2/2/2001
Alert!
By the time you read this, Station Casinos will have taken over the Reserve. I’m going to reserve judgment (I’m not sure whether that’s a pun intended or not!) on whether this will be a positive event for serious video poker players — or, as so many of them fear, it will be another good playing opportunity biting the dust. I try to stay positive until the negative hits me over the head.
Anyway, you still have time to pick up any cashback you’ve earned –until the end of February. Five-times-points Mondays are history, but according to a reliable source, Senior Days last until the end of February, along with the Friday food specials at the buffet, Serengetti and Tusk. I hope none of these restaurants will be changed. The Reserve was one of our favorite places to eat.
The Stationization of the Reserve, Fiesta, and Santa Fe has been the subject of much discussion everywhere, especially on the Internet, where it seems easy to moan and groan about changes in casinos. I understand the human tendency to hate change. We all have our favorite casinos, with our favorite machines and/or promotions, and our favorite restaurants. However, the casino landscape is one of the most changeable scenes in the world. We all have to learn to adjust. We don’t play at the same casinos now that we did 18 years ago when we first came to Vegas. Some of them no longer even exist! And those that are still intact certainly are not the same as they were then.
But we remember that it’s not just the casinos that change. Gamblers change too. We have different goals now that we live in Vegas. Back when we were tourists, we played where it was easiest to get room comps. Now we like the cashback feature better. We used to play only quarters; now we look for playing opportunities at a higher level.
The only thing that stays constant is change!
From the Skip Hughes VP List
Question: About the Stratosphere offer to refund your losses during your first half-hour of play. Do you have to play for 30 minutes? Suppose you lose $120 in 10 minutes and quit playing. Do you still get the rebate?
Answer: I played the dollar slots and lost $120 in 10 minutes. I sat at the machine, with my card in, for the next 20 long and irritating minutes. I got my rebate.
This next update comes from an FF reader, commenting on the free tours to Stateline and Laughlin given by Guaranteed Tours that I wrote about in the Dec. 8 column: “The fine print stipulates: Free for those over 21 ($15 for ages 2-20); $2 ‘fuel surcharge’ per person, and you need a coupon for each person.” You can print the coupons from their Web site at www.guaranteedtours.com; click on “Specials.” They advertise a free Hoover Dam tour, but that’s a fooler: It’s buy one, THEN you get one free.
If you want to read a most amusing report of an interview with Brad and me, go to http://www.vny.com/cf/news/upidetail.cfm?QID=153887. This is by Joe Bob Briggs, homepage http://www.joebob-briggs.com. And if you know his quirky humor, you’ll realize that he has twisted, somewhat, a few of the facts of our life. However, a lot of it IS true! He refers to us as Brad and Jean Smart. Some wag commented that this must be a pseudo-pseudonym.
Angela, the Frugal Princess, will be the guest columnist next week, since Brad and I will be out of contact with the world, relaxing on a cruise ship touring the Hawaiian Islands. Seven long glorious carefree days without my computer, the first time it will not be in close reach since I got it several years ago.
Aloha!
2/9/2001
Guest columnist Angela Sparks (The Frugal Princess)
LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER — Part 1
What the Queen Has Taught the Princess.
Since Mom and Brad are taking a well-deserved vacation and are cruising around the Hawaiian Islands, I was tapped to be guest columnist for a couple of weeks. I thought it might be helpful if I shared with you this week some of the important things that I, as a beginning gambler, have learned from the Queen.
Like all daughters, I’ve learned so much from my mother that I can’t even remember it all. Some of my most important lessons have been about how to be frugal. I laugh to think of it now, but when I was younger I didn’t realize my mother was even being frugal; I thought everyone spent (or didn’t spend) money the way she did. So it’s no surprise that she’s taught me all about being a frugal gambler. Here are some lessons I’ve learned over the years that greatly improve my Las Vegas visits.
1. You need to study and read as much as you can before going to any casino or spending your vacation in Vegas.
2. No matter how well, or how badly, you’re doing, you need to take breaks from gambling. Taking a break will help your bankroll last longer and help your concentration when you return.
3. If you don’t know something, ask. If you want something, ask. Mom recommends the “honey, not vinegar” approach. A pleasant, polite, undemanding tone will yield more than a gruff I-deserve-this request.
4. Sightsee all over town, but focus your play in just one or two casinos to maximize your comps. All casinos have a minimum of play required for the comp system to kick in. I learned you should play in one casino until you reach this basic activation level for meal comps. In addition, if you want to start earning free room comps, you need to continue to play at this casino until you reach this higher comp level. Only then do you want to pick up another casino and start working your way up their comp ladder.
5. Hosts have what’s called “the power of the pen,” meaning that they can write out comps for players, depending on their level of play. After you have been playing for awhile, and this time varies according to the size and luxury level of the casino, you can ask a change person to have a slot host paged for you. When the host arrives at your machine, you can find out what comps you’re entitled to.
6. The more you know about the casino’s player reward system, the more you can get out of it. Although some casinos spell out in black and white their criteria for giving out their valuable booty, most do not. The clerks at the slot club desk can often answer many of your questions that the literature doesn’t address. But it often requires talking to a host to get the most details.
7. The casino WANTS to give you comps to reward you for playing with them. You can get free drinks, even if you’re a penny bettor. Or you can get a beautiful luxury suite in the hotel if you’re a higher gambler (or the daughter of high-level gamblers!). Even as a low-level gambler, I’ve come home from a trip to Vegas with enough free casino gifts to give souvenirs to every child on the street!
8. You cannot get anything from a casino if they don’t know you’re playing there. Join the slot club at every casino you walk into, even if you don’t think you’d ever play there. Every time you do play and put your player’s card in the machine while you play, the casino knows you’re giving them your valuable business — and they’ve already put it into their budget to reward you.
