Do You Tell People You Play VP?

[FloridaPhil]

This is the time of the year for holiday parties.  Most of our friends are retirees and the discussion inevitably comes around to what everyone is doing with their spare time.  Some people travel, some have hobbies and others just sit around the house and watch Fox News.  We play video poker. Let's face it, gambling has a bad name.  The only thoughts most people have about gambling is of people ruining their lives and winding up broke, or they tried it a few times and lost money.  Our closest friends know we play video poker, but I suspect they have their own ideas about the game and what we do with our money.  Sometimes we take them to the casino, most times we don't talk about it.We try to explain video poker strategy and how to be a smart gambler, but all most want to do is walk around the casino and play slots watching the flashing lights and hearing ringing bells.  After they lose, they think we must be crazy.My wife and I support numerous charities.  One of them is our local church.  They run a free food kitchen where they feed 300-400 people a week.  They deliver free food and clothing and even help needy people with home repairs, rent  and medical bills.  Would I ever talk about video poker around church members?  No, but it doesn't keep me from supporting them.  I've read in Dancer's books that his ex wife was a church goer.  I wonder what they thought about his gambling?  Kind of hard to keep that a secret.Just wondering what others think about this subject?  Playing video poker the way we play it is cheap entertainment, but we keep it a secret. 

[onemoretry]

I have no difficulty at all in telling people that I travel to casinos, and play video poker. I consider that it is my right to choose what I wish to do for entertainment, and that while some people seem to think gambling is "evil", I don't.

Sometimes, I find it difficult to get through to non gambling, non card playing people, exactly what video poker is.

[Come Back Kid]

What you and your wife do with your own money is nobodies business. So if you're not comfortable talking about it, so be it... I find some people don't get it, and that's fine too. Who knows what their "vices" are. LOL
I use to love it when someone says, "every time I come here (casino) I see you! To which I say, "hmmm, every time I come here, I see you too!"..... (As if I'm the one that has the problem) LOL   
Do what you're comfortable with Phil, like I said its nobodies business.

[alpax]

I am only speaking for myself, the majority amount of people who are against gambling are usually judgmental and associate gambling as something as losing money without getting anything in return.

The part I can't figure out is those people do not view it as entertainment. They are the same people that do not consider paying for a movie ticket and watching a bad title as bad as losing at the casino.

The potential problems that are caused by gambling will overshadow everything. So many stories out there they can point to.

The vast majority of the people I know have stopped gambling avidly. When they did play, it was the table games as a way to socialize with strangers and the dealer. Once they realize how much they've been losing for the longest time they've stopped. They thought that video poker was boring where you are mostly in it alone. So there is not much point for me to say I am still hanging out at the casinos. Video Poker is my second chance to do casino gambling the proper responsible way.

Yes I have been called the worst things for my decision to play video poker after they knew my poor gambling habits of the past.

Edit: Agreed with CBK, nothing to be ashamed of if you admit to playing video poker and show others what you got out of it.

[FloridaPhil]

I'm not ashamed of playing video poker.  Most people don't understand the fact that you can play casino games and come close to breaking even much less win anything.  I don't openly talk about it because of all the negative misconceptions people have about casino gambling.I'll have to say we owe a lot to Bob Dancer.  While I don't agree with everything he says and does, I will acknowledge he was the first person to lay out a plan that actually works.   My wife and I can't play positive games perfectly, but most people would be surprised at our results even playing negative games.  Our friends would think nothing of spending $5K on a cruise and no one would think that was a bad thing.   We prefer to take the $5K, play video poker and get most of it back.  We have just as much fun, maybe more.   All I ever got on a cruise was a hangover and a thick waste line.  The last time I went on one I spend the whole cruise fighting 93% VP odds in the ship casino.  I got the worst of that fight.   

[HoldingNot2Fold]

I'm not ashamed of playing online poker, however, a few years back I was taking online poker playing a bit too far, and my family went through hell trying to help me "recover" from my addiction. As I remember one summer a few years back, my city had a severe hurricane and rain seeped into the house soaking our home's first-floor carpeting and instead of being concerned about the welfare of my home I was livid at the fact the electricity went off during a "hand of a lifetime!".That day was a wake-up call for me to treat playing online poker as a fun "mental escape" and not as something that should cause adverse effects to my life. With all of that said, I'm not ashamed but more hesitant to tell people I play online poker still as I don't want them getting worried that I will fall down the same rabbit hole. I play with a healthy balance. If I had never let this game get out of hand, I'd be sharing with all of my friends and family members because it makes great topics of discussion and it's really fun to play.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=HoldingNotwFold] I play with a healthy balance.[/quote]Thanks for telling your story.  We don't talk about video poker with anyone but our closest friends.  Our experience is most uninformed people think anyone who spends an exorbitant amount of time hanging out in a casino has a problem.  We know better, but we leave well enough alone. We gamble mostly at the quarter level for many reasons.  By doing so, we hold our loses to the cost of a nice restaurant meal or football game tickets.   To us it's the same game as playing for $125 a hand with the decimal point moved two places.  Then there's always the W2G problem.  We've never been audited for our gambling winnings, but who needs that aggravation?We realize some people gamble big, so what?  It's their money and they can do what they want with it.  Not everyone who plays quarters is gamblng the rent money.  Some people just don't see the need for taking big risks just to get an excitement buzz.  Whatever works.

[Chicagoan]

I know of too many people who have had severe casino problems for me to be able to openly admit or discuss that I play VP. I guess I am a hypocrite. I realize that for every person who is sitting at a VP machine desperately banging away with the rent money, there are probably 100 responsible players who are in it for the challenge and the enjoyment. Still, I don't tell people that I do it. I travel a lot on business and that allows me to quietly visit casinos. In my immediate area, I am very careful about going into a casino. I think the closest to home that I have been to a casino is Joliet, Illinois, which is almost 70 miles from my home. Again, I am probably a hypocrite, but that's how it is..... :(

[Carcounter]

All of my friends and family know I play and sometimes come with me. They know this is not the rent money and is entertainment money.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=carcounter]They know this is not the rent money and is entertainment money.
[/quote]We have found the best way to handle our VP finances is to have completely separate bankrolls apart from any other money just for video poker.  My wife and I both keep separate VP bankrolls.  She is very conservative staying with quarters exclusively.  I frequently change denominations, so our bankrolls have different swings.  We protect our bankrolls diligently adding to them whenever we hit anything good and kicking in some money whenever we get a chance.   Over the years our VP bankrolls have grown to be fairly sizeable.  Let's just say they are in the multiple tens of thousands.  We don't need this amount to play quarters, but accumulating and protecting a VP bankroll forces you to think like a saver and there is nothing wrong with that.  This is an unexpected advantage that comes with playing VP.  If you read much about Bob Dancer, you may be surprised to learn he is a pretty frugal guy.  He made a lot of sacrifices to build his bankroll and I believe that's one of the things that made him wealthy and helped him to stay that way.  Rich people don't get rich by spending every dime they make.