Zengrifter Couponomy

[zengrifter]

This is a blast from the past - regaling in the Golden Years of Coupons and my initial discovery of the LVA POV. Some months later I would burn through 20+ of these books in under 10-days... but this was my first POV rodeo. zg

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Grifter Couponomy
Originally posted CCCafe - FEB'02
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The 4 day joint bank had ended 3 days previously,
and the Israelie teammate left the nite before - the
results were positive, but lackluster, so I decided to
play on solo, smaller stakes for an undetirmined
length.

Playing $10units causes me more barrings and exposure
than winning with $100units, because I jump my bets
agressively without cover and exit the neg-counts ruthlessly
to partially make up for the lower winrate.

On this graveshift of question I am toast at most of
the downtown joints - but still appreciated at the
Golden Gate where my 0-125 spread overcomes an otherwise
mediocre 2D h17 60% game (I am finding that many grave
shifts deal deeper than swing and such is true at the
GGate).

I know I'm still appreciated when I jump
to $125, catch a BJ, and the not-unattractive
shift-boss-mama shouts "yeah Jonny!" I tell her with a wink, not
to encourage my compulsive reckless
tendencies.

A farmer from South Dakota sits down to play and
pulls out a coupon book, whereupon I ask him if thats
the Anthony Curtis LVAdvisor book with the 2-1 BJs
for an hour coupon - he indicates affirmatively, and
in the next breath he is rudely informed that the 1
hour 2-1 BJ coupon ($25 max bet) is only good between
12noon and 8pm, and he leaves for the airport at 11:30am
- so I offer to buy it and he points out that the
coupon must remain in the book untill used - so he sells
me the whole book - the Famous LVA POV (Pocketbook
Of Values) for his subscription price of
$50.

Making a mental note NOT to use the powerful GGate
coupon when the shift mgmt that saw me buy it is on duty
(my blatant acquisition illicited
frowns).

Perusing the POV over a GGate comp breakfast I see why its
the undisputed king of LV coupon books - 9 or 10
quality BJ coupons ($25 bets) and more if you count
$5-$10 matchplays and free Aces.

First stop The
Plaza for my $5 and $25 match plays - I try to play
both, the $5 coupon on the Royal Match side bet, but
NO, I'm told one at a time - I win both and the $25
plaY turned into a doubledown.

Next stop Lady
Luck for a $25 free Ace. I remember Curtis advising me
that if I ever get a free Ace, use it in conjunction
with a 'Wheel of Madness' side bet - but NO I'm told
that its no longer allowed. My $25 free Ace catches a
9 and I tie the dealer's hard 20... BUT LOOK, the
dealer mistakenly leaves my Ace coupon in play and I
effectively get ANOTHER free Ace, this time for BJ!
Hahahahahahha

I'm anxious to use the 2-1 GGate supercoup, but it
isn't time yet so I play at FitzG's for a few hours -
playing through the shift change I am aware of the funny
looks from the pitcritters, but cannot tell if its my
blatant ruthless jumpspread exiting, or my ridiculous not
so act-act. I inquire a couple of times to the asst.
shift boss from Manila "have you guys had enough yet?"
to which she indicates not yet - she says that I was
up now down and I should be winning - I tell her
that I am doing the 'Ferdinand Shuffle', "whats dat"
she bites, "one step forward and two kick backs!"

Up a few hundred my grandstand play of the session
is a jump to two max bets (I will not embarrass
myself by re-stating how much such max bets are)
doubling the first I make 21, the second hand is A9 and
the count more than ample to venture a double against
dealer's 4 - "whaaaa rrr you crazy" was the dealer's
comment as she proceded to slap her 14 with a 2 then a 5
(I caught an 8) push one lose one - "Maybel, you
just made me look like the village idiot!" I extolled
her - "you don't need me for that, hon!" she snapped
back with a smile. Huuhhh no respect at all, I did my
best Rodney and slammed two more max bets out, lost
them both and asked the pitcritter sheepishly - "sure
you guys haven't had enough?"

Checking the time, it was time to play the GGate
soupercoup.

