Video Poker Forum

Nobody likes to lose, especially when it comes to money.  Unfortunately, it is inevitable that video poker players will have many more losing days than winning. Losing is what makes winning so much fun.  If losing doesn't hurt, there is no pleasure in winning.  The question is how much pain is enough before the game ceases to be fun?Losing also causes recreational players like me to constantly reevaluate how and what game we play.    If we win one day playing DDB, DDB is our game until it beats us up so much we try something else.  Yesterday was a good example.  I went to Tampa with $300 in my pocket.  They recent moved the good quarter deuces machine and I couldn't find it.  I went to the slot manager and she told me where they had moved it.  I was so happy that I decided to play max coins for the first hour.  Unfortunately, I lost $200 in that short amount of time.  What to do?  I wanted to play for the rest of the day and only had $100 left.  I had no choice but to switch to Cheap Strategy and hope for a miracle.   Within 20 minutes I ran one of my $20 bills up to $160 and I was back in business.  I played for 4 more hours and eventually went home with $140 in my pocket.  I never did hit a quad deuce.  It's possible I would have caught up playing max coins, but I most likely would have busted before that happened. My alternative would have been to hit the ATM and probably double down on my loss to $600 or even more.My point is not to convince anyone that  the Cheap Strategy is the way to play.   Use it as a tool if you find yourself on one of those days when nothing seems to work.  If you're playing negative games what's killing your bankroll is not winning enough, it's building up huge loses that you can never recover from. 

Nobody likes to lose, especially when it comes to money.  Unfortunately, it is inevitable that video poker players will have many more losing days than winning. Losing is what makes winning so much fun.  If losing doesn't hurt, there is no pleasure in winning.  The question is how much pain is enough before the game ceases to be fun?Losing also causes recreational players like me to constantly reevaluate how and what game we play.    If we win one day playing DDB, DDB is our game until it beats us up so much we try something else.  Yesterday was a good example.  I went to Tampa with $300 in my pocket.  They recent moved the good quarter deuces machine and I couldn't find it.  I went to the slot manager and she told me where they had moved it.  I was so happy that I decided to play max coins for the first hour.  Unfortunately, I lost $200 in that short amount of time.  What to do?  I wanted to play for the rest of the day and only had $100 left.  I had no choice but to switch to Cheap Strategy and hope for a miracle.   Within 20 minutes I ran one of my $20 bills up to $160 and I was back in business.  I played for 4 more hours and eventually went home with $140 in my pocket.  I never did hit a quad deuce.  It's possible I would have caught up playing max coins, but I most likely would have busted before that happened. My alternative would have been to hit the ATM and probably double down on my loss to $600 or even more.My point is not to convince anyone that  the Cheap Strategy is the way to play.   Use it as a tool if you find yourself on one of those days when nothing seems to work.  If you're playing negative games what's killing your bankroll is not winning enough, it's building up huge loses that you can never recover from. 



Cheap Strategy or not the bottom line is that you spent $160 for a day of entertainment; less than the $300 you budgeted. For some reason, this appalls some folks on the forum who can't envision that a negative day at the casino can be an enjoyable experience.

[quote=OTABILL]For some reason, this appalls some folks on the forum who can't envision
that a negative day at the casino can be an enjoyable experience.[/quote]That would mean they don't enjoy video poker over 70% of the time.  I consider it  a decent day if I can play all day and come home with half of what I took.  I track my total bankroll on a year to year basis.  If someone is looking for a "can never lose" strategy, I have a bridge to sell you.  

Amen Phil. I just came home even despite two three coin quads totaling $37.50. My greed led to excessive two and three coin play instead of one and only one! Had some laughs with new faces. Lot of folks focused on the $1100 Royal total. One machine hit me with a $45 loss. I finally dropped it. Adjacent one was cool; it gave me a Royal in Jan. too. Chasing a second quad was a $50 mistake.

If someone is looking for a "can never lose" strategy, I have a bridge to sell you.   <span style="font-size:10px"></span>


I crossed that bridge many times growing up in Brooklyn

I had about the same day as you Phil. Friday went with my buddy for some play. Played the   DW Cheap Strategy at the 50 cent level. I did hit 4 deuces twice at 1 coin, was up nice at the start, then down we went. Was about up $50 after 4 hours, the last hour I changed to max bet. Well you know  the out come, I left down $100. Was a good time and that is what its all about. The cheap strategy keeps you from bust, its a great system.

Most of us get a major beat down in that ugly final hour. I hit a quad to barely salvage the bank roll. I guess that's some consolation. But my day's grind and toil went down the toilet. Head still spinning. Easily a bust day w max coin or dollar min approach. Disciplined enough to avoid those woeful hazards. I'm not cruising for a bruising.

From analyzing the game, a 1000 hand quick visit session or 5000 hand a multi-day vacation session, you are bound to win 30 something percent and lose 60 something percent of the sessions on a 99% game. But in the long run it will approach near the theoretical return and the player must be disciplined enough to believe that and accept losing sessions as a formality. The winning sessions weighs more than a losing session.

I would say losing comes with a bittersweet benefit, the casino might offer stuff out of sympathy to the player to make a return trip. That would add benefit to reduce the house edge slightly in the long run. I do hear some stories where the casino might not offer anything much if you have won, SouthPoint/Palms/Stations.

Thanks for the sobering reminder Alpax. This Teflon like insulation I felt from playing a 99.5% game was completely bogus and foolhardy. What fools these mortals be. In the long run, we're all dead. Believing in some benevolent 99.5% halo is like believing that a Whopper is good nutrition because of all the protein. Of course it"s really 97.5%; can't exactly bank on the Royal to grace your presence. Vast oversimplifications abound. Better to focus on loss minimization.