Slinging Burgers vs Professional VP Playing

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=alpax]Just being able to play 99% games or better at quarters is the biggest benefit I can ask for.[/quote]In my dreams... 

[misterlister]

With so much of the win in video poker coming from a single hand, I suspect Bob is losing at many of these casinos.  If you're one of the casinos where he hits big, they think about banning him.  I guess sooner or later he will run out of options, but with all the personnel changes he may not. It's always been curious to me how a guy with his reputation and profile could play anywhere in Vegas.  I suspect the idea that he plays at a certain venue draws players.

Players don't care where he plays or if he plays, they just want to play and win. I agree it's curious as to how casinos all over town allow him to play if he wins so much. It's been far too long to say a big win here and there = a ban. Results are so random that he'd experience the same everywhere after this much time.

The only thing that makes sense is if he is an overall loser. I know that's tough to take but the math has to add up, and in this case it does not. He can argue this but how can he prove anything either way? We can only offer opinions based on what makes sense.

Just read his latest article, which solidifies what I suspect about his results. He seems to take pride in his ability to lie to get any advantage anywhere and with anybody, and he boasts about how accomplished he is at it. Then why would anyone believe anything he claims about anything?   

[Minn. Fatz]

Let me try and help with the math here. If you check out Mr. Dancer's November 2014 articles about his day of play at the SLS, he claims to have put $625,000 through the machines. If he averages a 0.1% advantage for that play, he makes $625 each day he plays. If he plays 160 days a year, he grosses $100,000 from VP play. Now you can believe or not believe any of that I suppose, but there it is.

[misterlister]

Let me try and help with the math here. If you check out Mr. Dancer's November 2014 articles about his day of play at the SLS, he claims to have put $625,000 through the machines. If he averages a 0.1% advantage for that play, he makes $625 each day he plays. If he plays 160 days a year, he grosses $100,000 from VP play. Now you can believe or not believe any of that I suppose, but there it is.



There it is alright. From what I read he plays at least 300 days a year, and saying he makes $625 a day is odd. Go ahead and try it, go put $625k through a machine in one day and see how you do. A .1% edge or a 10% edge guarantees nothing unless you get lucky. And luck just don't come our way every day.

Now for the easy part: please explain the anomaly about how he wins so much every year, year after year, is bestowed an enormous amount of free gifts etc. from the slot clubs, then tells us about it in his articles, books and here, everyone knows who he is and what he says he does, yet he continues to be allowed to spank the casinos for even more.

I wish I got spankings like that when I play!

[BobDancer]

Let me try and help with the math here. If you check out Mr. Dancer's November 2014 articles about his day of play at the SLS, he claims to have put $625,000 through the machines. If he averages a 0.1% advantage for that play, he makes $625 each day he plays. If he plays 160 days a year, he grosses $100,000 from VP play. Now you can believe or not believe any of that I suppose, but there it is.

The SLS opening was a $100,000+ win in about 8 hours. I didn't rate to hit a royal with 5,000 hands of play, but on that day I did. That was almost half of my yearly win last year. But it was a one-time event.  Assuming that same play was available day after day after day and I played that much over and over again is nonsense. Although there were a few other days I played more than $500,000 (at a bigger advantage than 0.1%), they were relatively few. There were between five and ten daily scores of between +$50,000 and $80,000 last year, and several big dumps as well. This year, the large denomination games I played last year aren't available. So my expected win will be less than $100,000. But it will still likely be plus. Can't say for sure. We still have almost five full months to go and there will be sizable scores both ways.Most of the wins come from grinding it out and taking advantages of the promotions that occur. They are often one-of-a-kind promotions. Often I lose. Sometimes I win. It's not the daily scores that count but the accumulation of scores over time. Last night (starting midnight July 31, or rather 00:00 a.m. August 1), I played a special promotion at the South Point that very few other players even knew was happening. I'll write about it in a few weeks and it'll be posted on bobdancer.com. Probably one of my biggest assets if having enough experience to read between the lines of promotions and figure out where extra edges come from. And I usually write about them AFTER they have taken place (if I write about them at all). I'm not interested in increasing the competition before-the-fact. I educate players a lot, but when one of the gold mines comes around, I'm not sending up flares to announce it. You have to figure them out on your own. And it's not easy.Just because you don't understand everything that is going on, it's not fair to assume I'm lying. There are skills to keeping one's welcome. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes different players have different welcome-keeping skills.There are casinos in Las Vegas that have restricted me in one way or another (usually by reducing or eliminating mailers), but none where I've been trespassed or 86d --- although the Suncoast came pretty close to doing that. There are still enough opportunities, in Vegas and elsewhere, to grind out a living. Many I've never written about.a lot of my techniques have been explained in my columns over the years. If you want to know, it's there for the reading. If you haven't done that, no wonder you don't understand how I do it. Most of my radio show broadcasts have little to do with video poker On the August 11 GWAE radio show, along with guest Jimmy Jazz, I'll be talking about great promotions (some successful, some not) from the past. Listen in and you'll gain some insights.And for those of you who think I'm just blowing smoke, there's nothing I can do to convince you otherwise. So be it.

[alpax]

Mr. Dancer has provided more insight than I thought. I had a good feeling about the amount of dedication it would take.

The South Point brought back the Cheveron gas card promotion from last month to this month. Redeem $25 in points for $50 gas. If people value gas as money it is a good promo.

The Ultimate X play at the Palms is not available and Caesars cut back big on comps so I do not know what else.

I am definitely looking forward to Jimmy Jazz's 3rd appearence on GWAE, I think I find the best advice for the average person from him. I took a break from GWAE due to all those professional holdem players and gambling lawyers with the WSOP going on.

[Tedlark]

This most recent post by Bob lifts the curtain a little and he allows us a peek into his world. The actual video poker playing is merely just one piece of the equation and mining the promotions could be one piece that some people didn't even know exist. If a person were to make a serious effort at playing video poker for a living they would do themselves a dis-service by not following Bob's advice and counsel.

Some may have issue with the way he delivers his message but there should be no issue with the message itself.

My advice to those who are contemplating playing video poker for a profession is simple: have a backup plan.

[notes1]

This most recent post by Bob lifts the curtain a little and he allows us a peek into his world. The actual video poker playing is merely just one piece of the equation and mining the promotions could be one piece that some people didn't even know exist. If a person were to make a serious effort at playing video poker for a living they would do themselves a dis-service by not following Bob's advice and counsel.

Some may have issue with the way he delivers his message but there should be no issue with the message itself.

My advice to those who are contemplating playing video poker for a profession is simple: have a backup plan.
 all good points, especially the last sentence. i found the advice he gave about 'free $1k play', to be quite wise, add it to your bankroll. but, of course his delivery is lacking as usual. with that said, other good points have also been made. why would a casino allow someone who reguarly takes money from them, just to keep playing? and, in the current casino reality, where VP paytables and comps have been lowered, it would seem logical, making a living playing the game would be more difficult.   as a self employed businessman, his job is no different than many of us. most folks cannot do it. check out vendors for the best price (best paying machines), buy inventory (bankroll), etc. it is not VP as most of us know it. somebody who starts a business (playing VP), gets no customers (loses on the machines), gets no paid sick time, no paid vacations, no paid healthcare, etc.  there are a lot of expenses. your suggestion about a backup plan, good advice.