More on Resources

After 3 weeks of unpacking and organizing, we are finally settled in our new home at the beautiful just-opened senior-living Legacy Reserve. We are enjoying the nice warm swimming pool, floor-to-ceiling windows that make us feel we are outside among the tall Georgia pines. An urgent medical issue of Brad’s popped up and a driver immediately took us to the doctor’s office, then waited as we filled an antibiotic prescription at CVS.  And the dinner menu for tonight in the dining room is for rib-eye, baked potato, and Brad’s favorite dessert, pecan pie.  Life is good!

Now I have more free time to continue the discussion about techniques that we would be using if we were still in Vegas and wanting to play with an advantage.  And the first thing I would have to say is that this would be an extremely difficult situation, even for someone like us with our 35 years of casino experience. Many casinos are not even trying to fool gamblers anymore with doubletalk; they are actually specifically mentioning  in some of their news releases their reduced marketing efforts – easily translated –  that you shouldn’t expect as much free play as in the past. Here’s an example from Boyd Gaming, reported by CDC Gaming Reports:

By tightening operating and marketing costs while managing a varied casino portfolio under COVID-19 restrictions, Boyd Gaming was able to show positive cash flow during the summer months. CEO Keith Smith said some of the operational changes Boyd instituted are expected to remain in place for the long-term. “The world had changed, and we had to change with it,” Smith said Monday during the company’s third quarter conference call. “We have established a more efficient and more focused business model over these past several months, and we are determined to sustain higher margins going forward. Today is our new normal.”

I’m sure their “focus” is not to make the advantage player happy.

Anyone who is trying to look for an advantage will have to be VERY flexible. You may not be able to play as much as you would like.  You might have to play at different times during the day from your past routine.  You might have to choose new casinos that aren’t as convenient as your old favorites. You might not be able to play the games you really like, and you might have to learn the strategy for new choices.

In my last blog I talked about the need for intense scouting to look for plays that aren’t generally known. There are going to be very few casinos anymore where there would be many “good” opportunities from which to choose. Your job will be to find the very few “nuggets.”  A recent example is the just-opened Circa.  One reader commented, “You didn’t miss out on anything at Circa, 6/5 everywhere.”

I checked vpFREE2.com and found that there were a few better games.  And I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t a few “nuggets” that some scouts found but not sharing that information. And remember, that not everyone has the same standard for a good play.  Some not only will check out players club benefits to pump up the EV of a game(vpFREE2 helps with that info too) and stay alert for promotions but might play a while to see whether the comp benefits might make it a good value for them.  They also might check on some of the not-so-good games to see if there was a progressive that might sometimes put them into the good category. I used to love when someone posted on a forum that there were no good plays at Casino XXX.  Perhaps that information was accurate, but I knew that if I found something good there that it might stay my secret longer!

If you want a list of resources I recommend, click on the tab labeled “Jean Scott in the Media/Good Websites/Software” at the top of my blog page.  There is help there for both recreational and advantage players, for both high rollers and low rollers, and for all kinds of casino visitors  who want to stretch their bankroll for more entertainment time.

One important note about vpFREE on that list.  It will be moving to a new home after Dec. 15, when Yahoo Groups shuts down.  So here is the note from the administrator about how you can join it at the new location:

How to join vpFREE-Archives using a free Google Gmail address:

1. You can get a free Google Gmail account (if you don’t already have one) at: https://tinyurl.com/y75ms8mr

2. Go to: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/vpfree-archives

3. Click on “Join group” and then follow the prompts to set up your membership.

How to join vpFREE-Archives using any email address other than Gmail:

1. Go to https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/vpfree-archives

2. Click on “Subscribe to this group” and then follow the prompts to set up your membership.

3. If you join with a non-Gmail account, you’ll only get access to posting and reading posts via email and won’t be able to post or read messages on the website.

If anyone cannot successfully join the group, send a private email to me at [email protected]  and I will add you directly.  I don’t see any provision for changing your email address after you join, except unsubscribing and then rejoining with the new email address.

And now, until I type some more rambling thoughts here again, try to concentrate on some of the good things in your life that you can be thankful for this Thanksgiving season – in spite of the fact that we all can’t wait to have 2020 behind us.

Some of you might remember my talking about little grandson Zachary some 20+ years ago and how much fun it was when he and his sister Kaitlynn came to visit us in Vegas and we took them to all the kiddie places, like Circus Circus.  How time flies. Here is a capsule view of what brings us such joy these days – the 3 greats that Zachary and his wife Taylor have presented to us – and #4 expected in April will add to that joy!