9/12/2002
My file of notes is bulging after several weeks of philosophizing about the long-term, so I’ll put that subject on the back-burner for now. Besides, I got this note from a friend after he read one of those discussions: “”I want to commend you on a VERY SCARY Frugal Fridays this morning. My losing streak is now officially one year old.”” I happen to know that this player had several very good winning years before now, so I’m not feeling too sorry for scaring him. However, Halloween’s impending arrival or no, my purpose is not to write scary columns — at least not too often!
BRIEFS
Deuces Wild players, did you ever wonder, usually after a long losing streak with no royals and few quad deuces, what the math says about this subject? Go to Michael Shackleford’s great Web site whenever you want some good math answers. At www.thewizardofodds.com/game/vidpokapx5.html, he gives some charts showing all the numbers for Deuces Wild. He shows that 54% of royals will come after holding 3 to a royal, and 32% after holding 4 to a royal. Four deuces will come along 34% of the time holding 3 deuces and 37% holding 2 deuces. Oops, I should mention that this is for the
long-term — even though I promised to hold off on any more discussions on that!
It’s so hot that (from an Internet trip report) “”One good improvement at Harrah’s Laughlin is that they replaced the brass outside door handles with wood. It used to be that you needed welders gloves to open the door.”
Interesting Website at www.justgambleforfree.com. I can’t actually recommend all of the techniques he covers because I haven’t tried them all myself, but many of them look reasonable. He does recommend The Frugal Gambler and Huntington Press, so I can vouch for those two!
“”Racing and the casino business have a lot of similarities. Both are highly competitive, and there is excitement, a rush, an edge involved in the competition. But maybe the biggest similarity is that every race driver, like every gambler, is convinced he is going to win every time, no matter what the odds are against it.”” From CasinoWire, quoting Brendan Gaughan, NASCAR race driver and son of the Gaughan family, prominent Las Vegas casinos owners.
Beginning Sept. 8, the Travel Channel will air “”Gambler’s Paradise Week!””
You can see the complete schedule at travel.discovery.com/schedule/series.jsp?series=10244. Brad and I were filmed at the Palms for the episode titled WORLD’S BEST: TOP TEN LAS VEGAS CASINOS. It airs four different times that week, on the 8th, 9th, 14th, and 15th. Check your TV schedules for local times.
Thank goodness this is a new episode — we don’t ride scooters in this one, although I forget just what we do. We have filmed five other Travel Channel segments besides the ones that have already been shown — plus one for Quebec TV with French/English subtitles — and they’re all starting to run together in my mind. I don’t know what’s happening in my mind; it isn’t as organized as it used to be. I blame it on being too busy. I couldn’t be getting old, could I?
9/13/2002
Okay, it’s Friday the 13th. How can I counter a “bad luck day””? I have an idea — I’ll interview someone who thinks he’s the luckiest person in the world. It will be fast and convenient, because he’s just in the room next to my office, lying on a couch watching TV, the only person in the world who does that with his eyes closed and snoring.
Jean: Brad? BRAD, can you wake up and grant me an interview?
Brad: You don’t have to shout. I wasn’t asleep. I was meditating. But what do you want to interview me about?
Jean: Well, I think people are tired of hearing me chatter all the time about positive expectation, the long term, coupons, promotions, comps. Can you think of some gambling subjects that aren’t so tedious? Maybe you could talk about the more fun part of it.
Brad: I can do that. Jackets… casino logo jackets… now that’s a fun subject.
Jean: I think the whole world already knows about your obsession with logo jackets. Which reminds me, will you please take some of those jackets you will never wear to the garage? I’m tired of catching six jacket sleeves every time I close the closet door.
Brad: Well, I did help things by losing the bulkiest one, my treasured Hard Rock leather jacket you won for me in a drawing on my birthday a couple of years ago. I’m always leaving my jacket on the back of a chair when I leave a VP machine. But I sure miss that one.
