Terrific help, Mark! Since there are points demanding attention
splattered throughout your message, I'll 'annotate' within your text,
so you can see my responses in context.
Thanks again!
Dave
PS: Continue below....
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "Mark" <mark_my_words_again@y...>
wrote:
--- "Dave Kitzinger" wrote:
> Got you on the Stardust, and the slot clubs!
> <snip>
> My basic model is arriving Sunday, and departing Friday.
> I thought I could stay in the best
> deal the first night, then I'd go off to another
> candidate "keeper," and work with them the same way. Five
nights,
> and five hotels! Play like crazy. Go back to each place each
> day, and play, simply to have the door as open as possible for
> mailed offers. What are the pluses
> and minuses for that screwy strategy?
>
> Dave
Dave (and other newbies):
May I suggest a method that worked for me. Pick a casino that has
THE two or three full-pay video poker games that you are the most
trained on. Pre-scout using the vpFree database.
DAVE: I agree with this recommendation. Presently I play only Jacks
9/6, but that's because I've dropped emphasis away from playing VP
towards designing the mechanics of a trip, starting right at the
bottom (casino selection). Game selection is also important, but when
one is totally ignorant of the latest VP games, I suspect I'll end up
giving games other than Jacks 9/6 not much attention. I'd hope to
have a printout of strategies of the most popular +E games along with
me, and they might miss the mark by 1,000 miles.
As you have been in
most of these casinos (playing craps), if there is a tie on the
game
selection, pick THE one or two casinos that you feel the most
comfortable. I would split up your play between just two casinos
max
for a one week trip.
DAVE: I'm pretty comfortable with most casinos. Having been one of
the first to buy into the proposed Stratosphere (when playing monthly
at Vegas World), I have certain negative feelings towards
Stratosphere. I also don't feel most comfortable with the 'biggies,'
though I've played in most of them.
Your goal seems to be getting mailer offers. While a lot of people
on this board are satisfied with that goal, I would only agree IF
your bankroll/coin-in average dictates that you won't reach the
Room
comp minimum.
DAVE: Mine won't be a large bankroll. I'll play quarters, or less. I
doubt if I'll try multiline games, either. So I suspect I might have
a handle of at most $600 to $700 per hour, no matter how quickly I
adapt to fast play. Being close to 68 years old, I don't expect to be
able physically to play more than 8 hours per day. I've just started
with the gym, and my stamina will improve, hopefully. Thus it's
unlikely that I'd EARN rooms as comp, but comped 2 and 3 night stays
are another issue. The casino can look at the next few weeks, know
they'll have lots of empty rooms coming up, and get an offer out to
me by snailmail or email. And I can respond quickly, for an
especially good deal. That's why I like giving some currency to the
idea of acting like a player at a place, playing pretty hard for a
couple of hours, and hope to elicit a mailed offer or two from a
casino desperate to fill some rooms next month, for example.
In this case, the mailers (which come from the
marketing department) will get you at least a couple days free room
for even "average" coin-in playing quarters (each casino has it's
own trigger amounts of coin-in no doubt).
But, as an out-of-town tourist, I think you will want to find a
place that YOU want to spend your time, a place where the VP and
the
other amenities make you comfortable. Give these place(s) all your
play while you are staying there, and, hopefully the better offers
will come.
DAVE: I'd be far more impressed with the financial details with a
casino than the size of the room. When I stayed at Binion's
Horseshoe, I stayed on the 'East Side,' which was something of a
dump. BUT. I liked the old brass beds, the dumpy furniture, the
wondering hallways etc. I saw this as being part of a Legend, that of
Benny Binion. Binion's was the world capital of craps, and that was
part of it too. All of this is gone, now that the property is no
longer a Binion casino.
As your coin-in per day starts to average over $10K, you
should try to get hooked up with a host, who can usually review
your
play, comp food and room as the first steps. Once you become more
regular, say, the 2nd or 3rd visit, you can progress to getting
discretionary comps via the host, especially if you develop a
rapport with your host. Just spending 10 minutes shooting the
breeze in-person or via e-mail to the host is valuable. If you are
lucky enough to get this going by your 3rd visit, and there are no
big reasons like bad experiences which dissuade you returning, then
you will have established a home base.
