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Gaming Guru  My Dinner with Jean (and Brad and John)20 November 2001
By John Grochowski and Jean Scott Whenever I'm in Las Vegas, I like to check out new casinos, especially those that cater to locals and are likely to have good video poker and blackjack. Still, at the end of a busy Wednesday, packed with seminars and a trip around the showroom floor at the Global Gaming Expo in the first week of October, I'd normally opt to relax closer to my home base at the Tropicana toward the south end of the Strip. But this was triple points night at the Suncoast, about a 20-minute drive away in north Las Vegas, and that meant the Suncoast was where I would find Jean Scott and her husband, Brad. "We only play two or three nights a week now," says Scott, The Frugal Gambler author who pops up frequently on Las Vegas specials on the Discovery Channel. "But for triple points, we couldn't resist this." The Suncoast plays right to Jean's strengths. Her recipe for gambling frugally is to play only the best video poker games, and to take advantage of everything the casino's comps program has to offer. The Suncoast has lots of full-pay video poker, much of it on multigame, multidenomination machines. We settle into games where you can play for nickels, dimes, quarters, 50 cents, $1 or $2, all on the same machine. Jean and Brad make the most of triple points night, playing $2 10-7 Double Bonus Poker, a 100.17 percent game with expert play. With less in my bankroll, I play 10-7 Double Bonus for $1 and for 50 cents--and hit four Aces on each denomination. To my right, John Robison, author of two upcoming slot machine books, plays 9-6 Jacks or Better. Now that Jean and Brad own a condo in Las Vegas, they rarely use their comps on hotel rooms, but this night is different. They're staying at the Suncoast, with room, food and beverage on the house. Better just to stay put after a long night of triple-points play. Over dinner, Jean frets about her military son-in-law, soon to be posted near Afghanistan. "It's great to wave the flag and all, but I don't want him in that danger," she says. "And then I wonder if I'm really being patriotic if I don't want him to go." Assured by all at the table that worrying about a loved one in no way means she's being unpatriotic, Jean lets talk turn to upcoming projects. Years in the making, her follow-up to The Frugal Gambler is nearly ready for publication. "I finally have the last chapter of Frugal II," she says. "You know, it's a lot of work writing a book." Robison and I smile knowingly, and I ask if the title really is going to be Frugal Gambler II. "No, that's just what I call it," she laughs. "I'm sure Deke Castleman, her editor and Anthony Curtis, publisher at Huntington Press will come up with something." With that, we were off, I to drive back to the Trop, Robison to play for a little while more, Jean and Brad to play well into the night. After all, triple points beckoned. COMING ATTRACTIONS: I caught up with all kinds of familiar faces at the trade show. Robison, gaming author Henry Tamburin and I took our lunch break together on the second day of the trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Robison's Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots is due out from Huntington Press before Christmas, with his Truth About Slots coming next year. Tamburin, author of Blackjack: Take the Money and Run and many other books on gaming, is about to retire from his career as a chemist. He'll soon be moving to Las Vegas. At the Huntington Press booth, I had a long chat with Curtis, whose empire is burgeoning with Robison's and Scott's books among many on the way, along with his monthly Las Vegas Advisor newsletter. His latest coup is as publisher of the annual Bear Stearns casino market analysis, a thick, expensive volume targeted at the industry. This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. The Free Lunch, Revisited24 October 1999
Thanks to books like Jean Scott's The Frugal Gambler, and fine newsletters like Anthony Curtis' Las Vegas Advisor, an entirely new sub-class of gamblers is emerging. Some call them "Comp Wizards," other "Couponomists," but whatever name you pick, the number of gamblers who try to earn maximum freebies for minimum investments is growing rapidly. ... (read more)
Coupons - Part II11 October 1999
Last time we began to look into the art of couponing. We will continue with this subject as the Queen and the Frugal Princess answer some questions from our readers. Remember, if you have any questions, you can e-mail us at frugalprincess@hawaii.rr.com. We may not be able to get back to you personally right away, but we will try to address your questions in this column. ... (read more)
Coupons - Part I26 September 1999
We've been talking a lot about our bankrolls and more specifically, how to stretch our money. Using coupons is one of the most fun and frugal ways to do this. Q: I hear you can make a lot of money with coupons in Las Vegas. True? Queen: This is a subject near and dear to me. Before I was the Queen of Comps, the Las Vegas Advisor named me the Queen of KuPon. ... (read more)
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