Interesting Reads

Cleaning out the Files

A new year and time to go to the virtual file cabinet and check some that have been begging for my attention. These are files that contain good little tidbits about gambling and casinos that I’m always collecting as I continue to read and research, even though I’m not able to do as much exploring on-site as when I lived in Vegas.  Some of these might end up being expanded to full articles in the future, but many can be useful shorts. I’ve always said that the key to successful gambling is not just one blast of a big informational bomb, but hundreds of thousands of tiny information lobs that come your way.

First, here are links to some of the gaming stories/articles you might helpful and/or interesting.

1. My Top Ten Casino Pet Peeves. This is a commentary by Dennis Conrad, a casino-management expert and my good friend, describing his top-10 list of casino pet peeves. I bet you have a lot of the same ones! If you enjoy his down-to-earth writing, you might want to check out some of his other articles listed at the end of this one.

2. Faces of Gaming: Anthony Curtis — Gambling Guru, Las Vegas Expert, Customer Advocate with Street Cred  Read this in-depth profile if you want to know more about the fascinating life and times of my boss, Anthony Curtis.  I’ve worked with him for over 25 years, but still found out a few interesting details about him that I hadn’t known before.

3. Want to know all about the big 25th anniversary of the Blackjack Ball? It was an extravaganza held last year at one of the most unique buildings in Las Vegas, the Cleveland Clinic – Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. You can find them in the two-part article by Henry Tamburin: Part 1 and Part 2.

4. Sometimes I help out Deke with a Question of the Day answer. Here’s one that covers some questions that I have often been asked about comps.

5. Are you more a recreational gambler than a purely advantage seeker? This video gives you many hints on how to stretch your fun time in a casino no matter what game you play.  You can’t always win these days, but losing less is always a good goal. And you might be shocked by who is giving all the advice on this video. Then again, you might not.

And now for answers I’ve promised to some of your personal questions.

Q: Where do you like living better, Las Vegas or Georgia?

A:  I get this question a lot. In fact, I asked it of myself when I visited Las Vegas in the fall.  Would I be sad when I went back, wishing we still lived there? However, although I had a good time being there, especially getting to visit with old-time friends, I realized the Vegas of the present is not the same Vegas as before we moved away. Even the last year or so when we still lived there, I got tired of the intense work needed to find good advantage plays and during this visit, I saw that this was even more so the current situation.

I think of the scripture: “To EVERYTHING there is a SEASON and a TIME for every matter or purpose under heaven.” Las Vegas was a happy place for Brad and me for 20-plus years. But Columbus, Georgia, is a good spot for me right now. I live in a place where I can conveniently take care of Brad with the help of a loving family nearby.

Q:  I know you’re able to go to a casino and play VP a few times a year, because you write about that, but do you have any gambling opportunities locally?

A:  Not gambling, but lots of gaming goes on here at Legacy, most of which I instigate.  That shouldn’t surprise you if you read about my early life in the Frugal books. I came from a gaming family and I played a mean game of Uncle Wiggily and Chutes and Ladders before I even went to school. And when my two younger sisters were growing up, we played family Scrabble games for blood.  So I’m back to my competitive roots, teaching and organizing games: Phase 10, dominoes, Rummikub, and especially Mah Jong, in which I love the extremely challenging opportunity to play with an advantage. I not only play it often here, but I also play a couple of times a month with a group in the Newcomers Club I joined.

Legacy does occasionally run a bus trip to a local casino over in Alabama, the tribal Wind Creek. It’s slots-only (Class II bingo-based), but looks pretty much like a small Vegas casino, so I’ve taken Brad there several times just to give him the general bright-lights-and-exciting-clamor casino atmosphere that he may remember with pleasure. And we actually won money one trip!

Q: How is Brad doing these days? Has he  been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s?

A:  When someone has dementia and memory loss, as Brad does, there’s rarely a specific label; there are so many different causes with so many different symptoms. Most cannot be given a diagnosis with certainty until an autopsy is performed. However, the doctors believe he probably has vascular Parkinsonism, an atypical form, produced by one or more small strokes, rather than by gradual loss of nerve cells as seen in the typical neurodegenerative Parkinson’s disease.

He sleeps off and on for about 18-20 hours a day, and when awake, it seems as if he’s in his own little world. Still, it looks to me like he’s very happy and peaceful there. Most days I can bring him into my world for short periods: to go to the dining room for our evening meal, or visit with the family, or even play bingo. He doesn’t talk much; it seems such a struggle to process conversation and then to find words to respond. So he just smiles a lot and everyone here at Legacy sees the sweet person he has always been and happily helped celebrate his 91st birthday January 18.

