DB wrote: > I remember having a conversation with a casino exec a few
years ago
and since the subject was about Video Poker I mentioned "Bob Dancer,"
in
a sentence. The guy interrupted me and bragged. "Did you know Bob
Dancer plays
here?" I knew it but I acted surprised. It was like a farmer with a lot
of
beautiful daughters bragging that he was renting the barn to a traveling
salesman
I'm not sure what casino Drain is referring to, but I know this happened
at both the MGM Grand and Golden Nugget --- perhaps elsewhere as well.
I don't blame the casino exec for doing this. His implied, albeit
unstated, logic was "if Bob Dancer plays here, you KNOW we have good
video poker." Since I've been a columnist for Casino Player and Strictly
Slots for more than a decade, there are a lot of "Bob Dancer wannabes"
out there. If this casino could lure them into playing at the same place
I did, in general that was money-ahead for the casino.
What the casino exec didn't tell you was that BD doesn't play there
day-to-day but rather mostly when there is a good promotion going on ---
one that he's invited to and you're not. What he also didn't tell you
was that (at the MGM at least), since BD and Shirley each played more
than $1 million coin-in a month, they got a 25% higher cash back rate
(it's been a long time --- it might have been 40%) that normal players
don't receive. He also didn't tell you that the good pay schedules are
only found in high denominations. And he also didn't tell you that he's
banking on you not being able to play as accurately as BD. For many of
you (not all), he's absolutely correct.
The casino was using my name as a form of endorsement --- and my "fee"
for the endorsement was to be allowed to play lucrative games. (The MGM
Grand in 2000 and 2001 had games with an expected value of $500 per
hour. Fortunately we got lucky and were able to exceed this EV.) This
was an unspoken agreement between us, but real. Then Shirley had to go
and hit a $400,000 royal about a half hour after I'd hit one for
$100,000. This kind of broke our unspoken agreement that we wouldn't win
too much and that was the end of the line for us.
Bob Dancer
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