I was canvassing a casino looking for slot machines in favorable conditions. From 15 feet away I saw a Wolf Run Eclipse for $15 per pull. The numbers on the meters were high enough according to my guru, but not high enough according to most other sources. This is a good situation for me because most other pros would let the machine be. You can bet there were other slot pros circulating the casino. It’s a fact of life in most casinos these days.
There was a guy I’d never seen before sitting there with exactly $100 in credits. He didn’t have a player’s card inserted. He wasn’t playing the machine, but rather was talking flirtatiously to a young woman seated nearby.
I tried to read the situation. Had he been dressed like a homeless person I would have concluded that he was trying to “sell” the machine to anyone who asked about it. After all, homeless people don’t play for $15 a hand generally. But he was clean-shaven and dressed nicely. He didn’t look homeless.
The fact that he had exactly $100 in credits indicated to me he had just put in a hundred-dollar bill and hadn’t started to play yet. I didn’t know what to make of the fact that he didn’t have a player’s card inserted. There are a number of possible explanations for that.
For a $15 game, $100 in credits wasn’t much ammunition. I might put in $500 or more before I hit the button the first time. It’s easier for me to keep track of how much money I’ve played if I put in $500 increments. I need this information so I can calculate wins and losses. But not everybody loads a machine before they start to play. Some players put in one bill at a time and only put in another bill when the credits get below the value of one hand.
I didn’t see anybody else hovering around waiting for him to leave. Which was good. Either this “opportunity” hadn’t been noticed by other pros yet, or the ones who had noticed didn’t think it was a good opportunity.
I went to check some nearby machines and returned in five minutes. Nothing had changed. He still had $100 in credits and was enjoying talking to the lady. I left to check some other machines, returning in another five minutes, and, again, nothing had changed.
Right or wrong, I decided to politely ask him if he was planning on playing that machine. I figured that possibly my asking him might be an impetus for him to take the lady for dinner or drinks or something. Or if he wanted to sell it to me, perhaps by suggesting I put in all the money and we split the winnings, I could deal with that. As I’ve written earlier, when that happens, I have no problem reporting him to a slot attendant. Usually, the slot attendant will tell him to either play the machine or get off of it. The fact that he had no players card in could indicate that he wasn’t planning on playing the machine anyway. My goal was to get the machine if it was going to become available soon — but not being rude about it.
My hoped-for scenarios didn’t happen. He told me, also politely, that he was still planning on playing and the machine next to him was vacant. (Yes it was, but there was nothing playable on it.) I thanked him and moved on,
Twenty minutes later, I circled back, and the machine was vacant. I checked it and one of the minor meter (the one that was most attractive this time) was at reset — meaning that this guy, or somebody else, had played the game until it was no longer positive. Oh well, he found it first. I’ll find another game.
I’ve shared this story with a few of my pro friends. Some would have done the same. Some would have sat down at a nearby machine and just waited until the situation resolved itself. Some would have just walked on and never said a word to the guy. With this diversity of opinions, I’ve concluded that there is not a unique “correct” way to handle the situation — and my way was within acceptable limits.
What do you think?
When I encounter a camper like that I will often ask, ” Is that a lucky machine?” The hustlers know what you mean but the civilians will just get up and give you the play.
Like they say, it never hurts to ask. The worst that could happen is they say it’s not available and you’re no worse off than you were previously. But there’s always the possibility they’ll let you have it, maybe even for a small fee or share of the winnings and you end up on the positive advantage. With opportunities so few and far between and so much competition, I believe one should at least make an effort to take advantage of each and every one. That’s my take on the situation anyway.
I take a minute to ‘see’ if it looks like the person isn’t playing the machine, just sitting by someone playing an adjacent machine. Even if in doubt and I wanted to play, I’ve never asked and been rebuffed with a nasty retort. Most of ‘us’ are considerate of other players, would happily surrender the seat when someone wants to play a machine.
I never ask, I just move on and check around for other favorable machines. I might check back later…
You done good, Bob!!
I would hope someone would do that to me, were I sitting idly at a machine that person wanted.
I make the rounds frequently in my area, and that happens occasionally. I usually just walk on by and circle back later. The times I have asked if they plan to play usually results in a “scene” of some type. That said, most of my instances of this are people with no money in the machine, waiting for a friend/relative to finish gambling so they can leave. There are so many “pros” in my area, that it’s rarely worth waiting it out either.
Unless someone is clearly not gambling but sitting there with 0 credits while watching someone else play on an adjacent machine, I typically won’t ask them if they’re playing that one.
But as many have said, you never know until you ask.