How much have you won/lost

last i say on this but i keep daily logs and session logs of how i am doing and use that to figure out all the money that comes and keep track. that is why i can give exact numbers

 

Well thats how I look at it too.

If you go anywhere that is "touristy" you are generally going to be paying quite a bit...

Like a high end room in Las Vegas at a place like Wynn, Bellagio or Aria will run around $120-200 for a night, in a tourist city a similar room will usually be $250-400 per night.

Then if you are going to the local tourist traps those things generally cost around $40-75 per person for the basic ones (IE: aquariums, museums, galleries, etc) and often a lot more if you are adding in some tour packages.

And when it comes to dining your choices are usually pretty limited to whats available at your hotel or nearby, where even if you try to go cheap you are still looking at $20-25 per person per meal.

 

I've been trying not to get sucked into the thread jack, but...

This is a ridiculous statement. It's like saying that just for you a fair coin toss will come up heads 99 percent of the time.

 

I agree I am tired of this thread. And that it is always this attitude. Oh well. Besides don't you know all these statistics are made up on the spot. Usually people will win that first bet and keep playing and lose it all. Why not just leave. Also I look for better games as far as house edge. Mid deck entry. Letting me play 3 spots to the whole table during high counts and what not

 

I'm on board with gigglemonkee. I don't know that he is legit, but know from my own personal experience that it's quite possible to make money at the casino consistently.

A system from my understanding and definition is a set of bets that when placed work every time. Those don't exist. There is nothing that works 100% of the time. Crazy things happen in the casino that shouldn't. The key is knowing when to get on or get off.

I'm up to about the 6 figures in wins. These were made of lots of small hits and a very few large hits. I have game strategies for Roulette, Craps and Baccarat. What I do is fairly complex and only directed by the direction of the game.

I rarely have a losing session and most times a losing session is when I brake even after being up and going back down then not having the energy to try again. Going up to start is always great cause it gives more freedom to press or quite at even, going down to start sucks, but I have plays that get me back to even or up. Sometimes there are big swings, but it can all be handled with bankroll and preparedness.

 

Thank you for the support. I use basic strategy, counting for when to start playing or quit and play 2 spots against the dealer alone so if i win one hand and lose the other it is really even. that eliminates most of the losing. the system is fluid and changes on the cards that come out previously but it is a lot in making sure you play right. how many times have you accidentally made the sign to hit or stay and it is too late. I don't press the wins at the beginning but as long as i win 8 more hands than i lose over the shoes i am fine. a couple times i have lost the first couple and then just waited so that i don't risk it all. I also play in rooms that have h17 and do a bit of shuffle tracking and that is the kind of stuff you practice at home for hours. cutting that deck on hand shuffled decks, not machine shuffled.

And i have managed to not have a job for 2 years or get unemployment and make just as much through winnings. before that i always just played for fun and did slots or only had a limit of 50 bucks at a 5 buck table. then i took it seriously and my system works more times than it doesn't so i am able to support my wife and kids with it and get free trips to vegas every couple months.

 

I don't know why it's so hard to think/believe someone can win regularly....

How many times have all of us or somebody you're with say "I was up $XXX but then gave it all back". People want to play...they come to Vegas to play. So besides the the house edge based on the structure of any game, the casino's are counting on people to keep playing.

IMO, the other thing people do (and again, the casino is counting on it) and it took me along time to get this into my head is they keep gambling when they're not "feeling it" or something has them pissed off or feeling down. When you feel like that, go to the pool, grab a drink and chill, read a book, play with yourself, play with your girl friend, play with your girl friends girl friend....anything but gamble.

