I have two different “half-topics” I want to discuss. Neither merits a full column, but maybe both of them together do.
What a Waste
Part of the benefits I receive from my play at the Silverton are “two free buffets” a couple of times a month.
A recent Sunday found Shirley in Arizona for a baby shower and I was by myself. I had a play that day “next door” at the South Point for their car-a-day promotion so I decided to use the coupon.
The people just ahead of me in line had a similar coupon — but they had a threesome and so paid for one meal. When they saw I was using a coupon for two for only one meal, they felt I was being wasteful.
If they had been friends of mine, I would have offered to sit with them and use both coupons. But they were strangers to me and I had my book along. They didn’t ask me to subsidize one of their meals and I didn’t offer.
I don’t consider what I did wasteful at all. I play at enough places that frequently I can’t eat the free meals I’m awarded. And even if I spend all of my meal coupons I can often get hosts to give me some more. That’s one of the benefits of being a player.
I usually eat for free in a casino but on occasion I even pay for a meal in a casino. At Sam’s Town, for example, I get 50% off their buffet every day. If I’m playing at that casino it can make more sense to pay for a meal there than to drive across town for a “free” meal.
Had this been something like a $40 free food coupon, I might well have taken food home. But even this depends on my plans before I go home. If it’s December and cold and food in the car is essentially the same as food in a refrigerator, sure I’ll store food there until I get home. But if it’s July and hot and I have several stops to make, I’ll pass on the extra food.
I’m all after accumulating money from a casino. More money is better than less money. But maximizing the amount of free food I get isn’t always sensible. Similarly I frequently do not use free rooms or make a special trip to get whatever “casino crap” is being given away today.
Remember, casinos are giving you this free stuff not because they are nice folks but because they want you to come in one more time and gamble. If that fits into your plans, great. It can be a very good idea to take advantage of these incentives. But don’t go overboard with it.
I Screwed Up
During April the Gold Coast had a “Take It or Trade It” promotion where you are given a choice of keeping a guaranteed $700 or picking one envelope from a set of six that had $200, $300, $500, $900, $1000, or $4000. This averages $1,150. Last year the same promotion was $800 versus an average of $1,300. It’s not as good this year, but what can you do?
I’d saved entries all month and was disappointed when I wasn’t called on April 28. I might have had more tickets than anybody else — but we all know that sometimes just having the most tickets doesn’t translate into being called. But one person in the original five didn’t show up and I was the first alternate called. So I got in after all.
Anybody who has read any of my writings will know that with a choice of a guaranteed $700 or a gamble with an EV of $1,150 that I’m going to gamble it up. For me this was as no-brainer as a gambling decision gets. The only question was how to carry it off.
When casinos give away money, they want their winners to be happy and playful. Especially winning players. Casinos are constantly re-evaluating whether or not to allow winning players to continue to play. When they are re-evaluating me I want them to have an image of a happy winner, not a grumpy winner. So many pros seem to forget that their on stage when they win a contest. When the casino decision-makers are right there, you need to put on your best performance!
The GM, Kerrie Burke, often emcees the drawings at the Gold Coast and this time was no exception. She knew I wouldn’t take the $700 so she wasn’t even going to hand me the piece of paper that said $700. I had to grab for it a couple of times before I got it. Her mouth dropped in surprise. I immediately placed it on top of some furniture that was there and indicated I wanted to Trade It. I was trying to add a little bit of humor to the situation. At least the GM laughed, whether or not anybody else did.
On previous occasions in similar situations I’ve asked the crowd what to do. Whether the majority of the crowd said to Take It or to Trade It wouldn’t matter to me. I “knew” what the correct choice was and I was going to make it no matter what the audience recommended.
For some reason I decided that I was going to take envelope #5. I don’t know why. My intuition hasn’t been particularly good at picking envelopes. Whenever I get a “feeling” in a casino, I try to lie down until the feeling goes away.
I decided to ask the crowd what number I should pick. There were a couple of hundred people there, so why not get them involved? I figured it would be a mixture of guesses that I’d “consider” and then go ahead and pick envelope #5.
It didn’t happen that way. About 80% of the crowd suggested I pick envelope #4. I went ahead and picked envelope #5 anyway. I’m not sure why. It was a pure guess and going with #4 would be a lot more agreeable than #5. Being agreeable when I’m on stage is probably a good idea.
Kerrie Burke was surprised when I went with #5. Still, I was entitled to choose anything I wanted, no matter what the crowd said. So she had her assistant open up envelope #5. Inside was $4,000. So I whooped and hollered. (I was still on stage.) I didn’t go with the crowd and this time I happened to luck out.
I still think this was a mistake. When it happens again (and it will) and I ask for the crowd’s advice on a pure guess, I’ll take their advice if it’s unambiguous. The fact that I won the biggest prize this particular time is irrelevant to me. I screwed up by not going with the crowd.
I’ll never be able to convince Shirley that this was a mistake. She doesn’t particularly care about “gambling lessons for the long run.” She cares about whether I won the big prize today. Since I did, she’s happy.
While I believe her gambling instincts are incorrect, since she’s happy I’ll just shut up. That’s a life lesson for the long run that I’ve learned along the way somewhere.