tired of driving

[Orangechip2]

What do you do..

What do you do when you get tired of the 100+ mile round trips to your home stores but you are still good to play at them? The obvious answer is pack up and move to Vegas Right ? For months I was AP crazy as I was trying to build my roll before the Fall because of a great opportunity to take advantage of (non casino related) and I have had great success doing so. I was laid off a few months ago and besides my supplemental income from my business AP was my only means of putting food on the table without touching my other investments, saving account, 401k, etc. I would legit camp it out in my car for days at a time when on the road, opposed to paying for a room or taking their offer on a free room because I simply did not know if or when I would get called back to work and was playing it day by day. For a little over 3 months I was banging out anywhere from 2-10 hours a day between 4-5 places each day, and I'd do it all over again the next day and the next day.

Now that I'm back to work and I have a steady paycheck coming in every other Tuesday I feel as if the AP supplemental doesn't support my prior lifestyle.. well at least not traveling far distances, but the money I would not shoe away. I had no problem paying for a room 3-4 months ago, but once I seen how much I saved in travel expenses monthly by not paying that money for a room made me think a lot different. I would understand if I felt this way after taking a huge hit to my roll, or if the job was paying a shit ton more than it originally was, but thats not the case at all. I'm actually working less hours weekly now, and have a bit further commute to work.

idk. My partner says I'm going through a change of events in my life, which has caused me to distance myself from the game. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here feeling as if I lost 90% of my roll and my next move to the casino would have to be someone else driving and consist of some very comfy seats in a car.. I think it may be that im just burnt out form so much driving.. iDK?

has anyone ever experienced anything similar to this? If so, how did you over come your stubbornness? Obviously if you got your roll crushed it'd make sense to take a break while rebuilding.. My case in hand is this: I put so much time, effort, and money into learning how to count, then the indices, and then all the other small things that were applicable to the games I regularly play. Now I'm just like ehh, screw BJ or any other AP plays that may arise, I'd rather sit home, skim the forum, play some poker online and drink a few beers while watching life pass me by - opposed to driving about 2 hours in a car..


sorry for an typos; I wanted to get post out before I zonked out for the night.

[biggg]

The travel is the toughest part for me as well other than maybe some of the random admin stuff I have to do to get action down. Moving to vegas is not the answer if your main game is bj, the heat is unreal, there are still great other opportunities though.

[ZeeBabar]

Two hours in a car is not that much if you have a car you enjoy, good music and friends to chat with via Bluetooth while driving. However, if you live in the car after you get to your destination, then yes you could get sick of driving. Motivation is easier if you like what you are doing but if the casino environment or BJ bores you, if you do not reward yourself with a portion of your wins, etc.

maybe you can decide on a % of each trip win to splurge, how you would splurge and that may motivate you. An AP friend says that he spends 10% of his trip win. If 10% is under $100, it could be a dinner or clothes, if it's more, it could be anything from a pair of boots, to wheels for his car or a massage or whatever.

[blackjackomaha]

I've experienced somewhat-similar feelings. 3 years ago, my teammate and I were forced to start driving a minimum of 5 hours round-trip if we wanted to continue playing. The first few 6-8 months were exciting -- plenty of new casinos and opportunities, right? The extra income supplemented the normal job's earnings nicely. Our playing style evolved and we learned a lot. We constantly looked for cheap hotels (or Airbnb), packed food in the car so we wouldn't have to spend extra, and yes, occasionally caught a few hours of sleep in the car. Gas (back when it was near $4 gallon), hotel, and food were manageable expenses, given the AP income.

After the first year, my wife expressed that she wasn't happy with the amount of time I was spending away from home, even when she accompanied us for a weekend vacation at some of the resorts. I was taking new jobs at home and my commitments began to grow. In addition to that, fatigue slowly set in with being gone every other weekend Friday-Sun, on top of the typical M-F work week. The extra cash was good, but we started to feel it might not be worth all the time and effort. I began focusing on my regular job more and more, and have arrived at a point in my life where my new job's earnings can no longer justify the time traveling and playing, unless it is a very lucrative opportunity. I didn't think I would reach this point in my life this quickly.

