More Dogs Than Bones

The following story is fictional, but based on real events.

The Gold Mine in Las Vegas was one of many casinos where Jack played. There were two, and only two, “good” machines. These were $5 single line Bonus Deuces machines that returned 99.45%. With the slot club, mailers, and promotions, these machines were playable, in Jack’s opinion.

There were also $1 Jacks or Better machines that returned a tenth of a percent more, but since he needed to average $150,000 a month in coin-in to maintain Super Elite status, dollar machines took too long. Jack was willing to play eight hours a month at this casino — but not 40.

On one particular Thursday, Jack came in to play. There wasn’t anything special going on at the Gold Mine that Thursday, but every other day of the week had a promotion at other casinos Jack frequented, so that left Thursday as the day he would play. He was hoping to get about four hours of play in if he could get on a machine.

When he arrived, George and Sally were playing the machines. They were both regulars. They were not a couple but just happened to both be playing adjacent machines at the same time. Jack asked them both if they were planning on leaving soon.

George said he was planning on leaving in an hour or so and would call Jack with a “ten minute heads up.” The players regularly did this as a way to make sure everybody got some time on the machine. George knew that next time maybe Jack would have the machine and the favor would be returned. In the meantime, Jack played some dollar Jacks or Better.

In about an hour and a half, George left and Jack sat down. He had inserted his players’ card and money into the machine when Judy came up and said she had been waiting longer than Jack had and that she deserved the machine.

“Did you tell George or Sally that you were waiting?” Jack asked.

“No. George and I don’t get along and if Sally left first I wouldn’t have sat down. But since George left first, I want the machine.”

“Sorry, Judy,” Jack replied. “It doesn’t work that way. I’ll be leaving in four hours and you’re welcome to the machine then if you like. I don’t know how long Sally will be playing, but I have this machine now and I’m going to play.”

“That’s unfair!” Judy complained. “I think I’ll go to the shift boss and tell them you’re robbing me of my rightful turn.”

“Well, you can do that if you want, but it’s really not a good idea,” Jack said calmly. “Casinos don’t like squabbling players, and to “fix” it they will likely kick us both out or tighten the machine. Neither of those solutions would be good for either of us.”

I’m not going to finish this story. I’ve seen four variations of this same scenario, each going a different way from here.

What do you think Judy should do? What do you think Jack should do?

If Jack and Judy both stick to their guns and the casino decides the best way to solve the problem is to reduce these pay schedules, whose fault would it be? Should the rest of the $5 video poker community ostracize that person for ruining a good thing?

BTW, I’m never going to be in Judy’s shoes exactly. I communicate up front — even with my not-so-favorite people. When I’m the odd-man-out I’d try to negotiate a favorable solution, but “going nuclear” and complaining to casino management is not an option for me. If I were in Jack’s shoes, I’d try to negotiate somehow. Exactly how depends on a lot of things such as:

— Have I had run ins with Judy in the past and who took the worst of it before?

— Am I going to regularly have to deal with Judy in the future?

— In my opinion, is Judy being reasonable or is she always a pain in the ass who doesn’t deserve extra consideration?

— How flexible is my schedule was the rest of the week/month?

— Do I think she’ll really carry out her threat of complaining to management?

— If she does complain to management, will they likely take my side or hers? (Even if she’s a big whiner and a nuisance, if she’s a losing player and I’m a winning player, a casino manager could decide to go with the whiner over the winner.)

— The way the problem was set out, today isn’t anything special promotion-wise. But if this was on one of their very rare high-multiplier days, that could decrease my willingness to give up my seat.

— Do I have anything I can offer Judy to appease her anger today? Perhaps let her know about the brand new machine at the Alamo casino that she doesn’t already know about? Or should I “forget the Alamo” and let her find it on her own?

— Etc. No two negotiations are the same. Not taking the current one seriously can have major consequences. Becoming better at negotiation is one “secret” to gambling success.