I will now take you on the last leg of this long winding path we have been describing for many weeks. It is now 2019 and this is definitely a downhill journey.
Good video poker opportunities, which have been steadily declining since the Great Recession, have became an endangered species. When you could find a positive play, the edge was usually razor thin. At 80 and 87, I would often tell Brad that I wasn’t sure we would live long enough to get to this now much longer “long term.”
I had slowly been losing my passion for advantage play for several years. I was missing the excitement of special games we loved, like Chase the Royal, Spin Poker, Multi-Strike, Super Times Play. And I especially missed multi-line VP versions, from Triple Play clear up to Hundred Play, which had bounced up the fun factor for many years. Now, we found almost all of the good plays – wanting to have as high an EV as possible – were single line.
Brad didn’t seem to mind sticking with single-line. Gambling – any kind – was still the challenge he had enjoyed since he played Tonk for pennies with his brothers at five years of age. However, in early 2019 I noticed a subtle change in him. He had a take-it-or-leave-it attitude when I was planning when and where we would go to a casino. And when we did go and play, he was often the one who was ready to quit a session. This was a definite change since in the past he would always play “forever” until I made the decision to quit.
As the months went by, the change in him became more evident. He was having serious cognitive problems and he was forgetting the VP strategies he had known and used for years. For a long time we had been playing together when we were at high-level denominations and especially when our advantage edge was getting smaller. We would like to sit side by side and take turns playing “our” machine while the other watched. This would make sure of our accuracy but it was also more fun, especially when we were playing multi-lines and could share the excitement of good hands and sympathize with the disappointment of bad results! However, now we needed to play together so I could help him remember proper strategy.
I had said for several years that I was ready to quit casino gambling, but as long as Brad was enjoying it, I would go along. It was still our main entertainment option and also the center of our social life as we met with friends often to play together and enjoy our comped meals. So, we continued to visit casinos, but on fewer days and with shorter playing sessions.
However, in September Brad’s physical problems became an emergency situation. We had been dealing with his medical issues for 17 years, since his heart attack in 2003. For a few years, we were on first-name basis with the ambulance drivers who would take him to the hospital emergency room. Fortunately, modern medicine had many answers over the years: 7 stents in a heart artery, a pacemaker after a 5-minute cardiac arrest episode, a stockpile of meds, new cutting-edge procedures when his plumbing system malfunctioned. But I just put multiple doctor appointments on the calendar with all the free play pick-ups and other gambling scheduled activities and for many years Brad’s health had not hindered our casino routine.
When the major health setback came in September, we were in Georgia visiting the family and I was so appreciative that they could provide the support I needed while Brad was in the hospital. They took turns staying with Brad so I could get a good night’s sleep back at the house.
We stayed in Georgia several weeks until Brad was able to fly back to Vegas, but this was the beginning of his physical and mental health decline. And it was the time when I realized that we needed to move to Georgia where we had a good family support system.
We played VP only about a dozen more times the rest of 2019. Brad was very frail, using a cane and a walker to get around. We still had many free-play pickups and food comps from our past play history so would visit a casino several days a week. He would want to sit down and play VP but just didn’t have the energy to continue very long – and after a while would just want to watch me play.
I wasn’t very interested in playing since I was now deep into plans for our move to Georgia at the end of the year. When we moved from Indianapolis to Las Vegas in 2000, we had joked that we wouldn’t ever be leaving our condo unless it was feet first. Moving is always a big and exhausting project – doing it when you are in your 80’s is almost an impossibility. Thank goodness – again – my family stepped up. Daughter Angela took off work a couple of weeks and helped me…no, forced this frugal squirrel to throw away, give away… Then Steve and granddaughter Kaity came to help out and we were able to spend Christmas together. Movers came to load up 3 “pods” and we got on a plane and said good-bye to the city we loved.
Next week I will give a summary of these 35 years, and some of the highlights and the lessons we learned along the way.
