I’m taking a break this week, and treating you to some words of wisdom from Jean Scott, the “Queen of Comps”. Jean’s first book “The Frugal Gambler” is one of the bestselling gambling books of all time, and her frugal philosophies have helped many low-rollers like me to get the maximum enjoyment from our gaming budgets. The following article is used with Jean’s permission.
USING COMMON SENSE IN A CASINO
By Jean Scott
Playing smarter in a casino does not necessarily require a lot of math knowledge and special skills. It IS good, of course, to study the games and learn about mathematical odds, but what if you don’t want to go to “gambler’s school.” You just want some simple advice on how to make your gambling bankroll last longer in a casino. Okay, let’s see what we can do, by just using common-sense ideas.
- Accept the fact that the main thing casinos are offering is entertainment. Of course everyone wants to win, but be honest with yourself: you know that it is more likely that you will lose. So what is your real reason for being in a casino? You want to have fun, right? Too many people will not admit this to themselves; and then, when they lose, they feel very unhappy because they have “wasted” their money. The healthy attitude is to consider your bankroll your “cost” for this entertainment choice. And what other entertainment options give you a shot at bringing home more money than you took with you!
- Choose your gambling bankroll from the part of your household budget marked Entertainment. This is money you sometimes use to eat out at a nice restaurant or go to a movie or spend on a skiing trip. This is not money you set aside for groceries or the mortgage or the kids’ school clothes. Unless you are an extremely disciplined person, you should have this whole bankroll with you, in cash if it is a small amount, in traveler’s checks if it a large sum. You should NOT have your checkbook or your ATM card or your credit card. Nothing will take the fun out of gambling faster than losing money that has already been earmarked for necessities.
- Choose your playing denomination carefully. If you have been playing dollars machines in the past and your bankroll usually didn’t last long enough, then the sensible thing to do is play quarters. Lose too much playing green chips at the tables? Stick to red chips. Going down in denomination is probably the easiest technique to use to stretch your money.
- Give yourself frequent breaks. Nothing will make you more sluggish than sitting at a machine or table for hours at a time. Go outside for a fresh-air break. Hit the snack bar for a quick bite. Or stop in the race book and put a couple of dollars down and watch one horse race. You can also change machines or tables frequently to stretch tired muscles.
- Play at a slower pace. Choose crowded tables so you are putting less money at risk by playing fewer hands. There is no reward for speed demons on the machines. So stop sometimes to chat with your neighbors. I observed a couple recently who had a unique and enviable way to slow down their video poker play. They took turns playing one machine while the other watched, and every time they hit four-of-a-kind they stopped and hugged and kissed.
Do you think you are a pretty sensible person? You work hard at your job; you pay your bills on time; you shop sales; you budget your money carefully. Then don’t drop your common sense at the entrance to a casino. Take it in with you and use the very same careful thought – and you will find that you can play longer and have more fun.
Mac McClellan
Hi beaverdance,
You do have a point; however, If I understand Mike correctly, he’s using a money management technique where he only cycles his original buy-in through the betting process and doesn’t give the casino access to his winnings during that session.
Money management has no effect on the house edge; however, it can have a major impact on a player’s overall losses.
Let’s look at two ways to approach this:
1. The typical way. I start out with $100 and play $5/hand BJ. I play until I lose it all, or double up and have $200. I might win the first 5 bets, and have $125, but if I get on a streak of bad luck I might lose all $125 to the casino.
2. Using Mike’s strategy. I start out with $100 and play $5/hand. Any time I win, I take the chips won off the table. This keeps me from playing them again. Even if I lose the original $100 I bought in for, I still have the money I won and can play with that again tomorrow.
A person following the strategy in example 1 will likely stay at the table longer, but will often leave broke.
The person in example 2 will almost never leave the table with a $100 loss. Example 2 nearly guarantees you will walk with some money in your pocket because you are not parlaying your winnings.
Mac
beaverdance
Mike, this might have worked for you as far as you saw it, but you are subjecting yourself to an illusion.
There is no functional difference between a $5 chip on the table and a $5 chip in your pocket. For that matter, there is no functional difference between either of those items and a $5 bill in your pocket. There is also no functional difference between all three of those things and $5 in your bank account. They are all worth $5, they all belong to you, and you can choose what you want to do with them.
If you play blackjack for X hours, you will be wagering X dollars. For instance, at $5/hand, and you play about 60 hands/hour, you are wagering $300/hour. That would be true even if you brought ONE chip to the table and pushed every hand for the entire hour–THE SUM OF ALL YOUR BETS would still be $300.
Your statement about the third evening “(notice it was my original $100)” is wrong–you already transacted that $100 two nights ago. Regardless of how you shuffled the chips around, you wagered $X, and lost $100. What’s significant is the TOTAL AMOUNT WAGERED, not the amount you had in your pockets at any arbitrary stopping point in the interim (like, for example, the end of the first night).
Mike Ryan
Something else that I have found that works for me at a casino where I may be staying for a few days. At the Blackjack table I buy chips in the denomination that I expect to lose. (I usually start off with $100 and play the $5 table.)
When I win the hand against the dealer, I take the chips I won on that hand and put them in my back pocket. This way I am only playing with the chips that I bought.
When I finally lose, I get up and walk away from the table. The first night that I did that I emptied my pockets when I got back to the room and found that I had $130 in chips.
The next night I cashed in the $30, and played with the remaining $100. When I got back to my room, I counted $70 in chips.
Third and final evening I bought $100 in chips (notice it was my original $100) and lost it all. That meant I spent only $100 for three nights of gambling.
clark
Good advise..
Patricia Jeter
Found this little reminder worthwhile. It could be repeated often just to keep a good perspective on gambling and rving. Thanks for the reminder.