Arriving at GGate shortly
after the swing shift change - no familiar pitcritters
- I asked the pitmgr if I should remove the coup,
she time-stamped it ands wrote my hour deadline on
top - before she returned I had my first BJ betting
2hands of $25 (the max allowed for the 2-1 pay) - the BJ
was on my second hand and after I was paid the PC
remembered that if the coup player plays 2hands the bonus is
only on BJ from the 1st hand - I altered my betting
tactics, playing $25-50 on hand #1 and $15-30 on hand #2 -
the 2nd BJ came on hand#1 and I promptly recieved the
full 2-1 paY ON $50!! HAHAHAHAHAH I love the mistakes and confusion
these things illicit!

i HAD MADE A CALCULATED
ERROR BY sitting at the 1D table, now full, with
incredibly slow and illiterate players, when I tried to
speed them up by proclaiming my "couponic souvergnty" I
was told F**K YOUR COUPON! Huuuuhh no
respect!

At this point an interesting female sat next to
first base - she also had a time-stamped LVA coup - I
smiled and waved my coup and she replied with the thumbs
up - minutes later she was at my side and
complaining that the werewolvish player at 2nd base ("F**K
your coup) was practically sitting on her
lap.

Painfully aware of the time, I still asked her if she knew
Anthony Curtis - she was a teacher with the San Bernadino
Supertendent of Schools and PROUD to be one of Curtis' first
40 members - wow!

She had been betting only
$5-10 per hand - I moved us to the adjacent 2D table
where we would be alone and emphasized that we play
FAST (I had ascertained that she was close to basic
strategy) - I was up $300 and shoved a small pile of chips
close to her - "bet $25 every hand, we'll work it out
afterwards.

We were a riot, playing at breakneck speed - she was
shouting like it was the craps table YES YES (or a bed
perhaps) - I was playing 2 hands of $25 - we were
definetly in the StDv right-of-way.<br>She caught her last
BJ with only seconds left and then we went to the
snackbar for a POV free shrimp cocktail and to divide our
spoils - we wre up $800 and I handed her $125 and she
refused to take more than $100 - "pleasure doing business
with you, maam."

By now I am really begining to
feel like a full fledged COUPONERO! ATTACK OF THE
COUPONERO! HAHAHAHAH

The next day I took a call
from retired businessman - Mike - he had played HO1
since the good old days of Atlantic City's early
surrender rule. We agreed to meet for breakfast at
AzCharly's - Mike had developed a fondness for SuperFun21,
but he had no sense of the inherrently larger
housEdge at that game - I was able to give him some
pointers and a promise to send him the Wo'Odds SFBS (see
previous CCCafe discussion of SF21. After breakfast Mike
agreed to take me on a 'coupon run to hit all of the
remaining ($25) BJ coups - we would be stopping at ALL of
the dreaded Coast casinos and select Stations - ALL
of the remaining coups were of the same ilk: 3-1 pay
on 1st BJ. What follows is a summary of those plays--

First stops, SunCoast, the PC immediately knew of the
coupon and I commenced playing two hands of $50 (the 3-1
applies only to the first $25 per hand) - hitting the BJ
I am up $250 at the table, whereupon I drop to a
$10- 2x$75 scheme for a few minutes of courtesy play,
lost $100, netted $150. At BarbaryCoast I'm up $550
after 15 min of patiently awaiting my first natural -
when I flipped it over proclaiming "there it is!", the
boss sneered, "guess you got what you came for" - I
replied, "Yes! another happy customer, see you next year
when the next coupon-book comes out." At GoldCoast I'm
disappointed to see my BJ on my first hand, and then proceed
to lose $200 hmmm.... Thanks to Mike's playfull
reminders I resolve NOT to stay and fight despite decent
(for a Coast club) playing conditions. The last Coast
stop is the Orleans where I regain my $200 deposit at
GCoast plus $150, gone in 15 min!

On to our final
stops in Henderson - At SunsetSta I have two coups (did
I mention that the teacher lady from the GGate gave
me her Sunset coup? "just pretend to tear it out
like this" she demonstrated an advanced LVA subscriber
tactic) - I mock tear out my first coup, the PC confirms
to the dealer "3-1 on his first BJ" - starting with
2hands of $50 at a semi-full table I drop to 1hand of
$50 when the count tanks, then it shoots upward again
and I go to 1hand of $75 at catch the natural, the
Asian lady playing to my right asks softly, "what will
they pay you?" and I whisper "I don't know yet" and
then the dealer paid 3-1 ON THE WHOLE $75!
Hahahahahahahahah - Attack of the Coupenero!

