Chasing too many offers in a short time period was Fatigue from bonus hustling

[tedchee]

A corollary to this is chasing too many offers in a short time period. As a
weekend gambler, you try to squash a lot of offers into a few days. This
forces gambling at a higher denomination & lower-EV games than you normally
would if you had more time. Inevitably, a prolonged losing streak catches
up with you & puts a serious dent in your bankroll. You step back & question
the value of the benefits:

1. What is the REAL value of the item?
2. What is it costing me in terms of health?
3. What is the opportunity cost for the total time required?

I recently had a severe & long losing streak, so I went back to my old
habit of trying to find out what changes may be needed. The answers weren't
surprising:

1. In valuing an item in a promotion, I often use the Internet but this
still overvalues it because the value we find doesn't account for the time you
take to get rid of it or to use it. For example, I was looking at a GPS in
a Harrahs catalog & decided to choose another item that I didn't want
since the GPS offered wasn't nearly as good as my current one. I was thinking
of the extra time the Harrahs GPS would cause me.

2. Due to the benefits received, you're encouraged to live it up & you do!
But it catches up with you in lack of sleep, expanding waistline, etc. The
simple answer is discipline & moderation but casino atmosphere is designed
to make you forget about limits while you're there. It's a tough juggling
act. I know where most of the fitness rooms are but I can't say that I've
used them much. Funny thing, though, the longer I stay home, the healthier I
get -- at home, no comped meals, shows, etc. & no need to stay up late to
force as much gambling as possible into the remaining hours.

3. Opportunity cost. That's a nebulous concept. What could you have done
with the total time it took for that weekend trip to Las Vegas? Or the 7-day
cruise? I'm at a play level that enables a lot of last-minute planning
since the rooms & offers are still open that would be closed for others. So I
don't do a lot of long-range planning which saves a lot of time. (The
longer out you plan, the more branches on the decision tree.) So many LV trips
that I've taken are for fun (which meant I was losing or because a friend or
relative wanted to go there). Very few were for profit. So knowing that
why go back so often? When I finally realized that & started to limit my LV
trips from twice a month to every other month, I had less "fun" but enjoyed
each trip more.

Cruises are a time commitment which scares me. You have to commit to a
certain block of time far in the future & you don't know what else is going to
come up during that time period. I guess if I had fewer options, it would
probably be easier to go on a cruise. Due to this phobia, I've only taken
one of the dozen cruises that I've earned.

On another note, has anyone ever done a comparison of these "free" cruises
which have port charges still to be paid? I've always wondered whether an
Internet search could get me the same total price as those "free" cruises
with port charges to be paid.

In a message dated 6/27/2010 12:30:06 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
vpFREE@yahoogroups.com writes:

_Fatigue from bonus hustling _
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vpFREE/message/107809;_ylc=X3oDMTJzNnFzczdyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzQ2NDEwMTcEZ3Jwc3BJZAM
xNzA1MDY1NzMyBG1zZ0lkAzEwNzgwOQRzZWMDZG1zZwRzbGsDdm1zZwRzdGltZQMxMjc3NjIzODA
y)
Posted by: "fordscks" _jason_c_vp@yahoo.com _
(mailto:jason_c…@…com?Subject= Re:Fatigue%20from%20bonus%20hustling) _fordscks _
(http://profiles.yahoo.com/fordscks)
Sat Jun 26, 2010 4:41 am (PDT)

The current opportunity was a 3-play $0.25 Super-Aces with 75 basis points
(0.75%) in cash back. I was prepared to bang away at 1,600 base hands per
hour for 8 hours and I guesstimate it was about $40 an hour in positive
expectations.

Three things caused to me cancel my trip:
(a) the variance for super-aces is very high
(b) about 9.5% of the return was tied up in quad aces (not counting about
2% for the RF)
(c) I had to drive over 2 hours, camp out at the machine until the promo
started, and then drive 2 hours back.

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[GURU_PERF]

Even as a non-weekend (preferred) gambler, I'm faced with the some of the same options/decisions. While there may be fewer offers, to me it is worth foregoing some weekend bennies for the less-crowded, easier access to the machines I want, mid-week deals. Still, the health aspects are the same, and (usually) a particular giveaway item is inconsequential or a duplicate of something I already have. So for me, the availability of a particular entertainment event is of far greater significance than something more tangible.

Only the opportunity cost is the same, albeit with fewer countervailing concerns. Time with the family, especially the grandkids, obviously trumps any casino offer. Other than that my schedule is fortunately flexible enough to accommodate pretty much whatever I choose to do.

On the other hand, cruises are something we REALLY enjoy. Granted, I have been extremely, outside-the-bell-curve-lucky on each of the cruises we've taken. And since our recreation time is not limited, the time commitment does not impinge on alternative time uses. But even on cruises, you need to sort your priorities. If you understand that the sole purpose of getting you on board ship is to sell you something else, or siphon off money with bad paytables, and you restrict your expenditures to side trips you really want to go on, and upgraded meals that you really will enjoy, then you've beaten them at their own game. (Do you really want another picture of yourself with a funny-costumed character, and really, really think long & hard before buying that piece of "rare" art at the auction. It won't look good over your couch.)

As for your question regarding the cost comparison of the "free" cruises with port & govt charges, we recently took a NY-Florida-Bahamas-NY cruise and the fees were a bit less than what one best internet-discounted fare would have been, i.e. approximately buy-one-get one free. Other cruises could be more or less depending on the ports, etc. and of course, the service charges are on top of that. To us, it was a very good deal, especially getting away from the Northeast in March.

Guru

Certainly the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you; if you don’t bet, you can’t win. -Lazarus Long
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is. -Yogi Berra
There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe. -Robert Heinlein

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