On Saturday, December 29, 2018, believe it or not, my Mom – Jean Scott – is turning 80 – and that is an occasion to celebrate!

As you can imagine, a gambler who has been chasing casino promotions for 35 years doesn’t need any birthday presents!  What she REALLY wants more than ANYTHING is to visit with friends and with those who enjoy what she loves – the frugal casino lifestyle.

So, my husband Steve and I and granddaughter Kaitlynn want to invite you to join us at the Las Vegas Tuscany Casino, in the party room at the back of the Pub 365, for a Frugal Friends Open House on Saturday, December 29, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.

There will be laughter, reminiscing, and story-telling with The Queen of Comps and, of course, with the King of Kindness (Brad), who is always by her side.  Jean would be so happy to see long-time friends, and especially old video poker cohorts that she rarely runs into at casinos anymore.  And she would love the opportunity to meet in person the many fellow casino frugalites that have become Internet friends through the gambling forums and her blog.

You don’t need to RSVP – just pop in anytime between 2 and 4 p.m. to join in a birthday celebration of friendship!

I just returned home from a week-long stay in Las Vegas with my mom, the Queen of Comps, and my step-dad, the King of Kindness.  It was a different kind of week, though, with just a little gambling and whole lot of real life.  But all of it was frugal, of course.

First – some family updates:

My husband, Steve, is still working with soldiers even though he retired from the Army 10 years ago in October.  He recently transitioned from year-to-year civilian military contract jobs to a more permanent Government Service job, but still at Ft. Benning.  He has also become a Master Scuba Instructor and loves his new hobby/part-time job and has even coaxed me into the water to get my Advanced Open Water Scuba Certification!  We both went back to college and finally got our bachelor’s degrees we had been trying to complete for many years.  I enjoy supporting the military again by working as the Military Science Department Administrative Secretary at Columbus State University where I get to work with ROTC cadets, active duty instructors, and government staff.  Steve and I are too busy to be lonely empty-nesters and besides, our two pups, Maggie and Murphy, think they are our kids and need our undivided attention.

Our ever-energetic son, Zachary, graduated from Columbus State University, became a police officer, serves in the Georgia National Guard, and still finds time to flip all over town doing parkour and martial arts.  He and our bonus daughter, Taylor, have two sons, Asher (almost 4) and Bowen (15 mo.), and they are expecting a sweet little girl (YIPEE!) in November.  We never knew being grandparents and in-laws would be so cool!

Kaity is our adventurous child who lives in Atlanta and is finishing her graduate degree in Film, Video, and Digital Imaging Production at Georgia State this December.  She stays very busy with her classes, an assistantship and internships, a YouTube channel (Geocaching Kaity), running marathons, and dog-walking as her “side hustle.”  We often tag along on her hiking and outdoor adventures.

Although we all come to Vegas for family visits, I came this time by myself, enjoying the chance for some one-on-one quality time with my parents.  The first few days we spent running errands, picking up bounce-back free play at various casinos and getting together with friends and in-town family using food comps that were going to expire.   And it is always fun to shop in casino gift shops with comps.  Thankfully, we now will have a baby girl to buy for.  Mom said she had bought out all the boy stuff using her comps at the Silverton gift shop so she will soon have more options – this little girl is probably destined to be mermaid-crazy from the time she is born.

The main reason for my coming on this particular trip was that mid-week Mom had been scheduled for out-patient mouth surgery to remove some benign cysts under her tongue and I was thankful to be able to play nursemaid for the “old folks.” {WINK} The surgery was not serious but the recovery would be slow and painful.  I became her master smoothie-maker.

While Mom was recuperating, Brad and I went to several casinos to pick up free play and take advantage of multiple-point days to play some video poker.  Luckily Mom had taught me well over the years and I actually felt like I knew what I was doing!  My favorite game of all time is full-pay Deuces Wild, which I learned to play before I was even 21 and is still my favorite today.  Luckily, the Palms brought back a bank of these games just in time for my visit. I have hit several royal flushes and many 4-deuce jackpots on these machines down through the years but no luck this time.  However, I didn’t lose much money – I found I can’t sit and play as long as I used to, which ends up being a frugal way to stretch your bankroll!