9. Couponing is one of the best ways to stretch money in a casino, because it allows you to gamble in such a way that you, not the house, have the edge, often a large one. I’ve learned to be tough competition for the casinos while I’m on a coupon run.
Next week I’ll talk about a possibly surprising subject — what the Queen has learned from the Princess.
2/17/2001
Guest columnist Angela Sparks (The Frugal Princess)
LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER — Part 2
What the Princess Has Taught the Queen
Last week I talked about what I’ve learned from my mother, Jean Scott, about gambling — and I could have filled many more columns. But although I’ve learned most of what I know about casino gaming from Mom, she’s learning a few things from me too. She says I’m teaching her a new, more relaxed, way of looking at life in general and gambling in particular. (It’s also possible that my presenting her with two grandchildren has also greatly contributed to this new more carefree person!)
Here are some of what I think the Queen has learned from the Princess, either things that are brand new to her or things that perhaps she’s forgotten from her early Vegas days.
1. Most people go to casinos strictly for entertainment. They go to Vegas to have fun. Therefore, they don’t want to make gambling too much “work.”
2. The new nickel slots can be good inexpensive entertainment. I told Mom she could never write a good chapter on slots for her next book if she had never played them. So she and Brad took $200 and played slots for research purposes. Well, they had so much fun, especially with the new video slots. They said they enjoyed being abducted by aliens, playing a round of Yahtzee while the dice dance around, catching fish in Reel ‘Em In, and playing Paper Scissors Rock with Hand from the Addams Family. And they still have money left in their “research” bankroll, so don‘t be surprised to see them at JUMBLE or Winning Bid. And Mom can’t wait to try out Scrabble — she hopes it will be as challenging as the board game that is her family’s treasured competitive activity.
3. Not everyone has the bankroll to play positive expectation video poker with any good chance of coming out a winner. This is a long-term proposition for the patient player. So Mom is becoming more understanding of people who want to choose other games, and she’s trying give advice that will help gamblers play any game smarter.
4. Vegas vacations can be great for families with young children, but you have to plan very carefully and realize that some adult activities, such as gambling, will have to be decreased. Some parents take turns in order to supervise the children and fit in gambling too. (Of course the perfect situation is to have doting grandparents who live in Vegas!)
5. Low-denomination players can have just as much fun as those who play at a higher level. I think that watching Steve and me brings back memories of when she and Brad first came to Vegas, short on money AND gambling knowledge. And she remembers how much fun they had for many years as strictly quarter players, although they’ve now progressed to dollars and higher.
The more Mom watches our family in Vegas, the more she sees that I represent the typical reader of gambling writings. I’m the casual casino visitor who’s on vacation and wants to take advantage of the first-class entertainment, the incredible range of dining options, and the unique shopping opportunities that Las Vegas has to offer. Yes, Steve and I like to gamble some too. And I’ve studied video poker and try to play it skillfully. But our gambling is just one part of the whole entertainment package called Vegas.
Mom and Brad will be back in Vegas next week, hopefully tan and well-rested. So I can return to her this task of providing frugal gambling hints every Friday.
2/23/2001
Hawaii was very relaxing — no casino visits for two weeks! Sightseeing, visiting grandchildren, watching umpteen movies — Brad and I enjoyed the change from the intensity of our gambling life. But now we’re back in the thick of things–Vegas.
First, we returned to a very tall pile of mail, a big chunk of it from casinos. This provided a vivid picture of how much of our casino activity depends on being in casino databases. There were the funsheets from the Gold Coast, Suncoast, and the Orleans, which come monthly to Vegas locals. These included coupons for free shows, meal comps, little gifts, bingo, bowling, and, most importantly, cash. The value of the coupon sheets goes up as you increase your lifetime points; we’re at the highest level at the Suncoast and the Orleans, so each of us gets a $25 coupon each month. We don’t play as much at the Gold Coast, so we’re only on the $5 level there. The Coast property mailings are a perfect example why a couple should always join the slot club as separate accounts; we double our coupon cash!
We haven’t played any at Silverton since they did away with good dollar VP and cashback many months ago, but they aren’t giving up on us. We had a total of seven different mailings from them in our stack, including a free birthday buffet for Brad, invitations to a free tournament, and free entries into a cruise drawing. We won’t disappoint them; we’ll play there soon.
We had four pieces of mail from the Hard Rock, both very valuable. Two were coupons for $75 and $100 in free-play cards — Brad and I don’t always play the same amount of time so don’t always get the same coupons. The other two were invitations to the Playboy Music Awards Party. Brad may have just turned 69, but his ears perked up just a little when I said that the April “Girls of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino” and Playboy playmates and bunnies would be at the party. Although we don’t always go to every casino party we get invited to, we’ll probably attend this one!
Station Casinos noticed we hadn’t been to the Reserve for quite awhile — so they sent us both offers for triple points on Mondays and a free buffet for 300 points that wouldn’t come off our cashback balance. It was just like the good ol’ pre-Station days, although these came with a notice that our cashback had to be collected by February 28 or it would be magically turned into comp-only points.
There was an entry-free invitation from the Venetian for a March VP tournament. I immediately e-mailed my host there and accepted this one. Invitational tournaments are one of the big perks that we enjoy since we moved from playing quarters to dollars. Although a heavy quarter player will get some of these invitations, it usually takes dollar play to reach the required level. Our individual tournament equity — total cash prizes divided by number of entries — is often several hundred dollars. Although this is a long-term figure, we play in these often and can add tournament equity to the EV (expected value) of our VP play at that property.
We had a lot more casino mail — but I don’t have time to write about it now. We need to get out of our condo and into the casinos to take advantage of all the offers that have piled up!