time for a break

[pokeherguy]

I don't know if I'm the only one to go through a long dry spell playing vp but mine seems to be lasting forever. Despite a few good nights over the past couple of years overall its been tough. With the economy slowing down especially in my field of work it seems like a good time to either drop down in denom or quit playing for a while. I've had a few few friends who have backed down almost completely from hitting the casinos but unlike me they play slots. Its been a couple of years ago I hit a dry spell and shadowman suggested the drop down in denom but I came out of that cold spell with a vengence and finished the year to the plus. I fought it to the end this year but it wasn't meant to be. Oh well somes gotta win and somes gotta lose.

[Eduardo]

You're certainly not alone in that sentiment... Las Vegas is hurting right now in this economy as a lot of people are pinching their pennies.
 
Me, I'm planning another trip as we speak and intend to make the most of it, still hunting for my first royal! I've been fortunate enough to maintain a good enough budget for entertainment in these times.  If things get much worse, many more people will be reconsidering. But for now, I'll keep taking my chances on the machines to have some fun. I'm not one to get carried away and I know my limits, so it's not a risk.
 
Hopefully things turn around sooner than expected so that people can get out there again and really enjoy themselves. I know a lot of people are on edge. Casinos may need to go to greater lengths to draw the players in and cut their margins more in these times. I'm sure they already are to an extent... I think it's mainly a matter of minimizing losses and protecting their investments until this blows over. If it were up to me I'd be comping like crazy and developing a real strong base in these times so that when it blows over things are stonger than ever. No better time to take care of people!
 
As for your cold streak, I haven't played enough out there to have any sort of streak to report. Hopefully casinos aren't just continuing to drop pay tables in order to "save money" because that only turns away people like me who spend a good amount of money there. If VP becomes a consistently losing form of entertainment with no good options, I'll go to Disney Land.  If casinos keep some good paying machines, I will continue to try my hand.
 

[stephmo]

I too have had a lousy year, and it seems to be worse since September. The paytables have dropped, and the machines are much tighter. I also think that it may be time to move on.

[vidopoker]

haven't been to a casino since I won the $10,000 in September (had the royal flush dealt on 10-play .25 tbd). Going to vegas on saturday but am getting worried hearing other people have not had good luck recently :(

[Eduardo]

I will add that my last trip was a real stinker. My worst yet. Absolutely nothing good to report... I dropped $800 and hit only one quad the entire time (plus a quick quad on a QQ machine). That was at the quarter level. I've never experienced a slump that bad. I know these things happen so I'm still optimistic. But if my trip in January is equally poor it might change my sentiment. I think that's unlikely but I'll be sure to report on how it turns out.
 
Maybe someone can pop in with a positive report so we know there's still hope.

[faygo]

Maybe someone can pop in with a positive report so we know there's still hope.
 
I am "positively" going to the AC Hilton on the 25th and 26th of this month.
I will  "positively" win.
I'm high on Tedlark's "positive" report of absconding with a $1000 of a Casinos money.
 
Er... Maybe I'm just high, I'm not quite "positive" which. 
 
 

[cddenver]

I will add that my last trip was a real stinker. My worst yet. Absolutely nothing good to report... I dropped $800 and hit only one quad the entire time (plus a quick quad on a QQ machine). That was at the quarter level. I've never experienced a slump that bad. I know these things happen so I'm still optimistic.
 
If you play enough, Eduardo, you'll have runs like that on quarter play regularly.  Maybe not too many in terms of empty space between individual quads, but think about 4-5-6 consecutive losing sessions at a couple of hundred a pop.  Happens to me every year.
 
On the other hand you have Real Nice sessions coming.  I had a $3,300 session last year where I never had to open my wallet - played on a $50 cash coupon and hit oodles of quads as well as a $1 RF.

[shadowman]

So far this is my best year ever. That is mostly due to playing more hands at higher denoms. As I've mentioned previously I've had some good and bad streaks. A couple of months is not unusual and that is close to 160K hands in my situation. Most recently I had a bad streak at the end of November and early December but got back on the winning ways the last 10 days.
 
Today I was down $800 at one point but ended up $700 ahead. That's not unusual playing high variance games. This streakiness can extend both winning and losing streaks for a long, long time. I did some tests on the winpoker software where I saw differences as big as 1.5% over one million hands. That can change a 99% return game to both 100.5% and 97.5%. Quite a difference. If it works for you it is great, when it works against you it really hurts. However, it's all part of the game.
 
 

[EDC1977]

With your experience and time in the casinos, does it seem that they're hitting less often even though it's not theoretically possible, given that the paytables haven't changed? I've sat twice at Fiesta east playing the 100% plus machines and lost both times over a period of 4 hrs each session. Sure there were a few quads in between but the majority of the hits were jacks or better 1 for 1's. It killed me but i had to be patient. No luck this time out either. Laughlin was equally ungracious on the VP but a nice slot jackpot and the winnings from the VP.com booth put me at a plus for the trip. Sure seems like they're just "tight"

[Eduardo]

It's people like shadowman that play frequently and consistently that remind me of the fairness of the game. In my short sessions I'm only seeing a tiny part of the big picture. But if any of these rumors were true about "tightening machines" or casinos setting machines to pay out less than the pay table would suggest, shadowman would be one of the first to know.  I'm also fully convinced that he would quit if he noticed anything beyond statistical streakiness that would short the player over the long term. Thanks for continually whipping my brain into shape.
 
I'll gladly take these observations from someone with proven wisdom, knowledge and extensive experience in the field over speculation and conjecture.