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Promotions Come and Go
Caesars Palace used to give away free decks of used cards. It wasn’t advertised anywhere, but if you knew about it, all you had to do was walk up to the cashier and ask for a deck. How did we know about the deal? In this case, we read about it in the Las Vegas Advisor This is the sort of promotion that you find when you keep your eyes and ears wide open. It’s also the kind of promotion that’s here today, gone tomorrow One time you’ll go to Caesars Palace and the cashier will smile and hand you a deck of cards. Then the next time she’ll look at you like you’re out of your mind (and swear that Caesars has never given away free cards). It happens all the time.
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How Become Casino Pro
The Road to Becoming a Pro
I have a friend, “Joe,” who visits Las Vegas a couple times a year. Once, while Joe was watching us play, Shirley hit a $20,000 royal. The royal wasn’t that unusual for us, but to Joe, a diesel mechanic, it looked like manna from heaven. In addition, that night we were staying in a villa at the MGM Grand Mansion. Needless to say, Joe was amazed by the combo of a $20,000 royal and the Mansion.
The next day, Joe announced that he’d decided to become a professional gambler. Everything he’d seen the night before seemed like a pretty good way to live. And since I was used to teaching and had figured out how to do all of this, I could easily show him how.
Start at the Beginning
“Okay, let’s start at the beginning,” I said. “How much money do you have that you can afford to gamble with?” “None, really, although I did bring two hundred for this trip.I hope I don’t lose it, though, because I really can’t afford to.” I told him that he needed a reality check. Of the many skills necessary to be successful at gambling, two of the most basic are obtaining and keeping a bankroll. As long as I’d known him, Joe had demonstrated neither. He made a middling living and spent as fast as it come in.“Tell you what,” I said. “If you can come up with a bankroll of ten thousand dollars in the next year; I’ll teach you how to gamble successfully.” If he was serious, getting the money together wouldn’t be that difficult. If he wasn’t, he would never succeed as a professional gambler anyway.“How can I save that much money?” Ruling out illegal methods, there are only two ways to do it: Earn more or spend less. To earn more, he needed more hours on the job, a better job, or a second job. For a healthy 40-year- old with no family, working two jobs was manageable.
Spending less? People can adapt to having and spending more money almost instantly. Unfortunately, it’s difficult for most people to learn to spend less money. We talked over the possibilities.
“Okay,” he promised. “I can do all that. But do I really have to wait a year to start? What can I do now?”
“The best thing to do with your two hundred dollars,” I replied, “is to keep it in your pocket. Until you know more, there’s no intelligent bet you can make. This way, when you get home, your bankroll-accumulation program will have a two-hundred- dollar head start.
Studying Bankroll
“Secondly, start studying. With a bankroll of ten grand, the games you’ll play are Deuces Wild and 10/7 Double Bonus. Plan on spending fifty hours or so learning each game. It might not take you that long, but it takes many people considerably longer. And it doesn’t take money to study. By the time you have the bankroll, you’ll be well on your way to knowing what to do. “You’ll still have a lot to learn once you know how to play each hand, but until you obtain that basic knowledge and the minimum buy-in, you’re dead in the water. Good luck. I’m rooting for you.” Joe was serious. It’s taken him longer than a year, but he’s still working at accumulating that $10,000 bankroll. And when he does, I’ll be around to help him with all the information he needs. |
