I am thinking like you Max. Walking the casino floor last trip it looked like most of the machines had already hit. And as such nobody was playing. Why play a firecracker game when none are lit? Why play a pot game when all the pots are empty and so on. I know it is suposed to be random, but it is still perception. It has been 6 months since I have seen a buffalo accension in a positive state. We were excited for the book, but now not so much.
The longer this ridiculous book is delayed the better.
It's bad enough that entire books are devoted to advice on how to squander your brief time on this planet by making money without adding any value in services or products by playing video poker for 1000s of mind-numbing hours to realize that elusive .05 EV.
But at least in VP one's "earnings" -- such as they are -- come out of casinos' coffers.
In slots, however, AP's "earnings" are siphoned from casual players, rather than the casinos, thus depriving the little joy that rightfully belongs to casual players who make their money by providing services to others and only play the machines the way they were meant to be played: For a few minutes of entertainment.
So slot advantage play is not only a dumb way to make money but is also different ethically from VP. There's a reason why slot APs are called vultures. Like vultures in the desert, they circle slots for hours waiting to grab jackpots away from people who don't loiter around slots for hours but just play them for a little fun before going on to do something more productive like normal people.
There's something creepy about that, and a book about how you too can be a successful vulture in the Las Vegas desert is even creepier.
Originally posted by: Annie
The longer this ridiculous book is delayed the better.
It's bad enough that entire books are devoted to advice on how to squander your brief time on this planet by making money without adding any value in services or products by playing video poker for 1000s of mind-numbing hours to realize that elusive .05 EV.
But at least in VP one's "earnings" -- such as they are -- come out of casinos' coffers.
In slots, however, AP's "earnings" are siphoned from casual players, rather than the casinos, thus depriving the little joy that rightfully belongs to casual players who make their money by providing services to others and only play the machines the way they were meant to be played: For a few minutes of entertainment.
So slot advantage play is not only a dumb way to make money but is also different ethically from VP. There's a reason why slot APs are called vultures. Like vultures in the desert, they circle slots for hours waiting to grab jackpots away from people who don't loiter around slots for hours but just play them for a little fun before going on to do something more productive like normal people.
There's something creepy about that, and a book about how you too can be a successful vulture in the Las Vegas desert is even creepier.
This concept baffles me - "For a few minutes of entertainment.". How can one be "entertained" when one is giving money to the casinos for literally nothing in return? Anyone saying they are being "entertained" as they keep putting more money into a machine obviously have no respect for money. This is nothing more than the sheep leading themselves to the slaughter. Really, just how stupid can one be?
Originally posted by: Annie
The longer this ridiculous book is delayed the better.
It's bad enough that entire books are devoted to advice on how to squander your brief time on this planet by making money without adding any value in services or products by playing video poker for 1000s of mind-numbing hours to realize that elusive .05 EV.
But at least in VP one's "earnings" -- such as they are -- come out of casinos' coffers.
In slots, however, AP's "earnings" are siphoned from casual players, rather than the casinos, thus depriving the little joy that rightfully belongs to casual players who make their money by providing services to others and only play the machines the way they were meant to be played: For a few minutes of entertainment.
So slot advantage play is not only a dumb way to make money but is also different ethically from VP. There's a reason why slot APs are called vultures. Like vultures in the desert, they circle slots for hours waiting to grab jackpots away from people who don't loiter around slots for hours but just play them for a little fun before going on to do something more productive like normal people.
There's something creepy about that, and a book about how you too can be a successful vulture in the Las Vegas desert is even creepier.
Couldn't agree more.
Originally posted by: MaxFlavor
I bought this on the pre-buy as well, at that time, my wife and I would casually vulture slots on our weekly trip to our local casino. In the time since then, it is no longer very productive, way too many vultures now. I may seek a refund, or I may still take it if it makes it to print, more for the entertainment value than anything else.
The book is not unlike a Jean Scott book in, say, 2015, that told you how to play .25 full pay VP and get unlimited room comps, free food, and a daily complimentary Swedish massage. Entertaining but not really informative or useful any longer.
The initial era of "vullturing" bonusing slots started with the Odyssey games like Cherry Pie and was likewise very short, as the ratio of vultures to exploitable machines in any given casino soared to 500:1. It got to be pretty pathetic to see three vultures hovering over someone playing a Piggy Banking machine in the hope that they could swoop in and grab the 35 coin bonus. More often than not, a fistfight would break out.
Originally posted by: Annie
The longer this ridiculous book is delayed the better.
It's bad enough that entire books are devoted to advice on how to squander your brief time on this planet by making money without adding any value in services or products by playing video poker for 1000s of mind-numbing hours to realize that elusive .05 EV.
But at least in VP one's "earnings" -- such as they are -- come out of casinos' coffers.
In slots, however, AP's "earnings" are siphoned from casual players, rather than the casinos, thus depriving the little joy that rightfully belongs to casual players who make their money by providing services to others and only play the machines the way they were meant to be played: For a few minutes of entertainment.
So slot advantage play is not only a dumb way to make money but is also different ethically from VP. There's a reason why slot APs are called vultures. Like vultures in the desert, they circle slots for hours waiting to grab jackpots away from people who don't loiter around slots for hours but just play them for a little fun before going on to do something more productive like normal people.
There's something creepy about that, and a book about how you too can be a successful vulture in the Las Vegas desert is even creepier.
While there are elements of this post I agree with, the idea that unclaimed/un-won accumulated bonus money "belongs" to the casual player is beyond ridiculous. Like a progressive jackpot, the money belongs to the casino.
Unless you think that if they unplug the machine and replace it with something else, they are obligated to convert those bonuses into cash and scatter it on the casino floor for those casual players to scoop up.
I'm not a fan of vultures or vullturing, mainly because of how they behave while doing it, but as an occupation, it's no different than collecting beverage containers for recycling. People leave something of value behind. Other people pick it up and convert it to cash. No functional difference.
And any debate about whether ANY gambling activity should or shouldn't be "productive" is, well...
Likewise, bonuses won by vultures aren't "siphoned" from casual players. Those players make a fundamental mistake when they pump money into a slot and then leave when it finally turns +EV. They leave money behind for others to claim.
Sounds so weird to have a slot turn +EV! But I guess it's a thing.
Originally posted by: Inigo Montoya
Sounds so weird to have a slot turn +EV! But I guess it's a thing.
And it has been for quite some time. The original +EV slot plays were progressives; at some point, they would go positive. The trouble there was that you had no way of knowing when that was. The small-bank machines changed that; you could look at the bonus and make a reasonable estimate whether it was a positive play or not.
I would be mildly interested to read in this book how one is supposed to evaluate a +EV play. My method would be to find a machine where three guys are in a fistfight to see who gets to play it. Not helpful, but...
I'm not seeing where the "All About Sports Betting" has hit the shelf yet... I'm guessing we're still a ways out on "Slot Code"! another year and you'll have to change the name to "The History of AP Slots" :-)
Originally posted by: Bob
I'm not seeing where the "All About Sports Betting" has hit the shelf yet... I'm guessing we're still a ways out on "Slot Code"! another year and you'll have to change the name to "The History of AP Slots" :-)
Apparently, what happened is that the editor of this long-anticipated Huntington Press title inadvertently found himself between 17 slot vultures and a slot machine with a postive EV. He has not been heard from since.
