I used this same title in my May 1 article. This is not the same article, but it again relates to the situation of more people wanting a limited number of machines than there are machines.
On several recent Sundays, certain Boyd properties have been offering 7x points on video poker, up to a maximum of 10,000 base points. Choosing the right game, this promotion gives the player a slight advantage. Although I would strongly prefer to find bigger and better opportunities, on one particular Sunday in early September, I first played at Gold Coast and then finished up at Sam’s Town.
While at Sam’s Town, I completed my 10,000 B Connected points and then decided to make my Pick-the-Pros football selections. Although Shirley and I each get 5 free entries because we have Emerald status, there are so many people entered that each entry is only worth a buck or so. Often I don’t bother, but this time I was in the mood to pick football winners, so that’s what I did.
Close to the kiosk where I was making my football picks are some “must-hit-by” slot machines. Although these slot machines come in a lot of different flavors, the particular machine I was looking at had a major jackpot that would hit between $100 and $200 (currently at $154) and a minor jackpot that would hit between $10 and $20 (currently at $18.24).
Without going through how much the major and minor jackpot amounts contributed to the EV of this machine, suffice it to say that I believed that this was a positive play. I probably would have $5 or so in EV if I sat down and played maximum coins of $2.50 per hand until the minor jackpot hit. Unfortunately, a woman was playing the machine 5¢ at a time and the machine was hers as long as she was there.
When I finished making one of my football picks, I noticed she was standing up preparing to leave. So I went over and 5 seconds after she walked away, I sat down. I put my player’s card into the machine (This adds to EV as well. Playing slots on occasion sometimes gives you better mailers than playing only video poker) and slipped $100 into the bill acceptor.
Just before I hit the button for the first time, a man (I never learned his name but I’ll call him “Joe’) came up and told me it was his machine and that I should stand up and give it to him. He said he had been waiting for 45 minutes and it was unfair that I got there before he did. Joe was almost in tears. I concluded he was telling the truth about waiting and that $5 in EV was a lot more important to him than it was to me. It was also clear to me that I hadn’t cheated in any way getting the machine or pushed anybody out of the way, and that I was entitled to play it should I choose.
So what to do?
Gambling (and life) is full of situations where more than one person wants something which, in the end, only one person will get. (As an extreme example, beautiful tennis player Maria Sharapova is currently reputed to be between boyfriends. I suspect tens of thousands of guys would like to be “the one.” Obviously, almost all of these guys will end up disappointed.) Sometimes sharing is possible. Sometimes it is first come, first served. Sometimes there is someone (like a hostess at a restaurant) who will decide who gets served next. Sometimes money talks (Had he offered to pay me $5 to get the seat, I would have considered it. Had he offered me $10 for the machine, I would have taken it in a flash.) Sometimes negotiation is possible (Had he not been blowing cigarette smoke in my face as he told me his sob story, I might have been more sympathetic.) Sometimes threats work. Sometimes threats backfire. Every case is different.
Some folks say they always try to live by the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule says I should give up the machine because I’d like the machine if I were second to get there. You do that, if you like.
In the end, I kept the machine. Joe cursed me and stomped away. This was an acceptable result for me. Had he gotten really loud and belligerent I might have given him the machine. I had no question about whether casino employees would uphold my right to the machine, but I absolutely did not want to get casino employees involved. When I negotiate with Sam’s Town next year about whether or not to hold my video poker classes again, I don’t want them bringing up “that time when you were in a fight in front of the player’s club.”
Joe may have had his own reasons to not get loud. Perhaps he’s been involved in one or two incidents himself and feared a “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” ruling. Who knows? Since Joe didn’t choose to escalate the situation, it was a case of “squatter’s rights” and I was the legal squatter.
I told this story to a friend and she said that since I could afford to play $25 machines, getting into a dispute over $5 in EV was beneath me. I understand her point, but disagree. I don’t think Joe’s and my comparative wealth is relevant here, although I’m sure that many will instinctively side with the underdog. Accumulating wealth in a casino often requires you to assert your rights. I’m not going to push somebody out of the way or do anything to physically hurt someone in a casino, but neither am I going to give up a “good machine” just because somebody else wants it.
If you play poker you know that if you always yield to aggression, the other players will walk all over you. Life is that way as well. Sometimes you have to make a stand even on the little things.