slot players look
with envy on the high rollers who are wined, dined,
courted and pampered. The medium rollers wish they
could eat in the gourmet rooms and not just in the
cafes and that their free rooms were available on
the weekends and not just Sunday through Thursday.
The low rolling players want to graduate from buffets
to cafes and want a free room Sunday through Thursday.
Like America, casinos
sell the dream of being upwardly mobile. How is
mobility achieved in the casino class structure?
Bet bigger. Play longer. Show them your money! And,
of course, many players do just that. They so desire
the accompanying glory of being in a higher echelon
of players that they will play for stakes they can’t
afford. That is a mistake every bit as stupid, every
bit as dangerous, as buying a car the payments for
which you can’t make! So what happens? The
car buyer loses his car and his dignity while the
casino player loses his money and his self-worth.
Let me ask you this:
If you can’t really afford the stakes involved,
is it worth losing hundreds of dollars to get a
free meal in a cafe and a free stay during the week?
Is it really worth losing thousands to get a gourmet
meal and a suite? Of course not!
The players who bet
beyond their means are players who will very shortly
find themselves unable to play their favorite games.
For example, if your total gambling bankroll is
$1,200 and you insist on placing the 6 and 8 for
$120 each in order to impress the pit boss who is
rating your play, you’ll be broke very soon
if a few shooters seven-out in relatively short
order. If you have $1,200 as a total stake, consider
yourself a $5 player. Divide that stake into 10
equal session stakes of $120 each and never bet
more than, say, $6 on the 6 and 8. You might not
get the great comps. You might not get the glory.
You might not even be noticed. But you will give
yourself plenty of bang for the bucks that you can
afford. It is far better to be a player who can
play than to be a “rated” player who can’t
because he went belly up. By way of analogy, if
you can’t afford that book for $28.95, it’s
not a bad thing to take it out of your local library.
Gambling
Within Your Means
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