2017 VP Results - Not Great!

[FloridaPhil]

There is a lot to think about here.  It's obvious that playing the same denomination all the time would make your VP results more consistent.   A good question to ask is "Does it make it more or less profitable"?  I don't know how you could use math to calculate this.  How would you know what triggers a switch or how big it is to be?  A straight up mathematical formula based on odds may work in time.  How accurate would it be over a player's lifetime?Switching denominations adds an additional factor of "chance" to VP.  Hit a royal playing nickels and you win $200.  Hit one playing dollars and you win $4K.   If you play nickels 80% of the time, dollars 20% and you don't hit a dollar royal, you lost your dollar investment.  Hit one at dollars and you may be a net winner for a very long time.  I don't expect a professional would ever play this way.    I do because it's entertaining and I play VP to be entertained.   It seems to me a professional player would not switch denomination unless there was an advantage to be gained in doing so. Professional players need constancy.  They need to know when a royal happens they will receive the full benefit of their investment.  If you are going to put your faith in math, you do what it says.

[FAA]

Alarming coin in volume. But one cannot really quibble with the results. You got your just desserts from the pay tables. The key is remembering that the dominant denomination determines the annual outcome. I have to pull it way back to good old quarter.

[FloridaPhil]

I think considering the games he played, he had a pretty decent result.   If I was going to invest a million dollar coin in, I would play single line $5 9/6 Jacks.   I bet he would do better long term.

[FAA]

I would play single line $5 9/6 Jacks. I bet he would do better long term.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Don't give me any ideas! But yes, he should duplicate his results at least. Less play, but much more fun.

[onemoretry]

Thanks to all who read and commented on my account (and, for that matter, those who read and didn't comment).

I did receive a lot of benefits.   Five round trip flights between Buffalo and Nevada, 52 nights accommodation, plus meals, cost a total of perhaps $400 (mostly for gratuities).

I did not mean to create the impression I am angry, or frustrated, by my results. Puzzled would be a better description.

I appreciate that results at higher denominations can easily negate whatever occurs at lower ones. With the exception, though, of the very minimal single line dollar play which was without a royal (not unexpectedly), all denominations were all over royalled, but only the nickel play produced a profit. i think I may have been under deuced in my 25c deuces wild play, but don't feel inclined to sift through all my records to confirm (or not) my suspicion.

When we were at Harrah,s Tahoe, we did play the 25c JOB multilines, but only 10 or 15 lines, as 50 lines at $1.25 per line is a bit steep for us.

I appreciate that I could increase my overall theoretical return by playing only single line dollars, or higher, but I don't really want to. Both my wife and myself thoroughly enjoy multiline play, so we will likely continue with that.

Ted, I'm not sure I understood your "boat anchor" comment. Did you mean "which game gave the poorest results"?

[Tedlark]

That's exactly what I meant OMT. I've dabbled in ACES$ before so I don't have alot of playing time with that game.

[Tedlark]

Phil how does switching denominations add an additional factor of "chance" to video poker? In my opinion chance has nothing to do with the denomination but I could be wrong.

[billryan]

Just to clarify, is that five round trips or ten? You bought your spouse with you, right?
Ten free round trips has to be a savings of at least $3,000, and fifty nites is easily worth another thousand.
Meals for two for fifty plus days adds up pretty quickly.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=Tedlark]Phil how does switching denominations add an additional factor of
"chance" to video poker? In my opinion chance has nothing to do with the
denomination but I could be wrong.[/quote]Here's my thinking on this issue.   Let's say you are switching between max coin quarter and dollar play.    Let's assume a royal occurs every 40,000 hands and it comes on time.   You could hit a quarter royal for $1,000 or you could hit the same royal in dollars for $4,000 depending upon the denomination you are playing at the time the royal occurs. If you always play the same game at the same denomination, your long term results not including comps or errors should be in line with the odds of the game.   Because no one knows when a player may change denomination or when a royal will occur, "chance" is more of a factor for a player that switches denomination.

[billryan]

   If you are switching between quarters and dollars, you should see a Royal for quarters every 40,000 hands played and a Royal for every 40,000 hands played at a dollar. The longer it takes you to reach 40,000 hands at a dollar, the longer your Royal will take.
If you play exactly the same amount of hands at the two denominations, you have a 50-50 shot at your Royal being at either denomination.

FP states
Because no one knows when a player may change denomination or when a royal will occur, "chance" is more of a factor for a player that switches denomination.

If anything, his "logic" would make me avoid switching denominations.