Online Simulators VS. Casino Games

[tedluk]

Hi! This is my first post. I'm hardly a big time player, but as long as I've been going to vegas, I've always preferred video poker to other games because I knew I had some impact on whether I won or lost. We've been going to vegas more often lately and I've been honing my skills by playing simulators online. In particular, the ones here on videopoker.com. What I've noticed is that it seems like we win consistently playing these online simulators- nearly every session results in a positive outcome. for instance, just last night I had the 100 play simulator well over 45,000 after only playing for a few hours. Are these simulators designed to give you a better winning percentage to stimulate you to believe you'll do better when you get to a real casino?Thanks for your answers!Ted

[Webman]

It's funny because we get some people saying these games return too much and other people who ask why we have such horrible returns on our games. Some people think you have to upgrade to Gold to get good hands, others have complained that since they upgraded to Gold they never get anything good any more. The truth is, the applications are identical for Gold members are Basic members alike.It's a true example of "win some, lose some."If you do play long term and notice these games are returning more than your casino visits, it could be because of the pay tables. Most of the pay tables on this site are on the generous side. But we strive for an accurate representation of what is in the casino. If you can find these pay tables in the casino, your odds should be almost exactly the same as on this site.Our goal is for you to be able to practice here for free so that you can make the most of your time in the casino and actually learn new games before you put down some money on them.I can't speak for any other sites out there, but for the games here at VideoPoker.com, there are no devices in play for better or worse returns. Each hand is random as are the draw cards. Some days you have the luck, some days you don't. In some of our contests we have posted stats on returns and the frequency of certain hands and they always have lined up almost perfectly (within the margin of error) of expected returns in the casino.Of course, your mileage may vary. A good day here by no means guarantees a good day at the casino. But I would must rather see you get lucky out there than for free.

[faygo]

Tedluk welcome to the forum. As a Gold member, I have the  advantage of the games keeping daily, weekly and monthly scores. I have taken the trouble to record my monthly scores and have found over the past year that the returns are fairly close to what I would see in a casino and what the math would project. I have done better in the games with a low variance overall and have been on a roller coaster ride in the high variance games.
If you think the games here are set high, just do a search of the forum for the word whine.

[cddenver]

Tedluk welcome to the forum. As a Gold member, I have the  advantage of the games keeping daily, weekly and monthly scores. I have taken the trouble to record my monthly scores and have found over the past year that the returns are fairly close to what I would see in a casino and what the math would project.
 
If you think the games here are set high, just do a search of the forum for the word whine.
 
As much as it pains me to admit, I am yet again forced to agree with faygo.  I've kept records of my play here since the site went Gold in December, 2007 and the numbers I keep for my play here are essentially the same as those from my real play.  That includes my personal Whining Index.

[tedluk]

Thank you for your responses. I only wish there was some way to cash in my credits here rather than losing my shirt at the casinos!
 
Well, we'll see how it goes in vegas the week after next. I'll report back on my success (or failure).
 
Thanks again!
 
Ted

[Tedlark]

Uh-oh, another Ted for you guys to keep track of. Welcome to our group tedluk.
 
Ted

[tedluk]

I had a couple of other questions maybe you all can help me with.First of all, if I'm understanding this site correctly, the database shows which casinos have which machines. If that's correct, how up to date is this database? I've been checking out the VPfree2 database and trying to find the same machines there and it doesn't seem to match up.The reason for this question is that after your answers to my original post,  I'm wondering if the reason that I'm having more success online is the more generous pay tables here than in the casino. Since the database here doesn't show the pay tables or the denominations of the machines it's hard to know what to expect at the casino.Thanks for your help!Ted II- Does that help you differentiate me?

[cddenver]

First of all, if I'm understanding this site correctly, the database shows which casinos have which machines. If that's correct, how up to date is this database? I've been checking out the VPfree2 database and trying to find the same machines there and it doesn't seem to match up.

 
I don't know if the Webman has ever given the time frame regarding updates to the machine database.  I'd figure 1-2 months.
 
For the casinos here in CO I've found the database very accurate in terms of the types of machines available and the number of them.  As you mentioned in your post the database doesn't include the actual paytables that you'll see in a casino.

[shadowman]

Although we'd all love to see paytables, I can see how that would be a problem. Casinos can change the paytables anytime. It would be a significantly bigger job to try and keep track of paytables.


 
Vpfree has casino monitors that check every now and then and as you mentioned, those lists are often wrong. I guess having the lists are better than nothing, but that's about it.