Page 24 - September 2011 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
TQuitting for the Year
wo students of mine, Pedro and Maria, shared a lunch with Shirley and me just before anksgiving last year to discuss their “situation.” Although the details of their life will be
di erent from yours, some of their questions will be relevant for you, too.
Pedro and Maria are video poker “semi-pros.” ey are a retired couple who spend more than six months a year in Las Vegas. ey gure they probably have enough money to last them for the rest of their lives, as long as they keep their expenditures within reasonable bounds. In 2009, they ended up about $15,000 to the good playing video poker (not counting the free rooms, meals, and their ability to host their relatives in Las Vegas for essentially free vacations). And in the middle of 2010, they risked playing on a $5 machine during a lucrative promotion and hit a few royals. At the time we had our conversation they were
$31,000 ahead for the year.
mean you should stop. Plus, this is what we like to do. Our plan was to spend all of December and January in Las Vegas.”
Upon further questioning, they agreed they didn’t “need” the money, and that really, nobody else cared whether they ended the year ahead $40,000 or $20,000. e $30,000 plateau was more psychological than actual.
Shirley asked a relevant question. “If you weren’t going to play video poker in December, what would you do? Is there any sort of ‘normal December thing’ you wanted to do?”
Pedro and Maria shrugged. ey had recently visited each branch of their family.
And their “hobby” was gambling. is was the promised land, as far as they were concerned. And they were going about the process intelligently, in my opinion. ey limited themselves to the games where they had the advantage, studied those games so they played
Shirley agreed reluctantly, but she’s always been of the “quit while you’re ahead” school of thought. She likes the fact that overall, our lifetime-to-date score keeps moving upward, albeit with large swings. But every time we’re below our score from last month she gets irritated. She accepts the fact that gambling has been good to us personally, but she’s never going to be 100% positive that this will continue. Neither am I, of course, but I’m over 99% percent positive and willing to bet on it.
To beginning players, I preach, “Today’s score doesn’t matter. It’s your score at the end of the year that’s important.” I say this to help them get through the inevitable swings along the way. To Pedro and Maria I preach, “ is year’s score doesn’t matter. It’s your score at the end of the decade that’s important.” It’s the same idea, only more so, because they’ve mastered the basic concept.
Listen to Bob’s radio show Gambling With An Edge, on Thursday evenings 7 to 8 p.m. Pacific Time on radio station 1230 AM in Las Vegas online at klav1230am.com. Dancer’s products may be ordered at bobdancer.com or at 1-800-244-2224 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
“I want to quit gambling for the year,” Pedro told me, “but Maria wants to keep playing. What do you think we should do?”
“ Tell me more,” I responded. “What are your reasons for wanting to quit?”
“To beginning players, I preach, ‘Today’s score doesn’t matter.
“At the start of the year
we set a goal of $30,000
for gambling. We gured
it was higher than was
possibly attainable, but it turns out we reached it. If we continue gambling we could very well drop down below the $30,000 plateau, so I think we should stop.”
them very close to perfectly, and took advantage of “double points” and other promotions. If you’re going to
gamble, that’s the way to do it.
I strongly encouraged them to keep gambling. e
positive gambling opportunities in 2010 weren’t as numerous or as lucrative as they were in 2009, and I expect this trend to continue. Since they would nd it more pro table to gamble today than next year, why stop now?
It’s your score at the end of the year that’s important.’ I say this to help them get through the inevitable swings along the way.”
“First of all, congratulations,” I told them. “A large percentage of gamblers would like to be having your problem. And Maria, why do you want to continue?”
“ e goal was just a target number. Something to shoot for. If you reach a goal, you just set a higher one. It doesn’t
PAGE 24
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
SEPTEMBER 2011