Jean: I don’t know why. It was only cold enough here in Vegas last winter to wear it a couple of times and you have more than 35 others to choose from.
Brad: Yes, but a loud red jacket that says Terrible’s just doesn’t have the same class about it.
Jean: Okay, enough about jackets. What other fun things do you like about casinos?
Brad: Well, you could tell them you forced me to go to a movie premiere at the Palms last night, one that starred a Playboy centerfold — who was also in the crowd, with clothes on, though not too many — which I thought was pretty fun.
Jean: You would.
Brad: Speaking of the Palms, I had another fun thing happen to me there recently I could tell about.
Jean (sarcastically): I’m sure you aren’t referring to the $4,000 we lost there last night.
Brad: No, this story took place in the gift shop a few days earlier. I decided that I wanted a shirt that had the Palms logo on it. I had a logo T-shirt from some giveaway, but I wanted a dressier shirt with a collar, one I could wear at the Gaming Writers Mixer you’re organizing for next week at the Ghostbar. I picked out a nice black shirt (you’re always saying I need to dress more hip and I know black is hip at the Palms) and started toward the register where I could “buy” it for free with my points.
Suddenly George Maloof, the Palms owner, appears in a bit of a rush. “I need a shirt fast. Hey, Brad, that’s a good-looking one you’ve picked out. I’ll take one just like it.” He grabbed one off the hanger, motioned toward me, and said I didn’t need to pay for mine either. Then off we went out the door together. Now, I have enough points at the Palms to get thirty-three shirts, but they wouldn’t mean the same as this special one.
Jean: See, you aren’t so different from me after all — there’s nothing like something free!
9/20/2002
You’ve probably already read in LVA Lite and on some Internet forums about Frugal Video Poker, new software by Jim Wolf. This is a program that impressed me so strongly when I first saw it that I agreed to give it a “Frugal” name and help market it. A number of video players, including myself, gave Jim a wish-list of things to add. Then we decided to add a short video (12 minutes) right on the software, one that would show me in a casino explaining some of the video poker basics. For inspiration the camera also went to our Vegas condo and filmed our garage full of casino comps and Brad and me enjoying the good life that video poker has helped us achieve.
There are other good VP software programs (in fact, many of the developers are my good friends) and I have used several of them continually over the years. FVP, however, has many improvements that I think many people will appreciate. First, if you don’t have any VP software and you want to play VP with the biggest advantage you can, FVP is definitely your one-stop resource. It’s not only a tutoring program, but it generates strategy charts too. To be able to do both of these functions in the past, you had to buy two separate programs.
In addition, FVP has many other features that no other VP software has. One that’s especially helpful to many recreational players is a function that figures out the value of cashback, a calculation that puzzles many people when they try to do it manually. Another feature I personally like is the ability to sprinkle error hands from the past into my present play at any frequency I choose, even mixing up the positions and suits of the cards in those problem hands.
Advanced VP students will appreciate the feature for forwards, backwards, and both-direction sequential-royal analysis. You can define the payoffs for a natural and wild hand independent of each other. You can rearrange (tweak) the rankings in a strategy chart, then analyze the chart for its return. Some players do this so they can learn the cost of a play, like always going for a royal. Some do this to see if they can improve on the chart. There’s even an “inheriting-charts” feature. For example, the strategy for 9/6 Jacks or Better can be loaded into 10/7 Double Bonus, then analyzed for the resultant EV. This helps to determine how your skills on one machine would transfer to another.
I’ve mentioned only a few of the many features of this software. Frugal Video Poker is making its way to the market, and will soon be available from all fine gambling-product retail outlets. But you can buy it now from two sources: right here at www.greatstuff4gamblers.com, and at our new Web site, www.frugalgambler.biz (remember dot-biz, not dot-com!), where you can also read more about the features. (For those who feel better ordering from a human, call the Huntington Press toll-free number, 800/244-2224.)
