My History in Video Poker

[faygo]

Sometimes, in males, it all goes at once. Now, if only I could remember what those things were. 
 

[EDC1977]

Sometimes, in males, it all goes at once. Now, if only I could remember what those things were. 
  This is one time I can say "thats NOT what she said."

[mickey crimm]

FLUSH ATTACK VIDEO POKER  and HOUSE A ROCKIN' VIDEO POKER.
 
The first time I ever heard of Flush Attack was in a Lenny Frome article in Cardplayer Magazine sometime in 1994 or 1995.  I was playing poker in either Cripple Creek, Colorado or Albuquerque, New Mexico at the time.   I didn't think much of it at that time-but I should have.  I still didn't know much on the subject at that time.  It turned out that the Santa Ana Star Casino just north of Albuquerque in Bernalillo had the game. 
 
The first time I saw a Flush Attack machine was in October 1996 when I entered the Pioneer Hotel & Gambling Hall in Laughlin, Nevada.  I was broke and hustling credits.  I saw someone I recognized from the streets of Las Vegas playing these Flush Attacks.  I remember asking him to give me a clue about making money in Laughlin, but he didn't have the time of day for me. 
 
After making some money playing the advantageous slots I bought Dan Paymar's "Precision Play' and "The Best of Video Poker Times."  I read a very interesting article written by Doug Reul in BVPT on Flush Attack.  I had also met a legendary casino hustler named "Denny L." , and he told me it was a very very strong play.  I decided I needed to take a look at the game. 
 
On a sidenote: 
 
Denny knew his business.  It wound up that the only place he was welcome in Laughlin was in the Riverside Sports Book and the Golden Nugget Sportsbook.  But he wasn't allowed to touch a machine in either place.  He was 86'd out of the other casinos on the river.  He was an absolutey brutal hustler.  Here is one of the stories they tell about him: 
 
The Pioneer put on one of those "cash your paycheck here and receive a 125 coin bonus on your next 4-of-a-Kind" promotion.  The problem for the player is they only get the bonus everytime they get a paycheck.  But that's not how Denny thinks.  He went over to Bullhead City, Arizona, just across the river  and bought a business license for a balloon company.  He then went to a bank and opened up a payroll account. 
 
He then started writing paychecks for all of his hustler friends--and anyone else he could find.  They said he would even go through the homeless camps across the river looking for prospects. 
 
I don't know what kind of deal he struck with these people, but it was a very, very strong play: 
 
Take a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine at $5 denom.  You're getting paid double for every quad.  This puts the game up to 105.5%.  So the theoretical is a $584 win per play.  ($25 X 425 games X 5.5% = $584. 
But let's subtract out the payback for the Royal Flush and Straight Flush-2.5%.  You would still have a 3% edge just up through the 4-of-a-kinds.  Or a theoretical win of $320 per play with the RF/SF.  Strong.  Strong.  Strong. 
 
I don't know how many paychecks he was cracking a week but when they caught up with him they told him that not only was he 86'd but if he ever tried to enter the Pioneer again they would break his neck. 
 
When Flush Attack came out Denny put couples on every bank in Laughlin.  While other hustlers were making there $30 or $40 an hour operating alone, Denny was making hundreds per hour.  He just cruised up and down the river monitoring his workers. 
 
More later.
 
 
 
 

[New2vp]

FLUSH ATTACK VIDEO POKER  and HOUSE A ROCKIN' VIDEO POKER.What's HOUSE A ROCKIN' VIDEO POKER?

[mickey crimm]

What's HOUSE A ROCKIN' VIDEO POKER?[/QUOTE]
 
House a Rockin' is/was a game manufactured by Sigma.  It's too bad Sigma faded away in the electronic gambling device business because they made games that the astute player could beat.  There are two versions of the game, linked-bank, and stand alone.  And 2 payscales that I'm familiar with. 
 
It was essentially a double bonus game with a gimmick.  The payscale looked like this: 
 
RF........................................800
SF........................................  50
4 Aces.................................160
4 2's, 3's, 4's.......................  80
4 5's thru Kings...................  50
House a Rockin' in Mode......  40
Full House............................   8/7*
Flush....................................   5
Straight................................   4
3K........................................    3
2P........................................    1
HP.......................................     1
 
In the "stand alone" or "unlinked" version,  from reset you had to make 5 full houses to trigger House a Rockin' mode.  "House a Rockin'" would light up across the top of the screen and the next full house you made would pay 40 for one.  Then you would be back at reset and had to make another 5 full houses to trigger House a Rockin' mode.  Playing straight through the game came in at either 99.2% or 100.18% depending on whether the regular full houses paid 8 for one or 7 for one. 
 
