A Triple Purpose Casino Visit – Part 1
Down through the 30+ years I’ve been a gaming writer, I have always stressed the importance of a balanced life. Never let casinos and gambling interfere with relationships with friends and family or your physical and mental well-being. Don’t ever let them put you on the path to financial ruin.
In almost everything I’ve ever written, my goal has been to give you information to help you avoid these risks. And this report about a recent Cherokee casino trip will give you an example of how I personally put into practice what I write about.
The Friends and Family Factor
In my last blog, I explained how my daughter Angela and son-in-law Steve were driving Brad and me the 5-6 hours to our Smokey Mountains destination in their big truck pulling their camper. Angela drove and I rode shotgun, enjoying the opportunity for long conversations. Steve and Brad were in charge of the two dogs in the back seat, keeping them happy with long naps on their laps. We stopped several times for gas, eating, and bathroom and leg-stretch breaks for dogs and humans! Once in Cherokee, the first stop was to offload Brad and me and our luggage at Harrah’s. Then Ang and Steve went 3 miles down the road to their campsite at the Happy Holiday Park.
For the next 3 days, Brad and I divided our time between indoor casino play and outdoor activities when Angela and Steve picked us up and took us back to their campsite. We enjoyed a wonderful grilled steak and corn-on-the-cob dinner, with baked potatoes perfect from the air fryer, and then a juicy watermelon finish. We loved sitting by the lake, watching the ducks, and in the evening listening to good band music from the nearby gazebo stage. This was such a welcome break from the indoor air of the casino, although it was healthier than in most casinos as it is still completely non-smoking. There are steps being taking legislatively to extend this pandemic rule permanently and that would be a wonderfully healthy decision.
Adding to the family-and-friends part of this trip, we were pleased to meet new-to-us frugalites, a couple that had been following my frugal writings for many years. They were aware from reading my blog that we were going to be at Cherokee, but with such a huge casino floor, they didn’t think they’d see us. While they were playing in an area with popular video poker games, Brad and I arrived and unknowingly sat right next to them! The next thing we knew, we were hearing a common comment, “You’re Jean and Brad Scott, aren’t you?”
Many people have said they didn’t make themselves known to us because they didn’t want to bother us while we were playing. It has never been a bother to either of us. We love to make new friends, especially those who share our love of casino life. And that’s why we have made hundreds of friends over the last 37 years we’ve spent in casinos. We miss seeing so many of you in person like we did when we were playing regularly in Vegas casinos, but I still keep in communication with so many of you, since you’re friends on my Jean Scott Facebook page. This has been such wonderful support especially for me during this time of Brad’s failing health.
The Casino and Gambling Factor
A few people stay in a hotel-casino and never spend any time in the casino. Perhaps they came for business in the area or for a convention. Or they were attending a wedding or family reunion. However, most people hit the casino at least some of the time, whatever other activities are planned. And for many, gambling in the casino is a major goal and interest, the description of our Cherokee visit.
As usual, whenever I’m going to a casino, whether for the day or on a longer trip, I always have a plan in mind. On this 2½-day visit, I knew it would be wise to space out play as much as possible to maximize the tier credit bonus for each day.
Day 1, arrive in evening: Earn 2500 tier credits, which would give me 5000 bonus credits, with a total of 7500 tier credits. About 2 hours of play.
Day 2: Earn 5000 tier points, which would give me 10,000 bonus credits, with a total of 15,000. About 4 hours of play, done in several one- or two-hour sessions.
Day 3: Same as day 2.
This 37,000 total would allow me to go from the Diamond Plus tier level (25,000+), which I had more than surpassed on our last trip in March, and achieve my goal of reaching the Diamond Elite tier level (75,000+).
This seemed like a very workable plan. Brad sleeps a lot in the daytime and I could go to the casino during his naps.
The first evening, I did make the 2500 tier credits as planned, but just barely by midnight. (Wasn’t sure whether that was the end of the “casino day” for tier-credit calculation.) The truck/camper trip from Columbus, GA, took a bit longer than we’d experienced in our usual car trips. Plus we were slowed down even more for multiple delays from wrecks and detours.
I’ve never liked playing at night when I’m tired, even back in my younger days. But this two-hour session after a long day on the road was now the definition of “total exhaustion.” And at the midnight witching hour, while dragging myself along the long long walk from the casino to the hotel room, I promised myself that I’d never push myself this hard again, no matter what my original plans were. Brad, who’d been peacefully sleeping all evening, woke up when I came back to the room. I told him the promise I had made to myself: “This was not fun gambling. Tonight it was a hard ‘job’!”
And after sleeping in on Day 2, I reevaluated my plan for the rest of the visit.
Tune in to my next post where I’ll describe how being flexible can be so relaxing, a review of a lesson that I too often forget. And yes, I will give you the results of our VP play.