Bob Dancer's Free VP Classes at Southpoint

[billryan]

The class was very worthwhile as it made me think long on hard on why each card in a hand affects the hand, and by the end of the class I actually understood the Power of the Pack, a concept that was a foreign to me as advanced Calculus.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=billryan]Advanced NSUD today, and my head was spinning. I'd already decided I'd
stick to Basic for now, which I have pretty much down, but for me the
amount of work it would require to memorize every deviation just isn't
worth it. For a quarter player,it comes to about twenty cents an hour
and involves knowing one play has an EV of a fraction of a cent more
than another.
It's as if you decided instead of the game having 50 different
things to know, you kept the top 47 and divided the last three things
into 53, just so you can claim the game has one hundred variations.
I understand why Bob teaches it, as it's good to push oneself
mentally, but I can live without that extra two dollars a week playing
part time quarters.[/quote]Every good player should know all he can about the game.  Knowing the mathematical "Why" behind the strategy is a good thing.  This also gives players who are math calculation enthusiasts something to get excited about.  The question eventually comes down to whether a fraction of an EV is enough for "You" to worry about.  Dan Paymar addressed this years ago in his book Optimum Play.  For most quarter players, the answer is no.  If you take this thinking a little further, you will come to the conclusion that all video poker play decisions are based on your assessment of value.  To a professional playing at a high denomination, making any decision contrary to the math is costly.  If a quarter player consistently chooses to "lose" an additional three cents a hand going for a $1,000 royal flush and understands the cost and the why, where's the problem?The unyielding dogma that there is only one way to play video poker is where professional strategy distorts our view of the game.  Know the math, understand  why the computer tells you to do a certain thing, calculate the cost and make your decisions based on facts not hunches.  If you decide to take another path, it's your money.

[billryan]

   Final Class today and some real pearls of wisdom.
Sadly, I had a 3PM appointment and had to cut out before the end. Class was packed, as everyone wants to know slot club secrets.
I came away with two pearls of wisdom I'd never thought of before.
First is that in addition to checking the pay table for the game you will be playing, you should check for the pay tables of other games on the same machine. Most casinos give mailers based on your theoretical loss, so a machine that has a good pay table on your game but bad on others should give you back more than a machine that has all good games.
2) Perhaps this one is obvious, but it wasn't to me.
Casinos look at your losses. If you play JOB or NSUDs, you'll have a steady stream of small wins and small losses. If you play a game like Triple Double Bonus, now you'll have series of large losses, with an occasional big win. In the end, they will payback almost the same, but the casino sees huge losses on the more volatile game and rewards you with bigger mailings.