can get edge with those comps
can get edge with those comps
interesting article here from the Las Vegas Weekly:
The Player: Free Beer! (Almost)
We?re about to use the M word?math?to describe the truth behind comped drinks
By Anthony Curtis
Two weeks ago, I was in the Midwest, taking a look at Caesars Indiana, a riverboat casino docked on the Ohio River across from Louisville, Kentucky. My trip coincided with the Kentucky basketball team?s thrashing at the hands of Marquette in the NCAA basketball tournament, so you can imagine that the crocodile tears were flowing. The Kentuckianans, as they?re known in this area, were stunned by what they?d witnessed?they hadn?t seen their beloved Wildcats trounced like that in a long time. I, too, was stunned, but for a different reason?I hadn?t been in a casino without a sports book for even longer. I couldn?t bet the game.
Sports betting is illegal in Indiana, as it is in almost every state except Nevada. So, although I wasn?t surprised by it, I was still acutely aware of the absence of a sports book. It wasn?t the only difference I encountered.
Even if I couldn?t bet on the game, I could watch it over a beer at the bar. Unlike many Native American casinos outside Nevada, the riverboats all serve alcohol. And, as is my custom, I decided to play some video poker to get the beer comped. I fed $20 into a video poker machine and ordered a Heineken.
?Three-fifty, sir,? the bartender said.
?Three-fifty what?? I responded. ?I?m playing.?
?You have to pay anyway,? he said. ?It?s against the law to comp drinks in Indiana.?
Whoa!
We take it for granted here, but the most potent comp a regular guy can get in Las Vegas is free alcohol. Play a roll, get a drink. It?s that simple. In fact, most bars and casinos keep passing out the free booze as long as you?re actively playing the machine. That means if you get lucky and hit a big hand early, you can enjoy several complimentary cocktails on a $10 bill.
On the other hand, of course, play your credits all the way down to zero and you might think, ?That was a great way to get a $10 beer.? Let?s break down the numbers.
First, we have to determine the value of the comp. This varies, depending on what you drink and where you drink it. Let?s use the $3.50 I was charged on the riverboat. Now you?re confronted with this choice: A) pay $3.50 for the cocktail, or B) buy a $10 roll of quarters and play video poker. The result is obvious if you pay. How about if you play?
The cost to play depends on several things, as you?ll see, but the first consideration is the pay schedules on the games available. The bar I was at in Indiana had 9/6 Jacks or Better. This is an excellent schedule, but you don?t figure to find it in many bars, so let?s assume something more reasonable?say 7/5 Bonus, which has a 2 percent casino advantage. That 2 percent edge applies to every hand you play, which means that for each max-coin bet ($1.25) you make on a 25-cent machine, the house edge earns ... 2.5 cents.
So start counting ?em up. Play a hand, tally -2.5 cents. Play two, -5 cents. And so on. Of course, you?re winning and losing in units of $1.25 as you play, but this is the mathematical way to accurately calculate this proposition.
In reality, all you?re expected to do for your drink is play the roll through one time. That?s eight plays at $1.25 per, which is an accrued expected loss of 20 cents. Would you rather pay 20 cents or $3.50? The economics are clear.
You say it?s cheesy to buy a roll and play it just once. Fine. Play it through twice. Hell, play it through 10 times. You still come out ahead by $1.50. Mathematically, you?d have to play the $10 through 17.5 times?140 hands?to reach the point where it costs you the same $3.50 given the variables discussed here.
Wow! What a deal. Darn right it is, as long as you stay within the parameters outlined, which means not playing so many hands that you exceed the drink?s out-of-pocket cost. And the model gets even stronger as you play better schedules or drink more expensive booze.
Understand that you?ll lose your $10 in many, if not most, sessions. But there?ll also be sessions when you profit. Add them all together and the numbers work out.
Marching to the Million
As I wrote a few weeks ago, I?ve been practicing for the Las Vegas Hilton?s Million Dollar Blackjack Tournament by playing mini tournaments around town. After playing in a dozen of them, and pooling the results with some friends who are also practicing, I?ve lost money in nine and won in three, for a net profit of $475. That?s the nature of many positive-expectation gambling endeavors (including video poker as discussed above). You?ll lose more sessions than you win, but win more money than you lose.
By the time you read this, the winner of the Hilton tournament?and the $1 million first prize?will be decided. Someone?s gonna be pumped. I?ll tell you about it in next week?s column?that is, unless I?m the one partying.
Anthony Curtis is the publisher of The Las Vegas Advisor, as well as several books on gambling. For more information, visit
www.lasvegasadvisor.com.
