Q+A

Q:  Do you ever play live poker at casinos?

A: No – and not online either.  But we do know HOW to play live poker.

 

Q:  When can we hope for the release of the updated FRUGAL books?

A:  They are in to the editor – a big load off my shoulders.  I knew things had changed a lot – but I didn’t realize how time-consuming it would be to do the re-writes.  Publication due this summer, both in paperback and eBooks.

 

Q:  How do you use comps (rooms) for relatives? Do you book the room in your name, or will the casino allow you to use the room for someone else?

Q:  You frequently mention using a free room offer you have received to house visiting family members. Is this option reserved for big time gamblers? Should we discuss this with our host?

A:  From the host chapter in the updated More Frugal Gambling book coming out this summer:        Sometimes a host can get a room for your friends. Now that we have our own place in Las Vegas, we don’t use room comps as often as we used to, but we have a lot of visiting friends and relatives who do need them. I call up a host and tell her I have friends coming in and at what level they play, if I know it. At the least, the host can, as a courtesy to us, offer our friends the casino rate until she can determine if their play warrants a free room. And recommending new customers to your host is another way to show your appreciation for her effort on your behalf.

      What if your friends don’t play? On occasion, I’ve explained to a host that we needed a room for non-playing friends, but that we would play enough to cover their comps. Hosts always seem to appreciate honesty in these matters.

      But you don’t have to be a high roller or necessarily go through a host.  We have gotten rooms for relatives just by using a mail offer, from smaller play at local casinos or higher play at Strip properties.  In these cases the person who got the offer would have to actually make the reservation and check in at the front desk in person. The casino really doesn’t care who actually sleeps in the bed.  They are more interested if the person who got the offer is playing in the casino during that time.  So in almost all situations we check into the room personally.  Then we add the person’s name who is actually staying in the room – so if they lose their key they could get another without us being with them.  But we almost always put in our usual amount of play during the time we have that room.  Not doing so would be a pretty sure way to slow down or stop future benefits and offers!!!

 

Q:  I’m an out-of-towner and I can quite frankly not find any good plays in Vegas when I go there.  The best I can do is perhaps  just break-even ones.  If I’m lucky I can do a Gold Coast 7x multiplier day if I happen to catch one but those are few and far between.  I’m not over 50 yet but getting close.  My question is how do you guys/gals out there find so many above average EV deals?  Is it just in- town mailers?  What am I missing?

 

A:  There are many Las Vegas visitors who feel your pain.   And most locals will tell you that there aren’t “many” positive plays.  There are a few 100%+ games around town but they usually earn few or no comps and are mostly on the quarter level.  The advantage a local has is bounce-back, which can sometimes turn negative games into positive plays.  There are a few positive plays at the higher levels on the Strip but the edge, even with added free play, is often razor-thin and thus requires a huge bankroll and an iron stomach to survive the extreme volatility.  Everyone must chase promotions like crazy to add value to their play.  No one is having it easy these days!

Go back to my series, in last March and April blogs, and read  about what people are doing to adapt to the reduction of good VP plays.  Maybe you will find some ideas you can use there.

 

Q:  What’s your take on MGM’s plan, to start charging for parking on “The Strip”?

A:  The same that is happening all over town, all over the country, and flooding the Internet:  anger, dismay, fury, rage, disappointment, threats of withholding visits – I’ve run out of negative descriptions and too tired to go to a Thesaurus!

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2 Responses to Q+A

  1. Patrick J Kiernan says:

    My God daughter turns 30 next week and my gift to her is her FIRST trip to Vegas. I am a frequent visitor but doubt she will become one. Please give me your thoughts on which slot clubs are worth signing up for for a first timer. Thanks and regards, PJK

  2. Kevin Lewis says:

    Re the MGM parking fiasco: “disdain” describes my personal attitude. As in, I will pretend that they don’t exist. Feh!!

    It has struck me continually over the last decade-plus how inept Vegas has been at keeping its brand intact. The Vegas casinos act as if they can keep up ratcheting up their prices, lowering their quality of service, and making their gambling worse, and the lemmings will keep on coming no matter what. They don’t seem to realize that people have other options these days: casinos closer to home, and other ways to spend their entertainment dollars.

    Re finding +EV plays: If you’re a quarter player, you can still get by. The best opportunities, though, are in short-term plays that improve nominally -EV games. The South Point spin promo last month is a case in point, as is their recurring gas card promo. The point multipliers at Boyd can make it worthwhile to play games that are 99.5%+. The coupon runs that you can put together from LVA and ACG are better than ever. You can’t make a living doing this (the only real possibility for that is to have a million-dollar bankroll and play dollars or higher, with a tiny edge, and do so PERFECTLY), but it is certainly possible to cut the cost of a vacation down to near-zero, which is all I think most of your readers want to do anyway.

    In fact, it might be a worthwhile article–which I should probably write–on how a first-time Vegas visitor can combine club signup bonuses + loss rebates + ACG + LVA to make that first trip actually PROFITABLE, something the Vegas newbie would probably think is impossible. I think that also, it helps to have the “frugal mentality” and be willing to expend the effort to get deals. I for one just loooooove it when I don’t have to pay for rooms or food and that when I gamble, I, not them, have the edge.

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