I’ve mentioned several times that I enjoy reading the posts at www.richardmunchkin.com. Richard is my co-host on our radio show, Gambling with an Edge, and also a friend. His insights come from his successful play on the table game side of the casino whereas mine come primarily from video poker. The similarities and differences in the way we think about things are definitely worthy of column-discussion.
The first part of his April 22 blog, “Random thoughts on random posts,” discusses his feelings when total strangers come up and ask, “Where is the best place to play?” In Munchkin’s opinion, it is very rude for people to even ask that question! If you were in business and asked your main competitor, “What are the names and addresses of your best customers?” you wouldn’t expect a complete and honest answer. Why would anyone think it is so different in gambling? Perhaps a casino can occasionally afford to lose $50,000 to $100,000 to a lone gambler. But if that gambler tells the world of his find and suddenly 150 players are trying to win that kind of money, you can be assured that the casino will make major changes in order to shut down their financial leak.
Today, my normal response to those types of questions is, “I play a lot at both the South Point and Palms. Why don’t you look at those casinos?” While this is a truthful answer, I am also able to direct some business to both casinos since they help sponsor our radio program. But if you want to know where else I play, plan to pay me at least $5,000 when you ask — and if that’s all you’re bringing I may well withhold my best place.
Munch also goes into how he chooses where to play — and his criteria are very different from mine. He likes to play with buddies. Almost all of my plays are solo events. He is a far more social person than I am. This fact alone goes a long way toward explaining why he likes table games and I specialize in video poker.
Although Munch has spent a good deal of time traveling, he’s not really keen on living out of a suitcase anymore. I’m even less eager for that than he is — although I did make five 300 miles each way weekend trips to Southern California last year. My life is set up in Vegas with a weekly radio show, often weekly classes, and a number of regular social events. Putting my Vegas life on hold and spending a week in Iowa, for example, happens very infrequently at best. In the past, I have played heavily out of state, but most of those occurrences were when a casino sent me some money and invited me to come and play. (I plan on doing more of that in May and June of this year.) The type of opportunities Munchkin chases are of a different nature entirely. The casinos generally do NOT send him personal invitations and often they do not know they have a game that is advantageous for the player until they see Munch leaving their casino with more money than he brought.
Richard has traveled extensively over the years — often for gambling. Very occasionally, while traveling for other purposes, I’ve played only small amounts in foreign casinos. For example, on two occasions Shirley and I have gone on cruises out of Barcelona, Spain. We like to arrive a day or two early in order to adjust for jet lag. Barcelona has a couple of casinos and one has a good Joker Two Pair pay schedule — but a pay schedule that is unusual and made by a manufacturer of whom I’ve never heard. Learning to play a new Joker Wild game at the professional level in an hour or two without all of my tools available is a major test of my capabilities. And Barcelona is such an interesting place for tourists, I wasn’t “allowed” to spend all my time in a casino. Perhaps I could have made a stand and gotten my way, but you can only win so many of these arguments without taking a toll on the relationship. I judged that the game wasn’t lucrative enough to justify starting our cruise vacation on a sour note.
When I told Richard I was writing about his recent blog, his response was “LOL, we are like the serpent swallowing its tail. I write about your articles and you write about mine.” Although that creates an image I don’t want to think about (I hope he doesn’t have athlete’s foot!), he’s probably right. I’ll try to get my inspiration for next week’s article elsewhere!