Video Poker Forum

I’ve recently been going through one of the coldest spells I’ve ever had playing. My local casino only offers games in the 98% payback on $1 denomination. To counter this, I would only play JoB or BP for low volatility and sprinkle in some BDLX when I’m “due” for quads. The past few months these machines have been draining my bankroll which has me scratching my head. I never thought I would lose $400-$600 consistently playing such low volatile games. In order to save my bankroll, I’m swallowing my pride and decided I’ll need to drop down stakes which is something I never thought I’d do after moving up from quarters to dollars years ago.

My question is...the pay tables at quarters and $.50 denomination are attrocious as I’m sure most of you know. Every time I hit a full house or flush, I cringe and keep track of how much less the payouts are. Should I simply find the best of the worst pay tables and play my way out of this streak? Quarters and .50 pay tables are the same, should I drop all the way down to quarters? Should I play multi-line because those are expected to be sub par tables anyway? What’s my play here?

Sizzzl there is no real answer to get you where you can overcome the loss. Your playing 98% so on 100k coin in your going to lose 2k. It's simple math that is long term you can't change. You can off set it with free play you get. You could get lucky to get more royals then the norm. But in the end losing 400 to 600 bucks per trip playing 5 bucks a hand is very common. If your under royaled that could be part of your answer to being down.

Muli hand if you can get some lucky hits fast can work short term but you keep going to that well and it will dry up since muti hand pay table are even less pay back long term.

Many that are new to VP think you can beat(profit) the game by itself. Once again short term anything is possible. Long term you need a good slot club and some good promotions to over come 98%- 99% games.

Thanks for your input. I was obsessed with finding the best payable I could. I put that over bankroll requirements. Thought I could bend the system and play low volatile games and maybe get a spark of luck, lessons learned

In your position 2 years ago I decided to drop my denomination, but I found I was disappointed every time I hit anything decent. For me the answer was to cut my trips back from 15/yr to 4 or 5/yr. That way I could maintain my stake and when getting a premium hand I was able to bankroll 2-3 more trips. I would avoid crappy paytables and multi line play because they will exacerbate any sustained drought.

in the end losing 400 to 600 bucks per trip playing 5 bucks a hand is very common.
For me the answer was to cut my trips back from 15/yr to 4 or 5/yr. That way I could maintain my stake and when getting a premium hand I was able to bankroll 2-3 more trips.
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Two great points. The first being simple math that I, blessed with great tables, had a hard time reconciling. I'm also doing a lot of the second. VP has lost its luster. Now I want to take less trips and set my sights higher.

88 years old. Casino trips since 1969. In all that time only 2 winning years. Only reason for winning years was major jackpot. ( Unusual not normal)
50 plus years experience - the numbers do not lie. Casino's exist to make profits. Any body can be a short term winner. No body can beat the law of averages except major jackpot years.
Casino experts that sell books / advice are like grocery store copuon clippers. If you have time & patience to clip copuons maybe make a few bucks at the casino. Otherwise it is entertainment - enjoy and follow your disciplined budget.

id recommend to take a break if its not 99% return game, my casino windcreek has 95%to98 high limit room my bankroll there may live for 1 hour if that, id suggest you to take up craps, its quite the opposite of video poker you win then you lose however winning 100 units over and over at a craps game can happen since there is no wrong move (unless you over bet or play a bad bet) i calculated i lose 100$ an hr at poker machines at windcreek bethlehem or lose 75$ an hour at craps and according to their site im better comped at table game.

i turned 50$ roll into 350$ profit at bubble craps this year in vegas, check out reddit craps alot of people saying in for 110$ out for 500$ at so and so casino pretty fun game overall

You can do some kind of fortressing, where you only move up when you win a specific amount, and down low when you go into losing territory. The downside to any fortressing method is you pay out the range, as in you pay when it goes back and forth on that $ point you set as the fortress. If you never revisit that point, you are banking all the cost-savings on the low-bet losing streak, or the wins on your high-bet winning streak.

Olds refers to it as Martingale Clone.

It depends on what interests you and what you want to play. If you can't afford $1 denom I might spread out my trips more. If you can't wait but scratch that itch then play 8/5 games at 25 cent. Long term this is negative expectation regardless. I've found that 25 cent denomination doesn't do much for me and single hand but I will play triple play or ten play at that level, and it feels like an easier ride than the equivalent dollar single play, all pay tables being equal.