 

Scouring for Casino Info

Scouring for Casino Info

I’ve often written that if you need more info about a specific casino, you should check their website for details — about their promotions, players club, restaurants, amenities, etc. Most casinos do better than they did years ago, but it’s amazing how many still do not realize that for so many of their potential and returning customers, the website is their first go-to contact. Sadly, many casino websites are only a brief and unsatisfying resource starting point.

Where can and should you go next?

In this post, I discuss where I often go and give you some of the information I’ve learned recently, even though I can’t use another good technique I recommend, visiting a casino in person.

THE PALMS

I wanted to find details about the Palms the minute it reopened, so I checked their website. There was general information, mainly about food offerings, but very few details a serious player would need: the name of the new players club and a photo with partial views of all the various tier cards, but absolutely no details. You can sign up there for email updates, but you can’t actually sign up for a card.

So I went to vpFREE2, my usual first step for getting the nitty gritty  info I need: VP inventory, sorted by machines or games, with locations, players club details, names of hosts, and general helpful comments.

Then I went to one of my best friends, Google, and found an article titled “Palms Casino Resort Opens with New Rewards Program For Las Vegas.” Bingo! Loads of details to fill in some of my information gaps.

I always liked Vital Vegas, Scott Roeben’s blog. Scott is a man about town who worked in Vegas marketing for a long time and is very well connected and knowledgeable. So I checked his article about the Palms re-opening, which includes a lot of photos and interesting  personal opinions. He also gives a link to a Twitter message that gives a valuable tier-matching chart. Check your loyalty cards and see if you can score a higher tier level at the Palms. In fact, you can see there what other Vegas players clubs you might want to join for higher tier-matching benefits.

Now I’m waiting to hear from some you who are lucky to be able to do eyes-on research!

CZR Properties

Speaking of personal reporting I really appreciate, I recently received an email from a frugal friend giving some updates from his recent trip to Harrah’s Cherokee. The food offerings are still in a period of frustration and confusion as most of the food court, which was in the casino, is closing as the Gordon Ramsey Food Market, outside the casino, is in a slow-opening phase. Seems like they’re repositioning dining options so that they’re available to families, since you have to be 21 to enter the casino proper. However, you see many children in the hotel and other non-casino entertainment areas.

While I’m on the subject of Cherokee, I had several requests for a photo of our recent jackpot there. Some of you may have already seen it in a recent LVA YouTube (# 43).

Another way that I discover new information that sometimes doesn’t ever make it into a website is by carefully reading all casino mail, both hard copy and online. That is how I learned that a CZR player who becomes eligible for free rooms as they go up in tier credits can use these room nights in other locales besides Vegas, which is the old offer. I’m not sure whether this covers all over the U.S. or just specific ones; you would need to check with a host. You would also need to check the details; it used to be a free night every 5,000 tier credits, but I’m not sure of the limit, perhaps 6 or 7 free nights a year? Also, I’m not sure if this is a permanent benefit or temporary promotion. Again, check with a host.

MGM

Sometimes I find new information that might be mentioned on a casino website, but not for a casino where I regularly play, so I don’t check it frequently for any additions or change of benefits. That happened just this morning as I was beginning to edit and post this blog. I got an email from Southwest (my airline of choice, because there is no charge if you have to change/cancel a flight) informing me they have become a preferred partner of MGM.

MGM Rewards members who are also Rapid Rewards® Members can now earn 600 Rapid Rewards® Points for each qualifying stay at all Las Vegas MGM Rewards destinations: Bellagio®, ARIA™, Vdara™, MGM Grand®, The Signature at MGM Grand®, Mandalay Bay®, Delano™ Las Vegas, Park MGM Las Vegas, The Mirage®, New York – New York®, Luxor®, and Excalibur®.

Now to end this blog on a lighter note, some comments that made me smile when that 2016 YouTube interview “How She Made a Million” was recently re-posted.  Seems nothing goes away online and people are still wanting to give their opinions – 463  of them at last count! Yes, there are many positive reactions, but so many of them are darkly colored by their personal painful losing casino experiences.

Commenter #1: This interview was done in 2016? How are they doing today? Wouldn’t Brad be about 90 years old?

My Response:  Yep, it’s 2022 and Brad IS 90 years old.

Commenter #2:  When they become a little bit off their game mentally as they get older, they will give their life savings back to the casinos. It’s just a matter of time.

My Response: Brad is in mental decline and doesn’t play unless I’m beside him helping him remember. I’m 83 and maybe not quite as sharp as I was in 2016, but with some review play with software on my computer, the few times I get to a casino these days, I think I remember accurate strategy pretty well. And I don’t lose enough to put even a small dent in that million dollars talked about in the YouTube interview. What does put a bigger dent in life savings is paying for senior assisted living.  🙁

Today, I’m very glad we always kept on the path of frugal advantage play  and didn’t squander in our younger days those big video poker winnings!

