Grumpy Old Man

Well, so far this week I’ve complained about not having a comfortable place to sit, a cheap meal and a bathtub. I think this officially makes me a grumpy old man! But I’m not through bitching about things in Las Vegas that get on my nerves, so here we go again! You know, the first thing any smart gambler learns is that the odds are against you. Oh sure, you hear about guys who can count cards in Blackjack and find enough advantage plays to win big over the long haul. You hear about video poker pros who play long enough and at a high enough level to earn a living. And, of course there’s the horse player, the oddsmaker or the poker star who figures out how to make gambling pay. Few of us would be willing to put in the work or take the risks these people do. We know we will lose in the long run. We just want to play for a while and have a chance to come out on top. But the casinos don’t even want to give us that! Try to even find a game of 21 on the Strip that pays 3-2 or a halfway decent paytable for Deuces Wild. And don’t even get me started on the one armed bandits! It is one thing to lose $20. It is another to do it without even getting a couple of small hits along the way! Isn’t it enough that we you all have mathematics on your side? And now you want to make sure we are losing fast enough to pay for that “free drink!” There’s an old saying that being penny wise can be pound foolish and too many resorts are penny, nickel and diming their patrons to death. In the end, it will come back to bite them!