Counting cards in vp

[olds442jetaway]

    This will probably sound crazy to most, but I have an easy way that I can mentally keep track of the frequency of hits of 2 pair or more on 9/6 job even for thousands of hands in my sessions. I have done this for the last 2 sessions. When the frequency of hits falls too far out of the norm, I increased my bet from 5 quarters to ten and if still out of the norm after hours of play to twenty quarters. The results really amazed me.
     The first session only had 2 quads and of course no Royals. The second session had only 1 quad. Both sessions were in excess of 3,000 hands. I know that is considered a tiny sample with the math folks, but I was able to turn an otherwise disastrous session to a slight profit of just under a hundred bucks in each of the sessions.
     The first session that was well of the norm percentage wise after a couple of thousand hands, started hitting full houses real close together and 2 quads. The second session seemed to put lots of 3 of a kinds together along with 2 pair very close together and then the single quad with twenty quarters bet.
     I have noticed these patterns before, but never have kept track of the exact numbers. It does take some concentration, but not so much that you cannot enjoy the game and your surroundings. For instance, one of my favorite waitresses brought me a coffee milk shake and hung out for a while because it was so slow in the middle of the night. I did enjoy that little diversion and kept my count pretty much going. I think. I guess you could call playing this way a version of Martingale. I don't care what it is called. I just care that it works so far.
     On the opposite end of the spectrum, when the hits got too far out of the norm in the other direction meaning that the machine was fairly hot, when it cooled down, it really cooled down and fast. On that machine I was ahead over a hundred bucks playing bet 5 and in less than twenty minutes, that was gone and more.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=olds442jetaway]When the frequency of hits falls too far out of the norm, I increased my
bet from 5 quarters to ten and if still out of the norm after hours of
play to twenty quarters. The results really amazed me. [/quote]As this is the Recreational Forum, so I hope I can post this without someone jumping all over my thread.  What you are doing is using a strategy to allow you to bet bigger than your bankroll, which is why I like CS at higher denominations.  If it works better than flat betting max coins is questionable, but that's not the point.  The point is both of us like to bet bigger, but we do not want the losses that come with it.   I would much rather play CS $1s all day and have a shot at a $4,000 royal than play max coin quarters where the best hand is $1,000.   For real excitement, try CS $5s, that will keep your eyes glued to the screen for sure.   I may be giving away money in the long run, but the excitement is worth it to me.  People that criticize our way of playing don't understand what motivates us.  I don't give a damn if I lose money long term, I just want to have fun and "grinding it out" is not what I'm paying for.

[FAA]

when the hits got too far out of the norm in the other direction, the machine was fairly hot, when it cooled down, it really cooled
down and fast. On that machine I was ahead over a hundred bucks playing
bet 5 and in less than twenty minutes, that was gone and more.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Yes, that has happened to all of us. If you lose a twenty in an eye blink, flee before it's too late! Still recovering from my fiasco.

[olds442jetaway]

     Exactly correct Phil. What either CS or Martingale Clone does is keep you playing longer sometimes hours after your bankroll would have been wiped out by flat betting. In my case on my most recent session, I would have been out easily at least 300 bucks at one point flat betting 5 quarters on 9/6 job with only 1 quad showing up in 4 hours and very few full houses as well. Luckily, the short time I bet at level 10 or even 20 brought me back and then some. I never would have had that chance just flat betting for the entire session. Add to that the excitement factor of a potential really big win. CS works pretty much the same way, though from another angle. CS has no better chance of working than MC in the same number of hands and vice versa, but both methods give you a shot at least. I think that is why the penny slots can be so attractive to players. Sometimes a single bonus round can get you back to even or better in less than 5 minutes after playing hours and losing. I don't advocate using them long term, but they are a fun diversion. There is nothing worse than that sinking feeling of going through a hundred or two in a very short time. CS prevents that as does MC. MC could cost more to play than CS however, depending how long you wait to up your bets and how much you up them by. So far so good for 2016 using both methods. I am not ahead, but am down a pittance compared to the last two years at the same point in time.

[FAA]

3,000 hand sessions with one quad? Yet you profited! I am buying a city wide restaurant discount pass to prevent any future marathon meltdowns. You stay, you usually pay.

[case]

Olds you mentioned a count. What are you counting? 2 pairs...full houses or what? If you are counting them all like 2 pair, 3oak full houses ect, how do you keep track in your head of each. Just trying to understand what you are doing exactly.

[olds442jetaway]

     I make pretty easy on myself. I know that you are supposed to hit 2 pair long term every 4.2 hands or so on 9/6 job. After 4 misses or pushes without at least 2 pair, I up my bet by one unit and start my 4 count over. Just to give one example. I have played 4 hands and have not hit even 2 pair. My bet will now be 6 quarters instead of 5. Let's say I go 4 more hands and they are all duds. My bet will now be 7 quarters. On the second hand at betting 7, I hit a flush. My next bet had I not hit the flush would have been 7 for the third time. I just go back to betting 6 and pretend it would be the third bet at 6. That way, there is very little math and calculating you have to do in your head. It gets just a little more involved when you hit a quad. Then you have to back your bet down 6 levels. ( 25 divided by 4 ).If you were at bet 12 and hit a quad, you would be at bet 6 for the next hand.
     This can get pretty expensive on a bad run and there are ways to slow it down. Sometimes if I have more than my original bank when I hit something, I will either quit or start everything over at bet 5. That would probably have been the case in the above example when you hit that quatd at bet 12. If you have a completely quadless night and the full houses are sparse too, you will definitely lose money and most likely, the method would have called for bets at bet 25 or higher. However, I think no matter what method you would have used in that scenario, you would have lost plenty. I don't have the b.... to continue the progression past bet 25 quarters even though the machine would allow me to change to 50 cents or dollars. When that happens and it will sooner or later, I will just call it a night. If it never happened, the casinos would all go broke because after all, this is nothing more than a mild Martingale betting method. The stress levels can get high when the machine is still cold and your bets are up in the 12-18 range or so for each hand. So far, for the couple of sessions I have used it, I have hit either quads or close together full houses when my bets have been high. They will get me sooner or later and probably sooner. Hope not though.

[olds442jetaway]

3,000 hand sessions with one quad? Yet you profited! I am buying a city wide restaurant discount pass to prevent any future marathon meltdowns. You stay, you usually pay.

     The close together full houses saved me FAA. Three full houses real close together is just as good as one quad in my book.

[case]

You can only do your system on machines that allow you to bet more than 5 coins. I know your casinos has this but most don't.

Thanks and good luck to you Olds.

[FloridaPhil]

I am not a big believer in making bets based on past hands, however some games are streakier than others and I do believe it is possible to use this to your advantage.  I do not think this works any better than "grinding it out" in the traditional sense, but when it does the reward can be great.  Many people misinterpret the CS rule of betting max coins after a four coin win.  This has nothing to do with the 4 coin win, it's a signal that a streak may be underway.  In deuces wild streaks occur because the deuces start appearing more frequently.  You must have some way of knowing when this happens other than counting cards or making personal observations.   The easiest and most reliable way to know this in deuces is the frequency of 4 coin wins. When these hands start occurring and I sense a streak is underway. I switch to max coins and stay there until the counter returns to where I started.  This is very tricky but with experience you can ride these streaks with some regularity.I realize this strategy is not based on math, it's long term effectiveness is questionable and it certainly is not something I would bet my life savings on, but it's a fun way to spice up the game and very enjoyable when it works.  In my view Video Poker should be about having fun and recreation, not some drudgery you do because math says it works.  Any strategy that gives a player enjoyment is OK with me.