Let’s assume you’re a winning video poker player. You have good days and bad, but over the course of the year you almost always end up ahead.
Given you’re this winning player, now let’s assume that you’ve just lost $20,000 at your favorite casino. Until this trip, your biggest lost there has been $8,000, but this time the machines were ice, ice cold. There are plenty of bad things associated with losing $20,000. But there are some good things too.
One good thing is that the casinos do not want you to bleed to death financially. They want you to lose gradually. Over time, your gradual losses will add up, they believe, but if you lose too much all at once they are concerned they will never see you again.
So they are willing to help ease the pain. Some will rebate 10% of your losses. Some will give you far nice meals or other comps. Some will send you on a cruise you didn’t otherwise qualify for. It’s largely up to the host and his bosses about what to give you.
Whether you lose $200, $2,000, $20,000, or $200,000, it’s largely a drop in the bucket for a large casino. Is it a drop in the bucket for you too? You’re going to have to let them know. Whiners are winners, in this particular case anyway.
In my particular family, I don’t sweat wins and losses very much --- but Shirley does. If I lose $20,000, she DIES a little bit. She has no compunction about telling a host how much it hurts and asking for something to help ease the pain. She has gotten us on 10-day cruises to the Mediterranean and a similar one to Hawaii on separate occasions by whining at the right time. She has gotten hosts to creatively classify $3,000 in the gift shop as “travel” so they can pick up the expense.
At many casinos, senior hosts are given wide discretion on how they take care of players on a losing trip. Smart players know this and use it to their advantage.
If I knew I was going to win a total of $3,000 over two trips, I’d much prefer to lose $20,000 on the first trip and win $23,000 on the second. With Shirley’s help at the end of the first trip, our total win over the two trips will end up closer to $5,000 than $3,000.
If you don’t ask, however, you don’t get. The casino isn’t going to force you to take their money after a big loss. They’re only going to give it to you if you can convince them that it’s a real burden on you --- either real or psychological --- to lose that much.
When I ask for such things, I’m not particularly successful. Most hosts know that I’ve been doing this for years and assume that I’ve had a number of “bad beats.” I don’t seem especially distressed about it (I strongly believe I will end up positive in the end), so why should they help me. But Shirley has no problem with this. She hurts terribly when I lose and has no trouble convincing others that her pain is very real.
We started this article with the assumption that you’re a winning player. Not everyone qualifies as such. How does being a losing player change things?
For one thing, you don’t need to limit your whining about this trip. Your year-to-date score is in the sewer so you can mention that. You lost last year as well. This makes you a more desirable customer than if you were a winner. Obviously you’re going to have to tailor your comments to your particular case.
Natural-born salesmen will have no trouble making this work. There are others, however, around whom even a hooker will play hard-to-get. These people will not be very successful at getting rebates.
Note that you can’t play this “trump card” too frequently. If you whine every trip, such a note will be put into your file and you’ll stop being given anything. Hosts will intentionally give you less than you’re entitled to at first because they know you’re going to come up and wheedle them for extras. But used sparingly at the right times, it can be a big opportunity to be exploited.
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 the software "Video Poker for Winners," Winner's Guides, strategy cards, his autobiography Million Dollar Video Poker, and his two novels, including Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. Dancer's products may be ordered at www.bobdancer.com or by telephone at 1-800-244-2224 M-F 9-5 Pacific Time.