ALL of us that YOU helped learn about profits made from VP, are getting older. It’s a part of life, we will all play our last hand someday. So, we enjoy it while we still can. And on behalf of the thousands of gamblers you have helped through the years, we all wish we could shake your hand and tell you “Thank you!”. You have helped all of us to become smarter gamblers. Almost all of us have not won the amounts that you have, but we have profited more because of you.
Thank you Jean (or whatever your name was).
Hi Jean and Brad of course…Age is a cruel taskmaster and reading this installment wasn’t one of my favorites at all. My wife and I finally met you two in May of 2018 at the Palms and it was one of the last personal bucket list items for me! To make this all the better it was only perhaps 5 minutes after meeting you two with pictures, chatting and such that you came over to tell us you had just hit 3 royals on a 50 play (I think it was $0.25) and to share your good fortune with us! I couldn’t have been more happy or excited to have met a couple of my Vegas idols and then to have them hit a great winning hand and to share that experience with us! Well with that story told I’m a bit heartbroken to hear of the downward spiral of Brad’s health. I’ve personally known for quite some time now that with age we all slow down. However, you never want to see that happen to people who have inspired and even encouraged in their own way your own fun and entertainment in LV. It also sounds like you are winding down this series very quickly and I hope you are not gone for long if this is your plan. The Good Lord has given you a gift for writing and I hope you are able to use it as you have in the past to help others for as long as you are able. Blessings and Prayers to You and Brad Always and Much Love Your Way from the wilds of No. Idaho…Terry Haile
Jean, I have loved reading your books and reading your articles through the years. A very heart felt THANK YOU for the years of pleasure.
A wonderful installment Jean. Your honesty in sharing the ‘good and the bad’ in both the gambling & personal world is a refreshing read.
We too have enjoyed & benefited from your advice, books and software. Your name comes up regularly when we are perusing a ‘deal’, such as what would Jean do?
As a loyal fan like many, looking forward to the next chapter!
All the best to you both
Thanks again for sharing your story. I look forward to the next installment.
Thanks for so many great lessons and memories, Jean. From reading the Frugal Gambler in the early 2000’s, my wife and I have been able to enjoy lots of casino perks, mostly on the casino, while making a little bit ourselves. Coming from California, our Vegas Staycations (2 or 3 weeks a year- Spring Break, Summer, and Thanksgiving, for these two old teachers and their son), were the highlight of our year, most times. We rarely pay for food, using comps at the Orleans, (we loved the buffet before the recent remodel) and at Marilyn’s Cafe at the Tuscany. We have a time share, but free rooms at the Orleans, where our son and his buddies had the run of the movie theater, arcade, pool and bowling alley, and Excalibur, with the Fun Time dungeon, or whatever it’s called now, were our staples. All this was possible using the common sense practices you used and wrote about. And the best advice you probably ever provided when it came to casinos and employees, was ASK. I’ve lost count of the room upgrades, discounted show tickets, and comped meals we have gotten over the years. Thanks for all your great books and your blog. It’s been great gleaning from your wisdom all these years.
Both my husband Dennis and I were very grateful to be able to meet you in Dec 2019 at the Orleans. My husband really enjoyed the tales that Brad told that day.
We hope to get back to Vegas (if Covid in Vegas every allows that) and we will always think of you two when we visit the sportsbook to get those great hotdogs!!
Yes we agree that those soft buns are a great part of the dog….and of course the price.
I personally love all your stories and blogs, but feel extremely lucky to have visited for you both to sign my books.
Thanks for all your info, and of course having a daughter that is an English teacher appreciate how you teach and give us valuable info in a special way.
MO
Hope that Brad will get better with rest and family around to help and stay safe and healthy along with you Jean; have always followed you and have all your books
Between 2008 and 2013 the advantages were getting very slim. I left in 2013 to spend the last quarter of my life with kids and grandkids. Have been to a casino 3 times in the last 6 years. Just not like the highlife we all experienced in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.