End of my AP road?

My high profit for the year was 6 months ago (mid Feb).
6 months later, i still haven't reached back to that point.
(I'm still up for the year. Today's amount is higher than Jan 1)

Reasons:
- More competition. Now i see Spanish checking the machines in addition to the Asians.
- Casinos lowering Rtp on the playable machines. ie: 'Rom change' gaming sheet taped to machine.
I'm trying to adjust by playing higher #s.
- Casinos removing playable machines. And the majority of what remains are Phoenix Links (for the casinos i play at).
- Poor results from +EV plays
ie: No Bonuses, Must hit goes all the way, and/or It doesn't pay well when I finally hit
- Tilt or boredom making me play -EV (Probably 50% of my losses)

I don't need AP $ to survive. I view +EV as a fun hobby that's also profitable.
But for the past couple of years i'm feeling that this hobby is getting stale.

I used to love driving to Atlantic City for a long weekend.
Then i got used to the novelty of those casinos, new comped foods, different types of comped rooms, etc.
I've gotten fatter from all the food. (And my comp $ keeps growing)
And after a while, all rooms are the same... a bed and a shower.

So i've been playing closer to home for the past couple years.
And it's gotten tedious without the profit.
It's like playing your favorite golf course weekly. You know every hole by hard then you stop improving.

I guess i need to start looking for a new hobby since I think my Luck is running out

some pit boss is reading this saying "finally! they're starting to give up!" :D

Do you only AP on slot machines? was that a better route than card counting?

Quote: 100xOdds

I don't need AP $ to survive. I view +EV as a fun hobby that's also profitable.
But for the past couple of years i'm feeling that this hobby is getting stale.

That was the case for me too. AP was a weeknight and weekend hobby. I had a regular 9 to 5 job and treated AP as a profitable hobby. After 30 years it got to the point I did not even like going into casinos anymore so I switched to working the taverns which had many fewer opportunities. I have not been in a casino now in close to five years, don't miss it at all.

Sounds like a good time to step away. Good luck with your search for an alternate activity.

I was born during Eisenhower's first term, so I should be thinking about retiring, too. It is just hard to walk away while the gig is more profitable than ever. I am almost 100% online. I mostly babysit a few computers that are doing autoplay, so I am free to do other things while I am nominally gambling.

I lost 10 pounds after I quit doing B&M during COVID and never went back. The casino food tastes so good, but is not particularly healthy. The long hours in the car were also harder on me than when I was a young road warrior. I hate the thought of driving to a casino now, and when I get there, I don't recognize the machine inventory. I rode my bike 2500 miles in 2020 when there was nothing else to do, and I have a lot more time and opportunity to ride now. I put 1500 miles on the bike already this year.

Quote: 100xOdds

I don't need AP $ to survive. I view +EV as a fun hobby that's also profitable.
But for the past couple of years i'm feeling that this hobby is getting stale.
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If you don't need it to survive, that probably eliminates most or all of the stress.
If it's stale, take a break. I figure in 5 or 6 years, the industry will have one of those "everything old is new again" moments, and there will actually be interesting games.

Otherwise, a lot of people seem to have started slot channels. I think most of the savvy ones keep any AP activities off-camera, as spinning, grinning, and winning gets more engagement.