There
are two extremes of frugal trips to Vegas.
In
one, the traveler simply decides not to gamble or to gamble only
pennies at a time. I read these experiences in the trips reports of
board friend Pluto from Scotland.
These
folks stretch the value of airfare by staying in Vegas for a few
weeks instead of a few days to a week. They travel from Scotland,
and so they can't just hop into Vegas on a whim and stay a few days
as a break from monotony.
They
pay a huge airfare in money and in the time it takes to fly there and
back. So, they get the best deal they can, in a place they like, and
then use the bus to save on travel expense.
Their
daily trips are often dictated by a 2 for 1 buffet coupon. Off they
go on the all access bus pass, eat the buffet, walk around a bit, and
play a few pennies.
Perhaps
at the end of a day they are up $5 and very happy.
This
trip I met a fellow from the North of England who does the same thing
only can't do the frugal bus as his wife had trouble walking.
I
have also met people who never gamble. I met one couple on the bus
this trip who own a condo in downtown Vegas and never gamble a dime.
I've met plenty of people who just came to Vegas for the cheap room
rates and decent deals on shows and inexpensive food options.
I
like to gamble. However, I don't like to lose. So I develop a
frugal trip, and my losses, if they happen, are covered by the low
cost of my trip.
I
do that by booking places that give me free nights for a bit of play
mixed with places where I find deals, but don't need to play.
However,
it still requires me to gamble in any of the places I stay if I want
free or reduced rate offers for my next trip.
I
often read the advice that we should not play for comps.
I
disagree.
I
think we should target our play where comps are part of the Expected
Value.
Ideally,
we should not play if comps are not part of the gamble, so that the
mathematics are in our favor.
That
might mean playing $20-$40 at at Jacks or Better to capture a couple
comped Guinness at a bar at The Plaza. The value of the Guinness
puts that gamble to the advantage of the player, especially if one
plays slow.
If
two beers are enough satisfaction in beer, then play ends shortly
after the second comped beer arrives, perhaps at a break even place.
Or
it might mean playing for 200 points and stopping, using an American
Casino Guide coupon for a free buffet.
With
a buffet figured into the mathematics of the play, the player has the
advantage over the casino. Once the comp is earned, win or lose, we
quit and move on to another venue.
When
there is no chance of comps, then it is time for a show or a ride to
Red Rock Canyon or some other pleasure in Vegas.
Jean
Scott is my inspiration. When she wrote her books it was simple to
find full pay video poker, so the math was near a break even point,
becoming in the player's advantage when comps were figured in the
formula.
Even
Jean Scott admits that this is harder to do now, but primarily I play
video poker on full pay machines and from that play, I get room
offers.
I
also love limit poker. However, that is more fun than profit.
Poker rates can reduce room expenses, but rarely bring them down very
far, and live poker depends on the players at the table.
I
always want the option to walk away from a live poker game, so I
rarely take a poker rate.
I
go to Vegas for about 20-24 days at a time, so that gives me more
value on my airfare (usually free on a Southwest charge card)
Weekend
hotel rates are the hardest to cover and can be a drain on the
budget.
My
weekends are generally covered by the Four Queens who up until
recently offered me three free nights a month. Now, I think they
will move to just two nights in their mailings, but the new comp
dollar system, if it stays as generous as it is, will easily pay for
another night; a weekday night is usually offered for $24.
They
offer a full pay quarter Double Bonus VP with an added progressive
royal, the best deal on that VP game in the Vegas. So, I will pump
my bankroll into those machines and stay on the right side of the
mailer mathematics.
Added
to the free nights I now get $80 freeplay each month.
Taking
my trip in late October and early November and booking one weekend
in each month also stretches my comps.
The
Orleans generally gives me just two weekday nights in 6 months, with
one period ending at the end of October, so I book two free nights in
October and two in November and always with Wednesday as one of those
nights because Wednesday is Young at Heart day with plenty of
promotions for seniors.
Again,
I play for comps.
Senior
Wednesday means a free breakfast or lunch and a free supper. It
means some entries in a cash drawing that might be over $1000.
This
past trip the value of my stay there was also enhanced by the music
of the Nite Kings in the lounge, a $5 giveaway for 300 points, as
well as a point multiplier. I hit 12X and then 15X point multiplier
on VP. That is unusual for VP.
My
game of choice there is nickle VP triple play. It is only 9/7 DB,
but there are three royal progressives on the three lines as well as
a huge progressive for anyone dealt a royal. It was over $4000 this
trip. I hit one royal for $300 and chased twice when one of the
royals was over $450.
Just
this play earns me the room offers. Some years it has even earned me
weekends.