Visits to Vegas have certainly changed for me and for my family over the years and as time spirals faster and faster as we grow older, we have to learn how to adjust and not expect things to stay the same. Mom and Brad no longer have the energy for the busy-every-minute schedule they used to keep, and I really enjoyed their slower pace this visit.   We wanted to make the most out of every minute and learn to appreciate even the very smallest things.  We loved swimming in the condo’s warm pool after the sun went down.  We marveled at the hummingbirds and sparrows finishing off the red sugar water in the birdfeeder on their patio.  We watched the brave tree trimmers shimmy up and down the tall palm trees.

It was a memorable visit and I can’t wait to return.

Outside the Orleans buffet with my mom and Aunt Starr

Then the fun continues with a short road trip (4 1/2 hours north) to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in North Carolina, where most of the family can join us as their work schedules permit.  This is a 7 Stars trip, and as usual, they are glad to help use up accumulated comps!  We will be there from December 15 until the 18th so, if any of you happen to be there too, please stop and say hello if you see us.

Departing from my usual subject of video poker temporarily, I will leave you an interesting article to ponder over while I am absent here.  It was written by my friend Henry Tamburin and taken from the October issue of Casino Player magazine:

Blackjack Survival in X-Rated Strip Clubs

While you are at the site, you might find some of the other interviews of interest, including those with Bob Dancer and Anthony Curtis.  http://thepogg.com/blog/.

(My  remarks are in brackets.)

Black Canyon Tour

By Angela Sparks Howard

Steve and I are back to our routines in Columbus, GA, after recovering from our weeklong trip to Vegas.  We agree that of all the trips to Vegas over the last 20 years, this trip was by far the best of the best.  One of the many reasons for this pronouncement was our Colorado River Exploration Tour through the Black Canyon with my mom and step-dad Brad.

Our adventure began early one morning, and I must say that 8:30 a.m. is MUCH too early to arise in Vegas, especially for my mom who usually doesn’t “do mornings.”  We were picked up at The Gold Coast, a handy spot since Steve and I were staying there and Mom and Brad live just a short drive away.   After another pick-up on the Strip, off we headed out of town in a comfortable, cool van fully stocked with water and an entertaining driver.  After about a 45-minute drive south on US 95 toward Laughlin, we entered the El Dorado Valley where our guide told us about a dormant organism that only comes alive when the dry lake area fills with rainwater, where we could see a 400-acre solar plant gleaming in the distance, and where we discovered the old town of Nelson, NV, with a total population of only 40.  We saw no one on their porches or working in their gardens or even driving down to the one-road town.  We city-dwellers had to wonder, “where is everyone, where do they work, and what do they do all day?”   [I think it is a town of hermits!] Our guide told us an interesting story about a famous Indian in the early and the wild history of this area.  The full story can be found here.

Just down the road and around the bend we pulled into the “town” of Techatticup Mine, population consisting of Tony and Bobbie Werly, their sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.  Right away I wished I had my good camera with me because the whole town is a photographer’s dream backdrop.  Hollywood thought so too because scenes from several movies were shot at the location, including 3000 Miles to Graceland starring Kevin Costner.

We had the opportunity to tour the “country store” and heard curious stories of the goldmine’s history.  Our guide cleverly described the Werlys as organized hoarders, but thankfully that was the case since the store/museum was jammed packed with a fascinating inventory.  At one point Steve asked if there were drinks to buy and Tony told him to check out the freezer.  But when Steve opened the freezer expecting to see cold sodas or water, he immediately jumped about 3 feet off the floor because inside he was confronted with several rattlesnakes – frozen of course – but they looked very alive and dangerous!  Now THAT was funny!

Next stop, a short walk from the Country Store, is the hidden entrance to the 500-foot gold mine which has been restored to allow visitors to enjoy the cool 70-degree-year-around temperatures.  It was great to get out of the heat and really fun to be able to imagine the history that took place where we were walking.  At one point the guide turned out the lights to demonstrate the “can’t see your hand in front of your face” effect.  Very eerie! Here are more details than this blog allows.

