Guide to Getting Free Drinks Part 1- The Setup

Hey what's up guys,

This is something I've gotten really good at over the last few months and I wanted to share it.

I probably pay for 1 of every 4 drinks I get at my local bars/clubs at this point, and I pay WAY less than everyone else gets charged for drinks. Last night I was at a place with $ 8 drinks and the 2 I paid for were $4 each. In Miami I was going to places that had $13 and for the last 3 months my tab was never more than $26. In fact most nights I drank completely free. This isn't like going to someone else's table and trying to mooch their bottles to get your 1-2 drinks a night, I drink free all night and often have 5-6 freebies for me and other people.

So how do you do this?

First you need to figure out what 3-4 places you are going to be frequenting a lot. I do want to make the point that if you are not going out 3-4 times a week this will take a much longer time.

A lot of guys make the mistake of going to too many different clubs and bars. In every town there's really only going to be 1-2 good places a night. So you don't want to be going to 8 different bars especially on the weekend.

In fact I would say I strive to go to as FEW places as possible, because that way my social proof is higher and I get to know everyone that works there. This makes it more fun for me to go out by myself because I feel like I'm meeting friends at the bar.

So once you've picked the 3-4 places you're going to go each week, you want to get to know 1 bartender really well at first. In Dallas It was my boy Mike at the Quarter Bar, in Miami it was Big Vince at the Delano, now it's my friend Liz.

This person is going to be your IN for the whole barstaff.

I like to befriend guy bartenders rather than girls for a couple of reasons.

1. They're not going to think you're trying to fuck them. Generally the female bartenders I've done this with have to be treated like a pickup at first. The reason being that EVERY guy is trying to hit on them because they don't have to actually approach them.

2. The guy bartenders IME tend to be higher up on the foodchain. Most bars have an unofficial head bartender who is in charge of making sure stuff runs smoothly. Eventually these guys become managers.

3. Guy bartenders tend to be pretty outgoing people so it's actually easy to make friends with them. Whereas female bartenders are generally hired because they are hot.

So how do you go about befriending a bartender.

The first mistake guys make is trying to be OVERLY friendly. Bartenders see this shit all the time. The first time you meet DON"T ask for their name. In fact for the first 3-4 times you go to the bar you should be aiming at being polite, efficient and friendly. That's all.

It also helps to order a strange drink. I go with my patented Vodka/Diet cokes
( affectionately referred to as a skinny bitch if you want to be an asshole)

Next you want to make sure they see you talking to girls. You don't have to be good at pickup yet, but they should see that you don't mind approaching and you can at least make girls laugh.

You get bonus points for bringing girls to the bar to get a drink.

Lastly you want to make sure you OVERtip at least once a night the first couple of times. Leave a 5 instead of a couple of singles. Not only will this help you setup the free drinks but it will help you get served faster which can help with social proof as well.

There are a few waypoints you're looking for.

1. They will ask you what your name is, or introduce themselves. This is the first way you know the process is working. Let them try for rapport with you, it works much better.

2. They'll start to ask you if you want another or the usual. As soon as this starts you're almost into free drink land. This is why it's imperative to have a drink that's unusual.

3. They'll start telling you when you're going to be there. Vince was the king of this, when we started becoming friends he would tell me on Fri that he'd see me the next night. By going on the same nights you become a predictable friend of theirs and part of their work life.

Allright so that's how you start the setup, tomorrow I'll write about how to actually get free drinks without begging for them.

JS