Broke in Vegas??

Ever have one of those experiences where you loss all your money in Vegas?

I remember my last trip about a month ago, I loss all my money the 2nd to last day so I was completely broke the last day. My friends also loss their money too. I don't bring my credit cards to Vegas, only cash. Walking around broke is so depressing. There is no such thing as having too much money in vegas.

 

No, not yet although I know I can do that easily enough. I'm one of those envelope a day guys but lately I've been known to cheat on that.

I try to tailor my trips based on available bankroll funds but I still have to employ envelopes or I'll tend to go on tilt.

Sorry it happened to you, don't know what I would've done if I was broke with a day or two left in the trip. It would have sucked big time.

 

Broke? Or lost your bankroll? I assume you mean lost your bankroll. That has happened to me many times before the end of my trip. Luckily, Ha Ha, I have credit lines at 8-10 properties and can always get more. And, if I use all that up, my nice hosts, Ha Ha, always seem willing to allow a temporary increase in my credit line. Since I dont regret any trips and my finances are all good, I guess my bankroll + is good.

 

I have only used my entire bankroll twice in ten years. The first time, I lost the last of it on the final evening, so it wasn't that bad. The other time, I still had a day and a half left to go on the trip. That sucked

 

My last trip lost all mine and had to hit atm in the last couple days sucked ass

 

Sure, I've been there a few times. My second trip, I blew my money quickly, as I had won the first trip, and of course was invincible. So, sitting in my room, my Dad comes in and figures he'll show me what I'm doing wrong. He was the sort of gambler that chased his losses with increasingly higher wagers. It didn't work that time, and it cost him and my mother their house in the end.

I've been on tilt before when I've been there with some girl I'd been dating, but shouldn't have stressed the relationship that early on, and so spent my time gambling to excess. I've been there on solo trips, as well.

Sometimes I just stay in the room, leaving for an hour or so when it gets cleaned. Sometimes I'll wander the streets, stopping to drink with the homeless. Cripes, one time I almost didn't have the cab fare to get back to the airport.

Funny thing, none of that stuff really bugs me, what does is going to the ATM and getting denied with someone behind me. Hate that, and so on a morning I might wander from casino to casino looking for a machine in a quiet corner, so I can try a few cards, and see which lender will give me a few extra feet of rope.

 

That is the one thing I never did was blow all of my bankroll even through my longest trip of 10 days. I went with the same amount as any other trip $2,000 and boarded the plane with several hundred in pocket. I think alot of that had to do with the fact that we spent about 8 to 9 hours a day at the pool. My sons friends went this past summer for the first time and they were all broke the first night of a 4 night trip. I warned them to budget but they all got bit by the Vegas bug.

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Wow man, kudos to you for putting this out there. Very sobering read.

 

Lol, been there. A sign of a true degenerate gambler. That's why I stopped bringing my credit cards to Vegas.

 

I learned a few 'rules' when it comes to having money in Vegas:

First let me say that my first trip to Vegas I would feel sick to loose $20 at one time in a slot or VP machine, and $60 over the whole trip!

As 'luck' would have it, I won $700 starting from a 20 on one of my next trips! Needless to say hundred dollar bills were flying into the machine after that and eventually had to go to the ATM machine. BAD IDEA.

Rule #1: Don't touch the ATM machine! (I do take my credit card but for emergencies ONLY! Like I got robbed and need to get home or as an ID.)

I'm a budget guy. Not the envelope type but I do have a daily budget and will 'borrow' from the next day.

Rule #2: Like the walk signal that has the blinking red light that counts down the seconds before the 'Do Not Walk' light comes on. Have that blinking red light in your head and listen to it! (Of course I don't drink, and being on tilt and drunk at the same time can short circuit this warning light.)

Lastly, I practice the games I play and try to learn it inside out. Of course you cannot completely overcome 'luck' ' and 'HA', but you can reduce negative play.

Rule #3: Learn to Win!

Good Luck to us all.

 

As a much younger and dumber man I lost all my money playing slots and the big wheel at the Tropicana when I was driving through Vegas on a whirlwind 3 day road-trip (Vegas, the grand Canyon and golf in Phoenix in three days no problem). Even though I planned on staying the night somewhere on the strip after 2 months working in Utah I was was so excited to gamble I hadn't even bothered to get a room yet. I was so disgusted with myself for losing all my cash in less than an hour I drove out of town that night and ended up in Laughlin of all places. When my ATM card let me pull out more money after midnight so I could continue gambling I felt like I won the Jackpot.

