From Zeke Quezada,
Your Guide to Las Vegas Travel.
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My wife and I often look at each other while in a casino and say, "even is good".

Let me explain, as we step away from a blackjack table after a few hours of entertainment and free drinks we figure that if we still have money, we are, in effect winners. It's true. The object and the lure of Las Vegas reside in the ability to part with your money or if you're lucky double it. We have changed our outlook and considered our approach to be one of just surviving.

Some years back when we were younger and had no children to speak of we found ourselves sitting at the airport lamenting the loss of a few bucks while enjoying our time in Las Vegas. It’s no surprise that people come in droves to Las Vegas for the gaming excitement, but it is also not a shock to find out that many people end up losing.

So we came up with a plan.

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Shocking? Well, as is commonly heard, somebody has to pay for all those lights. So my wife and I decided to make a decision on our gambling habit. We love to wager a few dollars on a craps table or blackjack but we don’t enjoy the process of losing. Which led us to develop our own method for playing responsibly.

We found that whenever we both played at a table we tended to lose, so we stopped playing together. We also decided that if we doubled our money, be it twenty dollars or one hundred dollars we would walk. We will only gamble at night and sightsee during the day. In no time at all we became winners. In order for us to have motivation to get up and walk away we decided we would earmark the money for useless spending sprees during our stay.

The reason behind this insane strategy was simple, when we left Las Vegas we always had something in our hands. We still spent the money, but at least I would go home with a few new toys and my wife would have an array of new outfits to wear.

It defeats the purpose of having extreme visions of piling money in your suitcase as you get the limo to your private jet but, you’ll feel better when you get home.

Things to remember:

• All games favor the house
• Somebody has to pay for the lights
• You can still have fun without losing a great deal of cash
• Have a budget and stick to it, set a limit to how much you can lose and never exceed it.
• Don’t gamble if you’re sick, tired or even worse drunk. These normally reduce your chances of making wise judgments
• Know the rules of the games you are about to play. Most casinos offer classes on gaming rules and etiquette.
• Put together a logical strategy for winning, one that works for you.

Or you could employ the practice of having reckless enjoyment and lose it all as you walk into town. The pool is always a great place to spend five days.