Stop Being Sensible????

I have had trouble settling down to write this blog.  And the truth of the matter is that I am slightly depressed.  Everyone is slightly – or majorly – depressed these days, you might say.  But the Corona virus is not what is keeping me from writing this blog.  It is the result of reading another blog – VitalVegas.     I had seen mention of this blog for years, but I had been too busy writing books, and articles, and my own blog while fitting in personal in-the-casino activity to give this blog a read.

Well, I have more leisure time now.  And for a couple of nights I have been staying up half the night to catch up on this new-to-me writing.  I am blown away by it.  Perhaps partly because I am so familiar with the subject material – I have been to or heard about or even written about most of the subjects.  But most of all I am in awe about a writing style that grabs the reader by the neck – and never lets go.

I long to write like that.  But my work will never be described as edgy.  For over 20 years I deliberately tried to avoid as much as possible pointing out the negative aspects of Las Vegas and casinos, concentrating on giving positive advice on how to cope with the reality.  I took the little-Miss-Sunshine role.  And to be absolutely frank, at times I didn’t name names because I wanted to protect my own hunting grounds!

In the last couple years or so, I did begin to point out areas where I thought casinos were being unwise.  I never blamed the casinos for not wanting people like me who were negatively affecting their profitability (even though I thought they were overreacting to an extremely small issue) but I saw and wrote about those draconian actions that were negatively affecting all their customers.

I thought about the comparison between “VitalVegas” and this blog.  Probably the most common adjective readers – even my most loyal fans – would use to describe “Frugal Vegas” might be “sensible” (like sensible shoes – not very fashion-forward but more comfortable).  I wondered if I could make this blog a little more edgy, a little more in-your-face.  I could try – maybe?

But I did think of one possibly more forward-thing I could do – I could start taking and posting selfies.  I have always considered them in the realm of anxious middle-school girls who lack self-confidence – and, not surprising, many of their male counterparts (most who have temporarily dropped out of the human race to become monkeys who are fixated on their private parts). However, sadly, also the adult realm seemed to be crowded with narcissism. So I tried to stay out of that realm.

But yesterday Brad and I was sitting on the beach at our apartment complex lake, not near anyone else so we were observing proper social distancing, and a new thought popped into my head. Time to try something new – and besides I wanted to show how a faux palm tree, with colorful coconuts, could lift one’s spirits – at least temporary – in this dark time.  Here is my first selfie:

NOTE: I will unfriend or de-friend anyone who comments that I am looking good. I don’t look particularly good at all. I haven’t put on makeup or curled my naturally straight straggly hair for weeks – and I don’t plan to do so for at least a month – and maybe longer.

Here is my second selfie:

You may comment on the second selfie if you don’t gush – the longer I don’t cut Tom’s hair, the curlier and thicker it looks, which seems a little unfair to me.

I’m not sure if I will ever take another selfie.  It didn’t seem to inspire me to write edgy words and I don’t feel like addressing anyone right in their face.

I may just have to continue writing sensibly until I can find a new and comfortable style.  Hang on, readers, who knows what the future holds here.

Keeping our Balance during a Crisis

Everything is relative these days.  I battle allergies every spring – and that hasn’t changed with our move from Las Vegas to GA.  That same yellow pollen covers our car and the table on our porch.  I go from sneezing and coughing and runny nose to a sinus infection that goes to a sore throat and an inner ear problem that causes dizziness.  What is different this year is my reaction – and my attitude:  I don’t complain as much – I feel grateful that at least I don’t have the Coronavirus.  (At least I don’t think I do!)

For years I have talked about balance in one’s life, particularly for regular casino gamblers, which we were for many years before we recently retired.  I always reminded people that there is a danger if your gambling negatively affects the other parts of your life or makes you self-centered and uncaring for those around you.  I wrote how Brad and I down through the years, until we had to deal with failing health concerns, were active in volunteer activities.  And maybe some of you got tired of hearing me talk about our children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  But our family was always our first priority – and we wrapped family activities into our casino activities constantly.

So now, I was wondering what I should write in this blog.  Some would say that with the seriousness of this pandemic people shouldn’t be thinking about gambling at all, that they should be concerned about serious medical subjects.  But I go back to my belief in balance in life.  You are heeding the advice to stay at home, but that does not mean you need to just sit around worrying.  That is not good for your mental health.  The TV is sending out tons of information about how to keep yourself and your family occupied.

Each person has special interests that can keep them from dwelling on the negative.  For some of you, reading about gambling subjects can be your way of coping with this crisis.  So that is why I will try to keep writing this blog.

