Before playing a video poker machine, I typically load it with $500 or $1,000 in bills or tickets. I do this for a number of reasons:
- I keep records of how much I win or lose each day. It’s easier for me to remember round numbers. If I’m playing a $2 game, ($10 a play), it’s common to be up or down several hundred dollars in a session. If I add another hundred-dollar bill as needed, it can be difficult to remember whether it’s four or five of those so far.
For each additional bill, I could record it on my phone (I use the Notes app on my iPhone), but I can keep thousand-dollar increments straight more easily. If I go in for $3,000 or more in a session, I write each $1,000 play as I go.
- For a time-sensitive play (such as 5x points during Monday Night Football), I want to have premade tickets. It’s time intensive to insert hundred-dollar bills one at a time. If I put them into the machine I’m playing, sometimes the bill acceptor fills up during the play, robbing me of valuable playing time. So I’ll create $1,000 tickets on a slot machine. If that starts to get close to being full (I can easily hear this), I’ll just cash out of that machine and move to another. I might start my play with five or ten $1,000 tickets in my pocket.
- Some casinos, like the South Point, pay off all jackpots in cash. They do not use ticket-in-ticket-out tickets. When I was playing $1 Ten Play Quick Quads ($60 per play), W-2Gs were fairly frequent and the amount of cash I had in the machine was always emptying out — whether I was winning or losing. For one of those plays on a day I planned a long sesion, I’d begin with multiple $2,500 tickets in my pocket — perhaps $20,000 to $40,000 worth.
- If there’s a vacant machine immediately to my left, I’ll play the game with my right hand only and feed bills into the adjacent machine until I reach an appropriate-sized ticket — or I run out of bills. Vacant machines on my right don’t work as well due to the location of the bill acceptor, but I can usually switch to the right-most machine and now the empty machine is on my left.
- Sometimes casinos will create and sell you premade tickets — sometimes $1,000 — sometimes any amount you like. I’ve used this option several times in the past. I know full-well that if I give them $20,000 to start with an ask for tickets, my name is going on a CTR (Currency Transaction Report). This does not concern me. I file as a professional gambler, get a large amount of W-2Gs, and will not be under suspicion as a money launderer.
None of what I’ve just said should surprise regular readers of my columns. The reason I’m mentioning it again is a friend of mine, a strong player, was musing out loud about the number of players he sees playing one $20 bill at a time. If they build it up to $100 or more, they’ll cash out, put it into their pocket, and insert another $20 bill. My friend was questioning why players do this.
I can think of two major reasons, coming under the general headings of Money Management and Security. For those of you who read this column on the www.gamblingwithanedge.com page, there is plenty of room for comments. Please feel free to add to my list of reasons. Perhaps an entirely new reason. Perhaps a nuance to a reason already mentioned.
- Money management. Most players play under circumstances where the house has the advantage. These know from bitter experience that they will usually lose. Every time they run out of credits and have to insert another bill or ticket, this gives them an opportunity to leave the machine. Sometimes they actually do leave the machine. They know that when they have lots of credits still on the machine, they rarely think about leaving.
- Security: On most machines, people walking by can tell how much money you have in credits. If someone sees you have, say, $2,300 in credits, they may well take note of what you look like and are wearing and consider meeting you later in the parking lot. A person with $80 in credits wouldn’t run the same risk.
I assume these people aren’t keeping accurate records of their gambling (Most people don’t). It’s possible for people to accurately record their cash-on-hand before they enter a casino (perhaps $384), and then count their money when they leave (perhaps $214). In this case, simple arithmetic tells them they have lost $170 (assuming they didn’t spend money on anything other than gambling.) It’s not hard to record this number — but most people don’t. For me, I would have started with $1,000, ended with $830, and recorded the -$170 figure. And then moved along to a different casino.
I further assume, perhaps incorrectly, that these people are more concerned with today’s score and not paying too much attention to their year-to-date or lifetime-to-date scores.
We all know people for whom it is like pulling teeth to open up their wallet and bring out a $20 bill. For these folks, it’s probably money-in-the-bank for them to enter only one bill at a time. It simple hurts too much for them to keep putting twenty after twenty into the machine.
