{"id":9576,"date":"2017-10-03T09:57:11","date_gmt":"2017-10-03T16:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=9576"},"modified":"2017-10-03T10:03:58","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T17:03:58","slug":"how-important-is-having-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/how-important-is-having-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"How Important is Having Fun?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I like my life. And my life includes (currently) maybe 40 hours a month playing video poker. In the good old days, there were long periods where I averaged 200+ hours of video poker each month.<\/p>\n

That said, while video poker is not unpleasant at all to me, I do not do it because it\u2019s fun. I do not consider it a hobby. I consider it a profession. It\u2019s how I support myself and family.<\/p>\n

There are many things I put up with: \u00a0sore back after long hours, sometimes smoky environments (although I\u2019ve cut out playing at casinos where this is really bad, no matter how high the EV), distance in time and energy to get there, security issues, needing to be present according to \u201ctheir schedule\u201d rather than mine in order to get the right play, forced interactions with certain people with whom I\u2019d rather not interact, my wife insisting I pick up the latest \u201ccasino crap\u201d even though we have absolutely no use for whatever it is, eating at restaurants because they are \u201cfree\u201d rather than because we enjoy them, etc.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0put up with these things because, overall, the profession is lucrative and the lifestyle it provides is pleasant. But my idea of \u201cfun\u201d would not include these things.<\/p>\n

I call my writing career interesting. I call my radio career fun. I call the \u201cbig fish in a small pond\u201d aspect to my life usually enjoyable (although it does make me a target for many). We enjoy cruising. We enjoy dancing at fancy dinner parties. We take advantage of going to shows. Some casino locations (Lake Tahoe, New Orleans, and Cherokee come to mind) are a lot of fun to visit after I\u2019ve done my playing in the casino. At times, we have access to better restaurants than we would frequent if we had to pay retail. These goodies are a direct benefit from playing video poker.<\/p>\n

Hosts and other casino employees are trained to say, \u201cIt\u2019s not whether you win or lose but rather whether or not you have fun,\u201d and it makes sense for them to be doing this. Most players are not successful at the game and if the casinos can convince players that gambling is fun and losing is all right, then the casinos will prosper more.<\/p>\n

Many people buy the slogan in the preceding paragraph, and it actually makes sense that they do. People need to justify to themselves that what they spend their time and money on is \u201cokay.\u201d So, they convince themselves that playing is fun. And if that\u2019s the way it is for you, that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

When I lived in a location without machines, I moved to Las Vegas. There are some casino locations where there isn\u2019t anything playable if your choice is between playing and winning or not playing. (There are not nearly as many of these locations as people believe. There are MANY ways to win in a casino if you have the skills and do the scouting.) But if I couldn\u2019t find games to beat, I simply wouldn\u2019t go into a casino.<\/p>\n

On cruise ships, I \u201cnever\u201d visit the casino. (Well, there have been promotions where I got $100 in cash or $125 in slot machine play if I ran it through once, so I took the slot play and ran it through once on 7-5 Bonus or worse. But after I played the minimum to qualify for the bonus, I was out of there.)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m in casinos looking for profit, not fun. I see gambling as a means to support myself. I understand the swings, and I certainly don\u2019t win every time (or even every year), but if the overall result over a period of three or four years is negative, I\u2019ll quit. I\u2019ll do something else. It just makes no sense for me to throw good money after bad.<\/p>\n

Even though I don\u2019t go to a casino specifically because it\u2019s fun, while I\u2019m there I try to enjoy myself. I joke or chat with friends and casino employees. I look to find humor and pleasantness in the things I\u2019m doing — whether it is in the casino or not.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I like my life. And my life includes (currently) maybe 40 hours a month playing video poker. In the good old days, there were long periods where I averaged 200+ hours of video poker each month. That said, while video poker is not unpleasant at all to me, I do not do it because it\u2019s […]<\/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":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nlifestyle - how important is having fun<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While video poker is not unpleasant at all to me, I don't do it because it\u2019s fun. 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