What were the circumstances and how did it make you feel?
I’m asking this question because I am preparing myself for a short trip to Vegas in 2 weeks. This will be my first time in Vegas (OK, technically I was there once with my parents when I was 18 but all I could do was play video games at the arcade. This will be my first time as a 21+ adult).
I have a very strict (and modest) gambling budget that I wouldn’t consider going over for any reason. I wouldn’t bet what I can’t afford to lose, and I’m fully prepared to spend the full budget in the name of fun. So I have no worries about that. But I’d still love to hear your tales of woe and triumph.
Also, the holier-than-thou crowd who would feel the urge to reply to this post with “None, because I never gamble! cackles at own moral superiority” can kindly lay down the keyboard and walk away.
I’m not a big gambler. Took too many probability math classes in college, on top of a basic belief that I’m not going to make it big, so take my experience for what it’s worth.
Decide your budget. When I go out drinking in Tokyo, I’ll expect to spend $80 to $150 on a fun night, and that’s just some food and drinks. I’ll go golfing and will spend $200 on a day, so when I go to Vegas, then I’ll plan on somewhere along those lines. For me it’s $100 to $250. Just think of it as entertainment.
It seems silly to me to spend more, but I’ve got friends who will lose up to $1500. Sometimes he will make more money that I do, but I’ll never lose as much as he will.
I dropped about $2500 in a barracks poker game back in 68-69. That’s be about 14 grand in today’s dollars. I won around half of it back the next night. When I returned to the states, a few months later, I was up around 4 grand.
Back in the mid eighties I lost about 3 grand in Vegas and another time, in Wendover, NV. I started w/ a couple hundred and was up to almost 4 thousand, I lost all of it before the night was over. All this playing blackjack or poker.
About 30 years ago, I had a regular poker school with my mates. I was a student, so budgeted £5 ($10) for the evening (roughly equal to a week’s entertainment).
On the second hand of the all-night session (5 card draw) I drew a full house, bet all my money … and lost to 4 of a kind. :eek:
They offered to ‘take my marker’, but I refused. I ate the nibbles, watched the game, read the host’s books and even dozed a little until the sun came up and I got my lift home.
I am so happy (and smug :o ) about my self-control!
If you consider Bingo gambling, I won a brand new car. 1984 Chevy Cavalier with a suggested retail value of about $4200. I was unemployed at the time and could not afford the $800 for taxes and licensing so the dealer gave me $2500 and I “sold” the car back to him.
Most I ever lost was $400 on a card game called Acey Deucy. There was $400 on the table and I had an Ace-King laid down for me. I bet the pot and the next card was another ace. A few plays later a cousin cleared the pot and everyone decided the game was getting to expensive so we stopped.
I found £15.84 in an online gambling account that I forgot I had.
This worked out as the exact amount it would take to back 4 horses in a Yankee (11 bets at £1.44 a piece).
All 4 of them came in and I got a return of £684. £600 went into my Bank Account and was spent on Christmas presents. The remaining £84 was gambled up to around £200 before I eventually lost it all.
I can successfully eke out small profits all day in online poker or horse racing, but I’ve gotten lucky a few times.
The most of I’ve won in one day is ~$3500 betting on several horse races on May 1, 2004 including the Kentucky Derby (thanks Smarty Jones, Smile N Wildcat, and Stroll). I had won a couple hundred during my previous visit to a horse race so I decided to my bet my profits on Derby day. What did I do with the money? Let’s just say it was a relaxing summer between my 3rd and forth year of college.
I won almost that much in one day on May 12, 2005 playing online poker. Most of it came from winning first place in a $10 tourney on PokerStars that had ~1280 entrants. That was also a good summer.
I don’t think I’ve ever lost more than $75 in a day to gambling. At that point, I get too pissed to desire to continue gambling for a while.
One night playing blackjack in Detroit, I started with $500. I got terrible cards for the first few hours, getting down to my last $10 chip at one point. I fought back over the next few hours and ended up leaving with $2300. This is my favorite gambling story.
A few months ago, I entered a $100 Texas Hold 'em tournament that allowed unlimited rebuys for the first hour. We had 53 players, most playing recklessly. I rebought once and took the add-on. I ended in 7th place and took home $800.
The most I ever won was actually in a free entry slot tournament – 3K. It was a regular weekly tournament, with varying winning amounts, and the following week my husband won it for 2K. When we got home from his win, it being April 1st, my daughter wouldn’t believe he’d won until she went back that evening and saw the money being counted into his hand.
The following year, two weeks after he was laid off, he won 8K in a free entry video poker tournament. Since he was laid off for four months, needless to say the timing was more than a little perfect!
I think the biggest amount I’ve won when I was actually betting money on it was around $750 from a video poker royal flush.
We hit Vegas with some regularity, and so far have managed to come out ahead most trips. My personal record for a single session was a $1500 win at blackjack at an Indian casino. The wife has hit an Indian slot machine for $1700 once. Other than that, we tend to win in smaller increments…$200 a trip or so. So long as we come out ahead for the year, we’re good. Plus, we haven’t had to pay for a hotel room in Vegas in years.
The most I’ve ever won was $4000. The most I’ve ever lost was $4000. Both were while playing blackjack. I have lost $4000 two separate times, once over two days, and once in 20 minutes or so. I have won $4000 only once. ($4000 is my blackjack limit, win or lose.)
If you ask a gambler if they are ahead or behind over the course of a lifetime most will say they are just a little behind or they are ahead. I think many of them are fudging it a bit. Naturally, I maintain that my answer is an honest estimation, but you can take it or leave it. Considering only blackjack (as I have done very little “real” gambling other than blackjack) I would estimate that I am down about $1000 lifetime.
This is very true - when did you last hear a gambler say “I lose regularly”?
Consider that the Casinos in Vegas have to pay salaries (dealers, pit bosses, security, cleaners, receptionists etc), running costs of the building and repay the mortgage - entirely out of gambling profits.
I generally keep my stakes small. My gambling budget for a day at the track or a few hours in a casino is usually about $50. I figure if that disappears, it’s time to either leave, or tell my still-gambling friends I’ll be waiting for them in the bar. I must say, some casinos and racetracks have very nice bars in which to wait.
Still, even with small stakes, I’ve had some nice things happen. My best win on a single horse race was $280. I’ve walked up to a crap table with $5 and left twenty minutes later with $150. One quarter in a slot machine has yielded $50. They’re not big wins, but they’re wins–and the way I see it, any time you quit on the plus side of the ledger, you’re a winner no matter the amount.
