How the world has changed.  That Vegas trip, probably being our last, was a high-point in our life at the time. That occurred less than two months ago!  But today it is far back in my mind; so much pandemic chaos fills my brain and floods my thinking – as it does for most everyone.

Is talking about the details of that visit a suitable blog topic?

Right after we came home from that trip, I got to work on our 2019 taxes.  At that time the tax return deadline was still April 15, and I needed to gather up all the paperwork and send it by mid-March to Russell Fox (who not only was a valuable contributor to the last edition of Tax Help for Gamblers but our personal tax preparer as well).

When I finished that job for the 2019 return, as was my custom every year I transferred some of that information to our cumulative gambling record covering 35 (!) years.  (This record is mostly hard-copy since I never really embraced spreadsheets.  I’m lucky to add and subtract on Excel!)

It was at this point I was hit with the realization that this was now a final gambling accounting – for us.  It was our long-term.

I have talked about long-term and short-term ever since I began writing about gambling 22+ years ago.  For us, when we started advantage play 35 years ago, I believed in my head the math concept of the long-term – but in real casino life it was hard emotionally to take big one-time losses and even harder when we were in long stretches and it seemed we would never see another royal flush.  But hard as it was, we kept the faith.  We also buckled down during those times; we became more disciplined, studied harder, scouted more for better EV game choices, and were extra careful not to over bet our bankroll.

So, I have decided, starting in my next blog, to share with you some of the financial history of our 35 years of advantage gambling.  It is a picture of a wild roller-coaster!  But maybe it will help some of you who plan to get on that wild ride again when casinos finally open. And then I will eventually get to the question I posed here earlier – maybe talking about the short-term will shed more light on the long-term.

A personal note here:  I have been battling allergy, sinus, flu, and cold symptoms for a month now – everything except a high fever.  Of course, the thought crossed my mind that I might have the corona virus, but I really didn’t think so.  I often have had this allergy-based battle in the spring, and it wasn’t surprising that I probably wasn’t sensitized yet to the pollen in GA.  Finally, going to the doctor for some antibiotics when it seemed like viruses were leading to more serious bacterial issues, I was given a Covid-19 test. Not surprising, knowing GA was way down on the scale of testing, I didn’t get the results back for 10 days but I was happy it turned out to be negative.  Now I just have to be patient while my bronchitis – very slowly – goes away.

(Speaking of testing.  My grandson Zachary, who hadn’t been  home from Afghanistan very long, is again away from his family.  His National Guard unit has been activated once more – this time to fight the Corona virus.  They have been decontaminating nursing homes and now are helping to set up more much-needed testing sites.   I am so proud of him – and proud of his wife Taylor who is holding down the fort at home with 3 sweet but never-still kiddies!)

And a final note: I don’t care that our governor is letting us out of jail today – far too early according to the scientists and doctors I choose to trust.  Brad and I are staying in for a good bit longer.  We are seasoned gamblers but I like the odds a little more in our favor!

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Learning a new word, from someone who responded to my sadness about not being able to hug my little great-grands during this pandemic.  He said I am missing “oxytocin.”  Yes, I can’t wait until I can satisfy this “cuddle hormone.”

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Many readers have commented about the Blackjack Ball that I wrote about in an earlier blog.    I think there is perhaps a growing interest in blackjack, particularly among players who in the past had concentrated their casino action to VP. For one reason, this stay-at-home period has given them the extra time they knew they needed to study a new game. And another reason is that many fear that video poker conditions, which had already been deteriorating fast before the shut-down, might become even worse when casinos open again.  They want more options.  In that blog I gave a list of links to writings about the Blackjack Ball.  Here are a couple more recent and very detailed ones by Henry Tamburin – Part 1 and Part 2.

One caution here: This Corona shutdown, no matter how long it lasts, will not be enough time to become a “blackjack expert.”  The learning curve for any gambling game is steep and long. It is not just learning the rules and strategy.  It isn’t even just practicing for hours or even days on software programs.  That is all good but it also requires in-person experience – lots of it.  For someone who is just starting out on the BJ path – or any other game path for that matter – the best you can expect when the casinos reopen is to lose a little less money than you would have if you never studied.  And for the recreational gambler that is a worthy goal.

