How to view one's dealt hand

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=Alliewallie] I play in Immokalee.[/quote]I have played there myself a few times.  Pretty close to Ft. Myers as I recall.  Immokalee is a small casino away from the big city with some of the best VP odds in Florida.  Hope it lasts.

[Vman96]

I often look at spots 1 and 5 right after one another while I scan across as well. I know I have a bigger chance to miss a pair in spots 1 and 5 if I don't.

[Alliewallie]

Once again, great advice from all respondents. Can't thank you all enough for taking the time to help a Newbie.

[Alliewallie]

Phil, We live in Fort Myers so it's about a 40 min. drive but it's a pretty nice place to hang out for a few hours. Very glad to hear your opinion about the VP odds.

Interestingly enough, they have a bank of 9/6 JOB machines in virtually the busiest noisiest highest traffic area of the casino ( to be expected of course) but they are $1, $5, $10, $25 denomination machines.

The $.25 machines are far more plentiful, and considerably busier.

On a personal note, I can eventually afford to spin at the $5 machine once my errors are less often but maybe the inevitable W2G's are not worth it since with the new tax laws and higher deductions I will not be itemizing. Hmmm.

[FloridaPhil]

They recently pulled the good VP odds from the Hollywood Hard Rock.   You will be lucky if your machines don't get downgraded as well.  Video poker seems to be under attack lately.   On our recent trip to Biloxi the number of machines has been significantly reduced.  The W2G issue is going to affect a lot of players.  You can still offset your losses, but you must itemize your return.  We always itemize, but the hassle of an IRS audit is worth thinking about.   For a professional player, it's "same old same old".   For a Recreational player, it may affect some decisions.  The denomination I play doesn't make any difference to me.   I can have just as much fun playing quarters and I don't have the negatives of playing bigger.  It's true you can gain better odds by playing bigger.   Be aware that you can hit a royal flush on a 96% machine as well as a 100% machine.  You can lose playing 9/6 Jacks and the bigger the denomination the more you could potentially lose.   What playing better games accurately gives you is the ability to play more hands for your money.  This ups your chances of hitting a royal.  Unfortunately, it doesn't guarantee it will happen.  I will tell you that my Royals show up when they are supposed to. The bigger issue we have in Florida VP is comps.  As you know, our comps can only be used for in-house credit.  How many free sandwiches and Hard Rock T Shirts does it take to offset $5 a coin losses?  The majority of the players who make money playing VP are in Vegas.  Vegas comps include "cash back".  There is a huge difference between a comp that returns real money for playing VP and earning some sun tan lotion.As you can see you have decisions to make.   Everyone is different.   As long as you know all the facts, you can do what's best for you.

[Alliewallie]

Thanks Phil. At least during 'season', between all the promotions, give-aways, free food, bounce back dollars, mystery bonuses, etc. it "seems" like some of the losses are offset.

We also play lots of Diamond Lotto and have done pretty well. Surprisingly well to be honest.

Any thoughts on that game? It's pretty mindless stuff but plays really fast and loose. We see lots of people here sit down and pour a grand or more to get the jackpot, run out of $$$ and walk away. We are very keen on money management and keep clear goals both up and down.

[FloridaPhil]

We enjoy a little slot play once in a while.   Our favorite is Aristocrat's Gold Pays Firecracker slot.  Very addicting.   Bob Dancer gave the forum a tip some time ago that helped us increase our comps.  He advised us to play our free play on slots. Since we started doing this, our free play and comps have increased.   Thanks Bob.I have no idea what the odds are on our slots.  I expect they are in the 90% range.   We play them as small as we can while still being eligible for the major jackpot.  One of the nice things about the firecracker slot is the progressive jackpots are the same on all max line bets from 68 cents to $6.80.    Last year I walked up to a Buffalo Tower slot in Tampa.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I hit 20 minutes worth of free games and walked away with $1,100.   Most of the time they take your money.   Slots are like that.   There is NO money management strategy that will turn a negative game positive long term.  Unless you never play again, your losses will eventually overtake your winnings.

[Alliewallie]

Actually I would like to put this out there to the Florida VP crowd who are probably more attuned to payout ratios than most slot players.

What do people think is the most likely payout ratio for Diamond Lotto?

[FloridaPhil]

As far as I know, the Florida Hard Rocks do not publish their slot odds.  Florida is an unregulated State, so who knows?   It would be interesting if someone knows for sure. Odds don't mean a thing if you are sitting in the right seat at the right time. 

[Alliewallie]

Phil, We have seen the Firecracker slots and they are hypnotic in a way. Quite appealing.