I'm saving for a house (would prefer not to have a morgage) so I guess it will be thrown in with my other savings.
Since I've been playing
VP (about 4 years) I would say I'm winning, although I don't have precise stats. I've gone thru a few million hands and I'm sure I'm still in profit (although I'm not sure I could have said that 3 weeks ago)
I've been lucky enough to get more than my share of royals, I would say i'm hitting about every 30k hands instead of 40k - it's easy to say that with no stats, but I think thats a very good estimate. Also, about 50% of the time when I hit a royal I hit a 2nd within a couple of days, this means the 2nd is hit when I've increased my stake - I've been thru a couple of long periods without royals but it's great when you hit that 2nd (or 3rd sometimes) with your bets increased.
I like to up the stakes when I'm running hot, this can bust you out quick but also can prove to be amazingly profitable. I remember taking a $50+$50 first deposit up to almost $10k once, I was lucky enough to nail a $1k royal and that gave me the armunition to cause the casino some serious damage
I preach a lot about playing the odds and taking small edges but when it boils down to it, I'm a gambler.
I personaly think the only way you will ever beat a game with a house edge is to buyin small and if you're lucky start to up your stakes (whilst you constantly squiral away winnings). You might not beat a house edge game long term, but the long term might be longer than your lifetime, so some gamblers do beat house edge games.
I remember a computer simulation I did once for roulette. I had 37 players putting 1 chip/spin on 1 number, each player had his own number - I then ran the simulation until all players were losing. Even thought the casino would be winning 1 chip every spin with these conditions, it sometimes took hudreds of thousands of spins before every player was losing.
Volitility is the major factor when playing a house edge game - the lotto might be a 50% house edge game but you only need to win it once to be a lifetime winning gambler