Contemplating a new "Go Big or Go Home System"

So I've been debating internally a lot lately and after some introspection I have decided that in no way, shape, or form do I want to cut back or in any way control my drinking and gambling in Vegas.

There can be no envelope system.

I'm getting sick of my "modified" envelope system of making deposits at the bank if I get ahead of budget throughout the trip.

All I really want to do in show up with my bankroll and go crazy as if it is my only night in Vegas.

So I believe I may have devised a strategy that will allow me to really go for it.

#1 I will have to reduce the # of trips to Vegas. I want to increase quality and I'm willing to give up quantity to do it. The winter trips without the pool are blah for me anyway. So my plan is to cut back to one 4-night trip every May.

#2 I will front load my budget so basically all the 4-days money is in the first 2 days budgets. I want to put in a $8,000 budget, I'll allocate $4,000 to Thurs and $4,000 to Friday.

#3 Now here is the kicker. Ahead of time I'll buy SWA (fully re-usable) flights home for each of the final 3 days. I'll have a flight for Sat AM in case I blow my whole $8,000 on Thurs/Fri. I'll have a flight for Sun AM in case I only have enough left for Sat. And I'll have a flight for Mon AM in case I make it through all 4 nights.

I like this system as I don't have to pace myself. Also if I nail some big win (like a $60,000 royal on triple play 5x lol) I can fly home early if I feel its necessary.

I am calling this my GO BIG or GO HOME system.

 

Basing your length of stay on the outcome of games that are -EV just doesn't seem right. Is it all about the WIN/LOSS at the end of the trip or the vegas experience? If its +/-, why not just get bombed and go to Joliet or AC for a couple hrs/days/nights with the same BR, that way if you bust out and want to leave you are almost home.

 

every time I think of this, I end up getting busted day #1 and chase for the rest of the trip

every time I play it "light" i get couple of hot shoes/machines/rolls and try to nurse a small win.

its the rare occasion that I get everything right (timing/bet size) in my favor. Locking in win, playing enough for the "free" stuff, making sure i can come back again for free.

fk

 

The only problem with such a strategy is when you have 6 of your wild "hit and run" bets, at roulette, come off.

You, two days in and $20-30k, to the good = carnage

 

You will never be satisfied going once a year. I always say I'm only going once a year, but I can never stick to it. If you are going to go full tilt then leave after two days, why bother? There are casinos all over the northeast where you can do that.

 

Seems more like a solo trip strategy than one with friends.

But try it once and if you regret it, than never again. Live and learn

 

good point....its about the Vegas experience

 

good point.....would suck to have to leave early with buddies staying 2 more days

 

The Gambling portion or the drinking portion. How would the experience be if a bunch of the crew showed up at Rivers for gambling, and then you did a bar crawl in downtown Chicago? I am guessing you can
get away with far more debauchery in Las Vegas, and that's the hook.

The problem with playing higher stakes is, its a bitch to roll back. You rewire your brain for higher stakes play. One bad run to blow out your budget, is like getting your teeth knocked out, especially if that is your only trip for the year.

If you like the comradery of the Vegas strip, you can sure find better gaming and a closer destination. I go on my annual golf trip with buddies to get that fix of drunkenness and guy bonding. I figured out two years ago, I hate losing way more than I enjoy winning. Losing for me, is not a form of entertainment. I myself would be bummed for weeks if I dropped my yearly vegas budget in two days.

 

If you can only get out to Vegas once a year, you become a mere mortal like myself. And only getting to go once a year will be the catalyst you need to go fast and furious(RIP Paul Walker)

 

That's the thing. BeeeJay has commented he has the "golden ticket" from the wife to go to Vegas multiple times without said permission. Of course reading his posts, its seems like budget (due to gambling) and time (due to work schedule) are the hindering factors. If I had his situation (regarding wife) and I liked Vegas as much, I would be back to doing multiple trips year. Now it seems like he has a regular crew that makes the trip worthwhile. I myself could go solo and have a good time. But to each his own, I'm just saying he has tremendous luck over the past 4 trips, and has not had a major punch in the balls loss. I'm guessing the last TR would not have been as much fun if he blew his budget the first two nights. Having been on the losing end of a lot of Vegas trips, that shit can sour the place real fast. But hey, if you like the risk go for it. I am just making an observation based on his past posts...

 

Yeah, I agree. When I met up with a group of guys I hadn't seen in 4 years in 2012, one of them left early because he went broke. I was pretty disappointed by that. I was getting killed in gaming at the time too, but since I budgeted, I wasn't leaving early.

Now solo sure, I could understand trying this, even though I like the idea of going on more trips and not less. But I know I'm almost the complete opposite of BeeeJay, even if I had a six figure salary, I'll probably still be a tight ass.

He can play 9/6 Boner Deluxe (99.64%) and 40/10/6 DDB (99.96%) at either Horseshoe Hammond or Hollywood Joliet! But Hammond is a tougher sell if he wants to drink. No hotel.

