Can You Keep From Losing?

[onemoretry]

The Hollywood and Tampa casinos are 259 miles apart. Hollywood has 6 quarter video poker machines with 8/5 Bonus Poker. Tampa has 7/5 Bonus Poker and 8/5 DDB. You can get a comped room in Hollywood. You can not in Tampa. Points in both casinos accumulate together. When we stay for free in Hollywood, I play max coin 8/5 Bonus Poker. There is no such option in Tampa.

My apologies! I did not realize you were referring to two separate casinos when comparing playing the two different pay scales.

[FloridaPhil]

I would like to wrap up this thread with a few comments. Thank you for allowing me to explain how and why I play negative video poker games. I do not play these games by choice. These are the games that are offered to me. My choice is to play them or not. I am fully aware that playing negative games comes with a cost. If the game is too negative, I adjust my coin in to compensate. When I feel I have had enough or the loss builds to a point where I am unhappy with the cost, I do something else with my time.

My wife and I enjoy travel. We drive around the country on vacation visiting as many casinos as we can. The casinos are not the main attraction. We love visiting new areas of the country we have not seen before. Staying overnight at a casino resort gives us something fun to do in the evening. Casinos that offer positive VP games are rare, so we have developed ways to cut the cost of playing negative games. In the 10 years or so we have been doing this, we got our money's worth.

If you have 99% or better video poker games available to you, play them. If you play them right and pay attention to the comps, you will do well. I doubt you will become rich playing VP, but you won't hurt yourself either. There will be times when you think you will lose forever. There will also be times when you think a video poker machine is an ATM. If you play the right games as perfect as you can and stick with it, you will be OK.

If all you have is 96% games or worse, my advice is to not play them. If you must, consider limiting your coin in to a few hundred dollars max. You can stretch your money by playing single coin, but you better be prepared to hit a short coin royal. If you can't handle that possibility, play max coins and walk out with any win. If you lose your $200, stop and mark it up as the cost of entertainment. Never sit on a 96% game and feed unlimited money into it hoping for a royal. Even if you hit one, the odds will eat it up.

It's about time we confront the negative VP game issue. I have played long enough to remember when 99% games were the norm. After 2008, the casinos began dropping their odds and their comps. This has continued to a point where positive opportunities are only available at very high denominations or a few holdouts in Nevada. If you have access to them, you are fortunate, for now. All the video poker strategy in the world will not help you beat a 96% video poker game. I believe we will see a time when those odds are considered great. I hope not. We'll have to wait and see.

[FAA]

Even on the 99s, do not adamantly indulge in marathons week after week. The busts will be brutal. I'm happy to do a furious 90 minutes or so and bow out. I'll likely be around even and that's a win.

[Jstark]

Phil said:

" I do not play these games by choice."

Then goes on to say:

"My choice is to play them or not."

First he says that it's not his choice then says it IS his choice. You can't make this stuff up.

Dude.... you 100% CHOOSE to play these games. Those casinos aren't kidnapping you and forcing you to play.

[markinca]

That's just Phil being Phil. He spews so much ignorance on a constant basis that even he can't keep track of what he's said. Trying to make sense of anything he says or to examine the validity of any statements he makes is just an exercise in futility.

[Eduardo]

"I do not play these games by choice" = "These are the only games available to me."

"My choice is to play them or not" = "My choice is to play them or not."

In other words, if he had better options to choose from, he would choose them instead. But since he wants to play, these are what he plays.

Let's be fair here. It's not that hard. Playing semantics just gives an out on the bigger issues.

[Tedlark]

I think the Cubs have a homestand this weekend against the semantics. Sorry; couldn't resist.

Gigglesnort.....

[markinca]

"I do not play these games by choice" = "These are the only games available to me."

But he's still making a choice to play those horrible paytables. Just because you're surrounded by horrible paytables doesn't mean that you're forced to play them. Around me there are nothing but bad paytables, so I don't play. When I go to Vegas, there are better paytables, so I play. Those are the choices I make.

Phil makes the choice of whether to play or not, so he's certainly choosing whether or not to play these bad vp games as well.

[Eduardo]

But he's still making a choice to play those horrible paytables. Just because you're surrounded by horrible paytables doesn't mean that you're forced to play them. Around me there are nothing but bad paytables, so I don't play.

Which is why he said "My choice is to play them or not."

[markinca]

But he's still making a choice to play those horrible paytables. Just because you're surrounded by horrible paytables doesn't mean that you're forced to play them. Around me there are nothing but bad paytables, so I don't play.

Which is why he said "My choice is to play them or not."

The issue isn't with this statement. The issue is with his "I do not play these games by choice". Yes, he does play those games by choice. The fact that there aren't better paytables around him is not relevant. He chooses to play those paytables, period.