May Go for Gold

[New2vp]

When I tuned in last evening to check out the contest, I found quite a shock with gma reen having scored 12,550 points, a new standard for these contests, on the strength of 3 sets of quad aces plus an extra regular quad, all in 100 hands of single play.At this point, it appeared that it was almost as valuable to calculate the odds of beating that score as it would be to actually play and try to beat that score.  The EV of both ventures is quite close to zero.  Of course, you could still try for 2nd thru 10th place to try to win 3 months of gold membership.For amusement purposes, following are the approximate odds of exceeding a list of scores if one played Royal Aces at computer perfect max EV strategy (though other contest strategies and using other games as well could make the odds better):Score          Odds to 1    335                      1-1    390                      2-1    445                      3-1    510                      4-1    550                      5-1    660                    10-1    905                    25-1  4280                    50-1  4370                  100-1  4555                  250-1  4685                  500-1  4805                1000-1  5175                2500-1  8315                5000-1  8400              10000-1  8595              25000-1  8720              50000-1  8830            100000-1  9120            250000-112295            500000-112380          1000000-112555          2345754-112570          2500000-112690          5000000-112795        10000000-1Good luck trying to beat this score.  I imagine someone might do it eventually, but perhaps not this month!

[Webman]

Very unlikely this month that anyone else will compete for that 1st place spot. Like you say, this is a first and quite an achievement. We generally see a number of sessions over 8,000. Looking at the odds above, that makes sense.I think this is our 8th single hand contest. With about 160,000 sessions per contest (rought estimate, I didn't add them all up) that's about 1,280,000 sessions played total in these single hand contests. Again looking at those odds, it stands to reason that someone would accomplish a score this high eventually, but it may not happen again for a good while. Or, as we all know... it could happen in the next hour. Since we've already seen one, the odds of the next one are now the same as the first (not the odds of getting two in a single contest). But I certainly wouldn't get your hopes up!Great score, and congratulations to the current leader.

[shadowman]

I wonder where they found that hot computer ....

[New2vp]

Maybe they could rent it out when they weren't using it!

[faygo]

I wonder where they found that hot computer ....

 
It is stored in a tinfoil tent inorder  to minimize radiation leakage. 

[Josfrey]

Hi, I am a newcomer to the site and forum. Nice to meet you all. Reading all your posts is really interesting and is making me a better gambler.

I love those contests, even if I realize that winning is as likely as winning as a lottery (once you know the strategy of the game, of course).

For example, I only play Jacks or Better for now (this is the only strategy I know well enough for fast and accurate play). To win, I would need 3 Royal flushes with only 100 hands (and getting 4OAK just to be sure!)... Well, anything is possible I guess (well, not really lol), but I am not holding my breath. I just play for fun and for learning.

I realize also that I would maybe need to learn at least one high-paying game to have any luck in a contest (Royal Aces Bonus for example). But for the real life, I will stick to the more traditionnal games (JOB or Deuces Wild). Am i right thinking about that? And if so, what games are the most "useful" in a contest?

Take care everyone,
Josfrey

[EDC1977]

Welcome to forum. You'll find many useful resources here. Learn basic strategy and find out if you want to commit yourself to learning advantage play methods perfectly. If you wish to play with an edge, over the house, it will be to your advantage to learn other games as well. JoB, DW, BP are all good strategies to have in your pocket. Good luck and do your research   

[Josfrey]

Thank you Ed for the welcome! And thanks for the advices.

My learning of JoB is going well (I memorized the intermediate strategy of the Wizard of odds). I am beginning soon DW and BP. Dancer's VPW and this site are wonderful tools.

Take care!

[BillyJoe]

WebMan, thanks for the Gold contest. BTY, is there something wrong with your "8"s in the results, or is it my PC that displays certain 8's as a funny character?   I just recovered my main PC from a Windows meltdown , so if it's only my PC, I'd like to know..

[Webman]

I don't see any funny 8's here but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. Can you give me a specific example?