How I lost 62.5% (or -0.63R) playing craps at the Venetian
After writing about my winnings at the Borgata earlier this year, it is only fair that I write about my losses in Las Vegas over the weekend.
As I said before, even playing craps with the optimal strategy (except for not betting at all) is a negative expectancy game. The house has an edge of less than half of a percent - but it is still an edge and you must expect to lose money over the long run. So I lost some of it back on my trip to Las Vegas this weekend.
Poker is probably a better game to play, since it involves skill. If you study and you are smart, you can play with a positive expectancy.
The one way to really win at craps is to bet enough money, with the optimal strategy, so that the casino comps will offset your small losses over time. This, I think, is the smartest way to gamble at the casino on a game of luck.
But Las Vegas is a pretty crazy place and it was fun. There was a rodeo going on, so there were a bunch of cowboys around town. And then there was a ballroom dancing competition, so there were also ballroom dancers hanging out. The two groups together seemed to give it the strange feel that I expected from the place. I’d never been there before.
On Saturday night for dinner we went to the overpriced and pretentious TAO Asian Bistro and Nightclub. Then we spent the rest of the night at the Hooters casino, which we went to looking for some lower priced tables. A bunch of the cowboys were there and it wasn’t pretentious at all.
On the taxi ride back to the Luxor, a Croatian taxi driver first asked me if I was British and when I said I wasn’t, he proceeded to curse all the British in the world for their low tips. He said the only reason they tip so low is because they are upset that they lose to Croatia at soccer. After I tipped him, he said “you are only a little better than them.”