Our Web site has several other features now, besides the FVP software (and we’ll be adding more later). There’s a calendar where I will put details of TV shows in which we appear (when I can get the information in advance) and where we’ll be speaking or attending casino get-togethers. Brad and I are always happy to meet my readers at these public events and answer any questions or autograph books. And Brad is always happy to entertain you with his gambling stories!
At this site you’re able to order any frugal products, including FVP software, an audio cassette I made on comps, and my book The Frugal Gambler. This is the only place, besides seeing me personally, where you can get your book autographed. And when my new book More Frugal Gambling comes out later this fall, it’ll also be the place to order an autographed copy. (This is possible because I have a very close relationship to the “head of shipping!” Brad says it isn’t terrible having a “job” again.)
9/27/2002
I hope you like the new feature in the Slot Club Bonus Points listing. After the third day of the month, anything we add, subtract, or change, we put in BOLD print. That way you can just scan the list every couple of days and easily pick out the new information in the bold type. But be sure to read the whole list on the first, second, and third of the month, because it usually takes that long for all the casinos to get around to setting their current-month promotions, so there’s usually quite a bit of new information.
Brad and I had a fun but grueling schedule last week during the Gaming Expo. As usual, our feet cried out in pain as we tried to cover all the exhibits and booths on a huge convention floor. Slot machine manufacturers ruled the roost with over-the-top exhibits, including all kinds of skimpily clad rent-a-babes cavorting to get the attention of an overwhelmingly male majority of casino executives.
My favorite gimmick, however, was a modestly dressed 50’s Lucy Ricardo look-alike, the spittin’ image of the “I Love Lucy” star. I’m still in shock over the slot machine shaped like a huge bottle of Budweiser — what ARE the manufacturers thinking when they hand the gambling-is-sin bunch a ready-made criticism. (You can see one at the Fiesta Rancho.) But I didn’t spend too much time in the slot area; I was more interested in the new video poker offerings. Although lots of new games look interesting, with many multi-line variations, I’ll wait to see if they are “good” for us by observing what paytables the casinos choose to put on them when they come on the floor.
As well as covering all the exhibits, we attended four parties in three nights. Brad and I are sociable types, but we can’t keep up that kind of pace as easily as we used to!
One of the parties was extra special. I thought it would be a good idea if something could be planned in order that all the gaming writers could get together; so many come in for the Gaming Expo that it would be the best chance to have so many in one place at the same time. I took on the job of planning this party and came up with the idea of holding it at the coolest place in town, the Ghost Bar at the Palms. Then I took my own advice — and asked. Palms owner George Maloof not only said yes, but he generously provided an open bar and hors d’oeuvres!
Being at this party was like turning the pages of a huge book that included authors photos of the best writers in the gambling field: Max Rubin, Stanford Wong, Frank Scoblete, Henry Tamburin, John Grochowski, Anthony Curtis, Jeff Compton, Frank Legato, Dan Paymar, Michael Shackleford, Barney Vinson — to name only a few of the 80-plus attendees. Many of the newer and up-and-coming authors walked around in total awe to see so many of their heroes, models, and mentors. It was a party that none of us will ever forget.
If YOU would like to meet some of your favorite gambling writers, there’s a good opportunity for everyone to do this in Vegas November 22-24 at a gaming seminar series at Palace Station. Go to www.frugalgambler.biz/ and click on the “Frugal Calendar” for details about this fascinating casino offering called “How to Beat the House.” (This event has been postponed and the venue changed. It is now rescheduled for January 17-19 at Sunset Station.)
Important announcement: For many months now I’ve known there’s a race horse named Queen Jean, but I didn’t give it much thought (and Brad didn’t put any money down in the race book), because she could never win a race. A friend who was listening to a race a couple of weeks ago sent me this report:
“Queen Jean ran the mile and 70 yards in 1:47:4 and paid $18.40 to win. Way to go, Jean — you’re no longer a maiden!”
Sometimes this filly thinks she’s getting closer to the glue factory.