Game Jumping...

[FloridaPhil]

There seems to be a lot of grumbling these days about video poker not paying the way it used to.  Some players think this is due to failing casinos rigging the games and others blame bad pay tables, Etc. There is no doubt that lower pay tables are a problem, but I think it also has to do with the proliferation of all the new high volatility games. Bonus games like Ultimate X, Super Times Pay, Multi-Streak and the rest are coin sucking monsters.  Few people can last through the huge swings these games have, so they they must be some of the most profitable games in the casino.  If you look at the new games on this website you will see this being repeated over and over again.  Players love these games because they are exciting, have cool music and fun graphics.  I like playing them too, but I would never play them with real money.  In my opinion, if players would stick to the standard old school video poker games, find the best pay tables available and learn to play one game's strategy perfectly, they would find their results a lot more profitable.  Also, how in the world can any one player jump between games all day and pull this off?  I don't think anyone is rigging anything, they are just messing with your mind. 

[Tedlark]

Phil you are spot on. Beside my occasional play on Dream Card, I will occasionally sit at a STP machine because to me it is the less of the evils, say between STP and Ultimate X. It is even rarer forme to sit at a 100 play QQ or a 100 play STP unless it is a low denomination machine that I just want toscrew around with for a few minutes. Otherwise I find a 3/5/10 play machine offering a selection of games, preferably one with TDB, and that's where I will stay. Usually for an extended period of play lasting at least an hour. It is not common for me to spend 10 minutes at a machine and then jump to another machine; I don't think I've given the machine much chance in such a limited period of play.

[alpax]

It is a recommendation by the American Casino Guide to avoid switching games because the strategy approach changes and will throw off your mind tremendously.I do not play the gimmick games on All-Star, Super Star, or Five Star since most of the time they have lowered paytables and the bonus feature does not add enough return to make up for it. Huge volatility indeed, but I have seen jackpots from those machines.I do not switch games anymore since once time I played Deuces Wild at the beginning, and then switched over to a JoB after losing. I hit quad deuces. I once started at a JoB and switched to Deuces, and got a natural straight flush. You will have these regrets so playing just one game will avoid that.

[daily_double]

I agree with you guys 100 %. Being a relative newcomer to VP, I got caught up in the excitement of some of these gimmick games in the casino last year. The results were not good over a period of one year. I am back to exclusively playing the classic single hand games with the best paytables available ( $1.00 8/5 BP mostly). It took me a while to figure it all out , but now I am happier and my wallet is too.

[FloridaPhil]

Years ago I tried playing quarter deuces until I had a good run, then I would switch over to dollar DDB. I did hit a few decent quads, but all in all it was a total disaster.  If you ever want to see a bunch of quad aces with kickers, just play deuces for a while...      Not only that, but I was always getting the hand strategy crossed up. One minute I was holding aces and the next minute holding twos. What a mess!  Anyway, once I settled into regular old deuces wild my fortunes turned around.   The best way to play video poker for real money is to keep it as simple as possible.  It may be boring, but I'll bet you win more money in the long run.

[djc32]

A few months back I had a guy sit down at the machine next to me, he puts a $100 in the machine and he played for maybe 15 min switching games every 25 hand or so. He went from JOB to DW to JP, to DDB until he lost the $100. He got up, went down the isle to another machine , and stated doing it all over again . I have seen people switching games before , but this guy was the extreme.lol

[FloridaPhil]

He would have been better off with the Wheel of Fortune...  Seriously, the advantage of video poker is that it is possible to reach the posted odds with perfect play. No way could he have done that.

[Vman96]

A few months back I had a guy sit down at the machine next to me, he puts a $100 in the machine and he played for maybe 15 min switching games every 25 hand or so. He went from JOB to DW to JP, to DDB until he lost the $100. He got up, went down the isle to another machine , and stated doing it all over again . I have seen people switching games before , but this guy was the extreme.lol

I've watched some people in STL switch games roughly every ten hands.

Also pretty sure on this past Vegas trip, I held high cards in a deuces game once because I zoned out. I realized I did it right away though...

I rarely switch games on the same unit and forgetting the game you're playing is a pretty good reason for not doing it!

It is a recommendation by the American Casino Guide to avoid switching games because the strategy approach changes and will throw off your mind tremendously.I do not play the gimmick games on All-Star, Super Star, or Five Star since most of the time they have lowered paytables and the bonus feature does not add enough return to make up for it. Huge volatility indeed, but I have seen jackpots from those machines.I do not switch games anymore since once time I played Deuces Wild at the beginning, and then switched over to a JoB after losing. I hit quad deuces. I once started at a JoB and switched to Deuces, and got a natural straight flush. You will have these regrets so playing just one game will avoid that.



I have had mixed results on these multigame units game choices. I occasionally do find full-pay games on some of these. Particularly Spin Poker or STP. I tend to find full pay STP on the the All Star games almost as much as the stand alone STPs.

[olds442jetaway]

I used to do that switching from 9/6/ job to 17/7 Joker Kings. Caught myself dozing in the zone several times and keeping a lone jack or queen. Needless to say, I don't do that anymore. By the way, that was while just drinking O'Douls, or coffee.

[DaBurglar]

Phil this is a good post, but to borrow a page from Ted's book,  "WHAT NEW info or theories are you offering here?  In other words, what are you saying that has not already been said?"Seriously, if you refer back to the thread I created and nurtured where I simply asked people whether or not they are winning as of late, and how does their current play of the past 3-4 years compare with their video poker experiences of 10-15 years ago or longer.......it was overwhelmingly clear that most people are losing, and losing more money and more frequently, and finding it much harder to win.The reasons for this, you clearly touched upon, but you are also confusing some of the issues and points:   I myself DO NOT believe that casinos are doing anything "illegal", but I do believe that the AC casinos are (or have been) doing something that is allowed under their rules and regs that players either cannot account for or cannot combat.......I think this "mysterious" aspect is related to the way (and speed) the RNG reconciles its results......One irrefutable fact in my play and experience is the sheer number of dud / non paying hands......this has nothing to do with the paytables since nothing is being paid.   A statistically NORMAL  "dud" rate should be around 55%, but I have seen it remaining in the 65% and up range......that is hugely significant.  Again, this is only for Atlantic city.....I would wager too that if other people here who have been losing were to simply keep track of dud hands ONLY (dont worry about anything else for now....keep it simple) they might find an alarming trend.....MAYBE.     But to address some of your other points......my play in AC since 2009 has been mostly on 99% machines (8/5 BP, 9/6/5 DDB, 9/6/JOB and a few other similar paying games), and I have not "jumped" in terms of denomination and game type mid-session.When I scaled back my play by at least half in 2013, I started to allow myself to play some of these "gimmicky" games like STP and Good times, etc.     It has not panned out at all......and yes, I agree with you that the swings are absurd.