I recently took my seventh cruise, all of which have been part of Brian Christopher’s groups. The first six were as a Rudie; this was my first doing so since being hired here, albeit still on vacation.
Vacations always help me crystallize some of the things I’ve been noticing, but haven’t necessarily fully processed until I take a break. This time out, it was how table games find their way onto my radar of what to play.
For background, here on the site we spend a lot of time talking about how slots have gotten harder, especially since casinos have been replacing more of the older slots after the pandemic shutdowns. This was the case on the ship we were on, although as a newer ship you wouldn’t necessarily expect so many older games to begin with.
But with the slots proving to be challenging at times, one aspect of my cruise ship habits returned – I spent more time at table games.
Cruise ships tend to have pretty reasonable minimums when it comes to the tables – this recent cruise put Blackjack at the $10 minimum throughout the cruise (albeit at 6:5 Blackjack payouts), and $5 on the various carnival games like Three Card Prime and Heads Up Hold ‘Em.
One thing that I was reminded of, however, was that with the slower pace, the swings were often much slower, despite the higher bets. I’ve encountered many slot players who look at a $10 bet and think “ooh, that’s too rich for my blood” and then have no trouble losing a couple hundred on slots within a few minutes.
Yet that same $200 often would last quite awhile on tables, and pretty much every session I left with some sort of money left over – often $100-$150, on occasion breaking even or ahead, and only once did my money truly evaporate quickly.
Unlike slots, where many spins are false wins or no wins, on tables you often gain a unit or lose a unit, whether betting on red/black on roulette, playing the pass line on craps or betting on a hand of Blackjack.
That’s not to say you can’t take swings on tables, whether it be betting a single number on roulette or playing more complex games with lots of side bets. But on a limited budget there’s lots of ways to slow roll, and that means having fun while avoiding a massive budget routing.
For whatever reason I don’t always have those same instincts when I’m in Vegas, and I’m not sure why. There’s definitely a challenge finding lower limit tables – I often see $10-15 Blackjack tables downtown but less so on the strip (at least 3:2 Blackjack payouts are still pretty prevalent downtown). I also tend to be a social player, and so having friends who also like to play these games being on the cruise encouraged me to play more.
But I’ve even dabbled at $25 tables here and there over the years, generally with friends who were down to try it, and even then, unless you catch a truly challenging run, oftentimes the money holds up fine. As slots get more volatile, and continue to have payback percentages that are far more unfavorable than even many carnival games, I ponder whether it’s worth mixing some more tables into my repertoire.
The same goes for Video Poker, although I’m definitely not as shy about seeking that out. The pace is faster, but if you stick to lower volatility choices like Jacks or Better or Deuces Wild, you can definitely see your money hang on longer.
On multiple visits to the smokefree Sand Dollar bar at Plaza over the past couple of years, despite a $2.50 minimum to play full pay Jacks or Better there, I’ve been able to make my money last a considerable amount of time.
It’s definitely got me thinking more about my mix of play, and how to maximize my budget. And it’s got me thinking about our coverage here, and to that end while we know many of you are here because you’re fan of slots and of Brian Christopher, we know many players also play other things, or want to make their money last too.
So as we enter our second year, keep an eye out for other types of content as we continue to expand and evolve what we have to offer. We’ll continue to keep a close eye on slots, but we’re going to continue to offer additional coverage of other topics related to casinos and gambling that can help players make the most of their visits today.
I love the featured image for this! #Rudies
Thanks Courtney! We love it too :)