Just another short drive down the road was the boat launch area.  Warning – the walk from the parking area to the shore is a little rocky and difficult to maneuver for anyone who is not sure-footed.  Surprisingly, our boat was not what we were expecting.  We were imagining a white-water type raft, but since this was a very smooth “float” trip, we rode in a large boat with pontoons and a motor.

Once on board, the seats were so hot we couldn’t sit down without covering them with the hand towels provided by the tour guide.  I was thankful for the more comfortable, larger beach towel which my mom had brought with her.  At this point I understood how hot the day was going to get!  I also realized that the boat would stay relatively dry and for the second time I wished I had brought my good camera!  Luckily, cell phones take really great pictures now and also my husband brought his nice waterproof camera.

And off we floated…toward destinations unknown.  The bright blue of the river against the red rocks of the desert was instantly breathtaking.  We ate our lunches on the “raft” as we enjoyed the scenery.  These were provided by Black Canyon Tours in a nice little insulated bag and included a wrap, bag of chips, an apple and a bottle of water.  Soon we docked again at a rocky “beach,” and we were certainly ready to jump in the water and cool off! The water was refreshing and revitalizing and we enjoyed a short period of splashing around before getting back onto the boat.

The cool water was just a memory as we travelled down the river and really began to overheat.  Temps were predicted around 105 degrees for the day, and with no shade on the open boat and the sun glaring down and reflected by the water it felt even hotter.   Mom was fading fast, looking like she might be in danger of extreme heat exhaustion, but the guide was well-prepared for such emergencies with a bucket to collect river water which can be poured over your head to cool you down.  [Angela seemed to enjoy giving me this “treatment” far too much!].

They also provided small washcloths kept wet with cool Colorado water for your head and neck – we looked like desert Arabs – so even those who wanted to stay dry soon found that keeping your clothes wet was the best way to stay comfortable.  In fact, dumping water over each other added fun to the trip.

Despite the baking heat, the 12-mile float down the Colorado River was something I will never forget.  The stark, simple beauty of the desert was breathtaking and unexpectedly serene.  At times no one said anything and all we could hear was the drone of the boat motor.  Every now and then the guide pointed out and named different bird species soaring overhead or landing near the boat to fish.  We made one more stop on the shore closer to the marina and the dam.  The guide warned us that the temperature of the water would be MUCH colder than down river so he teasingly told us to enter the water at our own risk.  Well, we were all so hot that we took our chances and got into the water – cold or not.  He was definitely right!  The water was freezing, but just what we needed to cool off.

By the end of the trip, we were tired, ready to get out of the heat, have a drink and sit in an air-conditioned van.  On the way “home” we stopped briefly at the top of the Hoover Dam for a photo opportunity.  The drive over the Dam allowed a spectacular view of the new bridge that you really can’t appreciate when you are actually traveling on it – such an engineering marvel!  I remember 25 years ago driving over the top of the Hoover Dam to get from Arizona to Nevada.  You can’t do that anymore, but you can still enjoy the same views.

When we got home late that afternoon, we were all SO exhausted but with such happy memories.  It definitely goes down in my book as one of the best experiences I have shared with my family!

Final Notes:

Mom wanted me to mention that she was able to get the tour ½ off by taking advantage of a Groupon offer.  [I find Groupon a good place to find bargains for things in Vegas I can’t get a comp for!]

My retired-but-always-a-Ranger husband wanted me to add a packing list if anyone else ever wanted to take this trip (translations listed if required):

• Bonnie Cap, cover, or patrol cap (sun hat or baseball cap)
• Towel
• Sunscreen
• Canteen or Camelback for hydration (water bottles)
• Lickies and Chewies (snacks)
• Camera
• Shower Shoes (flip-flops or water shoes)
• Swim suit under clothes (Note:  No need to bring a change of  clothes if you wear items that dry quickly).

[Finally, I would suggest that perhaps this trip might be a little more comfortable outside the very hottest Vegas months.]

First, players are forgetting or straying away from the basic building block:  playing ONLY when you have an advantage.  You need to change your goals – and rename your hobby –  if you decide to play  – for whatever the reason –  when you do not have the advantage.  I’m not saying that is a bad thing IF you are doing this with your eyes wide open and you can afford purely recreational play.  But don’t try to fool yourself in thinking that you are still an advantage player. 