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Every once in awhile a newbie would ask me whether Brad and I gambled smart when we first started visiting Vegas.  That first visit was in 1984.  Just last month we reached the 36-year milestone.  I would point them to a blog I wrote 6 years ago about that first visit.

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A few people have been asking what happened to my queenofcomps.com website. It was run by someone else since I am not technically savvy enough to handle such a thing.  It served a good purpose for many years, but needed a major update.  So, it was decided to have visitors to that site re-directed here to the LVA website.  Much of the information there was updated and you can now find it by just looking above this blog and you will be able to click on a couple of new tabs.  The “About Jean Scott” one is a bio with info that has been accumulating for many years  – and I added needed up-to-date details.  Click on the next new tab and you will find links to articles that often reveal unfamiliar details of our frugal gambling life.  You will also find a list of  websites and resources that can help you achieve better gambling results.  I plan to keep these pages up to date as things change, probably majorly when the casinos reopen.

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And now for a recent comment here on my blog.  I often get a smile from many of the comments you all write.  But this one made Brad and me laugh for hours.

It is with the greatest respect I write this…
I’ve told endless numbers of gamblers about your book The Frugal Gambler. It changed the way I play and I have so enjoyed your informative comments. Thanks again.

But, I write this to let you know that I predicted this would happen……..if you and Brad ever left Vegas the entire place would shut down!

For years I have talked about balance in one’s life, particularly for regular casino gamblers, which we were for many years before we recently retired.  I always reminded people that there is a danger if your gambling negatively affects the other parts of your life or makes you self-centered and uncaring for those around you.  I wrote how Brad and I down through the years, until we had to deal with failing health concerns, were active in volunteer activities.  And maybe some of you got tired of hearing me talk about our children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  But our family was always our first priority – and we wrapped family activities into our casino activities constantly.

So now, I was wondering what I should write in this blog.  Some would say that with the seriousness of this pandemic people shouldn’t be thinking about gambling at all, that they should be concerned about serious medical subjects.  But I go back to my belief in balance in life.  You are heeding the advice to stay at home, but that does not mean you need to just sit around worrying.  That is not good for your mental health.  The TV is sending out tons of information about how to keep yourself and your family occupied.

Each person has special interests that can keep them from dwelling on the negative.  For some of you, reading about gambling subjects can be your way of coping with this crisis.  So that is why I will try to keep writing this blog.

We need to keep the faith that life will eventually go back to “normal,” although it may be a “new normal.”  If you were a VP player and casino visits were an important part of your life before, then I see no problem with you doing things that will help you be a smarter gambler when they re-open – whenever in the near or distant future that will be.

We have no idea what casinos will be like for the VP player when they re-open.  Some of the extreme tactics they used during the last recession seemed to hang on, like downgrading VP paytables and cutting comps.  That may happen again – but on the other hand, they may need to make some positive changes to get players back.

I predict that they will need to run more and stronger promotions.  With that in mind, now might be a good time to expand your skills.  Learn a new VP game.  Maybe you said you were sticking to Jacks or Better because that was the only game for which you knew the strategy.  Get a software training program and learn NSUD (Not-So-Ugly-Deuces) which was probably the most common “good game” when the casinos closed.

Here are some of the other ideas you might consider:  You may get out those gambling books you have in your personal library – some you never read or some you may decide to re-read to refresh your memory.  You may want to order some new titles.  Here on this website many of them are available at a discounted price.  If you are a newbie VP player, you might want to go back and read some of my blogs of the last couple of years since I have been covering the changing VP scene.

There is another resource I want to suggest, for all skill levels and all games – “Casino City Times.”  They have a ton of information on their site, much from old files, but there is also up-to-date writing, by many of the experts in the gambling field.  I especially recommend the writings of John Robison, who covers both slots and VP as he relates many of his own gambling experiences.   A very good up-to-the-minute article, covering some of the same things I am discussing in this blog for gamblers to do, is by Gary Trask.

Social distancing doesn’t mean social isolation.  We can still reach out to each other virtually if not physically.  Feel free to use the “Comments” below to share:  your fears, your hopes, your desire to stay connected.