We need to keep the faith that life will eventually go back to “normal,” although it may be a “new normal.”  If you were a VP player and casino visits were an important part of your life before, then I see no problem with you doing things that will help you be a smarter gambler when they re-open – whenever in the near or distant future that will be.

We have no idea what casinos will be like for the VP player when they re-open.  Some of the extreme tactics they used during the last recession seemed to hang on, like downgrading VP paytables and cutting comps.  That may happen again – but on the other hand, they may need to make some positive changes to get players back.

I predict that they will need to run more and stronger promotions.  With that in mind, now might be a good time to expand your skills.  Learn a new VP game.  Maybe you said you were sticking to Jacks or Better because that was the only game for which you knew the strategy.  Get a software training program and learn NSUD (Not-So-Ugly-Deuces) which was probably the most common “good game” when the casinos closed.

Here are some of the other ideas you might consider:  You may get out those gambling books you have in your personal library – some you never read or some you may decide to re-read to refresh your memory.  You may want to order some new titles.  Here on this website many of them are available at a discounted price.  If you are a newbie VP player, you might want to go back and read some of my blogs of the last couple of years since I have been covering the changing VP scene.

There is another resource I want to suggest, for all skill levels and all games – “Casino City Times.”  They have a ton of information on their site, much from old files, but there is also up-to-date writing, by many of the experts in the gambling field.  I especially recommend the writings of John Robison, who covers both slots and VP as he relates many of his own gambling experiences.   A very good up-to-the-minute article, covering some of the same things I am discussing in this blog for gamblers to do, is by Gary Trask.

Social distancing doesn’t mean social isolation.  We can still reach out to each other virtually if not physically.  Feel free to use the “Comments” below to share:  your fears, your hopes, your desire to stay connected.

Mid-Month News and Views

As I discussed in my last blog, many casinos are ramping up the coupons and discounts for their eateries.

You can snag discounts with your Stations Boarding Pass players card at two coffee shops:  Lucky Penny at the Palms and the Brass Fork at Palace Station.  Discounts, valid 24 hours a day 7 days a week, vary from 10% off with the lowest card, Preferred, and rise 10% for each level above that, ending at 50% for Chairman. Important to note is this promotion goes to the end of the year and is valid both with cash purchases and point redemptions. This discount perhaps is evidence that business had suffered at both places because of the perception that their prices seemed too high for “just a coffee shop,” even though they tried to promote it as more upscale than a “regular” one.  Many people – Brad especially included – want a reasonably-priced restaurant with familiar comfort food, “Don’t try to make it fancier or different; I am unimpressed with upscale.”

As with all promotions there are fine-print restrictions, many in this case:  Not valid on café specials, nor with My Generation ½-point dining, nor for alcohol. Must be 21 or older; dine in only.  Not valid on holidays or special events. (Whatever that latter exception means?)  Limit one offer per check, maximum of four guests per check. (This one is not clear; better check with the waiter before you order.)  Cannot be combined with any other offer. (This one could be a deal-breaker in some cases if that means you can’t use a coupon.) Management reserves all rights. (Of course they do, but lawyer-talk sounds so unfriendly.)

The Rampart has opened their newly-renovated buffet, with outdoor patio seating, an unusual casino buffet option.  There have been some favorable reviews, but as always – you can’t satisfy everyone – there have been complaints.  Although there are several specialty nights, some miss the deli night from the past.  Also, there is a downgrade for seniors.  The $5 buffet lunch on 50 Plus Party Tuesdays now requires first earning 100 points that day.

The Palms buffet still has unbelievably long lines because of the mass mailing of buffet coupons. One person commented on that report I put in my blog last week, giving one reason why the VIP line is always so long:

 The VIP line at Palms AYCE has gotten as long as the regular line due to all the “non-handicapped” who have figured out that they cannot be asked to show evidence of their “handicapped” status. The cashier can only ask if they are handicapped and as long as they reply that they are they are permitted to access the VIP line. Lately most patrons on the VIP line are not VIP cardholders but low-level players who figured out how to game the system. The cashiers say they are helpless to do anything.

 PLAYERS CLUB CHANGES AND DETAILS

(I use vpFREE for players club numbers, like below. Saves me a lot of math figuring!)

  1. Downtown Grand: After a no-point period for video poker, you can now earn them but the return % is very small:
  • $10 Coin-In = 1 Point on Video Poker
  • 250 Points = $1 Free Play (0.04%)
  1. Club Fortune in Henderson: In their new 4-tiered players club, members now earn both points and comps. They are running sign-up promotion in which new members that earn 50 base points on date of signup can play a kiosk wheel spin game for guaranteed free slot play.
  • $2 Coin-In = 1 Point on Most Video Poker
  • Free Play or Comps: 500 Points = $1 (0.10%)

—–

  • $3 Coin-In = 1 Point on “Up to 100%” Machines
  • Free Play or Comps: 500 Points = $1 (0.067%)

Points can also be redeemed for products and services from several local businesses.

