Page 10 - August 2004 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Lock Up the Win! by Bill Burton
I have to admit that one of the reasons I enjoy visiting the casino is the opportunity to meet and talk with other players. I’m outgoing by nature and have no problem chatting it up with my fellow players. Besides making new friends, I get the opportunity to nd out what
other players think, and on occasion, this gives me some good material for an article. Last week I had just such an encounter.
“But I don’t want to cash out and put the money away,” she said.
“You don’t have to cash out,” I said.“Did you put all of the $40 in when you started?”
She told me that she had only put $20 in the machine. I looked over and she had 1036 credits.“You still have $20 in you pocket. You have $259 in credits on the machine. All you have to do is play down until you reach 440 credits. at is $120, which equals the $20 you started with plus the $100 pro t. at will be your stop-loss gure. If you want to take more home with you, then you can set it higher. Just make sure you don’t go lower than that,” I told her.
She said that sounded good to her. A little later I got up and left. I don’t know if she took my advice or not. I hope she did. Too often people hit a small or medium size jackpot quickly when they sit down to play, only to lose it all later. Because they are going to be at the casino for a while they naturally want to play, and they end up giving it all back and then they feel bad about not quitting while they were a winner. Learning to lock up a pro t will avoid this and make your trip to the casino more enjoyable. ere is nothing like the feeling you get when you go home a winner!
Bill Burton is the Casino Gambling Guide and columnist for the Internet portal About.com. He also writes for several national gambling publications. He is the author of Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold’em available for $15 postage paid. Send checks to Bill Burton, P.O. Box 310299, Newington, CT 06131-0299 or order online at: http://vegas.home.attbi.com/. His website is located at: http://casinogambling.about.com.
I was playing some video poker on a multi-game machine and a woman sat down next to me and began playing her slot machine. I started talking with her and through the course of our conversation I found out her name was
really lucky today and thought I would try to win $100 or go broke trying.”
“You more than doubled your goal,” I said. “Are you going to quit?” I asked, fully anticipating what her
Carolynn. She said she was on vacation and decided to visit the casino to play some slots and enjoy herself for a few hours. About twenty minutes after sitting down, I heard her shriek. I thought by the sound that she must have really hit a big jackpot. I looked over at her machine and saw that she had hit a jackpot her on the win.
“She asked me what I meant by locking up a profit. I explained it to her this way. You came to the casino
answer would be.
I was not surprised when
she said “No. I just got here and think I should play for a
with $40 in hopes of making $100. You while. I told you this was my lucky day.”
should put at least $140 aside and then play with the rest. This way you are guaranteed that you go home with the $100 profit you wanted.”
“Well, make sure that you lock up your $100 profit,” I told her.
She asked me what I meant by locking up a pro t. I explained it to her this way.
Carolynn told me she was really happy because she had only brought $40 to play with. She said, “I felt
of $250. I congratulated
“You came to the casino with $40 in hopes of making $100. You should put at least $140 aside and then play with the rest. is way you are guaranteed that you go home with the $100 pro t you wanted.”
Page 10 August 2004
Column: Bill Burton About Gambling