I hope by doing the “assignment” in Part 3, you are convinced that things might not be as bad as some pessimists want you to believe! Okay, now for some other ideas that might help you if you are wondering if you can do today what we did when we started playing VP 25 years ago.
1. Brad and I were very lucky that we both loved casino life and shared the common goal of doing only advantage gambling. Having a “gambling buddy” can be an economic advantage, especially if you have a small bankroll, because two people playing the same play together don’t need a bigger bankroll than the solo player. And it can be more economical in the free play department – Brad and I may each get too small an amount to warrant a special trip to that casino but a combined amount might merit the time and expense. Having a buddy can also be a psychological advantage. It is fun to have someone to share your joy when you hit a jackpot. Brad and I have mostly played together, preferably side-by-side, since we took up video poker. I’ve sometimes teased him and said I don’t even like when he takes a long bathroom break – I’m afraid I’ll hit a royal and he won’t be there to celebrate with me! However, in my opinion, a buddy is even more valuable when you are losing. Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on when Lady Luck has deserted you.
2. Most successful gamblers I know were wise and careful about their money long before they started gambling. I was frugal when I was a little girl. As an adult I did not run up credit cards buying things for which I didn’t have cash. I was an avid saver and a very careful spender. So when I started gambling, I was just as careful with my money. I knew I had to economize to build my bankroll. I instinctively knew that I needed to match my denomination of play to my bankroll. I have seen many gamblers go broke because they couldn’t handle the financial part of gambling prudently. They would win on the good plays and then blow it all on bad plays. It helps if you have wise money attitudes and habits.
3. This brings us to another important and related characteristic of a successful gambler – discipline. Once Brad and I decided to take up casino gambling, we embraced the advantage- play concept 100%. We resisted the temptation to do any negative play. No just-for-fun or this-is-the-only-play-available choices. Also related to discipline is the quality of patience, a willingness to wait for the good plays. If multiple points don’t start until 4 p.m., we don’t start playing at 1 p.m. just because we are “anxious to play.”
4. Early in our gambling life, we found that flexibility was another biggie for profitable gambling. We bounced from casino to casino from the get-go, always looking for the best plays. Later I would write: “Never marry a casino; just have affairs. “ For 29 years we have loved and lost, up and down the Vegas Strip and all over town – and in places all over the United States. We cry for about 30 seconds when this happens today, and then wipe those tears and immediately start looking for a new love.
5. One thing that contributed to our early success – and continues to this day – is that we have never wanted to “live large.” We never had big dreams of being wealthy or living in a big house or driving a fancy car or traveling all over the world. We “accidently” achieved a lot of these things but they never were a goal. Our early years in Vegas were simple ones. We didn’t stay in fancy casino resorts – in fact many of our casino accommodations were downright third-class shabby. I would never even considered a spa visit or having a mani-pedi. We didn’t spend on entertainment, just happy when once in a while we got a comped show. Otherwise we filled up our time with free options: touring a factory making marshmallows, cranberry juice, potato chips, or clown figurines; attending court when an interesting case was going on; and walking everywhere. It helps not to be too “picky,” especially when you are just starting out. The good stuff will come later – but you have to start simple.
6. A gambler will be more successful if he/she is organized. I always had been a “calendar person,” from the time I kept careful track of assignments in high school and then juggled a heavy work schedule and classes in college. So when we started coming to Vegas, my organizational skills kicked into high gear immediately because I saw the need of carefully planning when and where to play to maximize our chances to win. I look back on our almost 30 years of casino gambling, and I figure maybe as much as half of our financial success comes from being organized.
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Geez Louise, I do get wound up when I get on this subject. And it makes me tired. Later… for Part 5!
The six aspects of successful play that Jean mentions are the things that have made our play successful also. We started late enough that we missed some of the better pay schedules, but when we started we were still able to find low roller full pay Jacks and Bonus on the Strip, in Harrah’s properties no less. I remember many all night sessions at Caesars, first in the casino proper and finally in the corridor leading out to the parking garage. We played at Casino Royale leveraging the profitable monthly coupon books for some time after that.
When things dried up on the strip, we moved to downtown, and we still play there. We can consistently find advantage plays at both Four Queens and Main Street. And the Fremont has has done nothing but increase the number of full pay Pick’Em machines over the last few years. There are still a couple of other advantage opportunities left downtown besides the ones I’ve mentioned.
If things do dry up downtown, and I don’t see any evidence of that at this point, then we will move out to the locals casinos. The one great thing the Vegas has that most other gambling markets don’t have is abundant competition. That competition forces casinos to do something to attract gamblers, and now and then that something results in advantage play opportunities. Contrast that with the Kansas City market where state law actually limits the number of casinos that can operate. No wonder that the few that are here see no reason to continue to offer VP with good paytables.
I am making a decent living out in Las Vegas playing video poker….. it’s not all about finding the best paytables, but more of analyzing promotions. I don’t play high denoms neither (Quarters 90% of the time, sometimes 50c if I don’t feel like playing for a long time)
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the idiotic and irrational casino practice of punishing winners. It used to be that your total action was the determinant of the offers you got. Then, most casinos became more sophisticated and parsed the goodies you got against your theoretical losses; the effect was that if you ran forty billion $$$ through a +EV game, you still wouldn’t get squat. Now, however, even if you play a -EV game and you–evil, rotten transgressor that you are–WIN, God forfend, that’ll doom you as far as comps go. So the possible outcomes are: 1. Play good machines and win: possible barring 2. Play good machines and lose: studied ignorance from the casino 3. Play bad machines and win: studied ignorance 4. Play bad machines and lose: get approximate 10% of the comps you would have gotten ten years ago. My experience has been precisely that: if I played FPDW or FPDB, I got nothing, nothing, nothing; if I played mildly -EV games like JOB or NSUD, then I got little dribs and drabs UNTIL I WON. And by “won,” I mean had one winning trip even though I might have been down a thousand or more lifetime at that casino. The ax would then fall, and suddenly I was unworthy scum instead of “invited guest.” So once again, can you still “do it”? Sort of! You can NO LONGER COUNT ON perks and comps and cashback and free play to elevate a -EV game to positive. Sure, you can play the very, very dwindling few +EV games still out there; you can jump on the few promos that temporarily turn a bad game into a good one; you can sniff out the casinos that will still offer you decent comps for your play. But 90% or more of casinos have made it not merely difficult but impossible to win at video poker, no matter how you twist and turn. Here’s an example: various Coast casinos offer 7x points on certain days, sometimes for seniors, sometimes for everybody. Many of them offer .25 NSUD, so you can get a theoretical 100.43% return with perfect play. This $3 an hour opportunity was recently removed when Coasts destroyed the player accounts of over 150 people who only played on 7x point days!!! Can you still do it? Sure, as long as you keep losing; otherwise, only until they catch you!
It seems that this happens to both of us when we go to Vegas every year. Maybe following your suggestions will help the both of us.
Thanks for the article! That is awesome. I am looking for casino games arizona
so interesting….we all have our ups and downs….but you all are so successful…..much happiness and good health to you both!!
Jean,you definitely still have more than enough material for another book. Looking forward to Part 5.
George