  1. Casino Royale: Slot and video poker players can get daily rebates of $20 in free slot play for every $100 in losses. (I got this info from Scot’s “Vegas Values” – a valuable weekly report every Sunday on both current and ongoing Vegas promotions.  He covers many casinos, including some of the smaller ones that perhaps don’t do as much publicity.)

And now for some probably not very useful but perhaps somewhat interesting information – at least perhaps for old-timers like me.  I recently saw an article, with pictures, about a Snakes-and-Ladders slot machine.  I don’t know how long this slot has been around, but I had never come across one in my casino wanderings.  However, seeing mention of it took me back some 70+ years ago.  Chutes and Ladders was one of the first board games I ever played, first with my mother, and it then occupied many hours of my childhood as I taught my sisters the minute they could grasp the gaming concept – so I would have someone with whom to compete.

It was many years later that I learned that Chutes and Ladders was the Americanized version of the ancient Indian game of Snakes-and-Ladders, teaching children a morality lesson about good and evil. Go here to read more about this subject – maybe it will make the slot machine version more interesting?

When To Walk

In a recent Bob Dancer blog about staying secure with your money in a casino environment, the comments veered into a discussion about “locking up wins” and changing machines.  It gets a bit technical, but it reminded me of an article I wrote for Strictly Slots about 20 years ago.  Since I still get the same questions I fielded back then, I decided to share this old piece pretty much not updated  – for example, I didn’t take out reference to coin-feeding machines.  So it will be a bit of nostalgia plus some helpful basic concepts that will never grow old.

——– 

“When to Walk” –  from 1999

Strictly Slots, among other periodicals and books [and now the Internet], is so full of detailed information about slot and video poker machines that I keep expecting people to have very complex questions for me — about random number generators or theoretical win percentages or some obscure video poker strategy. However, the question I’m asked most frequently is a simple one: How do I know when it is the right time to quit playing a particular machine?

Although it’s a basic query, the answer is not so straightforward. For years I’ve been compiling a list of answers to the question of “when to walk.” I find that they fall into three main categories: mathematical, common sensical, and emotional.

Although the following guidelines are more for the casual recreational player than the serious gambling student or  professional, many of these considerations are the same for both groups of players

Math Tells You to Walk

  • when you’re playing a negative-expectation game (one in which the casino has the edge and over the long run you’re mathematically guaranteed to lose). Serious students of gambling and professionals, whose main interest is profit, will tell you to walk away from that kind of game even before you drop in a single coin. However, the goal of casual players is entertainment; they’re looking mainly at the fun factor. They want to play a variety of machines and they don’t want to learn complicated strategies. They’re hoping for the big win and are depending on luck. However, math can still be their ally. They can “walk” often, bouncing from machine to machine with wild abandon. The more time they spend changing machines instead of actually playing them, the less they will lose. The money they don’t lose is money won!
  • when a promotion — one that made a bad or so-so play a good one — ends. We’ve played many negative-expectation games when a promotion transformed the casino edge into an advantage for the player. One example of this would be when a slot club offers triple points during Monday Night Football. However, when the triple-point session is over, we’re out of there faster than you can say, “From all of us here at ABC, goodnight.”

Common Sense Tells You to Walk

  • when you’re hungry, tired, or need a bathroom break. When you haven’t eaten for a long time, your blood sugar drops and you can’t think clearly. When your eyes start to blur from staring too long at a video screen or spinning reels and when your shoulders, arms, and back start to burn from sitting too long in the same position, you will not make wise decisions. Interestingly, a hotel doctor in Vegas whose practice caters mostly to tourists tells me that one of the most common conditions he treats is urinary problems caused by people refusing to leave their machines often enough to answer the call of nature.
  • when the environment is not pleasant, comfortable, or healthy. I often have to change machines when the air-conditioning is blasting Arctic air directly down on my already-aching neck and shoulders. Another typical “move” situation comes when the smoke from the cigarette of the person right beside me is drifting straight into my poor allergy-suffering sinuses. You may want to move if the seat is uncomfortable or your chatter-box neighbor is a whining pessimist or a constant complainer.
  • when the machine you’re playing has a fuzzy or jumpy screen that gives you a headache, or the bill acceptor doesn’t work and you hate to feed coins, or there is a sticky video poker button that causes you to make mistakes on your card holding.
  • when you’ve lost the money you budgeted for that particular gambling session. In this instance, walking means straight out of the casino, into your car, and out of the parking lot – or straight to your hotel room – or a quick casino exit out into the fresh air. There should be no side trips to the cage to cash a check or to the ATM machine to lay your hands on money that you had earmarked for other purposes.
  • when your partner wants you to quit and join him or her in a non-gambling activity. I don’t have exact statistics on how many relationships break up in a casino, but I suspect there are many. Try to consider these “interruptions” as desirable breaks from the intensity of gambling. Besides, even gamblers need to stop and smell the roses.

