Playing Trip Daily Schedule

[max85]

I have another trip coming up and I would like to rectify errors made on my previous trips in respect to lack of records and playing the same shops on the same shifts.

I have put together a spreadsheet of all playable games throughout Vegas however I was interested to see examples of how you structure you daily play or listen to suggestions.

For example, there are 24 playable games on the strip alone, so would YOU break them down to 1 hour sessions (depending on a multitude of factors) and setup a schedule like the following:

Monday

10am - 11am - Casino 1
11:30am - 12:30pm - Casino 2
1pm - 2pm - Casino 3

And so on

Or would you setup your daily schedule based on Shifts? If so what are the shift time in Vegas? Are they:

12pm - 8pm DAY

8pm - 4am SWING

4am - 12pm GRAVE I would appreciate how you would recommend structuring your day to maximise playing hours, minimise travel time to ultimately maximise EV.

PM if required.

Thank you

[RS]

IMO, set it up like the second one. Chances are, you're not going to be in a store for exactly 60 minutes and travelling for exactly 30 minutes between stores. Pick a chunk of stores you wanna hit, look on google-maps for travelling between stores, and average 45-60mins per session, or however long you think it'll take. From there, you can estimate it'll take you about 6 hours to hit 5 stores (or whatever you come up with).

After all, it's hard to stay on schedule - and there will be times when you finish a shift early, or other times you won't be able to get that last session in on a shift you want.

[nicetrades200303]

Max,

You will usually not be able to follow a fixed schedule. Your schedule depends on what happens on your sessions, and you make adjustments accordingly.

Generally, casinos have three shifts: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (shift one); 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. (shift two); 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. (shift three); with a few other shifts straggle in between. If I don't hit casino A for a substantial amount, I will play on all shifts. If, however, I hit casino A, say Caesar's Palace, for $6000 on one shift, I am not going back to that casino on any shift. That one is off the list for the trip.

I schedule my plays so that no two consecutive shifts hit the same chain. For example, if I've just finished a big shoe (either win or loss) at Aria, I will not immediately go to an MGM store. It would have to be another chain. Schedule your plays to hit one chain after the other in close proximity to each other.

As far as records go, be sure to go to the bathroom or your car and note the start and finish time of each session, win/loss (especially significant ones), and special notes about floor people and dealers. For example, floorperson Mike stands next to the table and watches game; or dealer Shannon yells "checks play" at $100 in greens. Don't trust your mind to remember; you will forget.

[Roscoe]

I'd strictly observe a consistent bed time, whatever the normal time happens to be. For endurance, and health, and increased mental sharpness. Of course if one's visiting from Australia, then there's the jet lag; but stick with a strict bed time. There's a fallacy of getting away with playing all night, somehow recovering from this, and thereby out producing boring go-to-bed ontime players, but a consistent bed time goes a long way to getting the most mental power into the games.
Disruption in sleep schedules reduces thinking efficiency.

[max85]

thanks for the comments fellas. i would prefer a plan of attack. ill develop a rough plan at the start of each day or actually the end of each day for the next days play, while the info is fresh and record the days win/loss & comments.

[Shadowless]

Note: floors and dealers sometimes have overtime on weekends or busy days if there are a shortage of dealers/floors pushing from the next shift.
This is rare, but something to keep in mind. The maximum shift allowed is 12 hours.

[ZeeBabar]

Making a plan is an excellent idea to determine if your are a businessman or an addict. The later make plans but abandon them within hours of landing in Las Vegas. You lie down to sleep at your regular time, twist and turn, convince yourself you are not sleepy, could go down for another hour of play and you change your schedule.

I am a basketball junkie and in some cases, plays are called by the coach, planned ahead and others where a coach wants his players to be more instinctive, let's the players and point guard make plays as they see it. You go with a plan or you trust yourself to have the discipline to play as long as you are not tired and leave for bed when you are tired.