My History in Video Poker (cont'd)

[Webman]

Agreed. I am removing the comments from here and any future ones. Such discussion can go in the one permitted thread at the moment. Thanks.

[New2vp]

DRAW TILL U WIN  
For instance, say you are dealt 5s-6s-7s-tc-Qd and and your final hand winds up being ... 5s-6s-7s-8s-Jh then you get to draw one card at a time until you win something.  And this is a very very strong draw because the worst hand you can make is a straight.  There are only 15 paycards left in the deck: 6 straight cards, 7 flush cards, and 2 straight flush cards. 
 Which non-paying cards remain in the deck for the 2nd draw?  Using your example above, is there a 45-card deck remaining excluding Tc, Qd, and Jh?  Or is there a 47-card deck remaining excluding only Jh allowing the Tc and Qd from the original hand to re-enter?

[mickey crimm]

[QUOTE=mickey crimm]DRAW TILL U WIN
 Which non-paying cards remain in the deck for the 2nd draw?  Using your example above, is there a 45-card deck remaining excluding Tc, Qd, and Jh?  Or is there a 47-card deck remaining excluding only Jh allowing the Tc and Qd from the original hand to re-enter?
[/QUOTE





Say on the initial deal you are dealt this hand:  5h-6h-7h-Tc-2d.  At this point there are 47 remaining cards.  On the draw you catch 8h-Jc, so your hand would now be 5h-6h-7-h-8h-Jc.  You now have a non-paying hand that contains a 4-card straight flush and are now in Draw Till U Win mode.    At this point there are only 45 cards remaining but for all intents and purposes there are only 15 cards remaining, because you get to draw one card at a time until you win something.  The only paycards left in the deck are three offsuit 4's, three offsuit 9's, 7 flush cards, and the 2 straight flush cards; the 4 of hearts and the 9 of hearts.
 
So you draw one card and catch the 3d, that's a blank so you draw again.  Then you draw another card and catch the Qc, that's another blank so you draw again.  Then you draw another card and catch the Kh, that's a paycard because you made a flush.  You are paid for the flush and then you are back in normal mode. 
 
What makes Draw Till U Win so strong is when you make a 4-card flush like the one above your chances to make the straight flush are not 1 in 23.5 like in regular video poker. It's 1 in 7.5 because there are only 15 paycards in the spot.  It's why your overall straight flush odds are only 1070, not 9500 like regular video poker. 
 
It's the same when you make a 4-card royal.  Your chance to make the royal is not 1 in 47 like normal video poker.  It's usually somewhere between 1 in 19 and 1 in 24.  It's why the overall royal odds in this game are only 9780, not 40,000 like normal video poker.
 
But even though the royal odds are so low, you are fading a big drop on the way to the royal.  The royal represents 8.2% of the payback.  So you are getting dropped for 5% between royals.  But a very fast player who puts in the requisite hours could average a royal a day at this game.   
 
 

[mickey crimm]

As I said, you could average a royal a day at this game.  But that was one of the problems with it.  It brought alot of attention from the hired help.  One player, who hit 6 royals one night at the Carson Valley Inn, in Minden, Nevada was accused of cheating.  They brought in a gaming agent.  They had no clue how the game worked.  He had to explain to them how the game worked to get himself out of the jam. 
 
Vdpkr and me used to buddy up at DTUW, playing side by side and splitting the win.  We went over to Stockmen's in Fallon, Nevada one morning and started playing.  Vdpkr hit 4 royals in four hours.  By the third royal the hired help, especially the red-headed casino manager were eyeballing the hell out of us.  At the fourth royal she was STEAMING! 
 
We decided to drag up.  On the way out the door we seen her coming from the back with a piece of paper in her hand and a slot tech beside her.  That was the end of DTUW at Stockmen's. 
 
