1/6/2005
We “escaped” from Las Vegas at just the right time, missing most of the rain and catching Georgia in an unusually warm and sunny winter period. We enjoyed our time away from video poker, with no demanding casino bounce-back coupons regulating our schedule each day. We felt a bit of pain as we had to hand over a credit card instead of a comp every time we took the Frugal Princess family out for dinner, but got over it quickly by shopping where we had gift cards we’d earned with our casino play in the past and stockpiled for the occasion. Lowe’s cards were used for materials for a retaining wall and privacy fence in the back yard of their new house. Best Buy cards bought a new computer for the kiddies since theirs had just crashed. Angela and I shopped until we dropped at the after-Christmas sales and got rid of hundreds of dollars on cards from Penny’s, Sears, and Dillard’s. The kid found many ways to get rid of a lot of Target and Wal-Mart cards. It was a shopping binge like Columbus, GA, had never seen!!!! All of Angela’s and Steve’s friends want us to adopt them.
Now we’re back in Vegas, glad to be home, especially since we’re both battling respiratory infections. Brad is waging his war on the couch. I count sitting in front of my computer resting, but he says that’s cheating. He was a Federal Service employee for 30 years and says he’s an expert on resting!
We’re in a long dry period where we almost get bumped from our scheduled flights and then at the last minute they find they do have seats for us – often it seems the very last two available! But we keep trying.
Speaking of being bumped, I just read an article in the LV Review-Journal about people getting bumped from hotels here, even though they have confirmed reservations. I guess this happens more frequently than I thought it did. As in airplane bumping, it pays to have a flexible schedule and an adventurous spirit – and nicely but firmly ask for more compensation than might originally be offered.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jan-02-Sun-2005/business/25454255.html
Next week Brad and I fly to Wisconsin (brrrr!!!!) where we’ll be staying at the Ho Chunk Casino in Baraboo from the 10th through the 13th. I’ll be speaking at a couple of seminars for Ho Chunk executives and employees. But if you see Brad or me in the casino, stop and say hi!
Here is some preliminary information about a Players Jamboree sponsored by Frank Scoblete that will be held at Casino Windsor in Ontario, Canada, May 21 and 22. This will be similar to the spectacularly successful one we had last year in Tunica, with more than a dozen well-known gambling speakers, including yours truly. Not only is there a wide choice of seminars all day long on both days, but during the breaks and at lunch time there’s plenty of hands-on instruction and the chance for one-on-one contact with gambling experts on all the casino games, including BJ, craps, VP, slot machines, poker, roulette, and the newer games.
I’ll have the complete details in a week or two and will let you know here when I will post them on my Web site. Frank has given me the opportunity to offer a 10% discount on the price IF you mention that you learned of the offer through my recommendation – and there’s also a price break for 2 people who register together.
Brad and I are really looking forward to this Jamboree and hope to meet many long-time and new frugal friends as we did in Tunica. It will be a 2-day smart-gambling blast!
1/13/2005
The big news out of Las Vegas is that it SNOWED here on Friday last week. In my part of town it was only a few white flakes that mostly didn’t stick, but pictures of snow-covered neighborhoods were all over the TV, and not just on the local news. We even made CNN Headline News! The Strip with its light white dusting was a popular shot for professional and amateur photographers. Depending on the area in the valley, many residents saw 1-4 inches of the white stuff.
Although Mt. Charleston and other mountain areas just a short drive out of town get plenty of snow every winter (11 inches during this stormy period brought the season total to 14 feet), many Vegas residents, especially children, had never seen snow. Only the elementary school on Mt. Charleston actually closed early that day, but other schools allowed kids to leave early if their parents came to pick them up. And many parents did just that, mainly so their children could play in the snow. One parent told a reporter that several of the parents came to get their kids and said they had “appointments.” The school authorities just laughed as they gave their permission, saying they knew those appointments were with a sled!
As usual in Vegas, no matter what the weather, a lot of motorists continued to drive at their customary hell-bent speed, so there were fender-benders all over town, but fortunately no serious accidents.
I mentioned last week that we would be at the Ho Chunk Casino in Baraboo, Wisconsin, from the 10th to the 14th for a couple of seminars for casino executives. I’m writing this column early, on the 8th, so I’m sure the snow we had here in Vegas will be just a sissy event compared to what we’ll experience in the Wisconsin woods, but it was a very important event in town nevertheless.
For a while the snow was the most popular subject on all the Vegas and gambling Internet bulletin boards I’m on. Of course, some of those stuck back in the Snow Belt, with snowfall measured in feet, not inches, wrote some and-you-think-you-have-it-bad reports. And since a lot of Vegas residents are transplants from the snow states, there were some I-moved-here-to-avoid-this posts.
But mostly it was a fun thread. Someone commented that they knew this snow was a surprise for those Midwestern visitors who never pack anything but shorts when they come to “sunny Las Vegas.” But the funniest post reported Jay Leno’s take on the subject:
Leno complained about all the rain in LA and then said, “And it’s SNOWING in Las Vegas. “Well, that proves it – hell HAS frozen over.