Emotions Tell You to Walk

This consideration is much harder to pin down — temperamental factors do not worship at the altar of mathematics and are usually unconcerned about good sense. This is a very personal category. The following aren’t universal “reasons,” because they’re often unreasonable to other people. But it is often a good idea to walk

  • when you reach your personal win/loss limit. There is no absolute mathematics rule here. But say you previously decided to change machines when you won $100. You win the $100 and you not only don’t quit, but you subsequently lose that $100. You’ve launched yourself into that “if-I’d-only” territory that is so internally disquieting. Quit when you win that $100 even if you just move to the next machine that looks exactly the same. You may lose the $100 at almost the same rate, but that internal broken record playing “if” in your head won’t drive you quite so crazy.
  • when you’re losing AND it’s getting to you. A slot player on “tilt” is tempted to chase his losses by increasing the number of credits he plays per hand, becoming even more frustrated as he loses even faster. A video poker player may sacrifice the advantage of the “long-term” and deviate from the computer-prescribed strategy to hope for short-term success. Even pros and frequent players, who understand volatility and have learned how to take the ups and downs of gambling, will change machines if they get psyched out by a long losing streak that starts to affect accuracy and speed. A “fresh start” on a new machine gives video poker players a chance to take a break, stretch their bodies and rest their minds; feeling better emotionally, they’ll again be able to play faster with less likelihood of making errors. Slot players as well can benefit from a refreshing break before jumping back into the fray.
  • when you’ve been up and down for a long period of playing time and finally get even or up a little. Being on a gambling roller coaster is an exhilarating but exhausting ride, and sometimes Brad and I choose to quit a session when we have finally achieved a small win. Sometimes leaving even, or even with a small loss, makes us feel like a big winner, especially if we’ve climbed out of a deep hole dug at the beginning of our play that day. I often say, “My nerves just cannot take another elevator ride to the basement today.”
  • when you win a jackpot. However, this is not for the reason that most people give when they do so: “Now this machine won’t be due for another jackpot for a long time.” Remember, there is no little computer chip that tells the machine not to give a another jackpot right away. The machine has the same mathematical chance to give a jackpot on the next hand as a week later. However, there IS a valid psychological reason for many people to walk after a big win: It’s fun to CELEBRATE! Playing a slot or video poker machine always involves a considerable period of time filled with losing streaks — for the pro or the recreational gambler alike. The joy of winning is a universal human emotion. What we are all looking for is the jackpot! There is no bigger thrill for the machine player than a royal flush or the top-of-the chart payoff. Stop and savor the feeling. Go somewhere to eat with your partner and talk about every little detail that led up to this jackpot. Go shopping and splurge with a little of the jackpot money. Even if it’s not a large life-changing win, stop and take a little walk and smile at everyone to share your happiness.
  • when you’re getting bored or you just aren’t having fun. The tiny group of pros who make their living at the casino machines may have to put in their eight or ten or twelve hours a day, seven days a week, whether they’re enjoying or hating every minute of it. But for the rest of us, gambling is entertainment. And when we aren’t having fun at our machine, we need to walk.

Invitation to a Birthday Celebration

An Invitation from Angela, the Frugal Princess

On Saturday, December 29, 2018, believe it or not, my Mom – Jean Scott – is turning 80 – and that is an occasion to celebrate!

As you can imagine, a gambler who has been chasing casino promotions for 35 years doesn’t need any birthday presents!  What she REALLY wants more than ANYTHING is to visit with friends and with those who enjoy what she loves – the frugal casino lifestyle.

So, my husband Steve and I and granddaughter Kaitlynn want to invite you to join us at the Las Vegas Tuscany Casino, in the party room at the back of the Pub 365, for a Frugal Friends Open House on Saturday, December 29, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.

There will be laughter, reminiscing, and story-telling with The Queen of Comps and, of course, with the King of Kindness (Brad), who is always by her side.  Jean would be so happy to see long-time friends, and especially old video poker cohorts that she rarely runs into at casinos anymore.  And she would love the opportunity to meet in person the many fellow casino frugalites that have become Internet friends through the gambling forums and her blog.

You don’t need to RSVP – just pop in anytime between 2 and 4 p.m. to join in a birthday celebration of friendship!

Resources + Gifting

I find the more I check Vegas/gambling informational sources, the more interesting activities I find and/or the more money I will save.  Here are some on my checklist:

Vegas4locals – one of the best places to find free and/or inexpensive things to do in Vegas, with tons of information for both frugal locals and visitors alike.

