Local casino vs. traveling

[Avincow]

how much time/money are you willing to invest in traveling to a casino that is far away? Let's consider the typical leave on Friday, come back on Sunday model. We can also consider leaving on Thursday and/or returning on Monday.

I lucked out with my local casinos, so I am finding it difficult to justify good reasons to spend more time in the car when I could actually be playing. I know that there are casinos with s17 and surrender, but i would need to spend an extra 2 hours to get there (4 hours total for round trip). And plus I don't know if the penetration is as good as what I got right now. I haven't ran any numbers yet, but it seems that I can just play a little longer at the local joints and then be back home on Sunday mid afternoon, so I can unwind a little bit before work on Monday. Wheras if I am traveling further to play, I probably won't get back home on Sunday until 11:00 pm which is kind of rough.

And I tried to look into flying to different places. Well I can find cheap flights, but by the time I figure in car rental and hotels, the cost just becomes too great. The only travel destination that makes sense is vegas when I can get a good deal on the flight. In Vegas I don't need a car and the rooms are cheap/comped.

[BigJer]

Well one issue is how many other casinos are there in the area you wish to which you would travel. Also depending on your playing level you might be able to get airfare or travel expenses reimbursed. Don't forget free rooms depending upon where the casino is. Also to consider, is at your local casino Is it worth it to stay overnight; cost, etc.

For example, for me it's a 3 1/4 hours drive to Reno. However at one of the places I can stay at free, for two nights, they also give out a coupon for 50 cents off a gallon at their gas station. So that saves me some traveling money. And with the free beverages and food it's like an RFB comp. Also there are other places I can stay at for free. So if you want to take a short vacation with perhaps better rules then drive the two hours. Besides you do have to see what the pen is on that S17 game.

But you did mention you have local joint(s). Depending on the number it might make it worth for you to just stay local.

[Orangechip2]

how much time/money are you willing to invest in traveling to a casino that is far away? Let's consider the typical leave on Friday, come back on Sunday model. We can also consider leaving on Thursday and/or returning on Monday.

I lucked out with my local casinos, so I am finding it difficult to justify good reasons to spend more time in the car when I could actually be playing. I know that there are casinos with s17 and surrender, but i would need to spend an extra 2 hours to get there (4 hours total for round trip). And plus I don't know if the penetration is as good as what I got right now. I haven't ran any numbers yet, but it seems that I can just play a little longer at the local joints and then be back home on Sunday mid afternoon, so I can unwind a little bit before work on Monday. Wheras if I am traveling further to play, I probably won't get back home on Sunday until 11:00 pm which is kind of rough.

And I tried to look into flying to different places. Well I can find cheap flights, but by the time I figure in car rental and hotels, the cost just becomes too great. The only travel destination that makes sense is vegas when I can get a good deal on the flight. In Vegas I don't need a car and the rooms are cheap/comped.

If your trip is only 4 hours travel time in a car, I'd take a car. Traveling at only 60MPH in a vehicle that gets even 22MPG you'd only be purchasing ~22 gallons of gas for the round trip, not including the amount of traveling you would do once you got to your destination. I assume you wouldn't use your personal vehicle once in your desired location for obvious reasons, that may or may not apply to you. So, if that’s the case, you then would be forced to pay for taxi's; Depending on the travel/traffic this could get expensive. On the bright side, you'd only be buying 22 gallons of gas at ~$2.45 a gal. that means you'd only have ~$54 invested in your round trip, no baggage fee(s), chance of layovers, and you get to get up and leave town when you want. I’ve planned trips where I wanted to be back home at Sunday night, but didn’t make it until Monday afternoon sometime and vise versa.




I flew thinking I'd save money a ton of times. But after food, baggage fee's, rental car, taxi, hotel fee’s, time lost due to weather in an airport on multiple occasions, etc., I ended up spending more. I've taken multiple 6-7 hour one way car trips in a single month, and the prior month all I did was fly. My travel fee's for the flying month were significantly more expensive, but the BJ games offered were better, and I was flying all the way across the country, so driving was never an option considering the fact that I had a similar work schedule as you mentioned, 5 on, 2 off.


Since you said you were looking to leave Thurs/Fri and return around Sunday you may run into weekend traffic, espically if your playing in a city.


Hope this helps out,OC.

[Midwest Player]

how much time/money are you willing to invest in traveling to a casino that is far away? Let's consider the typical leave on Friday, come back on Sunday model. We can also consider leaving on Thursday and/or returning on Monday.

I lucked out with my local casinos, so I am finding it difficult to justify good reasons to spend more time in the car when I could actually be playing. I know that there are casinos with s17 and surrender, but i would need to spend an extra 2 hours to get there (4 hours total for round trip). And plus I don't know if the penetration is as good as what I got right now. I haven't ran any numbers yet, but it seems that I can just play a little longer at the local joints and then be back home on Sunday mid afternoon, so I can unwind a little bit before work on Monday. Wheras if I am traveling further to play, I probably won't get back home on Sunday until 11:00 pm which is kind of rough.

And I tried to look into flying to different places. Well I can find cheap flights, but by the time I figure in car rental and hotels, the cost just becomes too great. The only travel destination that makes sense is vegas when I can get a good deal on the flight. In Vegas I don't need a car and the rooms are cheap/comped.

I feel it is almost always better to play your local casinos if you can. The problem is that once you lose a local casino it is probably gone for good. A lot depends on a casino's tolerance level and your betting level, but I have lost nearby casinos with just betting at the red chip level. I do think it is good to visit other casinos once in a while especially if it is only a couple more hours drive.