I now find myself traveling a couple of times every few months, and half of that time is devoted to scouting since I've become pickier about the opportunities I play. Work/family consumes the majority of my time and I have no monetary need to force myself to AP.

It's all about balance. For me, the tipping point was when my wife wanted me home more. The fatigue and lack of need made the decision to travel less, much easier.

My advice -- take a few weeks, maybe even a month or two, off of AP if you don't need the income. R&R does wonders! Slowly get back to traveling. I still get a "rush" when jumping in the car for the first time for a weekend trip, but nowadays, prefer to plan time off of work where I can travel for 7-10 days. If the location happens to be near a casino or two (and most are), then I'll devote some time to playing.

Hope this helps. You're not alone -- there are plenty of times where it sounds more fun to get a local poker game going, drink a few beers, and BS with friends.

[Dieter]

What do you do when you get tired of the 100+ mile round trips to your home stores but you are still good to play at them?

I'm looking to partner with a degenerate. There are enough regulars I see at "home" at about the same times, so I think I can work something out with one of them. Either take turns driving (I drive this trip, he the next), or gas money, or...

There's a particular run I used to do once a week. It's about a 300 mile loop. There's another 350 mile loop I do occasionally.

They made sense to do solo back before they restructured the mailers. (Used to basically cover gas, dinner, plus put a hundred bucks in my pocket - a better evening than watching reruns.) Now, it doesn't make sense without a partner.

The 100 mile round trip to the local place, the mailers still cover dinner for the family every week. No problem dragging them out for seafood and cashing out some free money.


I'm considering taking a casino tour bus from time to time. The usual trick seems to be getting the fare back as free play, so it's almost like a free trip there and back. Not sure if the tour bus ID button will act as cover or not.

[SiMi]

Hi, OC2!

Great post! Thanks for sharing!!

I get tired of driving, too and there are many times I have to push myself to get in the car and go. I have started listening to books on "tape" from my phone while I drive and that has helped a lot. Also, my brother-in-law has a Westfalia camper van I can borrow that allows me to grab a nap and a snack or pull over-nighters at certain places without having to get a room. This is a pretty cool way to go if you can swing it.

Best of luck!
SiMi

[Avincow]

I've been playing for a year now, and I've actually been feeling the same way recently. I'm not exactly in the most convenient location, so it's 5 hour round trip for me at the minimum. The driving gets to you. To make it worth it, I gotta leave Friday night and come back Sunday night. No time for friends or family on casino weekends. I used to go like 2-4 times a month, but as others have said, there's no time to rest after working Monday thru Friday. Unless I move to a more convenient location, I think I might keep this thing to once a month, and the occasional Las Vegas trip

[Fireman]

I enjoyed reading the posts on this thread. Dealing with work and family obligations are factors that may not be taken into consideration by the new AP. About the driving, I usually drive alone and this can be draining. I have brought friends and family members on some trips and they drove, but there are some cons to doing this. Simi's van seems like a comfortable option for him. For now, I may just stick with good coffee ( I am a coffee fanatic) and good music during the ride.

[Freightman]

I fully understand that the new card counter is constrained by bankroll for both bet ramps as well as absorbing travel expenses.

For myself, I like to play rested and clean. That means, at the very least, a secure room (remember, you're carrying a bankroll) fresh shower - Don't have to dressed to the nines - just clean and comfortable. I play my best when I'm rested and comfortable. I would try to disuade anyone from sleeping in their car, playing unshowered, and fed from the MacDonalds drive thru.

[Midwest Player]

Try for some discretionary comps. Most casinos send out their regular monthly comps for free rooms or reduced room rates. However, these may be only for one free night a month and another comp for a reduced rate. The coupons I receive are not enough to cover my hotel expenses, but I do get a lot of discretionary comps that make it worth while to stay the night and not spend over 2 hours driving home.

