Not so long ago, Huntington Press published Michael Kaplan’s Advantage Players, and I was given a review copy so Richard Munchkin and I could interview Kaplan on one of our irregularly scheduled episodes of Gambling With an Edge.
I took the book along to an out-of-town casino promotion to read during the plane rides and some other downtime. After reading about how many different gamblers and others use their wits to increase the odds in their favor, I came up with my own — on the spot.
We were on the right side of variance this weekend and were leaving our hotel room at 6:30 in the morning in order to catch a shuttle to the airport. I had just under six figures of cash and unredeemed slot tickets packed away.
As it turned out, there was a body building competition in the same hotel that weekend, and approaching Bonnie and me were two huge guys — both well over six feet tall — possibly 280 pounds of ripped muscles stretching their form-fitting T shirts. I don’t know why, but these guys didn’t look happy.
I’m 78 years old, pushing a walker, with my right hand in a splint (actually a “spica”) due to recent thumb surgery. Bonnie is older than me by a few years, and time has bent her posture some. It was like we were wearing signs saying “Easy Targets,” or maybe “Easy Pickin’s,” and I was carrying way more money than I wished to part with.
I gave a grim smile at the guys and said, “Good morning. I hope the casino is nicer to you than it was to us.” The guys laughed and let us pass easily — apparently sizing us up as two losers who were down on our luck. Not worth messing with. Which was definitely some more positive variance from my point of view.
Were we ever in danger from these guys? Probably not. (Obviously, to me at least, I was giving up everything if they demanded. We had no relevant defense, and resisting could get us hurt – or worse.) Logically speaking, these guys had spent multiple years and thousands of hours of hard work to create their “perfect” bodies, and beating up old folks would be stupidly putting that at risk. But I couldn’t know that for sure until it was too late, and something was irritating them. So, I acted preemptively. And it worked.
Most AP plays work only some of the time. Most of them shift the odds a bit – say from 49-51 against you to 51-49 in your favor. Still, plenty of room to miss any particular time, but if you constantly work with such an edge, you very likely will prosper. (If you don’t go broke first. There are definitely bankroll issues here that we’re avoiding talking about at the moment.)
One of the parts of the book that reminded me of my own past was in a section about Phil Ivey — who is certainly in the conversation for being the greatest poker player of all time. Phil grew up in a lower-middle class neighborhood, and experienced going broke more than once when he had to sleep outside under bridges because he couldn’t afford anything better.
Paraphrasing, Ivey maintains he learned to play with an advantage because he had to win. He had no safe landing spot. In a sense it’s like being a cornered dog — hyper-alert and ready to pounce on any opportunity. While he is quite well-off financially these days, he remembers when that wasn’t true. While he doesn’t need that extra edge today for survival, he has those skills to fall back on — which takes him to the next level.
For me, it was similar, but not identical. My family wasn’t rich, but I did get help going through college (the undergraduate years, anyway), and so I had solid educational degrees and some job skills when I went broke playing backgammon in 1980. Had I not succeeded at the time, there was some family money I could access, probably. There would have been recriminations and a whole lot of being forced to eat humble pie — which I really wanted to avoid if I could, but that strikes me as a lot less onerous than being forced to live outside under bridges.
For me, it was the fear of going broke that drove me — not the actuality of being broke. I got very nervous when I didn’t have sufficient dollars in the bank, “in case.” I knew the machines gave and they took away and I didn’t have the knowledge or tools to properly calculate bankroll. I usually could figure out if I had the advantage, but I never knew if that advantage was enough.
So, when I moved to Vegas in 1993, I was obtaining and consuming $10-for-$5, $7-for-$5, and even $3-for-$2 table game coupons by the hundreds each month. They were a lot more plentiful back then and $200-$300 per month came from those. I would drive ten miles to pick up $10 in free play and thirty miles across town to pick up $25. I specialized in finding ways to double up on promotions — sometimes day of the week, sometimes time of day, sometimes two or more drawings, miles apart, in the same night. Sometimes partnering up with others — you pick up my free play at here and here and I’ll pick up yours at there and there.
One casino (the Sahara) had a “slot club” where if you bought so many red racks of dollar tokens you would get a free meal. So, I’d buy them from one change booth and sell them at another. (One poster a few weeks ago said he did a similar thing at about the same time with quarters at the Gold Coast. He said it struck him as a “Dancer” thing to do. He was right, although the Gold Coast wasn’t on my radar at the time. But the Sahara was.)
I specialized in examining the rules of most promotions. Often there were loopholes — sometimes pertaining to starting and ending times — where the alert player could gain an edge. Since I had at least some computer programming background, I was able to understand do-this-and-then-do-that versus do-this-only-if-that versus do-this-only-if-two-other-things-happen-first. Understanding that sort of logic was often very effective against marketing departments who would put out a new promotion this month while only tweaking slightly the rules from last month. It was a lot of work on my part, but I was scared of going broke, so I did it.