For me, my score at this casino today is just a number. I’ll record thousands of minus numbers and thousands of plus numbers throughout the year. There’s not much emotion attached to this process. BIG numbers, either plus or minus, generate some emotion out of me, but relatively small numbers barely register at all.
If my annual score is negative, especially two or three of those years in a row (Which hasn’t happened yet, but might in the future.) that requires some self-evaluation. I’ll deal with that when it arises, if it does. I can see how people whose scores are negative four years out of five can adopt a totally different set of rules for themselves than I do.
It’s nice if you can file as a pro and write off your losses from the Jackpot accrued during a period of time (year, whatever).
As a tourist visiting Vegas several times a year it’s somewhat ridiculous to be forced to pay 30 per cent each time I hit something over 1199, while the attendants and the management and of course the tax authorities are fully aware that such a jackpot does not happen after the first coin-in. It’s pointless to complain or to bring advise as nothing will happen to the better. I’m just saying that the casinos of my country work differently. If you get lucky and hit something big, it’s always top dollar. No tax withheld from you. Not even if you are American visiting Switzerland and hit the Swiss Jackpot for 4 Million or 5. It’s always top dollar. The way it’s supposed to be.
My response when visiting Vegas is that I’m hammering the machines with 50 cents denom at the most. I have fun with it but I know I can’t win much anyways. If I get a royal that pays me 1400 instead of 2000, of course I have a sour feeling. In deuces wild games, however, it’s not the royal that makes the difference, but the sets of deuces. At least they are tax free at the 50 cents denom level.
Greetings from Switzerland
Boris
I never even thought about using TITO’s when the bill taker is getting full. I’m not enough of a degen to be able to hear it getting full though.
Be careful though, players loading machines with bills and cashing out have been accused of money laundering.
I never figure out these people that cash-out their ticket, just to put it back in rightaway and play on. Happens all the time. More funny are these dudes cashing out, walking to the TI-TO change dispenser and then returning to their machine and putting the money back in. Makes no sense to me but wasting time and acting as if…..
People would be surprised if they knew how much space in a cash box is used with those tickets.
From Switzerland
Boris
The first few times I visited Las Vegas I had that strategy of cashing out after a “big” win, and it was all about money management. Me and my wife had a few hundred set aside for gaming, and went on each trip with the attitude of it was money spent on entertainment. We assumed it was going to be lost but we’d have fun playing VP while it lasted.
Our approach was to predetermine an amount for the day, say $200 each fir example. We’d put in $20 (or $40, or whatever) and play it off. If we ran the 20 up to $100 or higher, we’d usually play it to a round number (up ir down) cash out, and save that ticket. We’d then go through the rest of the daily money throughout the day, and put the tickets in the room safe. Sometimes we’d have $500 in winning tickets after the daily cash was gone, sometimes we’d have $0.
That way we’d have additional money on top of what was already budgeted for playing other days on the rest of the trip. We could game more or lobger, or use it for a massage, nice dinner, a salon treatment, show tickets. Etc. We got some great souvenirs at the Beatles boutique at the Mirage from a royal at The Wynn fir example.
We didn’t know anything about players clubs, earning comps, etc. This rudimentary method helped us not exceed our budget, and on every trip we had extra cash on hand as we went along. It would have been fine if we had lost each day, and by cashing out at a predetermined amount it provided extra fun over the course of each trip and allowed us to come home with extra cash. There may be others who follow that strategy (as basic and flawed as it is), and that’s what you’re seeing when people are cashing out and then keep playing.
I think it’s just superstition…and they feel they are “winning” when they cash out the ticket and put the money in their wallet, regardless of their score. It’s pretty easy to lose track of the value of credits on the screen but making it “long green” makes it somehow real.
My gambling stash is always in hundreds. I generally take $1000 when I head to a casino. And then divide it into sessions of play at table games and video poker. I stash chips at table games and when I hit my win/loss limits, I move on.
I will put $100 into a 1-game $1 VP machine. If I am up to $150 at VP, I cash out. And if my budget for that session is $400, I will put in another $100 at a time, NEVER putting a winning ticket back in the machine. It is a form of money management. And I often end up ahead.
Once I cash out at the cage, I am either done or head to a table game. It is a psychologically satisfying and fun way to play.
