Video Poker Forum

I thought I'd share my recent trip experience at the largest casino on Earth, WinStar on TX/OK border, a Chickasaw tribal casino. In the future, I will be providing PHOTOS for all big wins, but just didn't for this trip.

Without further adieu...

1) Nice casino, nice staff, but awful POINT program (reasonable comps from the host, however). I will add that I saw people winning on slots and generally happy there, as opposed to some Vegas Strip casinos and other Tribal casinos in the USA that offer the opposite of an enjoyable, winning environment.

2) For over one week, I played almost exclusively Wheel Poker Four of a Kind, $1, Five Play, Triple Double Bonus. I forget the pay schedule, but full house paid $45 and flush was $30. I could be wrong, but I remember thinking it was at least the second best possible pay schedule, if not the best.

3) I hit SO many four of a kinds, four aces, one Royal, drew with one Ace and hit Four Aces/Kicker once, and also flopped four 9s, which gave me FIVE wheel spins at $1.

I hit the $2000 n the Wheel at least twice, and $1000 twice. I also hit probably 5 or 6 $2000 Four 2,3,4s w/ A,2,3,4. Also did good on the Wheel, as mentioned before, and hit $800 and $500 many times.

4) Played all the machines they had, and most were good. I play very fast and aggressive, so I did give *some* of those winnings "back", but in general the machines were "alive" and active (which is the KEY to not going broke, the machines must be active or you need to get the HELL out, if you intend to play a lot, as I do).

5) Also played a lot of Extra Draw Frenzy Ten Play $1, Triple Double. $60 per hand. Did quite well for most of the trip -- but that game is very risky. I love the game, but if you don't get a decent frequency of three of a kinds dealt, you are dead. You also MUST hit 2,3,4 kicker for $2000 or Aces for $4000 at least once per session or you are finished. For the most part, I did.

Ended up "up" $15,000 net at one point, but lost for the trip because I played a bunch of garbage slots in the high limit room. My fault, and not something do often, if ever, as I generally hate high limit slots.

Stick with video poker.

Anyway, good trip, great casino. I did hit a nice streak on VP. Would it last? I don't know. Machines were hot. Probably won't stay that way, but I DO love Wheel Poker Four of a Kind (Wheel Poker Deluxe --- also offered there -- at $1 Five Play completely sucks, btw. Similar game, but rarely does it payout in terms of what you hit on the wheel. It's fun to just play at .5 cents).

Next reports will include Cripple Creek, CO, and later, Blackhawk, CO.

I wanted to quickly add one more thing, and it's important:

They had two Hot Roll .25 cent, five play machines.

I put a few THOUSAND into these pieces of crap and won NOTHING. I have never SEEN worse cards. Total trash.

I'm talking about hands that kept REPEATING, same patterns, same trash, over and over. NONE of the other VP machines I played BEHAVED like these two machines did. These machines were from another bloody planet.

I kept playing because I was curious to see how AWFUL that kind of streak could go, and it just kept going.

So always be careful. I can USUALLY "sense" when a machine is dead. Sometimes I'm wrong and a "dead" machine will pop off a Royal for Aces/kicker, but it's rare.

When they're dead, they're dead, for good. They'll suck away $50,000 even at .25 cents five play in half a day.

In the long run, those "dead" machines eventually "wake up" and, of course, they will have streaks of payouts (they're supposed to, anyway).

I think what we want as VP players is CONSISTENCY and reasonable cards, not these stupid "streaks" -- which, more often than not, involve massive streaks of losing and bad cards.

As in my post above, I did well, but I was never "up" more than $15,000, which, when playing $1 and five hands, is NOT a large "win".

But I suspect in the casino's mind, I had "an incredible and stunning series of winning sessions!"

Nope. Give me a break.

A REAL "winning session" worth writing home about, at my play level, would be $50,000 or $100,000. THAT is extraordinarily rare -- but what ISN'T RARE is LOSING that much! Oh, how convenient for the casino.

Sometimes I play, hit a four of a kind and hit a small taxable jackpot and I think, "Ok, is this supposed to be some kind of big deal, after I just put $5000 into this machine? Am I supposed to jump up and down? Give me a break."

VP can be frustrating, comical, and just plain stupid sometimes.

I find it hard to believe it all relies on some RNG. I do think payouts, jackpots and coin in/out has some factor in what cards "show up", but that's just a theory. There at least seems to be kind of stupid "streak" factor built into the RNG.