1/21/2005
$500 A Hand
Two weeks ago I talked about the balmy weather in Georgia when we visited the Frugal Princess and her family and last week I wrote about the unusual snow we received in Vegas. I didn’t plan that weather would be a continuing topic in Frugal Fridays, but our trip to Wisconsin last week demands my third column on the subject — and I hope the last one for a while. I guess we’ve been gone from Midwest winters too long and memories have faded, but constant wind chills below zero are not our idea of fun and we did a lot of complaining and stayed indoors as much as possible.
The final weather extreme came when we stayed all night in Minneapolis on our way home. The wind chill had been predicted for minus 40 degrees, but it warmed up and only hit minus 20. This one was bearable, because we were staying all night in a hotel near the airport, compliments of Northwest Airlines. After complaining just two weeks ago in this column about our bad luck in this endeavor, we finally scored an airline bump! A comped dinner, an overnight hotel room, a comped breakfast — AND $600 in travel vouchers! The thoughts of a free flight warms us up fast!
We enjoyed our stay at the Ho Chunk Casino in Wisconsin. We had lots of free time when I wasn’t involved in the seminars, so we relaxed a bit away from the hustle and bustle of Vegas, reading, watching TV, working out in their exercise room.
And, of course, we spent a little time at video poker machines, where, I’m afraid to admit, we EACH made one of the most catch-my-breath mistakes in our 20 years of casino gambling. The machines we were playing were the tricky kind on which you can bet from 1 to 100 coins. We were playing $5 x 5 coins, $25 a hand, being careful not to hit the Max Bet coin button. However, old habits are strong. We usually just automatically hit the Max Bet button when we start a new game or put bills in the machine to be sure we don’t accidentally play short-coin.
Well, you can imagine what happened. Brad and I both unconsciously hit the Max Bet button, which meant we were betting FIVE HUNDRED dollars on one hand, and there’s no way to take it back. Brad did it first — and he didn’t draw it to my attention until he made 3 of a kind, which on the deuce game we were playing is a push. Whew! Never had breaking even on a hand felt so good. After that scare we were both very careful on each of our machines for the next couple of hours — until I got distracted and oops, I made the same scary move! Fortunately, I could breathe easily right away, because I was dealt two deuces; I knew at least I would get my $500 back. But then the thought hit me: If I pulled two more deuces, I would win $100,000. I held my breath and the two deuces, then drew. When I saw what came up, I strated breathing again, and smiling. No, I didn’t hit four deuces, but I did make four jacks. We decided to quit after they paid me my $2,000. We were nicely ahead at that point and figured our nerves couldn’t take any more of those machines!”
1/27/2005 “Here are the details I promised you several weeks ago about the Frank Scoblete Gambler’s Jamboree on May 21 and 22, at Casino Windsor in Ontario, Canada, just minutes across the border from Detroit. The last one — in Tunica — was a blast and this one will be even bigger, two days of non-stop activities that will make you a smarter gambler! Many people who attended the one in Tunica have told me that they learned so much there that they quickly recouped their registration fee by losing less and/or winning more in their subsequent casino play. Plus it was a lot of fun too!
There will be 42 powerful seminars on all aspects of casino gambling to choose from. There will be over 25 gambling experts available that you can personally meet and question, with many giving hands-on game instruction. And to add to the fun there will be contests, prizes, and giveaways.
Here is the list of speakers:
* JEAN SCOTT, The Queen of the Comps, author of The Frugal Gambler
* FRANK SCOBLETE, casino gaming’s #1 best-selling author
* DR. HENRY TAMBURIN, BJ expert, best-selling author
* DOMINATOR, dice control expert and author
* JOHN GROCHOWSKI, gaming columnist and best-selling author
* BILL BURTON, poker expert & author of Get the Edge at Low-Limit Texas Hold’em
* JOHN ROBISON, video poker/slot author and columnist
* DR. DON CATLIN, mathematician and author of The Lottery Book
* DAN PRONOVOST, blackjack expert and software developer
* ALENE PAONE (“”the beautiful A.P.””), gaming columnist
* GWEN MILLER, famous gaming astrologer
* WALTER THOMASON, best-selling author
* JOHN MARCHEL, roulette expert and author
* STICKMAN, video poker, blackjack, and crap expert
* BILLY THE KID, crap expert
* JOHN KRUEZ, lawyer, financial planner, and gaming expert
* Arman “”Pit Boss”” Pirim
* The Golden Touch Dice Control Crew
* The Golden Touch Blackjack Crew
* The Golden Touch Texas Hold’em Crew
As you can see, whatever game you play, there will be an expert to talk about it!
Now for the frugal details! There’s a room discount at the beautiful Windsor Hotel and Casino for attendees. You will get the details on that when you register. There’s a discount if two people register together. And again, as there was last year, there is a 10% discount if you mention that you heard about this Jamboree from the Frugal Gambler.
There are several different ways to register. If you wish to register online, go to my Web site at www.frugalgambler.biz, click on “”Calendar”” and you will see some more details about this exciting event and there is a link you can use to register and automatically get the discount. That link is http://www.gamblersjamboree.com/signupDiscount.php3?GJamRefID=scott.
If you wish to register by phone or by snail mail, just be sure to mention that you want the Frugal Gambler 10% discount.
Brad and I hope to see a bunch of you all there!!!!