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[FloridaPhil]

A few days ago on this forum OTABILL asked the question "What would you like to see discussed on the Recreational Forum?".

Here is something we can all relate to. It is no secret that playing positive VP games is essential if you want any hope of making a profit from VP. Are positive VP games essential to your personal enjoyment of the game?

Here is an example. We regularly make the 9 hour drive to play VP in Biloxi. We stay free at the Beau Rivage, one of the nicest casino resorts on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. They will fly us there for free, but we choose to drive. The VP odds at the Beau Rivage are not the best. The hotel, staff, casino, restaurants and comp programs are exceptional. However, not enough to make the games profitable by any stretch of the imagination. About 30 minutes away in Bay St. Louis is the Silver Slipper Casino where the VP odds are much better. Still not positive, but among the best in Mississippi.

Compared to the Beau Rivage, the Silver Slipper is a dump. The smoke is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Your clothes reek from tobacco. The clientele is mostly locals. The machines are dirty. There is no view except for an occasional butt crack. Should we play at the Beau Rivage where everything is first class or choose our VP games strictly by the odds? What would you do?

On my desk are a stack of offers. A number of them are from MLife. As everyone knows, their casinos are all over the country. These offers come to us from our play at the Beau Rivage. MLife casinos are not always known for having the best VP odds. Should we throw them away because we can't play positive games at their casinos?

When my wife and I make a decision on where to play our VP, odds are not the most important factor in making our decision. This might mean sacrificing odds for a better casino experience. Obviously, if we can get both, the choice is easy. Red Rock is an example of where we can get both. Unfortunately for us, it's 2,200 miles away. Two first class plane tickets and a rental car runs about $2K. Are the better odds at Red Rock going to make up the difference? Sadly no.

Do you always play the best games despite what else comes with your trip to the casino? Just curious.

[billryan]

I believe it was Jerry Garcia who opined that choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.

[FAA]

Not to be confused with "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

[Webman]

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[olds442jetaway]

Or my mom's favorite.....A stitch in time saves nine.....meaning, go to the nice and most enjoyable place. Avoid the possible pneumonia, bedbugs, rude employees and patrons, food poisoning , and on and on you may get at a later date from the dumps. Anyway, how much long term could you possible save. Even if you ran through between you 10,000 in coin in and paid a 2 percent penalty for the pay table, that is only 200 bucks. At this stage of our lives, it makes no difference money wise even long term. Whether we want to admit it or not and I hope we all make it to 110, our ability to come and go as we please while being healthy and fit at the same time are unfortunately somewhat numbered. I don't even like to type this, but unfortunately it is true. So enjoy every moment while we can. PS....drop the s from my handle and what word do you get?

[olds442jetaway]

Speaking of which Phil, we both know what day Thursday is!

[Tedlark]

To me it's a no-brainer. Skip Biloxi, fly coach or business class to Las Vegas every 3 or 4 months and you'd be a much happier camper. You already mentioned that they send you offers now anyway, if they include free rooms and some food, what's the boggle.

[FloridaPhil]

To me it's a no-brainer. Skip Biloxi, fly coach or business class to Las Vegas every 3 or 4 months and you'd be a much happier camper. You already mentioned that they send you offers now anyway, if they include free rooms and some food, what's the boggle.

We can't always fly off to Las Vegas every time we wish to play VP. We have to make these decisions where we play most. Comps are part of our winnings. We consider comps as anything the casino gives us for playing at their establishment. The surroundings where we play should be included in our comps. If you have a choice of playing full pay deuces wild in a smelly gas station bathroom or 98.9% deuces in a luxury resort overlooking the ocean, which one would you choose?

[FloridaPhil]

We know it is very unlikely that we will make a profit playing VP. There are numerous reasons for this. Lack of positive games, errors, tolerance issues and physical limitations to name a few. To keep the cost as small as possible, we play just big enough to earn comps that matter to us and small enough to hold our losses to a minimum.

There was a time when we didn't care about comps. Now, they are more important to us than actual game winnings. The quarter games we play are about $10-$15 an hour negative on paper. This doesn't concern us because we know we can win as well as lose on any machine at any time. Both of us have won big playing negative games and had big losses playing so called full pay games.

Disney World is less than an hour from our home in Central Florida. The daily price of a Disney World ticket is about $129 a day per person, a lot higher if you want to avoid standing in line. Disney World hotels start around $175 a night with most costing much more. It is nothing to pay $50 for lunch in a Disney theme park restaurant. To us, a day at the casino is much more entertaining than any theme park. In addition, the casino gives us a chance to win some of our money back. Good luck with that at Disney World.

Our mail box and email is always full of offers. Some of our "free" vacations cost us $1,000 in losses. On some of them we come home with $1,000. If we lived in Las Vegas, we could play positive games. Would we choose to play them over playing at MGM? That depends on more than the odds.

We believe Recreational players should consider everything the casino has to offer. If you make your game playing decisions based solely on the odds , you could be missing out on some great VP experiences.

[billryan]

The wheel is turning and you can't slow down. You can't let go and you can't hold on.
You can't go back and you can't stand still. If the thunder don't get you then the lightning will.

Last time I flew cross country, my companion and I split three extra legroom seats on Jet Blue. Costs us $160 each to have extra room and an empty seat between us. Two Mint seats(jet blue's first class) were $1250. Three extra room seats were half that.