Inventory Update - Table Mountain, CA

[Wayne_Stocks]

Just spent a week in Fresno, CA for work and had time to check out
the Table Mountain casino which is about 15 minutes NE of Fresno.

SLOT CLUB
I now always check out the slot club first before I do paytable checks
(I once scanned a huge casino for over an hour looking for good games
only to discover that they had 1% cash back and this was a double
points day! After rechecking the machines those 50 play Ugly ducks
look pretty good now!).

This slot club offers 0.2% cash or comps. December was x2 points and
I believe that Tuesday is also a regular x2 points day.

INVENTORY
At the 25c level the best I saw was a bank (8) of 25c FP Pickem.
Most of these machines were empty or being used for Keno! At the $1
level they had NSUD and 9/6 JOB, 8/5 BP machines scattered around the
casino. They also had the same games at the $5 level. Not bad
inventory for an Indian casino.

NOTES
One interesting thing did happen while I was there. I always carry a
Pocket PC which has Excel. I store the paytable pecentages of all
games in one spreadsheet and I keep a gaming log in another. When I
am bored or I am going to play for a long time I will keep track of
4K, SF and RF. With Pickem I was also track the Straights, Full
houses and flushes. This means that every 10 or 15 minutes I will
turn on the PPC and update my "score". After about an hour I had a
security officer come over and they told me that I couldn't use this
in the casino. No problem (I've only had this happen one other time
in two years). I politely said I wouldn't use it anymore. I then
pulled out a pen and paper and started tracking the old fashion way.
Well after another 30 minutes, I had 2 security guards come over and
they confiscate the paper (I offered the pen as well but they said I
could keep that!). Never had that happen before! After another 15
minutes 4 of them came back again and asked me for my ID (I was
starting to become a hit!). They wrote down my details and then left
me alone.

The ironic thing about all this, is that I always play with a
strategy card which I sit on the machine in plain view. They didn't
seem to care about this. Very strange. I guess us 25c PKM players
are more dangerous to the casino than I thought!

[VP_Animal]

NOTES
One interesting thing did happen while I was there. I always carry

a

Pocket PC which has Excel. I store the paytable pecentages of all
games in one spreadsheet and I keep a gaming log in another. When

I

am bored or I am going to play for a long time I will keep track of
4K, SF and RF. With Pickem I was also track the Straights, Full
houses and flushes. This means that every 10 or 15 minutes I will
turn on the PPC and update my "score". After about an hour I had a
security officer come over and they told me that I couldn't use

this

in the casino. No problem (I've only had this happen one other

time

in two years). I politely said I wouldn't use it anymore. I then
pulled out a pen and paper and started tracking the old fashion

way.

Well after another 30 minutes, I had 2 security guards come over

and

they confiscate the paper (I offered the pen as well but they said

I

could keep that!). Never had that happen before! After another 15
minutes 4 of them came back again and asked me for my ID (I was
starting to become a hit!). They wrote down my details and then

left

me alone.

The ironic thing about all this, is that I always play with a
strategy card which I sit on the machine in plain view. They

didn't

seem to care about this. Very strange. I guess us 25c PKM players
are more dangerous to the casino than I thought!

My guess is that it's the use of the PDA that prompted all this. In
other words, had you not already been spotted using the PDA, I doubt
they'd have bothered you about writing on the pad. Just my guess.

I used to use a PDA in the casino for my gambling log, but a few years
ago I decided to stop that and go back to simple pad and paper. I
realized that even though security may not have approached me, I was
still drawing attention to myself as an expert (and therefore
undesirable) player. I figure we have a hard enough time trying to
blend in as "normal" players and not stick out as the experts we are,
and pulling out a PDA to use on the casino floor just confirms it for
them.

While the situation isn't quite there yet, I see the day when VP
experts may need to use some of the same tactics that blackjack
experts have used to disguise their play. VP experts can't really
disguise their play, but they can try to stick out less and blend in
more. I loved being able to use my PDA, but I later realized it
wasn't very wise in the long run.

···

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "kiwiboy4921" <waynes@k...> wrote: