I had an interesting encounter at the casino yesterday, as the wife and I were about to leave, and it got me thinking. (At what point does one stop "feeding the machine?")
An older gentleman who was playing the 1 cent ($1.25 max bet) slot machine next to my wife calls me over as we were walking away and says to me, "look...I've put over $1200 in this machine and I've gotten nothing in return." Then he shows me his reward credits on the machine: it was well over 3000 (I don't remember the exact number.)
Then he starts complaining to me about how the casino lures you in here with these "free" gifts (it was a duvet) to get you to play and then doesn't give you anything in return. I really didn't know what to say, I tried to sympathize with him by maligning the casino. "That's awful, they know what they're doing...it's all rigged...I'm sorry for your loss."
I watched him play a little more as he continued to bitch and complain. And the machine really did seem to be "dead-cold." At that point 2 questions entered my mind: 1) Why would you tell a complete stranger how much you've lost in a penny slot machine? Especially that much money! 2) At what point do you cut your losses and just quit and go home?
First, I would never tell anybody how much I was down; I'd be way too embarrassed. I really couldn't believe this guy was telling me this. (I once lost about 9 grand in one session playing $5 Pick'em years ago and immediately bolted for the exit, humiliated, and sick to my stomach!)
Secondly, after losing 2 or 3 hundred in a penny slot, wouldn't it occur to you that your playing a "dead-cold" machine and that maybe you should move to another machine or take a break? I calculated that even if he were to hit the top winning combination, at this point, he wouldn't even get his money back--yet he proceeded to insert yet another $100 dollar bill in it as we wished him luck and left.
This encounter was kind of an eye opener for me since I don't think I've ever consciously thought about what point at which I would stop playing in a session. I've been focused on stopping after attaining a preset amount win goal. But even this is arbitrary. I'm thinking maybe I won't spend more than the "Royal" amount of the denomination I'm playing (typically $0.25...so $1000) since anything beyond that makes it unlikely that I'd come out ahead, let alone break even.
I don't know...how do some of you manage your VP sessions? At what point do you stop when your down considerably in a session?