Hello Margot
I like your strategy. I can see a certain way that makes sense. That way you limit your losses on a bad day and enjoy your gambling session a bit. Walking to a money dispenser and changing your game from VP to live game gives you a break and keeps you busy somewhat.
My strategy is also a bit unconventional: Sometimes I change casinos and still play the same game. That is non-typical and from a “professional point-of-view” is probably not making much sense. A vp machine at location A is probably not any different than a machine of the same kind at location B. To me it’s the entertaining part that many players probably don’t need anymore. Driving from one place to the other is like sight-seeing to me. Especially at nights when I drive on I-15 from Southpoint all the way down to Downtown or via 215 back to Sam’s Town where I am staying sometimes, it’s a great experience.
I mentioned that because it may seem weired to some readers when I say that I very seldom cash out my tickets. Instead, I usually play until I have enough. I stop playing if I don’t like it any longer at one place or if I hit a Royal or so. After a certain number of hours when concentration starts to fade or my eyes get tired, I cash out and put the ticket in my wallet. Usually after a few days I have several tickets of different casinos in my wallet. This is much more convenient to me than taking the cash. Imagine a ticket worth 479 dollars how many single papers you will have to stash instead of one single piece of paper. So once I have my videopoker bankroll in full use I usually have something between 5 and 10 different tickets from different casinos in my wallet. When I wake up the next day and drive to a place where I plan to play, all that I have to do is check in my wallet whether or not I still have a ticket left from the previous session, and of course, I will have to go through the stashed tickets. Sometimes I have several tickets from the Gold Coast but that’s irrelevant. When my trip comes to a conclusion I usually start cashing out these tickets at the dispenser machines. To me it makes absolutely no sense to carry all the cash around as it wouldn’t fit into my wallet. Tickets are very convenient and don’t expire. That’s how I handle my gambling bankroll during my trip.
From Switzerland
Boris
I am very happy to not see the negative comments about what people do to manage their money. Most of the people who read this column and play VP do so for entertainment and not as a professional. If you are playing with a negative expectation, then anything that slows down your play just extends the fun.
I don’t make fun of those who play $5 6:5 BJ because they don’t know proper strategy, are there for fun and are losing less per hour than playing $25 3:2. I once played $2 BJ at slots-O-fun years ago with a friend who did not understand proper strategy. That table was incredibly lively, fun and just a reason to drink. It was cheaper than most bars and tons of fun.
If everyone played VP with an advantage, there would be no more Positive plays.
It is like getting mad at a bad poker player. Why would anyone want to chase off the bad players? Probability dictates that they will win some hands with horrible moves, but in the long run they will most likely lose their money. Let them have fun so they keep playing.
Honor those who play VP just for fun using bad strategies and time extending moves. They are why there are any positive plays left.
Mark makes a good point.
Degeneracy explains why people do time wasting things with how they cash out and feed machines. Superstitions like, “The machine likes fresh cash!” fall under this category. What is true, and Dancer and Munch have touched on this before, is that for 99%+ of people in casinos, anything a gambler can do to waste time or play slower before moving on to something else like going to dinner is advantageous. Fewer minus EV spins means losing less money.
Might be an idea to discuss how come some players press the “max bet” button continuously after starting their regular play with 5-coins per hand. This annoying sound is really getting on my nerves when I hear this loud bing-bing-bing-bing-bing before my neighbors hand starts again. Not sure why is it that some people do it. Probably it’s meant to feel the neighbor pissed off or piss off the machine that it decides to finally give a good hand to the player.
I’ve noticed this annyoing behaviour many times lately, just can’t find a logical reason for this.
From Switzerland
Boris
I win!… Alot. If only I had the means to play when it’s “time”.. alas, I’m a widow now, w/ 4 children and 4 grand children . It’s sometimes the only way I’m able to get the nessesary items for home or school.
I would love a job testing games, and casinos, hotels, or cruzes, comparing and reviewing for company’s .. I openly invite anyone who wants or needs a play partner or hates to go it alone (as I do) to “hit me” up! You would have more fun with The AmazonBomb! And no I’m not a call girl, but I am a call away! Lol. Cheers Everybody!! Good luck!