On Wednesday April 30, I ate the breakfast buffet at South Point. I had a $15 coupon which expired that day, so it was ‘use it or lose it.’ The breakfast buffet costs $15.95 if you have a player card, so the meal basically cost a dollar, plus a two-dollar tip. The meal was easily worth more than that.
The April promotion at the South Point was, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, play $3,000 coin-in on video poker and spin the wheel. Most of my wheel spins were for $50, $75, or $100 free play — which is an excellent return for a $3,000 investment on an even game. You could get some food offers, which expired May 4 or so, but I didn’t receive any of those. I was planning on playing $3,000+ on both my card and Bonnie’s after breakfast.
On my way towards the exit of the buffet, I noticed two men I’ve been friendly with for 20 years or so, “Al” and “Bo.” They were in the middle of their meal and, after receiving indications that I’d be welcome to join them for a bit, I pulled out a chair and sat down. We chatted for a while about this and that, as old men are wont to do, and then Al told me he wasn’t sure he was going to play the promotion that day.
“Why,” I asked. “It’s a nice promo plus you’re already here. Unless you are on a really tight schedule, it makes sense to play.”
Al told me that he already had two remaining breakfast or lunch coupons from this drawing, and they are only good Monday through Friday. If he got another one, he wouldn’t have the chance to use it.
Among the three of us, about 75% of the prizes had been for cash, averaging about $75.
I asked him if he’d play if he knew he’d get $50?
“Of course.”
Well, if 75% of the time you’re getting $75, that’s worth more than $50 in EV. He was used to such calculations, but not when there was food involved. He conceded that he couldn’t fault my logic.
“Plus,” I added, “if you do get another two buffets, you can use more than two in a day. You could invite Bonnie and me on Friday, and I’ll leave the tip! That’s got to be worth something to you, isn’t it?”
I left soon thereafter. I didn’t hear about his score that day, nor what he got with the wheel spin. I do know that Bonnie and I ate breakfast at home that Friday.
If you’ve dropped over $150K on video poker last year, then worrying about a dollar meal—tips included—feels a little ironic, don’t you think?
Actually no, Mike. Your post will inspire a blog in the near future. Thanx
Hey Bob, wishing you all the best! Hopefully, you hit a royal before the next blog so you can wrap it up with—”See? Not only did I recover all my losses, but I also scored a great meal for just a buck plus tips. Big win!”
IMHO, Mike’s point has validity. Games are so tight anymore that if you are not managing your play on a razor thin basis, you will “lose” cash. I recently dropped about 5k at the South Point. I cashed in on 2 meals and received 400.00 in gift cards (May promo). I played NSUD (99.73), BP Deluxe (99.66), and also multi play on the Good Times Pay NSUD 3 play quarters and 9/7 TDB (99.58) on 5 play. It all comes down to no matter how good you are, if you cant take down deuces, royals, or kickers, you are done.
Opting for NSUD seems to be the best choice—it offers low variance while giving the highest return among the three games you’ve played.
In general, reducing your bet on a small edge is far better than increasing it to chase higher hourly earnings. If variance swings the wrong way, the losses could be excessive.
Agreed! I also recently played some APDW (25-11-4-4-3-2-1) at Pearl River, MS and also at AZ Charlies in LV. Thats a low variance fun game as well.
What does ‘Games are tight mean to you’? Does that mean that a given NSUD machine at one casino is somehow different than another NSUD machine at a different casino?
I think what you meant to say is that the player advantage is very small. This is different than the payback of the machine.
Thanks, Jimmy. Clarification – player advantage is not what it once was. My expectations were too high compared to my home non-Vegas casinos. With that said, it was very very fun to play those paytables!
Title reminds me of the Jesse Ventura line from the first Predator, “I ain’t got time to bleed!”
But I digress.
This story echoes a tale of mine from the 80’s, when the Gold Coast was one of the first casinos with “player accounts.” You could buy-in for quarters, and every time you bought in (minimum $10 roll), you could get your “player’s card” punched. A fully punched player’s card yielded one free buffet. Being a creative youngster, I wore a “Long Riders'” coat. I would buy in for $10, get my card punched, then run the quarters through video poker one time. Cash out. And dump the quarters in my deep pockets. Then go to the change booth and buy in again. Anyway, I stayed at the Gold Coast two days to do this, and did it all day long. Thirty-six hours later, I had 23 fully punched cards good for 23 buffet meals.
I guess most people might interpret this tale as a bit overboard, but hey, I was young and hungry. And I always looked back on it as something “Dancer might do.” If, of course, he was young and hungry.
Forgot to add, since my pockets got full pretty quickly, I would head up to my room and dump the quarters on the bed. Bed was covered in quarters by the end of the first day. Then I shoveled them into change cups and took them downstairs to cash.
Oh, to be young and full of quarters.
I’m surprised that Bob didn’t weight 900 pounds after eating the breakfast buffet. Note that he didn’t say that he ate AT the breakfast buffet, or ate A MEAL AT the breakfast buffet. He said he ate the breakfast buffet. The buffet contains a really large amount of food.
cool story, thanks for sharing!
I realize I will never be a millionaire Bob. I played in the same tournament as you and I only won the buffet tickets, unlike you I got so pissed for spending about $160 just for two buffet tickets, I got mad and put them in my pocket and eventually lost them! I’d rather spend a little more money and not have to wait on a long line, and eat at the coffee shop and be waited on hand and foot!
$2 tip???? Ugggg
LOL. I think he wrote that line just to elicit such a response.
Kind of daring anyone to say, “Ugggghh!” Note that I add an “h” or two for no reason.
But it was an interesting comment that sheds some insight on my own tipping habits. At South Point, for a buffet, I would probably leave a $3 tip if eating solo. So the question is what would I leave if my significant other also had the buffet. Probably $5.
Probably also matters if I were getting a Bloody Mary with breakfast.
To each his own tipping buffets. Not sure there is anything like a correct response.
I understand Bob’s AP mindset and frugality nature, to an extent, but a $2 tip in 2025 is insulting, perhaps borderline revolting. I have been to said buffet probably a dozen times as an out-of-town guest. Each and every time, I received superb service, mostly friendly. (The food is prison quality, but not the point.) In a later post, “Dancer” claims he tips less if they simply bring and refill drinks. Simply untrue. They also clear plates from the table when you are eating, clear them at the end, and CLEAN the tables as well as set them again appropriately. For a person of Dancer’s means, I’m sorry sir, these people are working hard trying to make a living. If you’re going to be so frugal, stay home and eat a bowl of shredded wheat.
(On a casino trip this year, since have given it up entirely); tipped cocktail waitress $35 while I was playing. 7 drinks, $5 tip each time. The drinks were mostly watered down. But the waitress was working HARD and was very appreciative and deserving of such gratuity. A lot in life is about the almighty dollar, but not everything.