In the "linked" version the payscales were the same.  But it was the accumulation of 5 full houses by all the players on the bank that triggered House' a Rockin' mode.  When someone made the fifth full house all of the screens would light up with "House a Rockin'"  Then it was a race to see who could get the next full house. 
 
My first encounter with the game was in late 1996 at the Riverside in Laughln.  A linked banked of 8 machines was located in the North Tower Bar.  Of course, I added the game to my repertoire.   
 
The absolute best strategy was not to play when the bank wasn't in House a Rockin' mode.  But you could draw heat or get pitched off the bank for doing that.  So I played one coin between the lights and went to 5 coins in the light.  Nice little profit center. 
 
I'll write more on the unlinked version later. 

[mickey crimm]

What's HOUSE A ROCKIN' VIDEO POKER?/QUOTE]
 
I failed to mention that with the bonus full house paying 40 for one your theoretical was 132%.  So the object was to get as many hands per hour as you could in the mode while keeping your loss rate between lights as low as possible. 

[mickey crimm]

What's HOUSE A ROCKIN' VIDEO POKER?[/QUOTE]
 
Another thing needs to be clarified.  It took 40 coins worth of full house to trigger the mode.  That would be 5 full house at max bet but 40 full house if one were betting just one coin.  It would be 20 full house at 2 coins, etc. 
 
On the linked banks everyone playing was contributing.  But some were contributing more than others.  It's the OPM (other people's money) principle again. 

[New2vp]

Thanks.  Interesting.  Similar to flush attack but with full boats.  I'd seen articles about Flush Attack; I wonder why they didn't include House a Rockin' since they are so similar.

[mickey crimm]

Thanks.  Interesting.  Similar to flush attack but with full boats.  I'd seen articles about Flush Attack; I wonder why they didn't include House a Rockin' since they are so similar.

 
House a Rockin' was pretty rare compared to Flush Attack.  The only linked bank I ever saw was at the Riverside in Laughlin.  For stand alones the only places I found the game were Caesars Tahoe, Carson Valley Inn in Minden, and the Red Lion in Elko. 

[mickey crimm]

 At one time there was 5 stand alone (unlinked) House a Rockin' in the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, Nevada and 10 in the Red Lion in Elko, Nevada.  They were the 7/5 version and it took 5 full houses at max coin bet to trigger House a Rockin' mode.  The next full house paid 40 for one. 
The average value of the full house was 12.5.  That's five full house paying 7 for one plus one full house paying 40 for one.  You can't punch 12.5 into one of the video poker analyzers but what you can do is double everything on the payscale.  For instance, set the high pair on 2, two pair on 2, three of a kind on 6, etc.   Then analyze it and halve the result.  In this case it comes up at 198.44%.  So dividing that by two shows a payback of 99.22%. 
 
The way to make money on this game was to "sweep the machines out."  I would set down on a machine and play it until I collected  the bonus full house.  Then cash out, move to the next machine and play it until I collected  the bonus full house.  Then cash out, move to the next machine, etc.  Once I had all the machines swept out I just went and did whatever and waited for the machines to get actrion from other players again.
 
I usually had a routine where I would sweep in the morning then sweep again around the dinner hour then sweep again around midnight. 
 
What I'm doing when sweeping a machine is picking up all the 7 for one full houses made by the previous player.   Though the overall payback of the game is 99.2%, the payback of the game changes, at least thru collecting the bonus full house, as full houses are banked. 
 
If I had to make 5 full houses to clear the play my theoretical was 100.48%  Only 4 full houses and the theoretical was 102.39%.  3 full houses and the theoretical was 105.56%.  2 full house the theoretical was 111.9%.  And if, per chance, I caught a Motel 6 (we jokingly referred to finding a machine where someone put it in mode then ran out of credits and walked away as a Motel 6.  "I'm Tom Bodette, and we'll leave the light on for you.") my money was at 132%. 
 
I kept extensive stats on how many full houses I had to make per play.  My average was 3.2 full house per play.  That gave me an average value for the full house at slightly above 17.  That put my theoretical in the game at about 104.5%.  And I played several thousand hands everyday.