Small Bankroll Entertainment?

I make an annual trek in January to Las Vegas to attend the CES show. I stay downtown and do most of my gamling there. If I budget $100 per evening for gambling and want it to last as long as possible, what is my best strategy?

Second, I would like to modify my question. I find blackjack to be rather difficult to play and I'm not into live poker. I like JoB and craps very much. $0.25 are the most findable JoB machines and I can generally only find $3 craps without walking the gauntlet to the Western. If these are my choices and I don't want to be the hated Don't-Pass person at the table, and I'm a fairly good JoB player, say within a tenth of a percent of optimal, which is the longer expected time to ruin for these two. If I was willing to be an "average thinking" blackjack player at $5 per hand would that be better?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Quote: downtowner

I make an annual trek in January to Las Vegas to attend the CES show. I stay downtown and do most of my gamling there. If I budget $100 per evening for gambling and want it to last as long as possible, what is my best strategy?

Second, I would like to modify my question. I find blackjack to be rather difficult to play and I'm not into live poker. I like JoB and craps very much. $0.25 are the most findable JoB machines and I can generally only find $3 craps without walking the gauntlet to the Western. If these are my choices and I don't want to be the hated Don't-Pass person at the table, and I'm a fairly good JoB player, say within a tenth of a percent of optimal, which is the longer expected time to ruin for these two. If I was willing to be an "average thinking" blackjack player at $5 per hand would that be better?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Sports betting helps your dollar last longest.

But if you're talking about later at night, pai gow poker would be the best. I think $10 PGP lasts longer than $5 BJ, but it is probably close. $.25 JOB is going to go way too quick if you're playing max coin.

> If I budget $100 per evening for gambling and want it to last as long as possible, what is my best strategy?
First and foremost it really should be something you think you would LIKE to do, irrespective of the mathematics involved.

> I find blackjack to be rather difficult to play
Then either practice and get better at it by using these online practice sites or don't consider BJ at all. If its not going to be enjoyable, why bother?

>and I'm not into live poker.
Well, that puts poker completely out.

> I like JoB and craps very much.
Okay. Lets look at JoB at 0.25 units. IF you have perfect play, no tips to the waitress you need 400 units (or 100 dollars) to have One Hour of play at VP assuming the usual ten percent chance of suffering Risk of Ruin.

Three dollar craps is not all that much of a savings over Five dollar craps since at 3.00 dealers are probably newbies who will make occasional mistakes. Also the 3.00 craps might only be daytime and often only weekdays.

For One Hour of craps play you need to have 10 units. This assumes Pass Line only, No odds, no place betting, no dealer tips, no waitress tips. For TWO hours, you need 13 units and for FOUR hours you need 20 units. So this will give you some idea but of course its expected that you will tip, you will get drinks, and you will probably make an occasional odds bet. You will probably also make an occasional mistake particularly after visiting some of those hospitality suites during the trade show.

As to other games... you can work out the math but remember... if you don't think you'd like the game, don't bother with it.

Are you saying I would need 2.4x as much to play an hour of JoB vs. craps? I'm using your 400 units, 10 units and $1.25 (full pay $0.25 machine) and $3. That seems high.

I can often find a weekday $3 table in the evening at either the Golden Gate or El Cortez. There is even one sometimes on the strip at Casino Royale.

I used to only play craps because it was fun and involved virtually no thinking, after the decision to only play the minimum on the passline and ignore the other bets on the table. I studied and practiced JoB and now I enjoy that too. I could do the same for BJ if the investment/play time was significantly better than my other two games. I was just wondering which SHOULD last longer. I ignored most of the other games because the house edge is so high I figured the time would be pretty small. The only other game I thought about was a $0.01 machine somewhere reguardless of the house edge. But that just seemed silly. Of course many people on this site probably think my $100/night is silly too. I'm not in Las Vegas to gamble. But I enjoy the town and I learn a lot at CES. I have worked for much of my life in marketing and love to look at the various ways the casinos market their wares. I enjoy the bargin food and drink and the overall spectacle of the city. But being in Las Vegas without participating in its main activity seems to be a little bit hollow. So I want to spend a relatively small amount to have fun gambling. I guess this is a long winded way of saying I agree with my paraphrasing of your comment: "If it isn't fun, don't do it".

If you like JoB, and want to stretch your entertainment dollar, then my suggestion would be a bar-top poker machine in a lounge that has some sort of entertainment going on.

Mind you in such a location, the paytable probably isn't the best, and you may not get free drinks, but that's what I'd suggest.

This way, you're easily distracted by entertainment. You can stretch that $100 quite far doing that - even if you never win a hand!

Personally, I could never understand how, acting like Pavlov's Dog, constantly pressing the button and waiting for a prize, could be "entertaining."

Slow down! Enjoy the action!

FinRules comment about sports book is a similar idea. My problem is I have a perfect record betting on sports book. After about ten bets over the years I have never won. I've thought about having someone else follow my bet with a much bigger bet on the other side and they could clean up.

Quote: downtowner

FinRules comment about sports book is a similar idea. My problem is I have a perfect record betting on sports book. After about ten bets over the years I have never won. I've thought about having someone else follow my bet with a much bigger bet on the other side and they could clean up.

LoL... though shalt not hedge your bets...

That being said, I agree with another poster that Pai Gow Poker is best to make your money last. At $10 even with the $5 bonus bet you should be able to play for quite some time. Take away the bonus bet and you're going to play an even longer time. Of course, you won't win much, and frankly, you are almost guaranteed a loss, but with a little luck, you'll break even, with money to tip for drinks and have a really good time.

OK. I have to look into Pai Gow. I'll bet this site may have some info. ;-)

I would play craps.

With $0.25 9/6 JOB, $100 might last you the whole evening, but you could very easily go busted, and quickly. If you do decide to play, play at Main Street Station where they give out scratch cards for every 4-of-a-kind, and you can play at the bar.

Blackjack would work, but again, you could go busted even with $5 bets, and the only game worth playing downtown is at the El Cortez. I wouldn't bother if you don't enjoy it and don't want to learn single deck basic strategy.

Play craps with $3 on the line, taking single odds only on the six or eight to reduce variance. El Cortez has quarter chips so you can get the correct payouts. If you get ahead you can start taking odds on the 4/5/9/10 for a little more excitement. For some reason I recall $3 craps another casino downtown too...might have been the Golden Gate (but they don't have $0.25 chips).

I find Pai Gow Poker fun to play and it is pretty easy to learn. There is enough thinking on each hand to keep you engaged but not too much to keep you from enjoying the free cocktails. If you find a $5 table (not too hard downtown) $100 will play a long time unless you get really unlucky. This is without playing the bonus bet which adds a lot of volatility. My last trip my wife and I played a 4 hour session at $20/hand starting with $100 each and both left up a small amount including tipping for lots of drinks. This is unlikely but it is possible. We were playing at the Golden Nugget. I really enjoy SOME of the dealers there (some are the usual no-personality Asians) and the old-school cocktail waitresses. When we slowed down after the 4th promptly delivered G+T one says "you're not wimping out on me are you?" The dealer tells us that lady has been working at the GN for 40 years.