Surviving in the Real World of VP

[FAA]

I would get saddled with the high CET charges. Date offerings are not terribly convenient. I would not gamble an extra ten dollars there regardless. Not exactly Nirvana. It would be a one time offer. They won't repeat it once they see that it doesn't move the meter. On the plus side, I could finally have a nice long session of peace and quiet at Borgata! 

[FloridaPhil]

One way to beat this system would be to take the free room and gamble somewhere else.  This would jeopardize future comps, but the right balance might work to your advantage.  My wife and I come to play.  We don't play golf, we don't go to shows, we play VP the whole time.  Because of this we get a lot of offers even playing quarters most of the time.  We need to watch the odds and comps closely. Like I said before, free is not free if you have to pay through the nose in the casino to get it.

[FloridaPhil]

Somewhere along here the subject of free play will come up.  This can
get complicated and is where you need to put in the time to understand
what's happening where you play.  For example, the Hard Rock has no less
than 8 types of mailers they will send you.  Some are guaranteed free
play and others are drawings.  Unless you understand the
wording and what each offer means, you will not be able to recognize the better offers when they come to you.  The Hard Rock has a calendar
on their website showing your free play offers and what day is the best
to play.  My normal free play is about $30-$50 a day.   One day a month
it could be as much as $150.  By studying the website and talking to an
agent, you can figure this out.  I ignored this for years and lost a
lot of good opportunities.   Even a small time player like me can benefit from
this information.

[olds442jetaway]

I have been splitting my play the last two months between Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Luckily, the 2 are only fifteen minutes apart and have managed to wrangle decent free play at both casinos. The ride back and forth from one to the other gave me an opportunity to take in some great fall foliage sights as well. Some will think I am nuts, but I have actually booked rooms at both places for the same evening. Comp luckily. I now have favorite machines at both places and you have the flexibility of resting and enjoying both places. This is especially good for long sessions. By doing this ( of course I won't be in the bad weather ) , I have been able get free play 5 times of what I had just by playing at Mohegan. Of course I have shorter sessions at both places, but it is good not to become too sedentary anyway, sit for too long. I always park far away in the garage too just to force myself to walk and work out the kinks. Foxwoods is so big, you can easily get in your needed 30 minute daily fast pace walk too. It is so easy for us to get lazy playing vp and just sit around etc. I'm 68 and luckily feel like 18 most days and since we can't go back in time, all of us vp players need to do what we can to stay as active as possible. Now if they would only get rid of the dam smoke. I'm sure that is offsetting most of what I am trying to do to stay healthy and be able to play vp for a long time yet.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=olds442jetaway] By doing this ( of course I won't be in the bad weather ) , I have been
able get free play 5 times of what I had just by playing at Mohegan.[/quote]Figuring free play strategy tends to be a challenge.  One would think it's based on your average bet, total cash in and time spent in the casino, but it doesn't work that way.  Waiting a week between visits equals more play.  If I stay away longer, the free play offers get juicier.  Stay away too long and they taper off to nothing.  Comp points work across all the Hard Rocks but free play is casino specific.  The offers in Hollywood are more generous than Tampa.  This makes sense as Hollywood has competition and Tampa is the only casino in Central Florida. Tampa has a license to steal and charges $10 for parking and Hollywood does not.   Of course the best offers are normally in places with more than one casino.  Figuring out to use them against one another is a good plan.  The exception is Biloxi.  I am convinced all the casinos in Mississippi are working together to fix the odds and offers.  Margaritaville was the rouge casino and they ran them out of business.

[ko king]

Everyone likes to read about winning.  No one likes to think about losing.  It's fun to fantasize about a world where all the games are positive, the cards always come up right and loses are always covered by even bigger wins. I have a copy of Dancer's Million Dollar Video Poker.  The pages are all torn and falling out, but I keep reading it over and over again.  What a story!  Some guy just like you and me goes from living on free buffets to banking over million dollars all by playing VP.  He never makes a mistake, runs out of money or has anything bad happen.  He happily loses $50K in an afternoon and nonchalantly forges on to even bigger wins.  If only we could capture just a little of that guy's genius we could all be big winners just like him?For most people video poker is not that profitable.  If you are honest with yourself, you will probably agree with me.   I've been playing video poker for over 10 years.  For the last four years it has escalated to a serious hobby.   So much so that I now have a new car solely dedicated to my weekly trips to the casino.  It's about 200 miles round trip, so the deprecation and expense gets to be an issue.  My weekly VP budget is $500.  My vacation budget is $2K. This allows me to play max coin quarters for a minimum of 4 hours a day with a little left over for $1 play pot shots.  I cash out every win from $50 and up, so I never come home totally busted. Besides playing one day a week, my wife and I also take monthly VP vacations.  We are flexible with our schedules, never play on weekends or holidays and most always get fully comped rooms.  The casinos we visit don't offer positive games, but most are 98-99%.  Thanks to some excellent luck, so far I am up this year.  My wife's total annual losses never exceed $2K.  This is not include any comps.  Considering all the fun we have staying at great resorts for practically nothing, we think VP is a real bargain.How do you survive?   What games do you play and what are the odds?  Do you take pot shots?  Do you feel like VP is worth the cost? 






I guess I've played vp for about 24 years now, of those 24 years I think I finished ahead for the year 2 years, neither year was a big profit but none the less I didn't lose money. Up until this week I was barely ahead but I got smashed 3 trips in a row. I do take pot shots, not often but I do, it rarely pays off but it has once this year. I changed the way I play vp a few years back because the losses were getting out of control. I was doing so good this year I kind of got drew back into a bad habit, playing like I used to, it cost me dearly. It's back to conservative play for me. I was getting crushed by the vp machines so I figured a pot shot at $5 denomination could pull me out the hole I created, I got 4 plays for my $100.

[Chicagoan]

  The exception is Biloxi.  I am convinced all the casinos in Mississippi are working together to fix the odds and offers.  Margaritaville was the rouge casino and they ran them out of business.

Phil, I think Silver Slipper in Hancock County is the current Mississippi Coast rouge casino. They have good pay tables (for the coast), better than you can find right within Biloxi proper. Silver Slipper has limited denoms, however ---- .25, .50, $1, $5. Some sprinkles of .5 and .10 on carnival VP.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=ko king] It's back to conservative play for me.[/quote]I always seem to do better when I'm patient.  I don't always win long term either, but most years I come within a few thousand dollars of breaking even.  I start to lose when I concoct some crazy scheme.  Sometimes it works for a while, but slow and easy is the way to go.  I crave a little excitement once in a while and will throw away some house money.  I don't hurt myself too much as long as I keep it under control.  My biggest hits have come when switching denominations on a good day.  One $4,000 royal goes a long way when you're playing mostly quarters.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=Chicagoan]Phil, I think Silver Slipper in Hancock County is the current Mississippi Coast rouge casino.[/quote]We've played there a lot in the past. Decent pay tables if you can play 50 cents and above.  It's the smokiest casino on the coast, so my wife doesn't care for it.  The drive down from Biloxi is beautiful.  The best odds we have found are at the Island View bar in Gulfport.   They have 9/6 quarter jacks and the seats fill up fast.

[FAA]

Full pay JOB may even get you break even in a non CET casino!