Ten Costly Mistakes to Avoid in the Casino
Friday February 13, 2009
The casinos have the edge over the players and they will win in the long run. Fortunately anything can happen in the short run and players do win occasionally. If you lost every time you went to the casino you would stop going. If you play games with a high house edge and make bad bets, you will lose more over time.
The game you choose to play is not the only factor in whether you win or lose. Sometimes our behavior in the casino can contribute to our losses. Here are ten costly mistakes that some players make when they visit the casino.
Comments
Bill,
I have to agree on your 10 golden rules.It is very tempting to do all of them at any time. I have done them myself. The only thing thats dissapointing is the advantage to casinos have terrible. But that trend has been there over the past 10 yrs. Hopefully the markets will see why people do not play as often as they would like. I would think they would.Its getting better due to the economy, because now they are force to lure folks back with lower prices for rooms,better comps,and see folks winning once in a while.If they would keep these intact, you would see Las Vegas booming again.But unfortunatly, I see greed is going to place more weight than steady profits.That seems to be the nature of things of today.
Keep up the good work bill, I look forward to reading your articles…
Dave
The biggest mistake is gambling…
Because most casino’s offer promo’s
Its super easy to avoid the pitfall’s if you do one thing.
Gamble only enough to get the promo’s and then walk away with what you win (or lost).
I have avged about $100 minimum for over a year in gambling, and thats in using $10 promo’s. As of next week that will double per extra promo’s Im now able to get.
Those who gamble with $$ they dont have are fools. I am unemployed but I have enough cash flow to risk the $150 overall that future gambling (past was $20) to be able to walk away with around $300 or more.
Yes I have bad weeks, 3 weeks ago I ended the week with $50 negative.
But that was still using $$ won from previous week.
Point is, use promo and be smart about it, and not greedy.
I have to agree with all of your 10 mistakes. I bet most of us have made each of them at one time or the other over time through frequent visits to the table. What I have learned is with the changing of the rules (especially on blackjack) to the detriment of the players, that it has gotten worse and worse to play. I don’t enjoy it as much and I don’t play as much in Vegas. 6-5 BJ is a travesty! Then you have all the limited rules that used to provide a small bonus to players being removed; more decks, etc. I enjoy Tunica more, now, for playing….not b/c it offers more but they still have good rules; lower limits and better values for a middle class person (and gambling bankroll).
The key to successful gambling is knowing when to stop – whether you’re winning or losing. The desire to keep chasing even bigger profits or recoup growing losses is very strong. It’s no surprise that some call it gambling fever.
My rules for successful – and enjoyable – gambling are:
1. Know your games. This may sound obvious, but many people have lost money learning the ins and outs of a game. The ability to play for free is one of the great advantages of online casinos, but one that gamblers don’t often make sufficient use of. Use the no-risk free play games to make sure you know the rules, the odds, the good bets and bad bets, and to practice any strategy or system you may have seen recommended.
2. Always set a time limit on your sessions, regardless of how you’re doing. Keep them fairly short, and change games and /or bets frequently.
3. Set a win limit and loss limit – and stick to them absolutely. Allow yourself the potential to win at least twice what you’ll allow yourself to lose. So if your session loss limit is £50, allow yourself to win £100. Once you’re up by more than your loss limit (which in this example would be £60), put the loss limit to one side and do not touch it – even if your streak comes to an end. That way you’re guaranteed to win as much as a losing session will cost.
4. Accept that sometimes – maybe most times – you’re going to stop at a loss and walk away from the table with less than you came with. This is the difficult part for unsuccessful gamblers, but the rule that sets apart the professionals.
5. Enjoy yourself! Remember, we’re leisure gamblers, not professional blackjack players. We do this for fun, because we enjoy the atmosphere, the thrill, the risks, not because we’re trying to get rich.
Where can I find a periodic publication or web site that reports which casinos are fined for NOT paying out what is required of them? Oklahoma casinos in particular. There are about 100 tribal casinos now in Oklahoma now.
Love the comment about using the card. Spend 1000 bucks and get a 10 dollar buffet for FREEE! Can’t get a deal like that anywhere but a casino! I have a fine example of the card. After spending about 1200 in one evening at one of these tribal casinos I go up to the desk and ask to use the points for a room. It is like 3AM. She makes some calls to the management and I am told they have already given out all the Comp rooms for the night and I should check back in a couple of hours. I think I flipped a bird at the security camera, threw the damn card in the fish pond and left. Needless to say, I no longer gamble.
The one advantage you have over the casino is that you can quit at any time.
Bill