<< Back to all Blogs
Login or Create your own free blog
Layout:
Home > More thoughts from the casino

More thoughts from the casino

April 28th, 2007 at 11:42 pm

I'm back home from AC. I ended up pretty much breaking even on my blackjack time, which was fine with me.

One thing that did me in (as is true of most gamblers) was not quitting when I was ahead. Most people go to the casino with a set amount they are willing to lose, but they don't set a limit on how much they can win. It sounds kind of counter-intuitive to put a cap on your winnings, but if you are going to gamble, you need to set an end point. Otherwise, you just keep playing and playing and odds are you will eventually give back your winnings.

So how do you pick a stopping point? With our investments, we're all pretty satisfied if we earn 10% in a year. But somehow sitting at the blackjack table, earning 10% in 10 minutes doesn't seem satisfactory at all. I mean, if I sit down with $100, I'm just not going to get up and leave when I am up to $110.

My general rule (which I didn't always stick to this week) is to quit when I've doubled my money. After my losing sessions on Wednesday, though, I stuck to it on Thursday and Friday and that's how I got back to even for the trip. There is just some brain defect that makes you want to keep playing when you are doing well rather than taking your winnings and walking away. Oh well, hopefully next time I won't let greed get the better of me.

Posted in Personal Finance | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “More thoughts from the casino”

  1. baselle Says:
    April 29th, 2007 at 02:03 am 1177812184
    1177812184

    What I did when I was in AC, playing blackjack, was that I had a set amount that I was willing to lose - $40, as I remember. When my winnings increased to over $40, I made a separate pile and pretended it did not exist. I just kept playing with the $40. When the original $40 was lost, I was done for the day and cashed in the separate pile. ($110) And then I never played again. Big Grin

  2. jodi Says:
    April 29th, 2007 at 06:12 am 1177827124
    1177827124

    I don't know who said it, but I remember this quote: "The only sure way to double your money at a casino is to fold it over and put it in your pocket"
    Smile I don't see a problem with not winning as long as you are just using budgeted entertainment money. When you break even, you've just gotten hours of entertainment for free!

  3. disneysteve Says:
    April 29th, 2007 at 02:17 pm 1177856242
    1177856242

    jodi - I agree. Any gambling I do (which is rare, actually) I consider part of my entertainment budget. I don't go there with the intent of making money I need to live (or risking money I need to live). I'm quite happy to play for a couple of hours and spend some money in the process. Heck, I recently bought 2 tickets to a Broadway show for $218. Add in travel and dining costs, and that show will cost us upwards of $300 for a couple of hours. At times, taking that same $300 to the casino for a couple of hours would give me just as much entertainment.

  4. Ima saver Says:
    April 29th, 2007 at 02:30 pm 1177857043
    1177857043

    Glad you broke even!! The only time I ever went to a casino, we lost a total of $4 (nickel machine) but we got free drinks and dancing to a live band. It was really fun.

  5. tinapbeana Says:
    April 29th, 2007 at 02:41 pm 1177857677
    1177857677

    breaking even is fine. maybe not so enjoyable as walking out with extra, but a couple of hours of now free entertainment is hard to beat.

    when DH and i were in vegas we did really well on the quarter slots. put $40 in and as soon as either one of us hit we'd cash out, put our seed money in our pocket and play off the winnings. if we lost the winnings no big deal, but if we doubled the winnings we cashed out and took a break to get off the gambling high (adrenaline will make you take stupid risks!).

  6. livingalmostlarge Says:
    May 14th, 2007 at 02:32 am 1179109929
    1179109929

    Considering gambling is an addiction in my family I have a hard time touching any sort of gambling. Too addictive, but a nice idea.

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]