I pulled a hat trick in four hours at Stockmen's in Elko.  3 royals.  It was the same story there.  These are just little sawdust joints and they can't stand the losses so the game gets pulled quickly.  When I hit the third royal I was getting the evil eye from all the hired help.  They paid me for the 3rd one in twenties.  So I left. 
 
And now some bad news.  I have to go into radio silence tomorrow and I don't know when I will be back up.  I will have to finsh this thread out at another time.  Good Luck. 
 
 

[cddenver]

Good luck to you, and we all hope to see you back soon. 

[shadowman]

I second that sentiment. Hopefully, this means you've found another good play. Good luck, Mickey.

[damule]

Look forward to your return Mickey. Your stories have made this forum and your thread the first thing I look at online when I get home from work every day.

[vdpkr557]

    I just got off the phone with Mickey.  He is doing fine and may not have much time to make any posts for the rest of the summer.  He asked me to make a few posts about some of the plays that we have shared over the years, if for nothing but to continue this thread.  I will gladly do so but my writing skills are to say the least lacking.  Hopefully either late tonight or early tomorrow but no promises, its World Series of Poker time and its tough to get the time to do anything except work. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[vdpkr557]

                                  A GAMBLER AT THE CAL NEVA

      Late in 2001 I moved to Reno from Vegas.  The number of good plays in Reno at that time was mind boggling.  For a good two years I played 9/6 job, 50 play, with a four of a kind bonus, which made the game come in at about $60 an hour. 
 
      About October of 2003 I was meeting Mickey in the Cal Neva For a little omaha 8 or better poker and a bite to eat when he pointed out 100 play 10/7 double bonus, at the nickel dime and quarter denoms.  They had just started a new promo, any 4 of a kind, SF or Royal Flush and they gave you a coupon good for a 4 pack of beer or $2 cash. COWABUNGA DUDE....this was a real play. 
 
     The math on this game follows; at the nickel level ($25 bet per hand) with a 40 coin bonus on all 4k, sf and royals and the game itself coming in at 100.17% pay back, the overall payback was 102.1596% ( not to mention that the players card was worth .125% cash back and .125% comp) SWEEEEEET!
 
     Very quickly I came to find a big problem with this game.  The frequency of a bonus hand was about every 403 games, which means that about every 4 hands I played I had to stop and wait for an attendant to verify the hand and give me a coupon.  Having to stop so often I could only generate about a $3000 per hour wager, making the game worth about $60 per hour, bummer.
 
     I decided to play the game on graveyard shift hoping that the service would be faster.  It was but not much.  This is where I caught a huge break.   Mickey had earlier informed me that some other pros had beaten this game in the past, on similar promotions, and that the Cal Neva would take the 10/7 pay scale out for a while then put it back when the promotion ended.  I therefore decided to play the drunk.  Before going in to play I would drink a half cup of olive oil, which enabled me to drink Heineken ALL night.  Mickey says it was one of the funniest things he has ever seen.  Empty bottles everywhere, with me ordering yet another.
 
     After a few days of this routine the casino manager came over to introduce herself to me.  Being the drunk that I was, I explained to her that I really liked to bet big but that stopping all of the time for the coupons woudnt allow me to wager as much as I would like.  Low and behold she says "Al you just add up the coupons up as you play, when you get to one hundred ($200) just call me over and I'll have them ready for you." 
 
     This totally changed the play.  I went from getting slightly over 125 hands per hour to 600 hands.  In other words the play went from worth $60+ per hour to a whopping $300 per hour.  I wanted to kiss her!
 
     I went on with this routine for about 6 months till they finally had enough of an ass whopping.  At that point the Cal Neva took the 10/7 pay scale out for good, and as far as I know have not come back with any re-occuring 4 of a kind bonus promotion. 
 
      Thanks to my best friend in life, Mickey Crimm, for turning me on to this play and many others.  
 
    

[Morpheus72]

This is the best "story" thread about gambling I've ever read. Thanks to MC and vdpkr for the great read!
 
Dave