“We’ll never move to Las Vegas; where would we go on vacation?”
That was the answer I gave to questions for years: “You go to Vegas all the time and stay for weeks on end. Why don’t you just move there?”
However, we had learned a key principle for successful casino gambling – flexibility. Casinos are constantly changing. I always said to never “marry” a casino but just have temporary “affairs.” Good promotions come – then go. New good games come in. Old video poker schedules are downgraded. Helpful hosts retire or move to another casino home. Casinos bring in new executives with new policies. A wise player has to be evaluating and adjusting constantly. We were finding it difficult to keep up with all the changes when we were doing our in-and-out Vegas visits.
But perhaps more to the point, Brad and I were changing. When we had started this journey 16 years earlier, we thought staying in hotels for many days a year, with daily maid service and never having to cook, was a glamorous lifestyle. But now in 1999, at ages 60 and 67, we were getting tired of schlepping our suitcases from hotel to hotel every few days, never knowing in the morning in what drawer to find our underwear. Plus being able to stay put in a friend’s condo the last two winters had shown us the many advantages a local life had over being just a tourist. One of the best would be the ability to have a wider choice of good play opportunities when we didn’t have to “play for our bed” in the hotel where we were staying.
We looked at our financial situation. It was very strong thanks to increasing profits as we had slowly progressed from quarter to dollar video poker for the last eight years. We had enough savings to buy a nice 2-bedroom condo just a couple miles from the Strip – we called it “The House That VP Bought.”
Brad and I rarely make snap decisions. We looked thoughtfully at all the facts when we switched our core game from BJ to VP. We were extremely slow in going up in denomination. And when we decided to buy the Vegas condo, we also decided we would not sell our home in Indianapolis – just in case we found living in Vegas wasn’t as good as we had thought. Our plan was to stay in Vegas most of the year, but go back to Indy for the summers to escape the Vegas “oven.”
We kept to that plan for one year, but finding it hard to leave “all those good Vegas promotions” when it was time to drive back to Indiana. And once back, we would hurriedly unpack the car in the evening, repack a small bag so we could start up early the next morning to take advantage of “good plays” on the riverboats in Illinois. Brad said it would make more financial sense when we came back home if we just stayed at the Hyatt Regency the few days that we were in town rather than keep up a 2nd place. So, the next summer when we went back to Indianapolis, we had a huge garage sale and sold that condo.
We never regretted becoming permanent Las Vegas locals. We were in the middle of what I now call the Golden Age of Video Poker. Comps were gushing from casino play those days, many of them including luxurious travel options. Some Vegas casinos had sister properties in other parts of the country where we would be comped to deluxe accommodations, gourmet dining, and sightseeing experiences. We could take the family to ski in Tahoe, to throw beads in the Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans, to tour the Memphis home of Elvis. We could cross the country to visit casinos and sightsee in Chicagoland, Mississippi, and Atlantic City. And cruises – casinos were giving them away right and left – to Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, New England, Alaska.
Back when you really dressed up to attend the Captain’s Cocktail Party on a cruise:
No, moving to Las Vegas didn’t spoil our love for travel. We were never at a loss for alternate vacation destinations!
About the unthrilling responses that Tomas G. got when he asked about 99%+ video poker: In most cases, either a casino employee is not knowledgeable about video poker in the first place and thus can’t help you, or the casino employee is knowledgeable but doesn’t want to help you have a better chance of breaking even or winning. The only exception is when you have established a good relationship with a certain employee (e.g., host or slot attendant), and they will help you because they like you. Our main source for info on good VP is other players, or individuals who catalog the info. The best place to get VP info is the Website vpFREE2.com; it lists the inventory for every Vegas casino (and other places too).
I have read all your columns and try to gain your wisdom in regards to your advice in the casinos. How would you, or any reader here, select a VP slot? Recently I visited a casino and asked for 99% or higher return, all I got were dumb looks.
I was in Vegas during that “Golden Age,” and yeah, it was a complete gravy train if you knew what you were doing. I, unfortunately, hit a terrible bad streak in 1995-97 and my bankroll was wiped out. While I was slaving away at minimum-wage casino jobs, rebuilding my bankroll, I kept seeing all these terrific opportunities, but I couldn’t take advantage of them–not on $325 a week before taxes.
Back then, you pretty much had to rely on the rumor mill to find out about the best plays—that, and scouring the local papers and doing other types of hands-on research. It was impossible, even back then, to personally scout every casino or even a substantial portion of them. I found that building a network of friends was really helpful—of course, I would tell them of plays that I couldn’t or didn’t want to take advantage of, and they would reciprocate.
The criterion for who succeeded or failed seemed to be whether you managed to avoid the grim reaper of variance. I knew several very skilled players who got knocked out of action–temporarily or permanently–because they were under-royaled. For everyone who succeeded, it seemed like there was a watershed moment—some big hit or long streak–that catapulted them into safe bankroll territory. You’ve told us of several such moments, and implied that if they hadn’t occurred—“saving” you from a losing streak—you might have given up.
So I’ve said before that even advantage players have to get lucky—as in, not get UNlucky. A 0.7% edge is thin enough that it doesn’t take much to go wrong before everything starts to fall apart. You and Brad were diligent and careful, and that’s why you succeeded, but you also didn’t get hit by one of those ghastly bankroll- and morale-destroying losing streaks. For me, it rippled forward in time, as I would be much wealthier today if I hadn’t had those three+ years of struggling just when things were at their juiciest.
Love your writing, Jean, This one, number 11, is no exception. That was a big decision to move to Vegas. We have followed your career for many years and enjoy reading about your life and experiences, not to mention your many books. Thank you.