Jacks or Better Strategy Question

[chattycattty]

with 250,000 credit 2.5 million coin in at 9/6 job 99.53 expected loss would be about 12,000 with 8/5 bp the loss would be about 25000 so don blame the slots
We do not keep meticulous records but we do keep up with it at the end of each trip. As I mentioned we play on the same card. Last year I hit more than my share of royals which put me just about even for the year. One reason our overall losses were as small as they were was b/c we received close to $20,000 in free play.

In our case, last year, most of our losses were due to the slots. But I am not complaining because we always have a great time. I just wish she enjoyed video poker more. She makes me nervous when I go into the high limits room and catch her on one of the $25 machines.

[BobDancer]

with 250,000 credit 2.5 million coin in at 9/6 job 99.53 expected loss would be about 12,000 with 8/5 bp the loss would be about 25000 so don blame the slotsYou're correct as far as it goes. But you earn points redeemable for free play and you get "appearance money" every time you show up. I don't know how much they played each trip, but this can range up to $5,000 each trip --- although you almost certainly can't earn that much playing 9/6 JoB. at CET, you need to consider playing lesser games with a higher theoretical.Still, 'only' $500 show up money times 20 trips means $10,000 which can fairly be counted as coming from gambling.I agree that he can't necessarily blame his wife's slots --- although generally speaking it's a lot more costly to play slots than video poker. And he should be keeping records --- whether or not it takes the fun out of gambling. With that much coin-in, he has a number of W2Gs and records are mighty handy during an audit.

[chattycattty]

We report our w-2g's as ordinary income. The only offset we get is by claiming our losses as itemized deductions. We visited with our accountant and like most CPA's he does not want to fight the IRS by having us do professional gambler designation.

We only gamble at CET properties and you would think that we could show the IRS our win/loss statement from CET and not have to bother with showing the w2g's as ordinary income and offsetting of the losses as itemized deductions.

[BobDancer]

We report our w-2g's as ordinary income. The only offset we get is by
claiming our losses as itemized deductions. We visited with our
accountant and like most CPA's he does not want to fight the IRS by
having us do professional gambler designation.Win/Loss statements are notoriously inaccurate and at many places are subject to player manipulation by card pulling and other techniques. The IRS knows this. They consider these statements as very low level evidence and sometimes disallow them. The technique you describe is also not allowed. You are required to keep a session log of wins and losses. W2Gs are but one item required.Bob

[chattycattty]

Bob, I am fairly certain we will be okay if we get audited. I am only talking about taking losses as itemized deductions to the extent of the winnings we are claiming as ordinary income.

We have an account we use only for gambling. Additionally we play with markers that are paid off and accounted for on each gambling trip. As I mentioned in an earlier post we are NOT attempting to file as a professional gambler. Therefore the logbooks you refer to would not be necessary.