Then
this year the Gold Coast, for no apparent reason, offered me two free
nights, so I had five nights in a row inn one location for a real
cost of $33, since I used points for part of the bill and got $10
good at the Orleans. The free shuttle does a find job transporting
luggage between casinos.
I
did not gamble much at the Gold Coast. They probably will not offer
again. However, if the price is right, I may pay to stay there for
three nights back to back with the Orleans.
I
can't afford to gamble in all the places I stay, so it is not
profitable to seed more gambling places then I can support on the
next trips.
Some
casinos I designate as a break from gambling.
For
bus riders location is important. Luggage on strip buses is awkward
and needs to be avoided whenever possible. The WAX is one way to do
that.
I
used one of the nights at the Gold Coast to get a good nap and take
the 202 out to the Eastside Cannery where I had a free buffet from
Webpass on their site, and love dancing at the Claudine Castro Latin
lounge act from 10- 12 midnight. It is an safe and easy bus ride
back to the Gold Coast, so the Gold Coast was a great location for
Eastside Cannery. The 202 is more pleasant than riding the BHX to a
casino downtown, especially at 1AM..
This
past trip I also covered a weekend with MyVegas “free nights.”
I had to pay the resort fees, but their real value is increased by
using them on weekends. Both Mandalay Bay and Monte Carlo would
find my play much too small to warrant future free nights, and they
offer no decent video poker anyway. So, I played a few hours of live
poker at each place, earning one free meal at Monte Carlo with poker
comps and bought the Aria buffet a couple times. The rest of my
time I spent in the “lazy river” without a tube. For an old guy
that is a great workout, and first thing in the morning the place was
often empty except for me.
I
started my trip at the Orleans and then stayed my three MyVegas one
night stands (Monte Carlo/Mandalay Bay/Monte Carlo) and then two more
free for resort fee nights at Planet Hollywood on a coupon my son
gave me.
One-nighters
are not my favorite way to go, but with that part of the trip being
totally solo, and the wonderful tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay,
I did not find it a bad system. Even on the days I checked out I
could get some time in the lazy river on check-out morning. That
lazy river with no tube was one of my favorite Vegas experiences.
My
cash cost of 24 nights I booked for $9.25 a night. I lost $928
gambling.
Adding
the value of frugal room booking to my gambling losses, rooms cost
about $48 a night.
That
is pretty good, actually, but add in the value of the lazy river,
free lounge acts, free shows, and free food, makes this losing trip
still in my favor. I ate for under $12 on average a night, the free
food offsetting paying at places like Aria or Planet Hollywood.
So,
yes it was a “losing” trip, but a frugal losing trip. Outside of
camping in the back of my van, I can't think of anywhere to go as
cheaply overall.
One
other way to compute value is to compare what I might spend at home
with what I spent in Vegas. I can eat on $12 a day at home, but I
have to cook the food at home and do my own dishes. I can't go to
restaurants. I can beat the $32 transportation costs at home as long
as I stay home and don't go anywhere.
Actually,
it costs me more than that in gas just to drive to my local weekly
poker game.
Finally,
when figuring value there is the concept of what is called in
economics “utility.” This is the value of an experience that is
not just figured in dollar cost, but in pleasure received. Vegas
offers incredible utility value for me:
- I love meeting strangers
- I love seeing beautiful women
- I love live music and dancing
- I love watching people on the bus
- I loved meeting my poker buddies Wild Bill and Slink for some fun time.
- I loved meeting some board friends in person
- I loved three father son days with my oldest son, the first in over a decade. Loved hiking Red Rock with him.(he rented the car)
- I loved the poker, especially talking a late night short table into playing Pineapple, so I might get my freeroll trounament hours at Monte Carlo an still play limit.
- I loved the ease of all the exercise I can't get myself to do at home, the walking and dancing.
- I love my diabetic sugar readings staying around 100 and hopefully precluding once again any medicine, unless the weeks at home average it up too high on my A1C. For diabetics Vegas can be a health spa.
- I loved eating plenty and coming home down 5 pounds.
- I loved eating foods I never eat at home, especially mashed potatoes, morning biscuits with gravy, and low sugar deserts and seeing them have no affect on my blood sugar.
- I loved no cooking and no dishes for 25 days.
- I loved swimming in November outside, hiking outside, napping outside.
So
that is the way I think about Vegas. It is a disciplined approach
with detailed planning of flexible choices. It values more than just
gambling. And it attempts to make whatever funds are put at risk
merely money saved on hotels, rooms, food, etc.
This
trip I had seeded probably more casinos than I could comfortably
support had the trip been a loser from start to finish. I'm thinking
next trip of not taking as many free rooms that require levels of
gambling to reseed mailings, and paying cheap prices on places where
I won't gamble at all.
I
am also thinking of whether I still want the Four Queens, backed up
by the D to be my main casinos.
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