Going For The Royal

[FloridaPhil]

The Beau Rivage trips are a great deal for us. We get a three night all expenses paid vacation at one of the nicest hotel resorts on the Mississippi coast. We choose to drive, but they will fly us there and back for free if we wish. We are normally offered a waterfront room. All their rooms are non smoking. Their buffet is better than any buffet we have ever been to in Vegas. Free show tickets, food and drinks are included. We don't have to put up with traffic, hordes of tourists or sidewalk hustlers inviting us to peep shows.

In return, we play a lot of quarter VP. The large house edge is how they pay for these comps. If you play accurately and conservatively you can do these trips at bargain prices. If you play big or do crazy things, you will take a beating. If you hit a royal, you will most likely make a profit.

I suspect MGM knows what they are doing. If they didn't make money on these offers they wouldn't run them. If we didn't think they were a good deal, we wouldn't go back. Both parties win, which is how good business is conducted in America.

In recent years casinos have become wise to this. If all you ever do is play full pay deuces wild, you won't be getting many offers like this unless you play so large one mistake will make their week. Profiting off the casino makes for a great story. In reality, it's not that easy.

[FAA]

Yes. Most junketeers are likely not as prudent as yourselves, thus MGM healthy profit margins on the operation. Beating the System 101, Beau Version.

[onemoretry]

unless you play so large one mistake will make their week

I've read this several times, and it still has me baffled. What one mistake, or type of mistake, by a player could possibly be that significant to the casino?

[Tedlark]

Single coin $100,000,000.00 denomination?

[FloridaPhil]

Single coin $100,000,000.00 denomination?

Ask someone who believes you can't lose playing positive VP.

[FloridaPhil]

I remember asking this question a few years back, but I don't think I ever got an answer.

If you play max coin 6/5 Bonus Poker using computer perfect strategy, the royal flush average is one in 40,000 hands. I know you shouldn't play this game. I also know there are no guarantees.

If you throw away paying pairs to go for three to a royal, how does this affect the royal flush average? If you play 5,000 hands a day computer perfect, you should average one royal every eight days. Does going for the royal shrink the average time period between royals? If so, by how much?

[tech58]

FP. If you would care to give details of how you got started on Biloxi,junket trip ,just play, whatever?
Will be in the area in Feb. playing that level or higher no problem. Are comps available contingent on
play for a first timer?

Also does anyone recall where a similar question about Laughlin was discussed? I remember Riverside was the place but no details. passing thru there in march, have lots of freebies lined up in vegas but no air and nothing in Laughlin. Will check favorite casinos threads,which is probably where i should have asked.

[FloridaPhil]

FP. If you would care to give details of how you got started on Biloxi,junket trip ,just play, whatever?

You may already know most of this. For those who don't.

On our travels around the country, we visit a lot of different casinos. From our experience, comped rooms are the easiest "freebee" to earn. Whenever we go to a new casino we get a players club card and we use it. Often we get bonus points just for signing up. Some of the sign up bonuses are pretty decent. Once you play at a casino for a while, you will start getting offers. You don't need to be a high roller. What they want are players who will consistently sit at their machines and return often. Video poker is perfect for this as we normally play for hours on end and the house edge is small compared to slots.

Our mailbox is always full of offers. We pay attention to them because hidden in the mailer will often be an offer for free lodging. We must be flexible in your dates. Monday thru Thursday are easy. Hardly anyone will comp us on the weekends unless it's the off season. We have free room offers right now from dozens of casinos. MLife will give us a couple of nights at most any of their resorts. We use these free rooms as mini vacations. I would guess we stay at least 20-30 nights a year at some casino resort or another.

With the possible exception of Red Rock, great casino offers don't come with great VP odds. You can get away cheap playing 96-97% VP games if you play them smart. We don't make money playing VP. We stay at great vacation resorts for what it costs us to play their games and we control that cost.

We started getting junket offers from the Beau Rivage about 9 years ago. Back then dollar 9/6 Jacks was available and I played with a $3,000 a trip bankroll. My wife didn't gamble. She went for the shopping and the hotel experience itself. In 2008, I hit 4 royals in one day plus a couple of high limit hand pays. At that time we were making about 3-4 Beau Rivage trips a year. Right after Katrina, all the Biloxi casinos started dropping their VP odds. 9/6 Jacks became 8/5, then 7/5. To keep from being killed, we switched to quarter VP. At that point, my wife started playing. Interestingly enough, the offers have continued as before.

I think there a few factors that are helping us to get these offers. One is the fact that we are both seniors and we both play a lot of VP. The other is that we live in Florida. Before Florida put in casino gambling, a lot of Florida players drove to Biloxi to play. I'm sure the Hard Rocks have cut into the Mississippi casino business, so they have to do more to attract them. What I don't understand is why Mississippi doesn't match the Hard Rock's VP odds. I believe they would make more money if they did. For example, I can play dollar 8/5 Bonus Poker in Hollywood or drive 9 hours to Biloxi to play quarter 6/5.

Biloxi gambling is not about making a profit. It's about enjoying the experience while limiting your risk. In much of today's VP, limiting coin-in is an essential part of your overall strategy. There are still a few positive opportunities around, but they are hard to find or they come with magnitudes of risk.

[jsm2016]

Those twenty-cent mistakes (or concessions, if you'd like) really add up. Make five and you're out a happy-hour drink at the bar!

[FloridaPhil]

Those twenty-cent mistakes (or concessions, if you'd like) really add up. Make five and you're out a happy-hour drink at the bar!

Yes they can. Over a three day period, it is possible to lose $1,000 playing quarter VP. Playing positive games perfectly does not keep this from happening either. One of the worst three day losses I ever had was playing 99.7% NSU Deuces Wild in Reno. I drove to Tahoe and hit a royal on a 97% game with a hand the computer told me not to play.

This is just part of the video poker game. In the long term, the only thing that matters to us is if we get our money's worth from the casino experience. So far the answer has been yes.

We're on our way to Biloxi this morning. We wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS!.