Video Poker Forum

CORRECTED
 
This year, I have a personal goal to reach Platinum at Harrah's playing $.25 9/6 JOB. Figuring $40,000/$1.25 hand = 32,000 hands / 12 months = 2666 hands a month / 800 hand average per hour = ~3.3 hours a month.
 
I am planning to take $300 with me for gambling. What are my chances that $300 will not last me though 3.3 hours/2666 hands for the session?
 
I have run about 20 10,000 hand simulations over at vpgenius.com and at worse, it came up with a "lowest bankroll" amount of ~$140. Based on prior experience, I know I have gone though $40 in 10 minutes sometimes.

Using $300 as your session bankroll will work sometimes and not others. Pretty useful, huh?
 
In my own experience I'd say you will last 2666 hands 90+% of the time. Of course, you might lose it all the first 3 times you play. On average you are expected to lose .56% of 2666*1.25 or around $19.
 
Here's another way to look at it. 2666 hands cost you $3333. If you don't hit anything 4oak and above, then the game returns ~91.5%. Losing 8.5% of $3333 is $283. That means you could still survive as long as you averaged out on the rest of the hands. No guarantee of that, but it's already extremely unlikely you would go quadless for that many hands. I've had bad streaks on FHs and FLs that were pretty nasty. That might be worse than going quadless in JOB. 
 
You need to have a plan where you make up the difference in play when you do lose. You could play 10% more hands each time to be safe (or just round it up to 2700 or 2800 and adjust as necessary.  Or, make them up at a later date. If none of those interest you then you could bring more money.

Pretty good experience by Shadowman.  The calculations say that $300 will get a computer through 2666 hands 94.81% of the time.  Bring $400 and perfect play will get you through 2666 hands 99.50% of the time.

Shadowman and New2vp,
 
Thank you both for your responses. I feel more comfortable now knowing $300 has a very good chance of surviving a few hours of play.
 
The plan is to make $300 my "loss limit" for a session. Should I fall short of my hand requirement for the session, I will attempt to make it up in the next session.

I don't know what city you plan to play at VPGod...but if it is Vegas your question should be "Where can I play at a Harrah's property and find a .25 9/6 JoB machine?"

not at any harrahs lv property

VPGod I commend your personal goal of attaining Platimum status at Harrahs but you are playing right in to their hands. At what cost to you is this going to be? There are many experts out there who say that this is a major trap of the slot club and over the past year or so I have come to agree. For the past 10 years I have held Diamond status at Harrah's and this year I will be dropped to Platinum. I will say that I ended up being "only" 1,200 point short of reaching Diamond for their new "gambling year" March to March but so what. I have also gambled at many other casinos last year and that would explain why I did not reach Diamond status. When it boils down to it I gambled at Harrah's on "my terms" and not just to reach a certain tier level or status. I have been to Las Vegas once allready this year and I was comped rooms at Paris, I have plans to visit Las Vegas again this year, probably twice. Based on the current state of the economy I am guessing that I will be comped rooms again especially considering that I allready have over 5,000 tier credits for Harrah's now. Good luck with your goal but please don't lose sight of the fact that gambling should be done with expendable cash and for fun with hopefully a little profit thrown in for good measure. Status is nice but shouldn't be your reason for gambling. Good luck, Ted.

Just got back from Vegas. Between Rio, Paris, Bally's and Ceasars there was ONE 25 cent 8/5 the rest were 7/5. 
The only 9/6 was in the high limit area for $5 minimum. That is what I played with success.