DAVE: I'll be working on public relations long before. I enjoy
people. It will be a fun thing. Whether this pays off with some
instant respect, I don't know. I have had large credit lines with the
important downtown casinos with craps, including Binion's, Union
Plaza, The Las Vegas Club, Golden Nugget and Four Queens. Not all
were equal! I can expect some currency from my former associations, I
should think. Yet, I'll be a small player (180 lbs, now that I've
lost 45 in the last year), with a small bankroll, and I'm hoping my
trips don't cost a ton of money. April 6th I played my first No Limit
Texas Hold'em on the internet, and presently have over 7,000 hands
played. With software, I can replay every hand I've ever played! I'm
told I'll be pretty good at poker by 10,000 hands, and I learn
quickly, even though I'm not a young hotshot type. So VP will be a
foundation for trips, but when the $1/2 NL HE games are available and
when my game is up to it, I'd expect to make lots of money playing
poker. At least that's the plan!!! However, my first VP trip won't
include poker (but I'll be watching!).
Once you find a home casino/hotel, branching over to a 2nd or third
property in a parallel comp level is easier. You don't have to
start
over from scratch. This is obviously true at properties with the
same owner/slot card system. But it is true at competing casinos
also. If you find a host at a 2nd or 3rd casino, you can let them
know you get such-and-such a level of comp at Casino "A", can they
match that to lure you to their casino.
DAVE: I can see how that could work, and it's good advice!
This is how I got established at two casinos in Reno and I could
work on a third if I wanted to. I don't have enough vacation time
to
have 3 "girlfriends" (that's one way to think of it), and I have no
need to wander as I'm quite pleased with my situation -juggling two
is enough for this guy.
DAVE: I too value loyalty to the casino! They will tend to
reciprocate. Keeping 2 casinos happy is better than having 6 casinos
unhappy...
Anyhow, I think you should concentrate on the VP and the ambiance
(which includes all the non-VP things that are important to you,
like service, nice rooms (nice enough), restaurants, air quality,
etc.) I think you are trying to cram in too much into a week trip
by
doing any more than a couple casinos. I'd hate to waste the travel
time myself. That's my spin, and I waited for someone else here to
mention this first, but no one did.
DAVE: Yes, not wasting the trip is important to me! If I walk away
happy camper (though I'll actually use hotels)...
As is usual with advice, your goals may be different and completely
valid. In any case, you are getting a lot of good hints from the
gang.
DAVE: The help has been outstanding, and I thank you all from the
bottom of my heart!
As you let out more info about your play, you will get more
specific
advice. Can you estimate how many hours per day you will play and
what denomination(s)? Single line, 3-play, etc? If you are not
sure, the vpFree casino database contains info on how much coin-in
is required for each comp level. You can even roguhly estimate your
trip bankroll, (if that is flexible) but that's another topic
altogether.
DAVE: Hopefully I've answered those questions above. To summarize,
I'll play quarters, 5 at a time, and I'll play the simple Jacks 9/6.
Possibly that's all I'll play for this first trip. I'll be observing
play at other VP games, too. I'd like to watch others play. I want to
write down the payoff schedules. Then when I come home I can get
playing strategies for these games I've observed. Presently VP is
Jacks 9/6 for me, and then an entire world of +E games, constantly
changing and shifting, and each with a following, of sorts. I'm also
in Las Vegas to get right down to the nitty-gritty concerning NL HE.
After all, I KNOW there are folks like me who can make money playing
poker on the internet, in the 5 Indian casinos that ring my home
town, and in Las Vegas. It's a really difficult game, but I know
already that I'll be a winner playing it.
Cheers
~MARK
DAVE: Thanks to you, Mark, in particular! And to all the good-
hearted souls that populate this chatroom too, a hearty Thank You!!!
···
from my first trip with all my objectives accomplished, I'll be one
