{"id":34856,"date":"2018-02-13T09:29:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T17:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=34856"},"modified":"2018-02-13T09:29:56","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T17:29:56","slug":"a-reason-to-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/a-reason-to-leave\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reason to Leave"},"content":{"rendered":"

In many jurisdictions, including Las Vegas, casinos can restrict players from competing. The restrictions can be complete or partial — permanent or reviewable. For many players, including myself, being restricted is a state of being with which we are quite familiar. <\/span><\/p>\n

I was waiting for a drawing at a casino in December and a friend, \u201cCharlie,\u201d stopped by to chat until the winners were announced. He started by telling me of the new luxury automobile he had just purchased. Eventually the conversation diverged into casinos at which he (and his wife) and I were or were not allowed to play. I mentioned that in February I was going to apply to Casino A for reinstatement. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I was restricted from Casino A I met with the General Manager and argued why I thought I should be allowed to continue to play. The GM listened to me but said that my restriction would remain. It was a partial \u201cno mail\u201d restriction, and I was still welcome to play, but without the mailers the edge was too skinny to make it worthwhile in my opinion. It was clear he wasn\u2019t going to budge. I then asked if we could revisit it in 2018, and he agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although I wasn\u2019t successful in 2017 when I spoke with him, I\u2019m going to try again a year later. I was glad I was able to meet and talk with him and present my case. Every restriction is a negotiation. Some players roll over and play dead with every restriction. They accept the first verdict and that\u2019s that. I treat a restriction as a starting place for a negotiation.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you ever wondered why some player ended up being restricted at a particular place and some other player with a similar record wasn\u2019t, reread the last four sentences of the preceding paragraph.<\/span><\/p>\n

I try to find a way that the casino can get basically what it wants and I still get to play. Perhaps I was restricted because I won the Senior Drawing too many times. Okay. What if I agree that whenever I earn at least $500 in such a drawing I don\u2019t participate in them for three months? That way, the casino isn\u2019t bombarded with \u201cthat guy always wins\u201d complaints, which in this case might have been the underlying reason for the restriction. <\/span><\/p>\n

Or perhaps they want me to limit my play on point multiplier days to such and such an amount, rather than being unlimited. Whatever. There are a zillion ways to reach a compromise.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s very possible that there\u2019s a happy meeting ground where they can allow my play and I still feel I have a decent-enough edge. We won\u2019t know this until we talk about it. Sometimes it works. Usually it doesn\u2019t. But, for me anyway, it works enough of the time that it\u2019s worthwhile to go through the process. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although the discussion with that casino\u2019s GM will probably happen before this article is published, the particular results of that discussion will be for a later time — or most likely never. Let\u2019s go back to my conversation with Charlie.<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlie told me that he thought it was ironic that I was trying to get back into Casino A because he had just decided to stop playing there. I asked him why? <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause,\u201d he told me, \u201cI\u2019ve been playing $2 8\/5 Bonus Poker there (which is the best game at that casino) and I\u2019m down more than $40,000 for the year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOkay,\u201d I replied, \u201cyou\u2019ve been unlucky there. Five cycles behind is no fun. But why did you decide you should quit playing there?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can\u2019t win there,\u201d he told me, \u201cwhy should I keep throwing good money after bad?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we could continue the discussion, they held the drawing, neither of us were called, and then we each left to do whatever else rather than keep chatting. But I thought this was a good subject to write about. Charlie is certainly not alone in the way he thinks. But I believe that such thinking is incorrect for intelligent gamblers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlie\u2019s logic was basically: I\u2019ve run bad. The future will be like the past. Therefore, I should cut my losses and get out.<\/span><\/p>\n

My thinking is: This is a 99.2% game. The slot club pays 0.30% there. If you play $xxx a month you generally receive weekly mailers of $yyy, plus food vouchers and other non-cash items. They regularly have promotions and drawings that add considerable equity. Reaching their highest tier level is obtainable for me and it offers benefits I value. Over a year, I expect to have an advantage of $zzz there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notice that in my thinking, the fact that I was ahead or behind any given amount in the past year was not part of the equation at all. My assumption going forward is that things will be \u201caverage\u201d in the future. The fact that I\u2019ve had non-average results so far this year is largely an irrelevant, albeit sometimes exciting and sometimes frustrating, piece of data. <\/span><\/p>\n

For many people, being behind $40,000 would create bankroll issues. \u00a0In Charlie\u2019s case, I don\u2019t believe this is an issue. (Although clearly it was at least somewhat of a psychological issue if not an actual financial issue.)<\/span><\/p>\n

I know that things in the future won\u2019t end up being average. Every gambling situation turns out being better or worse than I calculated. Those folks who want guarantees should pick a different hobby. But just because I know things won\u2019t end up being average doesn\u2019t mean that being average isn\u2019t the best assumption to make at this point. If the $zzz I\u2019ve calculated is big enough to meet my needs, and the variance is reasonable enough given my bankroll, and I have time to fit it into my schedule given my other gambling and non-gambling activities, then it\u2019s full speed ahead. Being behind five royals in a year is just so much \u201cnoise.\u201d There have definitely been years I\u2019ve been ahead more than that. There will be good and bad streaks in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my calculation, I mentioned xxx, yyy, and zzz. These are numbers you\u2019re going to have to estimate for yourself for every casino you\u2019re considering. The numbers I get may not be the same as the ones you get. You may or may not like the food at the restaurants in any particular place. If you play at a lot of other casinos, you may already have more food available to you than you can possibly consume. Some promotions make more sense for bigger players — or just for seniors — or just for locals who can come in every day if the situation warrants — or whatever. Estimating these things is something you can get better at over time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since I\u2019m writing this before I actually know whether I\u2019ll be re-welcomed at Casino A and, if so, under which conditions, my 2018 \u201cprediction\u201d is that I will be reinstated and Charlie will decide to return. As all gamblers know, sometimes your predictions come true and sometimes they don\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many jurisdictions, including Las Vegas, casinos can restrict players from competing. The restrictions can be complete or partial — permanent or reviewable. For many players, including myself, being restricted is a state of being with which we are quite familiar. I was waiting for a drawing at a casino in December and a friend, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[428,196],"yoast_head":"\nA Reason to Leave<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ever wondered why some players end up being restricted at a particular place and some other players with a similar record aren't?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/a-reason-to-leave\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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