But even those who are sticking with that basic advantage-player premise, some seem to be forgetting another basic truth:  you must look at the LONG TERM and not be discouraged at the inevitable short-term losing streaks.  And I believe the cause for this anguish among even skilled VP players  is that the lower the edge you have on the casino, the longer the long-term will be AND the bigger the bankroll you will need to survive.

I’m going to talk about this subject more in future blog writings as there are many facets to these issues.  Today I want to share a good article on this subject that zeros in on the role of the royal flush and how it impacts your short-term results.  This was written by my good friend and fellow gaming writer, Henry Tamburin, the author of five books on casino gambling, featured blackjack writer for dozens of magazines and web sites, and editor of the Blackjack Insider Newsletter.   He is also an avid video poker player.

UNDERSTANDING ROYAL FLUSH CYCLES IN VIDEO POKER

by Henry Tamburin

 One of the most misunderstood concepts in video poker is “the royal flush cycle.” It’s important if you want to be successful at video poker that you understand what this is, and how it can affect your bankroll.

A royal flush cycle is the mathematically calculated average number of hands it takes to hit a royal flush using perfect strategy. The number of hands in a royal flush cycle varies slightly from game to game. For Jacks or Better, the royal flush cycle is 40,391 hands, whereas a Full Pay Deuces Wild game it’s 45,282 hands (See Table 1). Why is there a difference in the number of hands? Because in some games, the playing strategy calls for holding more two- or three-card royal flushes (than other games); therefore, you will get more royal flushes.

Table 1

Royal Flush Cycles

Most players expect to hit one royal flush after playing roughly 40,000 hands. That is not necessarily the case. The math says on average you will hit a royal flush once in every 40,000 hands, which means for a whole bunch of sets of 40,000 hands, you’ll average one royal. In other words, in any given one set of 40,000 hands, you could wind up with more than royal or, heaven forbid, possibly no royals. (Would you care to guess what the chances of the latter catastrophe occurring? Keep reading for the answer.)

There is a mathematical formula that you can use to calculate the probability of hitting any number of royal flushes in any number of cycles (the formula is called the Poisson Distribution after the French mathematician Simèon Poisson, who developed the formula in the 19^th century to calculate the probability of rare events). Don’t worry …you (or I) don’t have to take out our calculators because my friend and fellow video poker author Dan Paymar (creator of Optimum Video Poker software trainer) has done the work for us. The calculations yield the following results for one cycle of 40,000 hands (Jacks or Better):

Table 2

Probability of Hitting a
Royal in One Cycle

Wow! If you look at the data in Table 2, it says that you have the same 36.8% chance of getting one royal or no royals after playing one cycle of 40,000 hands. Since the royal flush contributes 1.98% toward the overall 99.5% ER for jacks-or-better, your return between royals is only 97.5% (meaning that your bankroll will more than likely head south from one royal flush to the next one). This, dear readers, is why you must have enough bankroll to play video poker … to cover those times when you play many hands without hitting a royal.

Have I ever played one cycle and not hit a royal? You bettcha and it was painful. I keep records of all my playing sessions and the worse streak I ever had was about 135,000 hands without a royal flush. Even though that was painful (for my bankroll and me), I have friends who play video poker that have gone way more than 135,000 hands between royals (ouch!).

However, let’s be optimistic and look at the other side of the curve. I recently played roughly 40,000 hands of 9/6 Jacks or Better (one cycle) in Las Vegas and I hit three royal flushes. Was I lucky? According to Table 2, the chance of hitting three royals in one cycle of Jacks or Better is a paltry 6.1%. So yes, I would consider myself very lucky to have hit three royal flushes during this trip.

The data in the above table also leads to this conclusion: You have about a 63% chance of hitting one or more royal flushes in one cycle and only a 36.8% chance of hitting no royals (does that make you feel any better?).

Do you think it’s impossible to play 200,000 hands of Jacks or Better (five cycles), which many video poker aficionados consider to be the “long term,” without hitting one measly royal flush? I hate to be the bearer of bad news but according to the data in Table 3, you have a 1 chance in 140 (0.7%) of not hitting a royal flush even after playing 200,000 hands (or roughly 400 hours of play).