 

I could not deal with just one trip a year to Vegas. It'll be six for us by year's end. Granted we're retired, but even when we were both working we managed 3-4 trips per year. It is the only place we gamble except for on-line NFL.

 

To be clear, I can't take the risk. I go with the bankroll to bet larger than I do but because im a puss I don't. When I get down about half my bankroll I pucker up and flat bet the rest of the trip. I fully admit im a bigger gambler in my own mind than reality and live out my high stakes gambling Fantasy by reading trip reports here.

 

Good commentary.


I have zero interest in non-Vegas trips for gambling. My goal is to spend entertainment dollars allocated towards Vegas/Gambling in the most exciting way possible for me.

I would really like to do that via a large number of long, minimal gambling trips. Time is not an issue, I could fit in probably 4 weeklong trips per year if I wanted to.

As for level of play, $2 VP and $100-$200 roulette, BJ, 3 card, Craps is what I find exciting. Anything less feels boring for me. Pre-recession I used to play more $5 VP and $500 BJ, Roulette, etc so this play level is actually a bit of a pull back.

I do agree with going once per year I would be too dissapointed going home early. Also my experience has been that with time off I can reset my play levels down and still have fun.

Another thing to remember is my play is very sporadic and hit & run so im not getting the amount of play that would guarantee doom at the aforementioned bet levels.

I think ill adjust my plan per everyone's advise.

I'll try to dial back the bet levels to $1 VP and $50 everything else. With more come bets in place of hard ways. Budget $2,000/day for 4 days and cut out the CET short pay VP.

 

Good commentary.


I have zero interest in non-Vegas trips for gambling. My goal is to spend entertainment dollars allocated towards Vegas/Gambling in the most exciting way possible for me.

I would really like to do that via a large number of long, minimal gambling trips. Time is not an issue, I could fit in probably 4 weeklong trips per year if I wanted to.

As for level of play, $2 VP and $100-$200 roulette, BJ, 3 card, Craps is what I find exciting. Anything less feels boring for me. Pre-recession I used to play more $5 VP and $500 BJ, Roulette, etc so this play level is actually a bit of a pull back.

I do agree with going once per year I would be too dissapointed going home early. Also my experience has been that with time off I can reset my play levels down and still have fun.

Another thing to remember is my play is very sporadic and hit & run so im not getting the amount of play that would guarantee doom at the aforementioned bet levels.

I think ill adjust my plan per everyone's advise.

I'll try to dial back the bet levels to $1 VP and $50 everything else. With more come bets in place of hard ways. Budget $2,000/day for 4 days and cut out the CET short pay VP.

Another thing I might do is go to Vegas every other year and layer in some different vacation to up the excitement at lower play levels and increase the trip budget. I could easily do a $15,000 budget every other year and that appeals to me.

 

I would lightly gamble on the first day... soak up some of Vegas... then I'd begin the Go Big or Go Home strategy.

The first day I'd probably start with low variance JoB VP... probably at the $1 to $2 level... possibly Ultimate X, definitely Super Times Pay. Definitely playing multi-play. I love 5 play $1 JoB STP... that's my game.

The next day I'd probably open up to BJ and other higher variance VP... with some craps thrown in... and possibly pai gow to kill some time.

The final day, if I made it, I would open it up to all of the carnival games, like 3CP, LIR, UTH, slots, and roulette... which I'm not big on unless I'm killing time. The carnival games tend to kill your bank roll faster than anything else. Playing those big on the first few days is part of the Going Broke Quickly strategy.

 

When I was a huge craps degen, I always thought the same thing with the "Go big or Go home" concept. I've had good runs like running $200 into $1000. I always wondered what would happen if I pressed the place bets more than $30/36 a spot.

 

I think the go big or go home style is better suited for some table games, not VP where the w/l ratio is so lopsided. With VP its arguably more important to stay alive and play longer, it's not really a good hit and run type game the way something like blackjack is. After jdvegas' last TR I've been thinking about just going big, but like tringlomane I know in my heart of hearts I'm just a tightass and have a hard time mentally committing more to a negative EV game than the minimum it requires.

If you do it you will have some big wins that will feel awesome, but I think the feeling of busting out on your first night and having to go home will suck even more.

From your TRs you do a lot of gambling but you also engage in a lot of other debauchery and good times. Do you really want to give that up just for the chance to win an amount of money that may seem big but will probably make no difference to your life?

Maybe go the exact opposite way and play smaller and allocate more to other debauchery. Wasn't that part of your "comp yourself" system?

 

I 'm not satisfied with only one trip per year. I'm doing two this year and it feels like forever between trips. My style is so different than "the crew" I like playing the coupons and promotions game. Will be heading out soon for 13 nights. My friends that approach Vegas from a different angle think this is crazy but I love trips of this length.