Find out who has the authority to comp rooms. It might be a host or a shift manager. Heck, I have even approached the general manager of the whole casino for comps. Make deals with them. Say you don't need house keeping, just a room to stay. On a three night stay say you are willing to pay for one night if they comp the other nights. Then I tell them I want the coupon rate on the night I'm paying for.

I usually do this by phone before I even head out to the casino. On my Wendover trips, I usually find a casino near a flight city and make a deal. The last time I did this I had to pay only half price, but the time before I got the room for free.

So far this year I have 26 hotel stays at my local casino and only paid $121. That comes only to $4.65 a stay. I use comp points earned from my play, regular casino comps, and discretionary comps. When I combine them all my hotel expenses are quite inexpensive.

[bigplayer]

I commuted 14 hours each way 1x to 2x a month to Cincinnati for a while when the Evil Empire was dishing out the marketing dollars to do redemptions. Travel is part of the job. Sattelite Radio, USB Stick loaded with MP3's, books on tape, etc can give you something to do to take your mind off the trip. 100 miles is nothing.

[Orangechip2]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. For the record I have the nice brand new car, the satellite radio, the big comfy bed to sleep in to make sure I can get a good nights sleep before planning a day of travels to work or the casinos, a nice quiet home (no pets or children) and all that jazz. It's honestly just asking alot for me to get in the car and travel out of my way anymore. Making the drive just isn't the same- I'd surely make the drive for 3x my hourly typical EV/ but I'm not ready for a near 99% ROR. My partner who has made good money playing with me is always in my ear like lets go, quit being lazy!! She's even gone as far as questioning if I was in some type of financial hardship that she didn't know about.


100 miles is cake for a lot of people .. but when you drive to work more than 100 miles one way, a minimum of 24 days a month after working long 8-14 hour days it gets tough man. And trust me im not much of a "*****er". Ive since been cut down on hours daily which I'm not complaining about because my business is doing great.

I talked to an old buddy earlier in the day, before I remembered to check the feedback that you guys left on here, which I knew would be great stuff, as always, and he suggested I play with a biger bet spread then I typically use when I decide to get out again.. Now this guy is not an AP by ANY means but has full faith in me .. being he has seen me turn legit a few thousand dollars into a really pretty situation and not to mention he has offered to stake me a gazillion times when I would take my occasional breaks to get back to my minimum threshold (starting point). He is also aware of my financial situation and my most recent very nice +EV move that I made to my business.

Which leads me to my question: if I were a green to mid black player, would it make sense to 'up my max bet' considering I am steadily increasing my roll and currently have nothing coming out of my roll but money going in? Now for my scenario you have to take in mind that for the last 7 weeks my play has been nearly none however, for that duration of time I still always had money out and in - being I had 2 people logging upper 20-35 hours weekly. So my roll was still taking small gains, and also small jabs at the same time - but I never stop adding to my roll. Well, that has since been shut down. Now my money is sitting in a pile and taking 0 risk - but still making my occasional gains considering I am still adding to it on a weekly and sometimes when things are really good a daily basis.

Before you guys start posting your opinions (which I always appreciate) on why I should/should not consider playing ahigher level when I finally get the motivation to step out, let me say this: I understand the difference in a 'trip roll' and n0. If I were to travel to play I would only be playing at that level for say 6-10 hours a day and fly back home 2 days after being out of town - so 20 hours tops at the black level - would that make sense at all to give it a go? I know my roll is not equipped for blacks as my waiting bet, however, for a 20 hour time frame, getting even the worst of negative variation I think I could give it an educated shot if I had a ton of deep cut games and a strong wong out.. Again, this was just an option from a buddy and I figured id switch a few things up and toss the idea around on here.

[Bodarc]

OC I think you'll get conflicting advice and I don't see how anyone other than yourself can make that decision, especially with no information. The best thing to do would be to pull up CVCX, run your game at that bet level, key in your trip hours and look at 'Expected Results' from playing that game, at that level for that period of time. Then you can determine if you are willing to accept the two or three level probability of results.