“Vegas is dead! There’s no hope. I brought $1,500 and I’m going to party till it’s all gone!”
OMG. Go eat some worms
What’s your Vegas trip goal? Be a high roller? Tuck dollars in G-strings at Spearmint Rhino? Ecstasy at Sphere or Zouk? Hit the Deuces Wild royal? A legendary 30-minute craps roll? It’s all good.
For me it starts with the Six Ps: Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance
Planning and preparing my Totally Free Vegas Trip start with Southwest and Chase points for flights. Then I search Priceline or Turo for my car hack. I’ve even rented $20-a-day U-Haul pickups. Of course, I take advantage of LVA’s no resort fee coupons and a great hotel rate.
Result? $500 out of pocket for a week in Vegas.
Then there’s a pretty good chance that with matchplay runs, positive-expectation video poker, and most food and entertainment comped, I’ll cover my nut. So rather than being $1,500-$2000 out, I’m ahead by $1,000, before I even land at Reid.
Good friends risk more and score more. $25 VP. Black-chip BJ. $50 craps. Have at it. This scuffler wants to have fun. Being 100% commission my whole life, I’m just not thrilled about losing money. Making money in Vegas is not my number one goal. Relaxing and having a good time for as little as possible are.
It’s okay. Choose your poison. That’s not one of the Six Ps, but perhaps it should be number seven.
Your goals, games, and wins may be different, but with planning and preparing, you’ll know your goals cold, so when opportunity knocks, you can grab it.
One of the lessons I’ve learned in Vegas is respecting my intuition. When to double down on a streak, when it’s time to walk away a winner. Hello Kenny Rogers.
Yeah, I quote Elvis, the Grateful Dead, Bruno Mars, AND Kenny. That’s why I call myself a Renaissance Neanderthal — well-read, well-rounded (in more ways than one) and occasionally, I even take a shower.
What are your goals? What are your successful techniques? Do you play at comp levels? My bud Carolina Mike rolls around town on comp nights and good VP. He knows his advantage games cold and winner winner free steaks for dinner. Ct Rob does it too and has a blast doing it.
What is winning for you? What do you do to win?
You may not get excited about coupon runs as I do. Fine. Maybe your highlight is a gourmet meal or buying your sweety or yourself something nice.
To quote Ed Harris from Apollo 13, “Failure is not an option. No on my watch, people. Work the problem.”
Knowing what winning is before you arrive, setting yourself up to win, even dealing with bad breaks and losing streaks will make for a better trip than the other 125 squares on the plane home. Plan to win you’ll have a good shot at it. Plan to lose and Vegas’ll be happy to accommodate you.