The problem is almost everybody is up at some point, but most want to keep playing, that's what you came for. If you live where you can play regularly "and" you have sub human discipline..it can probably be done. There such things as professional gamblers and they're a different duck than us addicts

 

Exactly. Don't gamble mad or upset or not in mood and don't drink when playing. People keep playing. It's all about stopping at the right time

 

The multi-billion-dollar casino industry in this country was not built by offering games that would easily allow people to win if only they too had the sense or discipline to only leave every time they were ahead after flat betting a few hands. The HA at every game except poker guarantees that this will not happen - if it didn't, Las Vegas would be a city full of very wealthy, well-disciplined folks who long ago realized they could make $100K a year not counting, but by merely flat betting $25/hand & leaving after they were up 1 or 2 units. Sure, the casinos might still have been built by tourists & degenerate gamblers who don't know any better - but like I said, Vegas - and really anywhere else there's a casino - would still be full of very, very wealthy people who are completely dispassionate about gambling who do nothing but play a few hands each day & make more per year than the averge working stiff - everyone else who loses is just stupid or emotional. Yeah, right - because we all now how every possible way to make easy money in this country isn't instantly jumped upon and exploited by millions of people.

If you believe any gambler who tells you they win consistently at anything other than poker or counting blackjack [and really, even great poker players & counters still hit losing streaks] - then please, send me a PM - I have several bridges you might be interested in buying from me at low, low discount prices.

 

(Bolded by me.)

In total agreement with you, Dean.

Now, lets get to winning so we can make more pretty
Benjamin patterns on our hotel beds!

 

I agree it takes a special breed And most don't have a mind or discipline. There is emotion and variances but you have to put it in your favor too.

 

See, here's the thing about HA & variances - just because a game's HA is 1%, it doesn't mean that if you sit down & play 100 hands that you will lose one more hand then you won - it is entirely possible that in any one session you will win all 100 hands or lose 100 hands - that's what gives the casinos the hook to get the players in the door.

But what HA does guarantee is that over a long enough window of time - and it doesn't matter if that window of time is played in one marathon session or a few hands a day over several years - the HA guarantees - especially if you're flat betting - that eventually, you will lose 1% more than you win once you've played long enough - it's a mathematical certainty, unless you've figured out a way to eliminate the HA.

If it weren't, then what you say works for you @$25/hand would also work at $25K or $250K/hand - and if it did, then Wall Street would be a ghost town, because all those traders & Phd mathematicians who spend years developing trading algorithms of unbelievable complexity would instead be sitting by the pool at their Vegas mansions, only leaving for 10 minutes a day to play a few million-dollar hands at Wynn & then leaving as soon as they were up 1 or 2 units.

So why aren't they? Because it's a mathematical impossibility for them to be able to do it given the HA - or they'd all be doing it instead of working for a living. Every mathematician would be, too. I mean, if what you're doing really works as well as you claim, why not play $100/hand, or $1,000/hand? Hell, why not even just play $50/hand? If all it takes is the discipline to get up & leave at the right time - and you apparently have it - then why not make even more money doing what you're doing? Why limit yourself?

The thing about HA & variance is yes, sometimes your number will come out 10 times in a row - and sometimes you'll sit down to play blackjack & lose 25 hands in a row [just ask George Clooney] - like I said, that's the hook - but play enough over time - even one hand per session - and eventually it will smooth out & the HA will catch up & beat you out of 1% of your money guaranteed if you're flat betting every hand.

Of course, It's arguable whether by betting more at the right time & less at the right time can overcome the HA - god knows we've had that debate on here enough in the past - but that's really a whole other conversation altogether.

 

Definitely down, but you can't wipe the smile off my face.

I only won (less than $100) on my first two trips, but that is because I would bet small. Now I bet much more so the hole one digs can get deep and hard to get out of. But still fun digging that hole.

 

Very interesting thread. I am definitely down, but it's entertainment to me. If somebody said here's a thousand dollars -- go play craps a few hours. However, the chips aren't real and you won't win or lose. I'd do that every time! You know why? Because I love the thrill of the action. I love the camaraderie. I enjoy the atmosphere. I don't play to win. Sure, it's nice, but I play for the value of what it brings me, not for the chance of taking more than I started with.

