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| Live Like a High Roller on a Low Roller Budget |
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| Travel & Leisure > Budget Travel |
| Written by Joseph Lee Zeleny |
| Friday, 23 January 2009 21:00 |
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Live Like a High Roller on a Low Roller Budget By Joseph L. Zeleny Whether on the movies, through people we know, or just because of the heavy marketing put on, we all want to be treated like a high roller. Free is most people’s favorite word. People stand in lines for hours for a free bumper sticker. People will buy two of something to get the third one free. People will wait log on to crappy website and create an account for a free newsletter. Free is something you want more than something you pay for.That’s usually why people are drawn to the idea of being a casino high roller. Casino’s make millions every month simply because what they give away for free has been supported by others who paid for it. Being a high roller in a casino means free hotel stay, free meals, and even free shows. But does that mean you need to spend thousands of dollars a month to be treated like a high roller? Not at all. I get treated like a high roller every time I go to the casino’s every time I show up and rarely spend more money than I would have spent if I had hopped off the sardine can tour bus with everyone else. First, being a high roller is as much about perception as anything else. Being memorable and standing out as a potential big spender is almost as important as having the money to back it up. Coming to the casino in jeans and a T shirt with your hair looking like you just woke up doesn’t grab the dollar sign attention of anyone. ON the other hand, coming to the Casino dressed up in your most expensive suit will disappoint the dealer when you are playing small hands and will grab the wrong kind of attention. Think of presenting the right image like dressing for a nice golf tournament. This will allow you to stand out just enough to gain even the meanest pit boss’s attention. Next, make sure you sign up for a reward card and dedicate your play to only a few casinos. When I am in Tahoe I only play at Harrah’s and Harvey’s. When in Reno I spend my time only at the Silver Legacy. When I’m in Las Vegas….well….I will let you know when I am in Las Vegas. By staying in a single casino you are focusing all of your play, and in the casino’s mind, money in one place. Your goal of a reward card is to be tracked in everything you are doing. You rewards card is a very important component in play and you should watch how the casino operates before you just hand it over. If a pit boss comes and grabs your card and keeps it or walks away with it, don’t give it to them when you sit down. Wait until you are ready to leave before handing it over. You will see why later.
Next we get to look at the tables. Ignore empty tables. A table with just you and the dealer means you are going to be playing your hands much faster than if you are elbow to elbow with 8 other players. The key to being this system of being treated like a high roller is to spend as little money as possible while getting the most table time possible. I personally look at a table that is full and stand right where I am going to get the dealer’s attention. When we make eye contact I simply say “Next Seat Please”. This lets the dealer know I am there to play and often grabs me some extra time being at the table in the mind of the dealer. When choosing a game, understand that the casino has what they consider medium time. This means that for a full table of however many people, the casino averages the numbers of hand played per hour. In that, choosing fast moving games such as black jack or even standardized games like roulette really are not your best option. Personally it’s one of the many reasons I like Pai Gow. With Pai Gow you have 6-8 people taking time, looking at their cards, and trying to put the best hands together. You get new people sitting down learning to play, and dealers are very sociable giving people tips and play ideas on what to do the next time they get the same hand. Choosing a table where being friendly and social means slower play. Slower play means more time that your money is on the table. With Pai Gow You are also more likely to keep your chips in play longer as more of your hands will be pushes than wins or losses. If you don’t know how to play Pai Gow, I have included some very easy directions here. SLOW THE GAME DOWN. Remember, time is the factor in table play, not hands. The casinos already say how many hands should be played on any table within any given time frame. Slowing down the game is as easy as being social and disciplined on the speed you do things. For example talking to the dealer when you lose a hand or taking an extra moment looking at your cards and everyone else’s will cause the dealer to take a momentary pause. If you follow my lead and play Pai Gow, ask the dealer questions that cause them to pause such as how they would have played your hand, The different bonus bet payouts (never do them, they are sucker bets), or even where the buffet is in the hotel. Talking to other players about their hands is another way to slow down play. One of my favorite ways to slow down game play without annoying the table is what I call “stalled bets”. I learned it from an elderly woman who was doing the same thing I was, only better. She would not place out her bet until everyone else had because she felt like it was good luck for her to be meek. Of course nobody argues with anybody’s luck and I figure she slowed the game an easy ten percent just talking to people and smiling while they figured out their bets before placing her own. Between being social and getting other people to talk, and her method, we probably were able to slow the game play down by a good 25%. This meant that for every four hours of play, there were really only three hours of actual play going on. There are plenty of ways to slow the game down and when I have had every switch working, I have been able to cut game play down to as much as 50% without upsetting a single person at the table, or with the attention of anyone who I didn’t want to take notice. The next step to getting treated like a high roller is to speed time up. I know I know, you think it is impossible to change time and there is no way around that. Scientific laws are perfect, but fortunately, people are not. When I sit down at a casino table I always say something to the effects of “Let’s see how much damage I can do in an hour” and look at my watch. This tells the dealer I am aware of the time and plan on making the most of the next 60 minutes. 45 minutes later I look at my watch again and say something along the lines of “Really, an hour already?” I then take my last hand and thank the dealer. Total Game Play: 16 hours But here is more like the truth But all I ever really spent was my $300.00. Yes the casinos do figure that I won a few hands in there but what they are paying more attention to is based on statistical averages. And for me personally, I play and come out ahead better than 50% of the time. So that means I really only spend about $100 a trip. What does that spending mean in terms of comps. I will be happy to break it down for you. Rooms and Nights Free: 6 I went to the website and tallied up the standard costs for these amenities and realized that I was getting $900.00 in comps. So even if I lost all $300.00 I was still coming out $600.00 ahead. So the next time you go to the casinos follow these steps and the only bath you will take will be in your free room. |
Now we talk about the budget. Here is where you are going to need to have some discipline. I always bring more money than I have any intention of playing with. My personal gaming budget is usually right around $300.00. However when I show up, I generally grab about a thousand in chips. I get the cash in twenties and make sure the table I spend most of my time at turns them all into chips. Doing this shows a large flash of money and makes the dealer count longer. This also gets the dealer to call out to the pit boss because it is the policy of the casino that whenever an amount over $50.00 is changed to chips, the pit boss must be notified. So bring more money than you are going to spend, just don’t spend it. When I go to take a break or change tables, or know a shift is about to change, I go cash in my chips and then turn them back in to chips at the next table.
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