I don't know where you live, but if you live near a flight city that flies to Wendover that is a good deal. You may have to pay for your first flight, but after that you can often qualify for free flights. The only problem with Wendover is if you live a far way from a flight city it might not be worth it. You don't need a car in Wendover, and rooms are part of your flight package. It is easy to earn enough comps to cover your meals.

[Three]

When I was worried about travel expenses being too big a chunk of my EV, I would look to cut travel expenses by casino incentives or stopping in when I would be driving by anyway so there was no travel expenses. You can look into casino junkets. If you want longevity at your local casino you are going to need to spread your action around to some other places. If expenses cut too much into your EV then you must figure a way to cut expenses. I guess you could share the road trip expenses with some others.

[LVBear584]

A good suggestion was made above by Midwest Player. It should be noted that Wendover has the best blackjack games in the country, but it is necessary to learn single deck play to be able to take full advantage of them. Links that might be of help to those thinking of Wendover:

https://wendoverfun.com/flights/

http://www.bj21.com/bj_reference/pag...election.shtml

[Freightman]

I feel it is almost always better to play your local casinos if you can. The problem is that once you lose a local casino it is probably gone for good. A lot depends on a casino's tolerance level and your betting level, but I have lost nearby casinos with just betting at the red chip level. I do think it is good to visit other casinos once in a while especially if it is only a couple more hours drive.

I don't know where you live, but if you live near a flight city that flies to Wendover that is a good deal. You may have to pay for your first flight, but after that you can often qualify for free flights. The only problem with Wendover is if you live a far way from a flight city it might not be worth it. You don't need a car in Wendover, and rooms are part of your flight package. It is easy to earn enough comps to cover your meals.

If you are fortunate enough to travel on business, and with time flexibility, incorporate bj play with your business activity. I have, on numerous occasions, set up Monday morning meetings in different cities, driving the relatively short distance on a Saturday morning, playing all weekend as well as Monday, sometimes Tuesday as well, returning Tuesday or early Wednesday morning without missing a beat. Last month, I planned a 4 day trip, spending only 100 for a room in a small city, and with an additional comped 3 day stay in a different city. $25 per day average is affordable for any budget. My only expense over and above were meals, and half of those were comped.

[Avincow]

I have traveled to places within a 5 hour radius. The 4 to 1 ratio for ev to expenses seems to be good, I think I can keep it to that if I drive. The problem is the time wasted in the car. We're talking 10 hours in the car. The drive over there is fine, as I can stop at other casinos along the way over friday/saturday. Driving back on Sunday is always a bummer. Plus all that time wasted when I could be playing or relaxing. I think there's some good places in a 7 mile radius (as in they have single deck), but not sure if I can survive that drive! I guess I will keep it to 5 hour radius for now. There's some places that are way out of the way which I have never been to. Maybe I should explore these places since the less traveled places could be lucrative.

Airfare+car rental is kind of tough on my budget. Hard for me to justify flying over driving, and I don't believe i can get travel expenses comped. I have a hard enough time getting a buffet out of some of these places. Midwest, thanks a bunch for the tip on Wendover, that place looks awesome! And the flight package is very affordable. Is there any sort of similar programs for other places? I always wanted to go to Reno (well ever since I got into blackjack that is). Heck, the whole state of Nevada looks pretty good to me.

LVBear, Thanks for that link on single deck rounds. The few times I played single deck in Las Vegas, I was thinking in terms of penetration instead of rounds. Now I feel silly for playing 2 rounds per shuffle at Cortez (not that I was actually playing seriously over there anyway). Have any other good links for single deck that I should know about?

And playing blackjack on business trips is a good idea (already way ahead of you on that one!). On a few of business trips, a casino was only an hour away, so I would play everyday after work. And then on the weekends I would travel to some casinos further away. Flight/car rental/meals/hotel paid for! I only had to pay for gas. Unfortunately, no business trips for me for a while...

[ZeeBabar]

If you are not concerned with getting backed off in the local casino, then I understand your views. I am in a similar situation where I have a local casino with 5 minutes of my work and home and I have about 5 casinos in a large city about 2 hours away. Even if the casinos in the big city had better DD games (local one only allows doubling on 9-11), it was tough for me to head there since I was doing okay. However, of late, I see that if I am the only player playing the DD game or if I was winning, the PB whispers something to the dealer and they start cutting the DD in half. I am learning to avoid that PB. My plan is to take the two hour drive when I can stay overnight and get a minimum of 8-10 hours of play there or stay home. It makes no sense to drive 2 hours each way to play just 2-5 hours.

[Dieter]

how much time/money are you willing to invest in traveling to a casino that is far away? Let's consider the typical leave on Friday, come back on Sunday model. We can also consider leaving on Thursday and/or returning on Monday.

What are the mailers like?

Take one trip, earn good mailers, let them pay for your next 3-4 trips there. That's what the mailers are for. This works better if you know what their tier levels and requirements are and what sorts of mailers you should expect for a certain level of play.

An acquaintance was telling me she got a call from a place where she used to play, but hadn't lately. Apparently, marketing missed her. Once she explained that her car had just broken down and she couldn't make it next weekend (but would like to), marketing promptly offered to send a car to pick her up, no matter that it would be a 2-3 hour drive for them, and of course they'd be happy to pick up her friend too, and comp rooms for both of them.

I believe she said that the drinks in the limo were just fine.