Table 3

Probability of No Royals after X Cycles

The percentages in Table 3 are scary. You have a 5% chance of getting no royals after 120,000 hands (3 cycles), and 1.8% chance after 160,000 hands (5 cycles). Even though the chance of winding up without a single royal flush are slim, if it were to occur, it could be financially catastrophic (especially if you don’t have enough bankroll to weather this remote, but still possible, outcome).

The reality for video poker players is this: In any one royal flush cycle of roughly 40,000 hands, there are no guarantees that you will hit exactly one royal flush. If you are lucky, you could get more than one royal flush, and if unlucky, you could wind up without any royals (this is why having enough bankroll to play video poker is very important).

I asked Mickey if I could share some of these stories with my readers.  He should write a book himself – but in the meantime he is happy to let me make public some of his fascinating ramblin’ and gamblin’ experiences.  I asked him for a few autobiographical details I could put in this introduction and here is his reply:

I’ll be 58 on the 17th of this month.  I first realized I could beat a poker game called 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo Split 8 or Better in the summer of 1992.  I first realized I could consistently make money on machines in October of 1996.   And my first comped meal in Las Vegas was at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission.  A bowl of beans and all the bread I could eat.

Here’s Mickey on the subject of finding “abandoned money.”    

Ah, the good old days of being a credit hustler are long gone.  It was such a carefree lifestyle.  It went by a lot of names: slot walkin’, slot cruisin’, seagullin’, silver mining, buffalo hunting, pigeon holin’.   The occupation has to be all but dead now with everything being TITO.

When it was coins, you found abandoned credits on the machines, coins in the trays, coins on the floor, pigeon holes underneath the bartops where quarters that didn’t register wound up, even the public coin counters that would spit the dimes to a trough down below where people never looked.  Hey, may as well make a finger swipe through all the coin returns in the phone booths too.

It was the first trade I learned in Las Vegas when I wound up there in the early nineties.  Taught to me by a guy named Black Bart. You had to be good to get away with it for any length of time.  You had to be looking while looking like you ain’t looking.  Up and down every row, no cranking the head back and forth, just moving the eyes back and forth.  Detecting and avoiding security, knowing where every door out of the casino was in case you caught heat. Never staying in one casino too long.

You had to be able to read the buttons on abandoned machines to determine if there were still credits on it.  It was a light thing.  Generally, if there were no credits on a machine then no buttons would be lit.  But a lot of machines had buttons that stayed lit no matter what.  So you had to know which button was the credit button and if it was lit or not. 

You never just walked up to a machine and punched the credits off.  You had to muddy the situation up in case you caught heat.  So you put a coin in and made a spin or played a video poker hand.  Then you cashed out.  “What are you talkin’ ’bout man! I played this machine!”

I built a condo behind the Carpet Barn off Charleston and Main, back by the railroad tracks.  Made it out of pallet slats and carpet remnants. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling carpet.  In the morning I would start the walk.  Sahara was the first stop, then Circus Circus, Slots of Fun, get the big fat hotdog at the Westward Ho (lots of mustard, relish, and ketchup to kill the taste), then on to the Stardust.

I even crossed the picket at the Frontier.  The picketers raised hell with me when I first showed up but I told ’em, “Look, man, I’m a credit hustler, they ain’t gettin’ any of my money, I’m gonna get theirs.”  I would get some cheers every day going in the north door and cheers when I came out the south door about ten minutes later.

Then it was on to Treasure Island, Mirage, Caesars, Boardwalk, Tropicana.  Then I’d turn around and go back through them all again on my way back north.  Day labor paid 4 or 5 bucks an hour back then.  I made that much credit hustlin’.  But I did a lot of walking. 

There used to be a Salvation Army store just north of the California Club on Main Street.  It was almost right under the overpass.  A few bucks for a change of clothes, then around the corner to the municipal swimming pool on Bonanza for a shower and shave (buck and a quarter).  Then I was back in action.  The trick was to not look like a tramp. 

The credit hustlin’ was good downtown too.  Yes, Sir!  Those were the good old days.

(To hear Mickey talk about some of his ramblin’ gamblin’ experiences, go to the April 7th radio show of “Gambling with an Edge,”  archived at  Frank’s Web site  and Bob’s site.)