What Would You Do?

[notes1]

i wonder how many card dealers, bartenders, cab drivers, etc, there are in vegas, who had the same game plan. i will just start with a small percentage of my retirement pot. whoops, lose it, just a little more, the math says i should be expecting a different result. whoops, need a little more. pretty soon, 'welcome to wal mart, can i help you'.

[billryan]

hey car if there were full pay deuces 25 dollars 100.76% and the machines r on the level! lets see 125 dollars a pull,say 700 hands per hour.so near 100 thousand dollars coin in,760 per hour expected profit,we can go partners plating 12 hour shifts !15 thousand theo profit per day ! 3 million per year expection.we only have to figure out the name of our new casino.

I would take a shot with part of my retirement money, not all of it, but maybe enough to get to a 5 or 10% risk of ruin. If this works out the way it should mathwise, we'll double our retirement accounts.

Unless you need the money, that's just foolish. It's fairly dumb for younger people to borrow from their retirement plans. For older people, it's just stupid.
Play with money you can afford to lose, not money already purposed for your old age.
It's one thing to withdraw $3,000 a month and designate some towards gambling but taking ten percent of your retirement fund to chase a full pay video poker machine is simply foolhardy. I'm sorry but there is no way to mince words here.
Never, ever, gamble your rent, your house or your retirement funds.

[billryan]

i wonder how many card dealers, bartenders, cab drivers, etc, there are in vegas, who had the same game plan. i will just start with a small percentage of my retirement pot. whoops, lose it, just a little more, the math says i should be expecting a different result. whoops, need a little more. pretty soon, 'welcome to wal mart, can i help you'.

Most of them probably came here very underfunded. Most of the casino workers I know that tried to AP got hung up on there being no health benefits, no vacations and having to deal with constantly changing conditions. I'm sure there are hundreds, if not thousands of people who moved here with a half baked plan, who sort of knew how to play, and who sort of struggled to make a living.
I have been running into one guy for about fifteen years. First at the El Cortez, now at the Longhorn.
He drives a cab full-time and stops in after his shift. Buys in for $20 and plays $2 BJ until he doubles his buy in or loses it. On occasion, he doubles it, but mostly he loses and goes home $20 poorer. After all these years, he still doesn't play properly. Failing to double down, improper splits, etc. Even if it only costs him$50 a week, over fifteen years it adds up. I'm pretty sure he could use the $40,000 he's dropped.
Here is the sad part- although they have discontinued them, the casino used to publish match play coupons in the local paper. A $10 MP for blackjack and play $10, get $10 free on slots or VP. If you go every day, that's $600 in possible free play/ match play a month. Easily $100 a week in extra cash. He never once bothered with one, that I saw. In fact, I saw him ridicule a couple who proudly announced they were on a coupon run.

[FloridaPhil]

Most of the casino workers I know that tried to AP got hung up on there being no health benefits, no vacations and having to deal with constantly changing conditions.

I enjoy your posts in reference to Vegas casino promotions. It must be a full time job just keeping up with them on a daily basis? I wish that were the case where I play. Today I received an offer for a free bottle of vodka. All I have to do is stand in line for an hour then tote it around for the rest of the day. I don't drink, so I pass.

Can I assume all the $3.99 prime rib dinners in Vegas are now $20? Back in the day, people lined up for them. We do get free buffet tickets. The buffet at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi is the best we have ever seen. It costs $40 a person if you have to pay for it.

Vegas freebees and comps are a game in themselves. I haven't read Jean Scott's books in some time. Back in the day they were best sellers.

[notes1]

the buffet at tampa, costing $10 comp for elite players, is among the best food/value i have had, including the limited buffets i have had in vegas. their oysters are terrific and the sat/sun brunch with eggs benedict and unlimited champagne (i do not drink), all for the same $10 comp per person, is a terrific bargain.

[billryan]

The buffet in the casino I most frequent is about $6.99 for lunch, $9.99 for dinner. Anyone who plays at all can easily qualify for half price.
Most of the work for keeping track of promotions is on different websites. Jean Scott is a good source for
many promos. Its neither time consuming or labor intensive, it just adds to the bottom line. If two casinos have the same game but one is offering 6X points and the other isn't, I think its a no brainer where to play. If a bar has a promotion from 4-12, why go there at 3?

[advantage playe]

don't worry everybody,the casinos I don't think will ever have more than full pay quarters for full pay deuces 100.76%.but if they do I think the 5dollar denomination 25 dollars a spin will be doable for most of us !! right ???

[tech58]

Some of you are going to say you only go to the casino to make money. You will say losing $5,000 a year playing video poker is paying your bills. I'll save you the trouble.

We worked and saved all our lives so we could enjoy retirement. I retired in my fifties, so I needed more money than most people. Here's what we discovered. When you get old, you can't do the things you had planned to do. You can't travel all over the world because you need to stay close to your doctors. You can't walk the streets of Rome all day because your legs won't let you. You can't fish all the time because your back will send you home early. My advice is to get those things off your list when you are young.

Could I play golf as much as I play video poker for $5,000 a year? My friend Jack lives in a country club. His annual fees are more than $10K and he doesn't even play golf. How about fishing? What kind of boat can you buy for $5,000? Unless it's a canoe you have to put fuel in it. The list could go on. However you spend it, recreation and entertainment costs money. That's the way it should be. The casino is a business. They provide entertainment so people will pay to keep their door open. This is not bad, it's the way the world works.

In a fantasy world, casino games are all positive. Players make millions off the casino and they are never banned. Huge royals happen and no one ever losses. I don't live in that world. The world I live in has 97% quarter video poker. I can chose to play or stay home. I chose to play on my terms.

Reminded of a very old quote,"The guy who said get a lot while your young, wasn't talking about real estate".

[advantage playe]

for those of you who don't drink ,I feel a little sorry for you. right? Debbie,linda,judge bill,dino,jeannie,eddie,and any of my friends I forgot to mention !!!!!!!!

[advantage playe]

I forgot Nancy !!