Winning... how do y’all do it!?

Live poker is not a good example.

Again, some slots, played at the right times ONLY, are almost impossible to lose on.

 

The casino will always wind in the end...they set the odds.

 

One thing that is important to me is that I'm not already in the hole when I start a trip to Vegas. (airfare, rooms, travel, food) That makes me a loser from the moment I walk out the door. If it's not able to be purchased with reward points or comped, chances are I'm not going. Yes, I know, I have paid for those things by playing, but people who actually pay for their rooms play too. I'm very aware how much money I can lose before I've actually "paid" for my room. Coming home and thinking "wow, good trip, I only lost $300" makes no sense to me if it cost an additional $800 for the privilege of getting and staying there to lose that money. It all counts to me. That's an $1,100 loss.

Something else that helps me keep what I gamble to an acceptable level is making other choices with that play money. I do give it thought. Say I have $500-$1000 to spend (I know, nothing to many) I run though my choices. Go to casino have some fun playing (hopefully) and usually come home minus most of my money. Buy something I've had my eye on for a while. (how about some new headphones!) Contact my friend who deals in estate jewelry and say I got $xxx, send me a box of stuff. (this is very fun and profitable) Ending up with something I can use, play with, wear or just a guaranteed profit is a good feeling. I still make that decision to go and play, just not all the time. If I have a good time I don't give it a second thought, but sometimes I do come home thinking...you dumb ass, you should have bought the new futon cover. I know...I'm weird.

 

This is actually accurate and not just someone saying timing is everything. Slots that have persistent features or must hit bys can be in a +EV state.
Things like Joe Blow Gold slot where you can get columns of wilds that persist for 3 spins, but who would walk away from a machine that had 2-4 columns with sticky wilds?
UX VP machines with multipliers still up. You can play just 5 coins and utilize the current multipliers. You just won't get new ones. So say its a crappy 96% RTP pay table, but with even a 2x multiplier if you are just betting 5 coins that's 192% RTP.
The original Buffalo where the minor and major were must hit by jackpots.
The Regal Riches slots where you have Minor/Major/Mega free games with X wilds. The X goes up when you get a Minor/Major/Mega symbol. Free games triggers with 2 Bonus symbols + one of Minor/Major/Mega symbols but its not that common. What most don't know is that they are must hit by rules on the free games. Minor-75, Major-100, Mega-125. If you see a game with like 72 wilds for the Minor, or 96 wilds for the Major, or 124 wilds for the Mega then sit down and play that game! If you just get the right single symbol Minor/Major/Mega to push the number of wilds to the max it will auto trigger free games.

Often you'll see people walk up to these types of machines and check the feature levels for every bet level. There are actual people who wander around casinos looking for these things.

Note: You can still lose even if its in a +EV state, but if you do it enough you 'should' end up on top.

 

How many hours invested to make that 4K though?

 

Are you talking about Cloutier getting his money in with AQ against A9 and losing to Chris Ferguson in the WSOP, or the time (thee story here is close enough) that he won $1.3m in a WSOP event and by the time his backer Lyle Berman found him at the craps table, his 50% share had dwindled to about $75k?

 

On some level I admire the decision to try to gamble "smarter." But at the end of the day -- charlatans selling bullshit books and a few practiced professionals aside -- it is gambling, and that means in almost every instance a person will end up with less money after than they had before. It is that simple. Yes, take the comps and the perks, but don't rationalize it if some little inner voice is warning you otherwise. If you are questioning the activity and its impact on your life, walk away. Don't look for some "solution" through tinkering. Walk. Away. There are so many ways to be entertained and have fun in this world.

 

A lot less than an average individual works in a day.

 

What a fascinating thread. Kudos to you, Tim, for bareing your soul, so to speak. I think all of us on here wonder the same thing more often than we'd care to admit. I used to go to Vegas 8-10x a year for years on end up until 2020 or so (when I met my fiancee, who is also a Vegas enthusiast). Toward the end of my frequent visits, I noticed similarly that I wasn't winning much, and if I did, the high didn't match the low when I lost, but I would play it off to bad luck or variance. However, the fire was still there to 'go get it back' next trip...and of course that never happens. I never lost the mortgage or more than I could afford, but it was noticeable (to me, I had no one to answer to) and it started to wear on me. Vegas wasn't enjoyable anymore. At a BJ table, I'd have a 20 and instead of reveling in the hopeful win, I'd think to myself as the dealer is drawing, 'hope they don't draw 'x' to make a 21- always negatively thinking, never positive. When I'd get 3OAK at VP, I'd know before I hit the button I wasn't getting the 4OAK (and 99 out of 100 times I was right). Trips were becoming burdensome and negative. I enjoyed free rooms all over town. I enjoyed knowing dealers and pits and getting 'free stuff'. It's intoxicating.

