VIDEO POKER

The High Price of Water

One day we played for a few hours after lunch because it was a multiple-point day for us. When it was time to go home, Shirley commented that it was warm enough that she wanted a fresh bottle of water for the trip.

"Okay," I said. "We'll just wait until the cocktail waitress comes by and she'll bring us two bottles for free."

"It's not free," she reminded me. "You always tip her and if we get some water from the gift shop we can use our points and we both have more points than we know what to do with anyway."

"Can't do that. Using points for water is like paying for it. And it's distasteful to me to pay for something we can get for free."

So we continued to play. As it happened it was longer than average before the cocktail waitress got there and we lost $900 waiting for our "free" water. Shirley was not amused. She mumbled quite a bit on the way home, "Why can't you just buy things like regular people do? I would have been a lot cheaper."

"Regular people don't win as much as we do. We could have hit some quads and been ahead. We were playing 10/7 Double Bonus, where we have a small advantage, and getting lots of points for it --- which makes it a bigger advantage. The fact that we lost this time is no big deal."

Shirley knows all of this in her mind. But in her soul she has a tough time accepting it. The good results she accepts as her due. When the bad results happen, she looks for something we could have done differently. And in those cases, what we COULD have done differently turns into, she believe we SHOULD have done.

Shirley's feelings are very understandable --- but they are not conducive to winning at gambling. Winning gamblers make the decision BEFOREHAND about what the best play is, and then accept the results hell or high water. If the play makes sense before you know the final result, it makes sense afterwards too.

So now the question is, does it make sense to play extra to get "free" water? When I started playing video poker in 1994, I had a bankroll of about $6,000 --- and living expenses had to come out of that too. At that time of my life, I was cashing coupons right and left and every 50¢ mattered. Although my physical survival wasn't at stake, I hated the idea of having to go and get a job. I wanted to "make it in Vegas," no matter what it took. My personal "rules," then, supported this goal --- and "never pay for a meal or a drink in a casino" was such a rule.

I am fortunate to be in a very different financial situation now. I'm still basically thrifty, but watching every 50¢ is no longer necessary. So if my choice was to tip a buck for two waters, or buy two waters for $1.50 each using comp dollars, the answer isn't obvious. It depends on how much time I have and a lot of other factors. The rule of "never pay for a meal or a drink in a casino" is no longer iron-clad. Spending an extra two bucks on water is an acceptable option today, although it never was when I started.

But if we do decide to play, second-guessing the decision just because we lost today is still a fruitless thing to do.