So many gambling fallacies. I believe gambling by itself is a lose/lose proposition financially. If you win, great! You come back for more because "it's so easy". If you lose, you come back for more because you want your money back and would be delighted at the chance to "break even".

I love to play craps. I have a negative expectation of the game financially, but a 100% positive expectation that it brings me satisfaction. I play for the entertainment value. I also get comped for my stay. Even though I don't gamble with more than I can lose, why not get something in return for your time like comps??

I have a saying when it comes to gambling: "Short-term wins will ALWAYS turn into long-term losses". There is no way around this in the long term. You can't fight the odds.

I don't play poker, but I would imagine that is the best potential for long-term wins by far. Skill carries you a long ways and luck can push you over the edge.

 

Not knocking it cause it seems to be the vast majority, but I just don't get it.
I like playing craps, but there is no way I'm expecting to pay to play it. If you lose money every time you play craps or whatever everybody else plays, how is that fun? Every game to me is no different than a job, it's repetitive and the same game every time - different stuff happens but still the same. I am one of the VERY few who don't believe you HAVE to lose and I use casino money to blow on stuff that is actually entertaining.

 

A few thoughts...

I am amazed how many posts there are on this very simple question.

"Slaughter at the Monte Carlo" is hilarious. (For other people, I guess.)

I think that the variance for wins/losses does depend on the long run. It is based on millions of hands. I think there is usually a point in bj when I am up by a little, but not enough for me to choose to leave. If I left the table before the swing in the shoe came around, I could make a little money. The benefit of Vegas over the local casino is that there is something else to do when I leave the table. Like go to another casino's bj table and start again. It think if the win threshhold is eight/ten units and the loss point is four, it's possible it could be done. With a lot of walking.

I think today is the first day I have EVER heard a reference to A Bug's Life. Nice.

In about fifteen trips to Vegas, the only times I have blown through my gambling bankroll was my first ($300) and second ($400) trips. So I consider I myself a winner. Others, however, may look from the perspective that I have lost more than $5,000 in the following trips and consider me a loser. They would be wrong. I am not a loser! I'm actually a very nice guy.

Damn, I love Vegas.

 

I don't look at the losses in a vacuum. If I lose $2500 on a trip to Vegas, I estimate (on the low side) what I would have spent for the comps and deduct that. So if I had comped rooms for 6 nights ($600), free tix to a show ($200) and some comped meals (say $300) I will adjust my loss from $2500 to $1400. That's much easier to take!

The numbers come out better when I cruise. If I lose $2000 but my cruise was comped other than taxes & upgrades, when I adjust for that (saved $1100 for my next one) and add in all my cocktails ($300+) my losses are closer to $500.

Vacations cost money, so I justify some of my losses as vacation expense.

Even with my creative math, I am well down over my lifetime. I could have spent that money on boating, sports events, fancy cars, or whatever and wouldn't have had the fun I have had on my gambling trips so I have no regrets!

 

accepting losses and expecting losses are two entirely different things. but there was another long thread about this a while back.

 

I gamble for a living. Since turning to casinos 8 years ago I am very comfortably ahead - I'll never need to 'work again'.
The funny thing is when I go to Vegas I barely gamble as I do all my serious stuff home on the internet. When I do gamble in Vegas I do it for fun as a low roller.

 

Lifetime I'd have to admit that I'm down from house edge games. I definitely suffer from momentary insanity where I lose whatever I've won in a short span of time.

Luckily for me, I'm either even or slightly up overall on my lifetime trips, thanks to poker. I come home a winner more often than not, and considering my trips are only 3-4 days and I only play 3-5 tourneys a trip (highly volatile results), that's pretty good in my book.

The only negative think about poker tourneys, are that they take so long if you want your skill to come into play, rather than have it be an all in contest. I'd always rather win and take a long time to do it than lose in a short span of time, but I do wish I had more time leftover to enjoy Vegas. Alas.