Daily Contests

Discuss the latest contests, contest strategies, and scores!
jim18
Senior Member
Posts: 118
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:55 am

Re: Daily Contests

Post by jim18 »

Thanks to each of you for your posting.  The more information that is posted here the more understanding a reader gets.statically speaking, I think I understand how 5,220 persons playing for hours per day can generate the returns that are posted for the contest this month, when you consider that their play is keep on the books for the entire month.However, if I were to look at this from the individual standpoint, I think I would see the following.  A player might be dealt a RF once in 600,000 hands.  A player might draw to a RF once in 40,000 hands.  Some of the contest leaders have managed to do this.If a player were exceptionally fast and played 1,000 hands per hour, would it not take that player 640 hours of playing during that month to play enough hands that they would statically be likely to expect to have drawn both a RF and have been dealt a RF too?While it is not a certainty, I suspect that VP website does not have any players who play 20 hours a day for 30 days a month.  My conclusion is that the contest leaders have somehow overcome the individual odds against them doing what they have in fact done.**********Let me move on, as I think I have explained myself well enough on this topic.  These players are just plain lucky.Having said that, let me once again raise the question of what game to play, in contest mode.  I have limited exposure to free contests presented by casinos.  However, it is the case that all participants played the same game, in the contests that I took part in.At VP this is not the case.  Still, a review of the top 10 scores I believe shows that all of the top 10 score players  are playing one of only two games.  As a guess, I should follow the crowd and do what is successful.EDOG743 makes a good point that a player should play what they are best at playing.  I think that makes sense, but I think there are other factors to consider.  For example, should I consider the pay back percentages of each game and play the game with the best percentage?  Where can I find the pay back percentage for each game that is offered in this contest?Is it the case that for each VP game, the odds of hitting a RF change?  Should players in this contest play only the games with the best chance  of hitting a RF?  Where would I find the odds of hitting a RF for each game in the contest?Once again, I want to thank VP for having the monthly contest.  This contest helps me to fill in my day.  I am retired, but do not have the money to go to a casino often.  This drives me crazy!

SleazyRider
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Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:07 am

Post by SleazyRider »

jim18,

 
 
Let me give my take on the chances of someone winning a daily contest.  For the multiplay, as opposed to single hand draw poker, we can show that one will probably need a dealt Royal Flush or equivalent to win.  The odds of getting a dealt Royal Flush are about 1 in 650,000 or 1/650,000.  The odds of getting a dealt Royal in 100 hands would be 100/650,000 or 1/6,500.  Now comes the part that you have overlooked.  You can play up to five 100 hand sets in one daily contest, and you get the score of your best set in the contest, not the cumulative score of the five sets.  So your chances of getting a dealt royal in any daily contest are actually 500/650,000 or 1/1,300.

 
Just because an event is low probalility does not mean that it cannot happen.  If there are enough chances for it to happen, it can become likely to happen.  The fact that you are unlikely to get a dealt Royal  on any given day does not mean that it is unlikely that anyone will get a dealt Royal.  It all depends on the number of players in the contest.  Let us take the example of Webman of 5,200 players in a daily contest.  Since any one player has a 1/1,300 chance of getting a dealy royal in a daily contest and there are 5,200 players, I would argue that the coverage factor is about 5,200/1,300 or about 4.  This would seem to be the most likely value.  Some days it may be more, and some days less.  But 1 or 7 dealt Royals are pretty unlikely.  And of course it would be very unlikely to have nobody get a dealt Royal.

 
There is no one correct answer for what game to play.  It does make a difference, and the same games are not offered in each contest.  You have to look at the pay table.  If something pays the same as a royal, it is as good as and equivalent to a royal but increases your chances of getting that dealt royal score.  In triple play draw poker, note that in triple double bonus 4 Aces with a kicker gets 4000 points as well as a Royal Flush. Since aces with kicker is about threee times as likely as a royal, it would seem that you have about 4 times the chance to get 4000 compared to JOB.  This would indicate that in our example we could expect 16 dealt royal equivalents rather thatn 4.  Note that a dealt royal is the same as a drawn royal in single play draw poker.  In this case Royal Aces is the best choice, as any 4 aces pays the same as a royal flush.


I did get a dealt Royal Flush in a tournament in the VideoPoker.com Poker Room at the Zen site.  The format was 100 deals of Double Double Bonus Triple Play.  So I know that it can be done.  I have a screen shot of the deal, which I will post when I figure out how.
 

jim18
Senior Member
Posts: 118
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:55 am

Post by jim18 »

Hello SleazyRiderThanks for taking the time to make your posting.I am somewhat confused over the difference between a daily contest that you are speaking of, and a monthly contest that I am speaking about.However, I will agree with you and webman, that due to the number of participants in this contest, that it is reasonable to find a few people who are dealt a RF over the whole month.Still, it is kind of “lucky” that once a person had such good luck within a certain set of 100 hands, that they were dealt a RF, that they then were able to draw another RF or other high paying hand.  At the very least luck should be spread around (joke)Also, thanks for pointing out to me what I thought was the case.  Playing certain games within the contest most likely will produce better results than playing other games either due to the change in chances of hitting a RF or that fact that some games have other hands with a large payout.I suspect that this topic has run its course, and that we can move on.For example can you tell me if there is somewhere on the VP site where I can look up the payback percentage for each game, based on some default pay schedule?What I would like to read are some postings  dealing with the topic of whether it is wiser to play at a lower denomination and with a poorer payback schedule.  Or is it wiser to play with a better payback schedule, at a higher denomination?  Such postings would have to take into account bankroll size, and taxes.  (Most people do not live or play in NV) Of course such a topic needs to be started within the right “topic”.Thanks again for your input.

Webman
Video Poker Master
Posts: 5083
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:11 pm

Post by Webman »

Yes, all those questions would not really pertain to the Daily Contests subject here so I'd suggest bringing them up on a new topic elsewhere in the forum.You can view the returns of many pay tables here:http://www.videopoker.com/learn/pay_tables/

edog743
Video Poker Master
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Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:38 pm

Post by edog743 »

When a person wins the daily contest should they not be  allowed to play in anymore daily contests after that. If they win again will they be allowed two entries in the TOC. If not they should not be able to paticipate in any further daily contests. until the TOC is over.

Webman
Video Poker Master
Posts: 5083
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:11 pm

Post by Webman »




People can win as many daily contests as they are able... they will
be allowed multiple entries in the Tournament of Champions if they
qualify more than once.Since we plan on doing this again next
year, it would be unfortunate if someone won in January and couldn't
play in any contests for the rest of the year.


edog743
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Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:38 pm

Post by edog743 »

The TOC is a 10 day contest unless there are going to be multiple rounds and the first round is going to have a limited amount of sessions one is going to need only one entry. At the very least in the unlikely event of a repeat winner the second place winner should be given the winners enrty.

Webman
Video Poker Master
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Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:11 pm

Post by Webman »

It will not be a simple 10 day unlimited session format.

The format will be such that multiple entries has value.

New2vp
Video Poker Master
Posts: 1793
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:02 am

Post by New2vp »

Webman, is it still true that multiple entries in the Tournament of
Champions have some value?  If so, what is it?  What does a 2nd or 3rd
entry get that the 1st entry would not? 




Webman
Video Poker Master
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Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:11 pm

Post by Webman »

Additional entries would earn you additional sessions to play each day in the first round of the tournament.

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