Oh the the 90's, when all I needed for a 1450 mile road-trip was a company gas card, a carton of Kamel red lights, gas station coffee and a AAA western states map.

 

Last December, my friend lost all his money on day 2 of a 4 day trip and didn't bring any cards either. He had his dad wire him money to that Western Union inside of CVS in front of the Monte Carlo.

 

I lost all of my BR on day 2 of a 4 day trip as well. Decided to do the "walk of shame" to the ATM and take out an extra $1K. After losing that as well, I decided to stop playing and enjoy some good food and tv shows..

 

I once lost my entire bankroll during the first night of a 6 nights stay. Now that was depressing, especially as I couldn't even change my flight to come home a little earlier.

 

The worst I've done is go on tilt and hit the ATM twice in one day. I'm a low roller quarter VP and $5 BJ and Craps. I think I lost around $400 that day. Don't tell the Mrs!

TomTWI

 

This past April, my wife and I lost our bankroll on day 3 of a 5 day trip. Day 4 we decided to catch up on some movie watching and saw 4 movies. Day 5 entertainment city was offering $20 cash to watch there tv show. After watching the show they offered us each $50 to do a focus group an hour later. So boom we had $140 to gamble with. We were able to leave vegas down only $200 after a $1000 hit.

 

First I want to say that I'm not judging anyone here....but these stories are depressing. I'm just asking this question as I have a psychology background as a part of my education....do you think those who don't manage their Las Vegas bankroll's effectively..also have trouble managing their checkbook?

Below is a link to a couple articles that I found interesting...I'm not preaching..but found these articles interesting.

http://www.slotsofvegas.com/casino-guide/the-best-casino-bankroll-management-tips-for-people-who-are-bad-with-money-2-5679.php

http://www.slotsofvegas.com/casino-guide/the-practical-gamblers-guide-bankroll-management-for-no-limit-cash-games-6907.php

I to spend allot of money in Vegas and I'm very fortunate that I'm able to do so...but even after I have spent thousands of dollars or tens of thousands of dollars. I still get that feeling in the pit of my stomach telling me enough is enough...I've never left Vegas without money in my pocket (and no I'm not talking just a dollar bill). I'm not saying I'm any better than the next guy/girl...but I just can't bring myself to leaving Vegas without at least a quarter of my gambling budget in my pocket or bank account.

When you stop getting that feeling in the pit of your stomach telling you enough is enough...then IMHO that is the time to re-evaluate things. Good luck...I just hate to see good people get hooked by the gambling bug...I'm glad to see a few of the comments state "when I was younger and dumber, I lost my BR"....this tells me people learn from their mistakes.

Now that I have stated the above...my lesson was learned the very first time I went to Vegas, I took $1K for my gambling budget for 5 days. I stayed at Luxor...on the last day I had $100 left....although I didn't go on tilt, I did learn that your money can go very fast in Vegas.

 

I was meeting up with some friends in Vegas but my flight got in earlier. I ended up blowing through all the cash I brought (4k?) before they even showed up. Hit the ATM to replenish and was able to crawl back over the next few days to even. On the last night I had a really bad run at blackjack and lost pretty much all the I had won back + money I took out from ATM.

Still had a great time though. I used to bring my conservative budget with me in cash, and then always expect I may hit the ATM once or twice if things go badly.

Things have changed now though, got married + had baby = no more flexible budgets. What I bring is what I'm allowed to lose so I need to budget a bit better throughout the trip.

 

I budget a certain stop loss for each leg (2) of a stay, and I usually hit it, but normally not until the last day.

It's actually designed to be plenty, but I almost always blow a big chunk at some point due to either bad variance or poor decisions (running through $1,500 in 30 mins playing $20 a pull on a slot and hitting nothing, losing $3,000 in 10 mins reverse martingaling to break a bacc streak).

But if my bankroll was gone on day 3 or 4 of a 5 night leg, unless I was totally depressed about it, or recognized that I was really on tilt (I'm not much of a chaser) I'd definitely just cash a check or pay off markers to reset my credit line, and then low roll. I'd just regard it as a large unexpected household expense, like having to get a new water heater or whatever.