I promised that I would eventually talk about gambling during our recent Atlantic City vacation. Although this was primarily a recreational visit for us to an area which we hadn’t explored for five years, it was a Harrah’s Seven Stars event; and our custom is to play when we are being comped. (You don’t have to, of course, but not playing is the very best way to keep those “pesky” promotions from filling up your mailbox!)
Sometimes I get e-mails or comments complaining that Brad and I can find so many good plays because we live in Las Vegas but that an out-of-towner is out of luck. So I thought I would tell you how I planned an out-of-town trip and perhaps it would show you some techniques that could be helpful to you when you come to visit Las Vegas or travel outside your home gambling area.
- I found out about this event and its benefits through a mailing. Mail from single or umbrella properties that you have visited in the past is the #1 way to get free or discounted rooms and sometimes other freebies like show and food comps. I used a host to make arrangements, but often that isn’t a requirement. Just call the reservation number given in the mailer.
- One of the first things I always do is make up a schedule, filling in the various activities that come in the mailed offers. The first thing that caught my eye from this Atlantic City mailer was that there were two 7x-point days. VP play would be the main activity for those two days. The rest of the activities would be scheduled on the other days. Setting priorities is one of my strong suits! The other one is being flexible!
- Next I went to vpFREE2, the #1 place to look for good VP games we could play on the bonus-point days. This saved us literally hours and hours of scouting since we could play at any of the four Caesars properties. We found the best paytable was 9/6 JoB. We would have preferred to play this game at $5 single-line but we couldn’t find that in an open machine at the time we wanted to play. So we played the next highest denomination we could find, $1 ten-coin at Bally’s.
- When we are going to a new casino or area, we always ask for help on our favorite VP forum, vpFREE. (Subscribe at [email protected].) We ask if there are any new changes that haven’t made it into vpFREE2 and for any information that will make our trip more enjoyable on and off the casino floor. We always get some good advice.
- We also talk to other players with whom we meet at the various events or at the machines. (It’s amazing how many friends we have made down through the years as a result of chatting with other players at the “good” machines.) On this visit the buzz was about Revel matching tiers for people with players cards from other casinos – and giving nice joining bonuses. That chatting made Brad and me an extra $500 because we hadn’t planned on going way down the Boardwalk to visit Revel.
If you are an out-of-towner planning a trip to Las Vegas, you can use these same basic methods. Someone wrote that Brad and I must have some “secret” plays and that is why we are successful. Some Vegas players do work hard on scouting out super plays, but they usually share them only with a very tight-knit group that I have not been asked to join. I usually find out about them when they are over!!! I just looked over our playlist – and we do not play any game that is not in the vpFREE2 data base. You can check the same LVA list I do for multiple-point days.
There is one important thing that Brad and I – and other Las Vegas resident players – enjoy and that is mailers from local casinos, which usually do not mail to out-of-towners. These usually have free play offers but often they tell about promotions that are not publicized widely in other places. But you are in luck. I’m going to start sharing here in this blog at the first of each month the promotions that I know about that I think might be of interest to out-of-towners as well as locals. And I will be urging other locals to contribute in the “Comments” section.
Oh, and to the complainer of your AC reports: First, it’s Jean’s blog, not yours. Second, I figure I will never go to AC in my life, yet I find useful information or at least entertainment in each post. If you don’t want to read about AC, don’t click on the AC posts. Again, I just learned one of my fellow tournament players went aggro just because he didn’t win $50. CHILL PILL TIME!!!
Hi Jean – I’m the Mary who commented before about going to the Harrahs (LV) tournament. Had a blast, and this was my first tournament. I thought even with 3 free nights and $50 free play just for showing up would make a fun trip even if nothing happened in the tournament, and it was! I turned the $50 free play into $170 profit. I was astonished to find my score was literally the last name in the money on the leader-board (#400 out of 800 players) at the end of the first night, and missed the money cut at the end of the tournament by only 95 points. This was amazing to me considering it was DDB and I’m still practicing only on JoB at intermediate level — I followed basic though flawed strategy, but practiced DDB on the computer between round 1 and 2, and my score definitely improved between the two. But I had a great time and the equity of a fun trip, profit on the free play and two free rooms comped for us and our out-of-town guest was well worth the trip. Also the experience was useful. Waht is sad is, the bellman told us that one player was absolutely going ballistic because he missed the cut by 30 points — in other words, just to win $50?! Takes all kinds, I guess! Anyway, thanks to your book and software, as well as those of another ‘big’ player, I held my own and did much better than I thought I would, considering I had almost no experience at DDB when I went in. Thanks!
The subtext here is that for the most part, you can’t get into positive territory outside of Vegas unless you’re popping in $25/play or more. Even then, Jean’s 9/6 JOB with (I presume) 0.7% comps is only a 100.24% game, and that only if you value comps at full face value. At a modest speed of 600 hands/hr, $5 single-line is $15,000 coin-in per hour. Most of us can’t afford that. Not that it isn’t theoretically positive (barely) to play such games, but a several thousand dollar loss could happen at any time. You need a bankroll of at least $100,000 to fade that kind of action–as in, money you have to be willing to lose.
I and many others I’m sure, have enjoyed the AC “columns” and info. Keep writing Jean!!
Thanks Jean/Brad. Fellow Hoosiers who come to Vegas 6-8 times a year and spend quite a bit of time researching local casino deals before each trip. Your compilation will be appreciated. Also, just a BIG thank you for your books and tips, which have enriched our trips. Latest example, was unaware Caesars had reinstated two free show tickets per month for Diamond members until research before June trip. Keep up the generous sharing of your experiences
5 separate “columns” about an AC trip…??? REALLY ?
Hey Now!
thanks Jean!
We go to AC 4 or 5 times a year and Vegas once a year. We are going to Vegas for Labor Day and like the locals joints, so we are looking forward to hearing about deals there.