My History in Video Poker

[shadowman]

There was a machine at Sam's Town that started paying out a few more coins than it should have whenever anyone would cash out. One person would continually put money into the machine and cash out about every 5 minutes. It wasn't worth the hassle for me, but I'm sure this improved the ER considerably. This lasted for about 3 months before it was corrected.

[mickey crimm]

There was a machine at Sam's Town that started paying out a few more coins than it should have whenever anyone would cash out. One person would continually put money into the machine and cash out about every 5 minutes. It wasn't worth the hassle for me, but I'm sure this improved the ER considerably. This lasted for about 3 months before it was corrected.
 
It's what is known as an "overpayer" or OP for short.  Working overpayers was a vocation for some hustlers.  I steered clear of it because I don't need to cheat to win-and I didn't want to lose any casinos.  But there were guys out there doing it. 
 
I talked to some of them about their techniques but asked them to stay away from me in the casinos.  I didn't want to get a "guilt by association" rap. 
 
Sometime in 1997 I seen a known OP worker playing a double deuces wild game.    I talked to him later about what he was doing.  He said the machine was overpaying about 15% so he would handfeed coins.  After building up so many credits he would cash out.  So if he cashed out 400 quarters the machine would dump about $115.  Then he would handfeed the coins back in and cashout again. 
 
Eventually the hopper would go empty and a floor person would have to fill it with coins.  Everytime a floorperson goes inside a machine they pull out a card and check when the last time the machine took a fill, then they write down what time they went into the machine and what the purpose for it was.  Casinos had a stop gap measure to guard against OP's.  If the machine took 3 fills in 24 hours they would shut the machine down and have a technician check it out. 
 
So an OP guy might get away with a few hundred dollars if he is just draining the hopper a few times before it gets fixed.  But the crook on that double deuces machine had a better plan.  The 4 deuces paid $500 and it was a handpay.  He avoided draining the hopper and played strictly for the 4 deuces with the handpays.  It was just a matter of handfeeding the coins in then playing off some of the credits, then cashing out.  He told me he even broke up hands like 2244X and just held the deuces.  So I guess this guy was able to make a killing off of that machine. 
 
When Williams got sued by IGT for violating the Telnaes Patent, they quit manufacturing stepper slots and moved to making 9-line video games.  They were mosts multi-coin nickel games.  They had a history of OP'ing.  When I was back in the Midwest about 7 years ago I would see guys come into the casino, find a row of these machines, then stick a $5 bill in each machine and cash the coins out.  They would go down the whole row doing this, then take the coins to the coin counter to see if they got any extra coinsl.  If they did then they woudl zero in on the machine that was OP'ing. 
 
Another thing I saw in the Midwest was these IGT nickel 9 line video games.  But the machines were tokenized.  You were playing a nickel game but if you cashed out you got dollar tokes.  Some of the machines would overpay 3 or 4 coins per hundred.  I seen guys working these machines.  They would put a piece of cardboard in the coin chute to muffle the clanging of coins being cashed out.  To make themselves look busy they played the game but were only betting one nickle credit at a time while handfeeding dollar tokens into the machine.  Every so often they would cash out. 
 
I avoided those guys like the plague. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[mickey crimm]

There was a machine at Sam's Town that started paying out a few more coins than it should have whenever anyone would cash out. One person would continually put money into the machine and cash out about every 5 minutes. It wasn't worth the hassle for me, but I'm sure this improved the ER considerably. This lasted for about 3 months before it was corrected.
 
One time I was playing a dollar denom Double Diamnd Mine (advantage slot) in the Riverside/Laughlin.  The bill acceptor was not working so I put a $20 bill in the dollar machine just to the left with the intention of cashing out the tokes and using them on the machine I was playing.  But the darn machine racked up 400 credits.  "What the hell!!!" I said to myself.  What to do?  What to do?  What to do?
 
I gave some serious thought to hitting the cashout button and taking the money..............but I couldn't do it.  I called the floor people over and told them what happened.  They thanked me for my honesty.

[mickey crimm]

[QUOTEOne time I was playing a dollar denom Double Diamnd Mine (advantage slot) in the Riverside/Laughlin.  The bill acceptor was not working so I put a $20 bill in the dollar machine just to the left with the intention of cashing out the tokes and using them on the machine I was playing.  But the darn machine racked up 400 credits.  "What the hell!!!" I said to myself.  What to do?  What to do?  What to do?
 
I gave some serious thought to hitting the cashout button and taking the money..............but I couldn't do it.  I called the floor people over and told them what happened.  They thanked me for my honesty. [/QUOTE]
 
Evidently, a technician had mistakenly put a bill acceptor that was for a nickel machine into a dollar machine. 

[mickey crimm]

WILLIAMS VIDEO BLACKJACK
 
Williams had manufactured a console type machine with several different games on it.  It came in quarters and dollars.  I discovered their video blackjack sometime in 1997 or 1998.  Blackjack payed 5 to 2.  But the best rulle in the game was early surrender which brought the game up to 100.4%. 
 
I first played the game at Gold River (now River Palms) in Laughlin.  I played mostly on Thursdays getting 1% cashback and Fridays getting .667% cashback.  The betting limit was ten coins but there was a Let it Ride feature. 
 
John Grochowski, the gaming writer for the Chicago Tribune, discovered the game and called Williams and told them they had made a mistake.  They said they didn't so he proved it to them.  Of course, Williams then reprogrammed the game taking out the early surrender.  Thanks, John. 

[shadowman]

I've run into situations before where people were commenting to employees about the great paytables they were playing. Normally this is not a problem but you never know when a paytable is there by mistake and bringing it to the casinos attention will result in pulling the game.

[Tedlark]

mickey, John wrote a gaming column for the Chicago Sun Times and he has been gone from the Sun Times for a couple years. He is still around and does write for several other newspapers, I bet marie meier may see his wrigins in a Detroit newspaper. Other than that I enjoy reading about your exploits, I have had the video poker bug since 1990.

[mickey crimm]

Thanks for the correction, Ted.  I thought it was the Tribune.  Anyways, the guy didn't do any of us a favor when he ratted the game out. 

[royal flush]

mickey you like shadow and i like to exploit these situations however i think the opportunities will come from casino promotions vs machine that payout extra coins  like the one i had at the sands spitting 6-8 coins in a dollar vp coin machine on even money payoffs 5 coins. we will always find some opportunity to gain extra coin

[Tedlark]

  No worries mickey, I used to read John when he was published but after he was dropped by the Sun Times I didn't go out of my way to find his columns. He also did a quick 2 minute segment on a local radio station, WBBM AM but I think it was only once a week. He has written many books on gambling and I think he rubs elbows with Jean Scott and Frank Scobletti.