I’m making almost weekly trips to Nevada right now, but unlike every previous year, I’m not playing for much of a profit. They’re simply to match wits with the casinos by collecting freebies as they attempt to wiggle their way through this recession by roping in players to get this stuff – and of course, expecting them to play and lose in the process. In fact, I went Friday and came home overnight Sat., and on Wednesday I’m going right back for two more days of taking casino scalps.

This trip was pretty simple, and the only reason I went, came home, and am going again, is because during this unprecedented and very lucrative giveaway period, I’m not passing up anything that the casinos value as being worth at least $300. Of course, there’s all those luxury hotel rooms and suites that I get showered with as well as shows and meals, but just as I’ve valued none of these things into my overall lifetime winnings report, I don’t consider any of it as being worth anything more than a bonus now either. But because I need a place to stay along with the meals, it’s all merely a means to an end.

Which is where I differ greatly from those who sell strategy for a living. Because they absolutely cannot be perceived as ever losing, they HAVE to claim they always win, and the only way they can do that is by over-valuing all their comps and slot club fluff. Without that, all their video poker paraphernalia would be rotting on the shelves, and they’d have little to no cash to continuously pour into the machines.

I took my wife on this short trip because she had the time, and it was Valentine’s Day weekend. One thing I forgot to figure in was that it was also President’s Day weekend, so the crowds would be much larger than normal – something I’m not fond of. But I adjusted. We arrived at our first of 3 stops Friday afternoon – Planet Hollywood. Here, after checking in, I received $50 in dining along with $150 in free-play.

The dining choice was easy since we both love PF Changs, and as usual, it was excellent. At the Heart Bar I transformed my $150 in play into $200 in cash after playing it through just once. Then I thought of cashing out my points, which I can’t remember doing in quite a while, so I went over to the slot club. After an annoying wait the surprise was $279 in cash, so I took it and got ready to leave.

Again, after the usual annoyingly long wait for my valet-parked car which seems to plague Planet Hollywood, we went over to Caesar’s Palace to spend the night in the Augustus Tower. The next morning I picked up my $300 Forum Shops gift certificate and bought Cindy a pair of gold earrings. After that we drove over to Great Buns Bakery on Tropicana (which is where I always stop when I have the opportunity and am not going to be in town much longer afterwards) and then out to Aliante Station to have lunch and see a movie, which both came off of my comp dollars. That evening around 8pm I met up with a friend from California in Caesar’s Diamond Lounge for a few beers and some interesting chat. After about 4 hours sleep Cindy & I left for home – which is the ONLY time to leave if you’re driving to Phoenix on a Sunday.

So was this a big deal trip or was it really not worth the time? That’s easy. It wasn’t very profitable, it wasn’t very long, and it wasn’t loaded with excitement from start to finish. But it afforded me extra cash in the amount of $479 from Planet Hollywood, we had a few decent meals, and Caesar’s provided my wife with a nice little Valentine’s Day gift. And in just 4 day’s time I’ll be heading right back out to Laughlin & Las Vegas to make good on another round of scooping up all that the various hotel/casinos want to give me just for coming to town. It really IS like taking candy from a baby.

What I’m trying to do is show everyone what good consistent discipline can do even if you are not gambling. People regularly accept and respond to offers that at times seem too good to be true, only to find out that the casino really did know what it was doing all along when they suckered them into the deal.

What do gamblers coming in from out of town normally do after playing their free-play? Yes you got it! They play until it’s gone and then start feeding their own cash into the machines. And it usually doesn’t stop there. The ATM’s see more of these type players than most others – which is one of the reasons why there’s always so many of those things scattered all over the casino floors.

Many of my offers are on account of my high limit play in 2008. I only played for 25 hours, but because I played a lot of Advanced-Romp-Thru-Town (ARTT) much of it was on the high end of $1 thru $25 machines in various casinos. What I’ve proven to myself is that high denominational play counts for much more in the computer generation of offers than does playing lower limits for hour after hour. But again, I do not ever play for the points and/or the comps, and doing so is EXACTLY what the casinos want you to do. Strong players understand this, while weak players go goo-goo over some guru’s blabbing of the joy in getting casino host attention along with a pile of “stuff”. Who would you rather be like?