I notice a valuable
oddity - the Sunset coup, unlike the others, only
specifies the $25 max restriction in small print.
Previously I had had another pleasant coup experience at
Sunset thanks to 'OrangeCountyKO', who had devised a way
to collect 100s of 2-1 BJ coupons that the Sunset
sent out to locals as junk mail - OCKO had simply gone
to several large apartment complexes and showed a
maintence man what he was looking for that most people
would throw out right at the mail bin, and a small cash
offer. The coups said (in small print) "one to a
customer, $25 max bet" but I managed to play 10 of them on
one shift in the course of barely 2hrs, some
multiples at a single table and on two I was paid the full
bonus on more than $25 Hahahahahahaha! Despite the $75
full bonus pay, I am down $150 after playing the
Sunset coup.

Last stop is the Fiesta
(formerly The Reserve) - I was partial to the Reserve and
for my money Stations wrecked the joint, odd thing is
that when it was an African themed club it had a good
mexican restaurant, but no more, not now that it is a
mexican themed club - up $450 in barely 15 min, I catch
my first BJ and my other hand reveals ANOTHER BJ and
I instantly proclaim "if you get 2 BJs at the same
time the 3-1 bonus is paid on both!" I tried to keep a
straight face while dealer and PC both carefully read and reread
the smaller print to verify what I had proclaimed
while my simultaneous naturals rested like bagged
trophy game, twice I interjected off-topic questions
like "where's the mexican restauraunt, two for the
mexican restaurant, please."

I finally let them off the
hook with a shrug "OK, I must have misread it, so what
is the bonus for simultaneous BJs?" to which the
floorman deadpanned a quizical I dunno look - "OK, I get" I
announced to the several players "the odds of getting 2 BJs
at the same time is over 600-1 and the bastards just
paid me 3-2, except for my coupon, of course!

Hahahahaaha!! For the first, but not last time I let out the
coupero hearty laugh at the table as I colored, up the
count was high so I proceeded to bet a black chip, then
another, total take at this table over $800 - I join Mike
at the SF21 table, AND THE LIGHT GOES ON! - next
time I play a coup try to play it at SF21, the edge
has got to be over 9%! (the 3-1s at regular BJ are
worth nearly 7%) -- PLAY THE 3-1 COUP AT SF21 AND GIVE'EM
A DOSE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE, YAA BABY YAA!

Playing non-coup SF21 with Mike I drop $300 - net at Fiesta is
$500.

Total win for CAD2 (CouponeroAttack day 2) $1200, total
win off my first POV is nearly
$2000. ...To Be Continued.

[shadroch]

Welcome to my world. Typical day in the office.

[EasyRhino]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

whereupon I drop to a
$10- 2x$75 scheme for a few minutes of courtesy play

I like that a 15x spread is "courtesy play."

[shadroch]

The amount of free play and match play that is out there is astonishing.
In September, I took a coupon from the ACG to The Silver Nugget in Vegas.
It was for $40 in free promo chips. Neither the dealer nor the pitboss were aware this coupon existed. Ten months after it was published in a national publication, but they had never seen one. I had the exact reaction a week later when I used a BOGO in the Harrahs coffeshop.
Last month, there was a circular in the LVJ that had an EV of several hundred dollars. My friend who considers himself an aspiring BJ player was too busy to go out and buy a paper when I called him about it.

[ccibball50]

I am heading to Vegas for the first time soon. Where can I get a coupon book?

[White Guy]

I agree. Tell me more. I want to go cut coupons. Haha

[EasyRhino]

Shads, can you reveal the nature of the massively +EV LVRJ flyer? What was in it?

[shadroch]

Originally Posted by EasyRhino

Shads, can you reveal the nature of the massively +EV LVRJ flyer? What was in it?

$20 and $25 matchplays for each Coast Casino, limited to one per DAY per casino. BOGO for all their buffets, and 3X points with the same limit. Same days paper also had a $10 MP for Palms, and a BOGO for The Flame.

[ChefJJ]

Originally Posted by shadroch

$20 and $25 matchplays for each Coast Casino, limited to one per DAY per casino. BOGO for all their buffets, and 3X points with the same limit. Same days paper also had a $10 MP for Palms, and a BOGO for The Flame.

Holy Shat!!!