Poker Poker Poker!: [vpFREE] Re: Smoking Bans - WAS Jean Scott's Frugal Vegas BLOG

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, b.glazer@... wrote:
>
> > 2a. Re: Jean Scott's Frugal Vegas BLOG - 13 JAN 2008
> > Posted by: "mickeycrimm" mickeycrimm@... mickeycrimm
> > Date: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:04 am ((PST))
> >
> ...
>
> > But the business never comes back to the level it was. For small
> > business owners it's the difference between going through 20 kegs
of
> > beer a week and only going through 10 kegs a week. A smoker is
just
> > not going to sit in a bar if he can't smoke. The non-smokers just
do
> > not flood in to take the places of the smokers.
> >
> > If it is a casino the gambler is going to spend as much time
outside
> > puffing away as he spends inside.
> >
>
> There is some truth in the above, but it is by no means as absolute
as suggested.
>
> First of all, there appears to be an implied assumption that "small
business owner" means "small bar owner", and there ARE other small
businesses that have no problem with no smoking and it doesn't hurt
their business.
>
>
>

I don't believe smoking bans hurt restaurants much but have a big
effect on bars. It's the bar/restaurant where decisions have to be
made. When the latest smoking ban went through in Nevada stand-alone
bars were left smoking while bar/restaurants had to make decisions
like giving up the food end or walling the restaurtant off completely
from the bar.

>
> I don't know very much about bars, but the poker rooms in Indiana
riverboat casinos are all smoke-free, and I frequent them often. I
see the smokers leave the tables to have a cigarette, going to the
nearest non-smoking area (on many boats, it's a door to the outside,
and they'll go no matter what the weather; at Caesar's Indiana, it's
OK to smoke immediately outside the poker room and I see railbirds
immediately outside the poker room, two feet from the no smoking
sign, having a cigarette). At least at the places I frequent, they
aren't gone that long, probably less than 5% of the time -- at places
where the whole facility is smoke-free, especially if they're large,
it may take longer to get to a smoking area and back, but I doubt
that the non-gambling time would equal the gambling time.
>
>
> I see many players who are not smokers, but who spend long days at
the tables, take longer and more frequent breaks than smokers. And I
see many players, both smokers and non-smokers, who try to miss as
few hands as possible.
>
>
>
>

Live poker and smoking is a different scenario. In Wendover I have
my choice between two smoking rooms and one non-smokiing room. About
80% of my play is in the non-smoking room simply because that's where
the money is. But when I walk outside the rail to burn one the game
continues. The rake continues. And the game is moving a little
faster due to one player being missing. They are not losing any
revenue because of my smoking habit. With slot players the button on
that machine is not being pushed while the smoker is outside.

>
>
> Most smokers, if they ever fly an airplane, have learned to go a
few hours without a cig if they have to (I know they don't like it,
but most of them manage, and while there are plenty of reasons today
to drive, if possible, rather than fly, I haven't heard "no smoking
on the plane" listed as a common reason for making that choice).
Depending on how driven they are to smoke, and how driven they are to
gamble, individuals WILL decide which one has priority at any given
moment in time, and while they might prefer to do both at once, when
that's not an option, not very many will choose to give up one or the
other completely. They'll strike some balance.
>
>
>

For the life of me I can't explain why I can go for hours in a non-
smoking situation with no discomfort at all but just as soon as I get
to where I can smoke I go into nicotine withdrawals from hell.

>
>
> Certainly drinkers can find somewhere other than a bar to drink AND
have a cigarette (and I've never understood the fascination with
paying so much extra for booze in order to drink in a bar, instead of
just going to a liquor store and taking it home -- so the bar must
have SOME other feature that makes it worth going there to drink).
>
>
>

It's called social drinking. My IQ goes up 10 points with every
drink. Why would I want to drink alone where nobody can tell how
smart I've become?

How weird is this? You would think a booze hound like me who just
happens to spend about 300 days per year gambling in casinos would
get thousands of dollars per year in comped alcoholic beverages.
WRONG!!! I'm a stone cold teetotaler when playing machines or live
poker. I don't want to see the stuff when I'm working. And it's not
out of any conviction about gambling and drinking. I simply can't
stand to drink when I'm working, and I can't stand to work when I'm
drinking.

When booze touches my lips I'm off for the day and that's it. I'm
headed to the nearest alky bar where I can buy rounds and debate the
world's problems with the other ten fools on the stools.

>
>
> Personally, I try to avoid sitting next to smokers when playing VP,
if possible, and if not, ask them if they would mind putting their
cig and ashtray on the opposite side from me - not asking them to
stop, but just to be courteous - and most are. I still choose games
based on all aspects of the game, adequate paytable being number one,
and comfort, which includes whether it's a bar top, slant top,
upright, or other choice and how the chair fits, etc., is also a
factor, into which I include exposure to smoke.
>
> For both smokers and non-smokers, it's usually a matter of striking
a balance between the environment they would prefer and the
activities they'd like to participate in. At the extremes, smoking
will cause some people to altogether avoid a facility that doesn't
match their preference, but only at the extremes.
>
> --BG
>
>
>

I jumped into a cab yesterday and this female driver started coughing
just a few minutes after I got in.

"Sorry," she said. "It's the cigarettes."
"Yeah, I sometimes get a smoker's hack too" I replied.
"But I don't smoke," she shot back.
"You don't? Then I'm making you cough. You smell the smoke on me."
"Yeah, it gets me every time a smoker gets in the cab."
"Did you ever smoke?" I ask.
"No, but I worked in bars and restaurants for twenty years. My
doctor says breathing all that heavy smoke for that long was just
like I had been smoking myself."

I don't know why idiot slobs like me have all the luck in the world.
I've been smoking for 42+ years. I've been a booze hound for just
about as many years. I was drinking in bars by the time I was 15. I
down shots and chase it with beer like it is nothing. I eat all the
stuff that is not good for you. I'm pushing 55 years old but I can
still get out and walk 5 to 10 miles a day with ease. I do it at
least a few times a week. And to this day I've never been to a
Doctor. How do you go to see a Doctor? I have no clue.

People like that poor cab driver need to be protected from beasts
like me.