Gambling is applied math, and the design of promotions requires being good in left brain thinking. Many casinos, fewer than before, like to hire right brain “people people” to work in their marketing departments. For me, this has always been exploitable.
Today the fear of going broke doesn’t drive my actions, but I still read rules and look for loopholes. Age has diminished some of my smarts and skills (and I never was in Phil Ivey’s league smarts-wise), but the skills I learned years ago still seem to be working.
You are the smartest human alive! (Just ask you)
Hey Jerry
Yes, Bob can rub folks the wrong way, me included.
But his information applies to my knowledge and ability not to lose in a casino. He’s helped me in numerous ways……way more numerous and advantageous than being a little perturbed with his style.
Let’s try not to peez him off so he doesn’t decide to leave us in the dust.
Why does this make you feel insecure, so that you have to lash out a little. He is giving you a glimpse of what his life was and is like. Starting out, at anything, is never easy, no matter what you do. I see no bragging or bravado here. Just an inside look at some of what he went through to get where he is now. Him excelling at math is a given, and not anything to make you feel belittled. His blog is to give everyone else a little better of an edge at VP, and see some of the pitfalls that do happen. I am sure I can talk circles around anyone in my profession, which I have been doing for over 50 years. Guess that would make you feel bad, too?
You see now bragging and bravado here? Then you are an idiot if you don’t. His columns for years have reeked of this.
Trust me, I’m not insecure at all. I guarantee you have 10x the amount of $ that Bobby does from being hunched over and bagging away at keys for the last 25 years. But I’m not comparing myself or Kris Kristofferson or anybody recently either. See the difference?
Sorry – typos above “banging” and “to Kris….”
And I’ve never doubted Bob’s math skills. I just get annoyed that he thinks they are so much better than everybody else’s.
Write articles and tell stories but try to refrain from bragging and telling about your escapades with women over the years. Your track record with women is not good by the way.
Where do you get bragging from in his post? He is explaining how he does things. Maybe the problem isn’t Bob.
And isn’t saying that you have 5x his bankroll bragging? Or maybe you have different definitions of the word based on the person involved.
Maybe not this post but look back one week when he is comparing himself to Kris Kristofferson or just pick any random article in the last 5-8 years and you will see it. It isn’t hard. Guy thinks he is smarter than 99.9% of people out there. Maybe cheaper than 99.9% of people though. I’d go with that one.
I was just responding to the lady that said I was insecure of Bob. Good lord, nothing could be farther from the truth. But you are right Jimmy, I shouldn’t have written that.
Damn, I missed that opportunity at the Sahara!
I’m the guy — LOL — who filled his long-riders’ coat with quarters to accumulate two dozen meal tickets at the Gold Coast way back when.
I remember those days, believe me. One of my favorite angles was to be the big fish in a small pond for Monday Night Football drawings, many at Circus-Circus. If they are giving you a ticket for each $50 wager, yes, I stood there forever at the window so my $600 in wagers yielded a dozen separate tickets. Won something almost every week, including comped dinners at the steakhouse and the occasional hundred dollars in slot tokens.
Starting out was no picnic. People make fun of me because I know what it was like to get weekend rooms at the Gold Spike, where they gave you a phone at the front desk in case you wanted to make calls (I guess too many people had stolen the phones — LOL). Or my fave story — the Aztec tried to sell me a weekend room with no door. Plus a guy sprawled out that you had to step over. I politely said, “I’m sorry, but I really do require a door.”
Anyway, Mr. Dancer and AC and myself all did some pretty hilarious low level stuff in our youth, so people can badmouth me all they want. It was brutal, but it was also a hoot.
And just a side note and my opinion only. People stalking casinos and lurking around corners looking for advantage plays at slots are the scum of the earth in my book. (And yes, that is now appropriately Bob too) They are right up there with people mining the redemption machines looking for abandoned vouchers with less than $1 on it.
I’m a millionaire, and I pick up abandoned vouchers all the time—most of them are worth just pennies. But here’s what people often overlook: it’s not about how much Bob saves; it’s about the mindset.
Take Warren Buffett, for example. He’s famously frugal—spends less than $5 on breakfast, owns a single modest home, drives a regular car. Yet he’s one of the most successful investors in history. What sets him apart isn’t just his intellect, but the mindset he cultivated over the years: deliberate, thoughtful, disciplined.
True APs succeed because they think differently. They play where the math favors them, backed by discipline, study, and calculated decisions. It’s not gambling—it’s strategic exploitation.
The casual player pays for thrills. The AP plays for profit.