Then I met my fiancee, and I certainly didn't change because of her (we actually met on twitter over our love for all things Vegas). However, priorities changed. We're getting older (aren't we all), and I'm looking forward to retirement. The amount of money I was losing could go toward a life beyond work- a good life of retirement (still 7 years away or so, but in planning stages to figure out what we want to do when we grow up). When we started to go to Vegas together, I now have 2 buyins at every table and we don't play $10 tables, so now I'm taking double the money and risking more every trip...and the losses really bothered me. We can afford to lose it, but it's a hit toward our retirement goal. Right then we both decided we're changing how we do Vegas. I wouldn't say WE were addicted, but I certainly could have gotten there eventually had I kept at it.

We no longer chase comps. We eat whatever we want and pay out of pocket. We still manage free rooms (which helps, but not necessary for a trip). We do activities outside the casino (pool, daytime shows, walkabouts, finding good bourbon bars, etc). We still play at our higher levels but when the lesser dollar amounts we bring our gone, we're done. Trips are no longer stressful. It's not a mad rush to find the high of trying to win.

Now, I'm not naive to think you tell an alcoholic to stop drinking and it just happens. I hope you can find your 'thing' that brings you joy- something to deflect away from the constant rush of trying to find the good side of a bet. We're pulling for you.

 

More top secret information

 

You ran half a million through slots in less than the average person’s work day (typically 8 hours)?!!!! How much are you wagering per spin?

 

You play fast then move to the next play.

I did 2 plays today. One $3.75 bet, the other $2.25. I made $121.00 overall then left. Total time on device was less than 25 minutes.

 

But you indicated earlier you ran half a million dollars through the slots in less time than most people work in a day.

 

Weekends get more action.

 

what slot machines are you playing that allow you to run 1/2 a million thru in 8 hours (25 min today and I guess 7 hours and 35 min on weekends) and be up 4k?
Are you Tommy Carmichael?

 

How?

I don't play games that can't be beaten in the long term. I stick to video poker and sports betting.

When I first started going to Vegas in the early 90's, I went YEARS without a single winning trip. Then toward the end of the decade, it turned and I won enough money to make up for my losses and then some. That was followed by a decade of small wins and small losses, so basically break even. In the last ten years, I've only had a couple of losing trips, one of which was about 3 grand which is a huge loss for me as a quarter player. In my last five trips, I have won enough to put me ahead lifetime in gambling by around sixteen hundred. I know it will turn eventually, but over the long run I'm going to be a favorite over the house because I play games with the highest edge I can get. That means I don't play on the Strip at all. Most of my play is concentrated at the locals casinos.

 

I was referring to the quote in the link, which generally was about the fact that his pawned WSOP bracelet was sold on eBay.

As an aside, I don't know if it's possible to be a "poor" craps player such that one could gain an advantage by betting against him.

 

It’s been that long since you’ve played with me? You never lose when you play with me!

 

Life is too short. I know I’ve furnished a couple of rooms in Vegas…

 

I HAD to come back to comment on this..
If you ran through $500k coin-in, in 8 hours, WITHOUT getting a W2G (as indicated by your win/loss sheet; you had no “jackpots”)
And ALSO only lost $4000 then either you’re delusional (and you did that coin-in over multiple days playing small) or you were playing 25c jacks-or-better 100-play.

i guess y’all are right, we’re all losers but a lot of people don’t like to talk or think about losing money.
It ain’t embarrassing to me! He’ll even the hottest brows around still has a dirty asshole when she takes a shit. (That’s a good okee saying)


And I am happy to report I’ve realized what makes me happy! It’s knowing I’m better than other people!
(Yes I am a sunnuvabitch; and I am ok with that!)