MarksLasVegas  –  Click on the tabs at the top of the website for both gambling and Las Vegas info, including interesting information under “Offbeat and Tidbits,” helpful info if you need medical help while staying on the Strip, and the Bellagio Fountain Show song list.

Thrillist.com recently posted an eclectic list of a whopping 45 free things to do in Las Vegas, including some offbeat possibilities I had never read about before.

And sometimes I just run across some articles on interesting subjects. Here’s one about Vegas opening a gambling court.     And here is one that describes one man’s quest to make money in minor casino games with unusual and mostly little-known techniques.

Holiday Gift Ideas

Speaking of resources, are you looking to buy a holiday gift for a gambling friend or relative who likes to visit casinos?  I recommend you check out the LVA holiday catalog.  There you can find books for the professional gambler as well as for those who just enjoy casino games as a recreational choice.  There are also selections for those who are looking for general information about Las Vegas, including a guide to restaurants all over town.

And for the frugal, check out the section of the LVA Shop highlighting products that are on sale.

There is also a special Jean Scott section. Some have asked me whether they should pick up my new book, The Frugal Gambler Casino Guide, if they already have read/studied my other books in the Frugal Gambler series. That depends.  Long-time experienced gamblers might not find much new but casual players might find it helpful for my discussions about the new changes in the casino world.  It is the perfect book for newbie gamblers and for those who are thinking about choosing new games.   I have expanded the book to cover all casino games, listing the casino edge for each one and giving techniques to reduce that edge. So although it is a good VP primer, the information on players club and comp systems would help most players in a casino make their gambling bankroll stretch for more casino fun time.

More Frugal Gambling is still the best place to start to learn about the complex casino comp system. This is still the only book that covers this subject in depth, and it will give you a solid base to understand better the updates in the more recent Guide book. The “Frugal Gambler Video Poker Scouting Guide” pocket-size booklet is a must-carry for VP players who are looking to play the best games.

I am feverishly working on bringing out the 4th edition of Tax Help for Gamblers, a necessary update with all the recent tax changes in 2018.  Russell Fox, a noted EA and tax preparer, has come on board to help me with all the major ramifications for gamblers.  We would have liked to have had this book out yesterday, but we are having to wait for the “beloved” IRS to bring out the 2018 tax return forms.  I will let everyone know when the new book is available but I figure now it won’t be out until after the first of the year.  Just hoping the government will see the need for the new forms VERY SOON.

 

 

 

 

 

More Info from the “Frugal” File

Harrah’s Cherokee

First, a short report on our 7* visit to Harrah’s Cherokee.  Still our favorite location for a casino; you can’t beat the Smoky Mountains for a fall trip.  We were a little early for the full-blown leaf color change, but after living in the desert for the last 20 years, miles and miles of nature green is a welcome sight.

Although we love this casino, this might be our last trip there.  The main reason for us choosing it is the availability of NSUD machines, the only ones left in the Caesars kingdom.  But even with the high EV of 99.7% and the fact that we love deuces, we found playing them this time was “work” and not “fun.”  Bad maintenance with mostly sticky buttons that slowed down our play to a crawl, having to check every hand carefully that the machine was holding the cards we had chosen. One doesn’t want to make even one mistake when you are playing $25 a hand.  Fortunately, we hit one set of 5K deuces to pull out a nice win for our swan song.

For years Brad and I had both reached Harrah’s  7* status, but as the benefits have drastically been reduced, we decided this year to play just enough to keep me at this tier level and be able to have the one retreat trip for family visits.  Most of our play has been or will be in Harrah’s Tahoe, our 2nd favorite casino location, and hopefully it will keep the 9/6 JoB machines that are disappearing in so many places.

One perk we enjoyed in Cherokee was the ability to opt out of daily housekeeping and receive a $20 free-play voucher.  We teased the grandkids that they could clean up the three rooms we had and they could split the $120 in vouchers to add to their gambling bankroll!  This is becoming a more frequent casino policy but sometimes isn’t widely publicized.  So, if you are interested, be sure and ask when you check into a hotel if there is such a program in effect.

Caesars Palace Buffet

They are no longer serving a separate breakfast and lunch schedule. Instead they offer brunch 7 days a week. Most frugal option is to go on a weekday, just before brunch ends at 3 p.m.  You will pay the lowest price available at this venue, $39.99, and then can enjoy the expanded dinner selections that start at 3 p.m. – without paying the higher dinner price.  Prices go up on the weekends but you always save if you enter and pay before the changeover from brunch to dinner.

