Via the Caesars Total Rewards Card I use in Hammond, the Horseshoe sent me a booklet with 15 coupons for $30 in slot play, each good for a different day in December. To give you an idea of the perks even semi-regular players can expect, I saved the mailings I received for December and January from the Horseshoe Hammond in Indiana and Rivers Casino in Des Plaines. Play awhile at blackjack and the pit boss might set you up with a meal or a show ticket. Sign up for a free rewards card and put several hundred bucks into play and you’ll get these offers, too, even if you win.īefore computers tracked every nickel wagered, complimentary items, or comps, at casinos were doled out at management discretion.

Two things make it all better: I win money when I play poker, and those blackjack (and slots) losses prompt casinos to send me all sorts of special offers. Besides, I love hanging out with Lucky Shoes, we don’t hit the tables often, and I never lose more than I can afford. I keep at it, though, thinking my luck surely will change this time. Now blackjack is a streaky game, but this streak is ridiculous. When I hit the casino ATM only one time during these outings, I consider it a victory. Whichever seat I choose is the bad-mojo seat. But for the past few years, Lucky Shoes either breaks even or cleans up during our outings while I get taken to the cleaners. I follow Lucky Shoes’ lead in raising and lowering my bets, and strictly adhere to basic blackjack strategy. This person, whom we’ll call Lucky Shoes, gravitates to the more expensive tables because they offer slightly better odds.

A person who tempts me out to one of our fine area casinos two or three times a year to play $25-a-hand blackjack, and perhaps some dollar slots. My leak isn’t so much a game as it is a person. Leaks are bad because they can quickly drain one’s wallet after hours spent nursing, say, a hundred-dollar buy-in at the $1–$2 no-limit hold-’em table. It’s often another table game that sucks them in as they pass by on the long walk from the card room to the casino exit.

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