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A Strange Reason to be Disappointed

There are some significant restrictions. First, you have to show up on Friday, Saturday or Sunday to collect your cashback. This isn't a problem for us, but it may well be to tourists. Further you are limited to collecting $1,000 in cashback per day. This is not a serious restraint to many people, as only players playing more than $200,000 since the last time they cashed out will reach that amount. Another restriction is the doubling of cashback ends each day when you have played $40,000 through the machine. Again, not a problem for most players.

The game of choice at the Palms depends on the denomination you play. Since Shirley and I like to play for high stakes when available profitably, the game we play there is NSU Deuces Wild. We'll either play $2 Five Play or $5 Triple Play, and it will take us a little over an hour apiece to play $40,000 through the machines. Even with double cash back, the edge is very small at this game, but for stakes this size, any edge at all is rare in Las Vegas today.

Shirley was visiting some relatives in California on the first weekend in June. So at 11:45 p.m. Sunday night, I set out to go play at the Palms. I was planning to put $40,000 of play on each of our cards. Officially it is against casino rules to play on somebody else's slot card, but I have never heard of a casino complaining if somebody plays on their spouse's card.

I took $7,000 with me. This wasn't any scientifically chosen amount. It was just the amount I had on me at the time. After 45 minutes, the money was gone. Swallowed up by the $2 Five Play NSU machines. This was unluckier-than-average to lose this amount so quickly --- but it happens. I wasn't used to $2 Five Play and underestimated the swings.

I was irritated at this. It shouldn't surprise you that someone would be irritated at losing $7,000 in 45 minutes, but perhaps the reason I was irritated will strike you as unusual.

What was irritating was that I had to go home to get more money to play with and then come back! Had I brought more money, I could have continued playing without interruption. Not finishing the $40,000 of play on each card was never an option I even considered. This was the best play in town and I was going to finish. But I lived 20 minutes away, and with parking and what all, the fact that I didn't bring enough cash would end up costing me an hour. It was the loss of an hour that was bothering me.

I probably could have applied for and received a line of credit from the casino. I do have credit at a number of Las Vegas casinos, and most of them belong to an organization called Central Credit, which shares credit information on gamblers among casinos. So even at 1 a.m. in the morning, I probably could have opened an account and gotten cash. But I wasn't in the mood to go through that.

So I spent the hour traveling to my home and back, got more money, and returned. I finished off our $40,000 throughput apiece and went home. I won a little after returning, but still ended up quite a bit minus on the day.

Shirley and I will continue to play this promotion through the end of the month. The fact that we were significantly stuck the first day doesn't affect our judgment that it's the best play in town. And we have learned to bring a bit more cash with us to survive the swings when the game turns sour.

That's it for this week. Until next time, go out and hit a royal flush.