This is one of the best money-saving techniques all over town you can use when a buffet does not close between meal changeovers.  Related to that is the hint that when a restaurant serves both lunch and dinner, the lunch menu is almost always lower in price!  And sometimes there is a reduced early-bird budget dinner option.  It pays to check out restaurant time schedules if you want to save money!

Switching Games

My friend Henry Tamburin, a long-time BJ player, wrote an interesting article about how he made the switch to mostly VP in later years. He tells about how Lenny Frome, the pioneer VP guru, got him interested in this new game choice, but then he said, “But what pushed me over the edge was Jean Scott.”

Once in awhile I’ve had people say I’ve gone a little “far out” on some frugal gambling techniques, but I guess Henry was complimenting me here! 😊

A Vegas Trip Report from Angela, the Frugal Princess

It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything as the Frugal Princess!  And I’m not sure I even qualify anymore, especially since my daughter is about the age when I became the “Frugal Princess,” and I have become a grandmother.  I guess even princesses grow old!

I just returned home from a week-long stay in Las Vegas with my mom, the Queen of Comps, and my step-dad, the King of Kindness.  It was a different kind of week, though, with just a little gambling and whole lot of real life.  But all of it was frugal, of course.

First – some family updates:

My husband, Steve, is still working with soldiers even though he retired from the Army 10 years ago in October.  He recently transitioned from year-to-year civilian military contract jobs to a more permanent Government Service job, but still at Ft. Benning.  He has also become a Master Scuba Instructor and loves his new hobby/part-time job and has even coaxed me into the water to get my Advanced Open Water Scuba Certification!  We both went back to college and finally got our bachelor’s degrees we had been trying to complete for many years.  I enjoy supporting the military again by working as the Military Science Department Administrative Secretary at Columbus State University where I get to work with ROTC cadets, active duty instructors, and government staff.  Steve and I are too busy to be lonely empty-nesters and besides, our two pups, Maggie and Murphy, think they are our kids and need our undivided attention.

Our ever-energetic son, Zachary, graduated from Columbus State University, became a police officer, serves in the Georgia National Guard, and still finds time to flip all over town doing parkour and martial arts.  He and our bonus daughter, Taylor, have two sons, Asher (almost 4) and Bowen (15 mo.), and they are expecting a sweet little girl (YIPEE!) in November.  We never knew being grandparents and in-laws would be so cool!

Kaity is our adventurous child who lives in Atlanta and is finishing her graduate degree in Film, Video, and Digital Imaging Production at Georgia State this December.  She stays very busy with her classes, an assistantship and internships, a YouTube channel (Geocaching Kaity), running marathons, and dog-walking as her “side hustle.”  We often tag along on her hiking and outdoor adventures.

Although we all come to Vegas for family visits, I came this time by myself, enjoying the chance for some one-on-one quality time with my parents.  The first few days we spent running errands, picking up bounce-back free play at various casinos and getting together with friends and in-town family using food comps that were going to expire.   And it is always fun to shop in casino gift shops with comps.  Thankfully, we now will have a baby girl to buy for.  Mom said she had bought out all the boy stuff using her comps at the Silverton gift shop so she will soon have more options – this little girl is probably destined to be mermaid-crazy from the time she is born.

The main reason for my coming on this particular trip was that mid-week Mom had been scheduled for out-patient mouth surgery to remove some benign cysts under her tongue and I was thankful to be able to play nursemaid for the “old folks.” {WINK} The surgery was not serious but the recovery would be slow and painful.  I became her master smoothie-maker.

While Mom was recuperating, Brad and I went to several casinos to pick up free play and take advantage of multiple-point days to play some video poker.  Luckily Mom had taught me well over the years and I actually felt like I knew what I was doing!  My favorite game of all time is full-pay Deuces Wild, which I learned to play before I was even 21 and is still my favorite today.  Luckily, the Palms brought back a bank of these games just in time for my visit. I have hit several royal flushes and many 4-deuce jackpots on these machines down through the years but no luck this time.  However, I didn’t lose much money – I found I can’t sit and play as long as I used to, which ends up being a frugal way to stretch your bankroll!

Visits to Vegas have certainly changed for me and for my family over the years and as time spirals faster and faster as we grow older, we have to learn how to adjust and not expect things to stay the same. Mom and Brad no longer have the energy for the busy-every-minute schedule they used to keep, and I really enjoyed their slower pace this visit.   We wanted to make the most out of every minute and learn to appreciate even the very smallest things.  We loved swimming in the condo’s warm pool after the sun went down.  We marveled at the hummingbirds and sparrows finishing off the red sugar water in the birdfeeder on their patio.  We watched the brave tree trimmers shimmy up and down the tall palm trees.

It was a memorable visit and I can’t wait to return.

Outside the Orleans buffet with my mom and Aunt Starr

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