Page 10 - October 2005 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
How Important Is It? by Bob Dancer
When people are buying a car, they need to rank their priorities on many things, such as speed, price, safety, number of passengers, stylishness, resale value, etc. Di erent people will rank these things di erently. Even the same person will
evaluate these things di erently at di erent ages as their circumstances change. ere’s no one correct way to do it.
Early last year, Shirley and I received a weekend invitation to an out-of-town casino. We’d get a free room, tickets to see Je Foxworthy on Saturday, an allowance for meals, and there was a drawing on Sunday giving away bunches of cash. I want to explain our process by which we decided to go. Our decision-making process is unique to us, of course, and as with buying a car it cannot be said that our process is better or worse than yours. But since we are successful gamblers, and many of our decisions related to that, perhaps there are some lessons for others here.
host would be willing to pick up whatever meals we wanted.
• Last time we were there, we lost $20,000. Shirley rated this as a big negative, but I rated this as a zero. It was neither here nor there. In a $10 game, this was half a royal down, and we played about 20,000 hands — which is half a royal. With that much play, we would have been up twenty grand if we hit a royal and down twenty if we didn’t. It happened that we didn’t. No big deal.
• Beingoutoftownwasaplus.Maybea4or 5. Variety adds spice to our life. Di erent restaurants, sights, and policies. Since I’m a gaming writer and always on the lookout for something di erent to write about, I’m more likely to come across something di erent in an infrequently-visited place than in one I go to all of the time. Plus, Shirley has far more wanderlust than I do. Going someplace di erent every now and then smooths our
di erences a bit.
How did it all add up? Well, we went this time and decided at the last minute the year before not to go there under similar circumstances. Actually the year before it was Bill Cosby tickets, and we rank his show higher than we rank Je Foxworthy’s, but something closer to home added up higher.
In my opinion, it’s not the speci c answer this time that’s instructive but rather the process we go through to reach that answer.
Bob Dancer is America’s best-known video poker writer and teacher. He has a variety of “how to play better video poker” products, including Winner’s Guides, strategy cards, videos, and the award-winning computer software, Bob Dancer Presents WinPoker, his autobiography Million Dollar Video Poker, and his recent novel, Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. Dancer’s products may be ordered at www.bobdancer.com
• e casino had a $10 machine where, including the slot club, I gured returned 100.2%. Since I could play $50,000 per hour through the machine, this was
not a big one, and just the drawing wouldn’t have beenenoughtogetusthere.
worth $100 per hour on average. I rate this a ten in importance.
• Shirley’s girlfriend’s daugh- ter was getting married nearby. is was someone she knew from way back when and I didn’t know. I was welcome to attend the wedding, of course, but it wasn’t mandatory. Since I like video poker a lot more than Shirley does, if she has something to do for much of the weekend, it makes it better for both of us. I rate this a ten also.
“Earlylastyear,Shirley and I received a weekend
invitation to an out-of- town casino. We’d get a
free room, tickets to see Jeff Foxworthy on Saturday, an allowance for meals,
and there was a drawing on Sunday giving away bunches of cash. I want to explain our process by
which we decided to go.”
• Jeff Foxworthy puts on an enjoyable show.
We’ve seen him before and figured it would make a pleasant evening to see him again. We also rated this about a four. Shirley and I’ve seen more than 200 shows in casinos. They’re nice. We enjoy them. Sort of. But each additional one isn’t that big of a deal. Unless the game was good, Jeff isn’t that big of a draw for us.
• The free room wasn’t a draw at all. Our history at the casino
• e details on the drawing
weren’t really clear. It was obviously worth something, but we couldn’t tell how much before we got there. I rated this a four. It was a plus, but
entitles us to one of their nicest suites whenever we want to come. We rated this a zero. Same with their food allowance. Our
TSI Network • 7500 W. Lake Mead Blvd. Ste. 9-281 • Las Vegas, NV 89128
Page 10 October 2005
Video Poker with Bob Dancer