray, after about a $20 loss I would say to Brad, “This is not fun.”  So we would find something else to do beside gamble.  Before we moved to Vegas, when we stayed in hotels, if there wasn’t an advantage play available, we would take a walk down the Strip or Downtown, look for a free tournament, sightsee, look for a factory tour, watch TV or read in our room, meet friends for dinner, go to the courthouse and watch an interesting trial, constantly looking for free things to do.  Now that we live in Vegas, we just “live our life” when we don’t have an advantage play to do.
  2. We’ve never stopped studying:  learning new games, practicing on software to be sure we were still playing our old games to a high degree of accuracy, reading gambling literature for new ideas.
  3. We never stopped scouting for new opportunities.  We have lots of VP-playing friends with whom we can share information.  I daily check Internet gambling forums for tidbits that will keep us from losing money or help us make some:  a change in a players club, a juicy promotion.
  4.  I sign us up for e-mails from many casinos, even some in which we no longer play – never know when they will again provide a good opportunity.  Just recently we got a casino e-mail telling about a 2x multiplier, an unusual promotion for this particular casino that hadn’t been publicly advertised although anyone could take advantage of it.
  5. I know that it is very important to be very organized.  I go through all our mail carefully, checking for promotions, free play pickup times, and food coupons and then putting everything on my calendar which I check each morning.  The older I get the easier it is to forget!

These are just a few of the basic examples that have popped into my head.  I have given many more  in my books and other past writings.  The big ones are important, but combining lots of “little” frugal ideas have made big money differences over the years.

Not everyone will want to do the hundreds of things we do to be successful gamblers.  And I understand that – different goals, different circumstances, different resources.    And it helps to have a “gambling buddy” – I’m sure Brad and I wouldn’t have been nearly as successful if we had been on separate gambling paths these last 30+ years.  But most of all, it is important to realize that it isn’t easy to be a successful gambler.  It is hard work.  Fun – but not easy!

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2 Responses to Seeking Long-Term VP Success

  1. Jeanette says:

    Thanks for those tips! We try to find advantage play when we can, which is not often as there are no good casinos for that in our area.

  2. Mo LA says:

    Thanks Jean,
    I will try tip # 3 , and it will probably help with more knowledge in Tip # 2.
    How far in advance do you usually hear about a “juicy promo”, we don’t always have internet access when we get to Vegas.
    MO

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