And if you think Bob brags—yes, he does. But he’s earned that right. Because 99% of people who walk into a casino couldn’t do what he does, including you. Let’s be honest: it’s not envy-proof. A little salt in the wound, perhaps?
Love this post and completely agree! I still silvermine myself and I don’t need to. I keep track of every gambling session down to the dollar (at least for the entire trip, and again don’t need to).
At the end of the day the best way to appreciate Bob’s posts is to just understand the work and effort he put in throughout his entire life and happily realize he earned the right to say whatever he wants. Bob is an Icon not only in the video poker and advantage play worlds, but in gambling itself.
With anything, take what you can use and leave the rest. I as well will choose to take everything Bob has to offer regardless if it is sound advice or a good laugh.
Agree 100% with you Steven.
No salt at all but I like what you wrote here. Makes some sense. Wish Bob would come across more like you just did.
I just got back from Vegas 7/9-7/12 and found/confirmed a play for 102.87%. (I honestly couldn’t believe it because I’m usually just scratching for small AP plays as well when I go out there. (So there goes your theory on that one as I’m solidly in that 1% and have been for a long time.) I know it is a casino error because it is on one machine only. Here is how I stumbled upon it. My daughter (21 yr old and new to VP) was playing it next to me in May, and I play a ton faster than here for obvious reasons as she was learning. But her points where just rolling up faster than mine. (Huh?) I thought it maybe had something to do with her being a new member that day. But that wasn’t the case, and I confirmed it this trip. It is a mistake but one that has remained for at least two months now. I’m not giving any more details because someone could probably figure it out if I did. But a crazy find!
I guess what I’m trying to say is what Bob does is not that difficult. And it certainly wasn’t that hard 15-20 years ago. In fact, it was easy then. Today, yeah, hard as hell! I’m not bragging with the above post, just giving you a fresh example.
If your mindset is that abandoned vouchers under $1 are worthless—and that seeking advantage plays makes someone “scum”—then honestly, your odds of thriving anywhere, not just in a casino, are slim.
Let’s break it down. When something stops working, do you toss it or try to fix it yourself? Do you roll up your sleeves to repair your car, your appliances? Do you do mown your lawn by yourself—or do you outsource every inconvenience without hesitation? Will you pay $10 for a meal that’s virtually identical to a $5 option just because you “can”? And when shopping online, do you compare prices between sites? The same book can vary wildly in cost, for example, —and with a promo code, you could save a significant amount. Would you bother checking?
It’s not about being cheap. It’s about how you think. A strong mindset seeks value, recognizes opportunity, and maximizes impact—whether it’s through a dollar voucher or a thousand-dollar investment. That’s the difference between casual convenience and intentional success.
One man’s heartfelt prayers are another man’s waste of time.
I guess, being a cynic, I feel like it’s all a waste of time, but I also feel like some wastes of time may be more artful than others.
Have no idea how AI will judge us 20 years from now.
In general, being from a very modest upbringing and having lived a modest life, I tend to take the Dancer/frugality side of these debates, but I can make a case for the anti-Buffet “other side.” And that case is simply that people in mega-capitalist societies, especially Americans, tend to ignore all those resources that aren’t “material” resources.
In other words, Buffett may indeed drive a modest car and all that, but much in life is non-material. So if he wanted to get laid, the fact that he’s Warren Buffett trumps anything regarding modest cars or folksy self-presentations. He can bring to bear all the non-material resources that accrue when you are Warren Buffett. Like prestige, respect, and all those personal attributes that are associated with being loaded with cash to the gills.
I think because we live where, when, and how we do, we lose sight of the fact that through much of human history and throughout much of the world, non-material resources count for a lot. So some of Mr. Dancer’s (and my) renowned frugality can be a negative. It’s not always about who has the most pennies. That’s a skewed, purely capitalistic mirage. Being tight or overly precise with your shekels can (and maybe should) be seen as a negative.
I didn’t mean to call you out Robert. Shoot, I’m as frugal as anybody I know too. Just ask my wife. 🙂
But I was staying at the Rio this past weekend on their summer rate deal I received after getting established there last year. I hardly ever go on weekends to Vegas for obvious reasons. Just too much of a circus. But this one was for $25 room rate and $25 resort fee for Friday and Saturday night, but you got back $25 each day for food. Last night I was using my $25 for the night to eat. I noticed some guy picking through the garbage right in the middle of their food hall/court. He was stalking the half-eaten (too big to eat for most people) burritos that go in these rather large white boxes. He knew what he was doing and looking for w the white boxes for sure as it protected the uneaten food. Saw him do it 3x as I waited for my food.
Kind of put some things in perspective though for me. The reason I told this story is I guess I’m saying, can’t we leave the less-than-$1 vouchers for these people? The people that could really use it.
I guess the AP slot stalking comment I’ll take back. I’m just personally not going to do it.