Odds

[wildman49]

The most frustrating thing about video poker is the idea that some people clam to make a living at it.  Until our recent sparing match with Bob Dancer, I had no idea now this was done.  Video poker is the vehicle he uses, but it's not the game itself that turns the profit.  High stakes coupon clipping the comp system is where the profit is.  Your average player is never going to win much at this game.  The best you can hope for is to adjust your cost of fun to fit your tolerance for losing.






The last 2 years I lost 4% of my coin in. This year I am down .053% (down to the nuts in case the city slicker from Vegas is lurking ) on the most coin in ever in one year for me. Now this comes with the most free play ever as well. A whopping 1.5% of coin in was Free play. One third of the free play came in getting my name drawn and a win in a free slot tourney. So for me to be near break even for the year has been a great year .Played mostly CS and my own systems. Max bet just don't cut it where I play like it or not. Playing CS gets me more hands, longer play time and there for more free play per month.

[wildman49]

For a few years I've been hesitant to use the word "rigged" in favor of "adjusted" or "manipulated", the more I think about if a casino either adjusted or manipulated the machines it would still be considered "rigged", so be it.. KK I fully understand where your coming from. There is a bank of machines 20 coin .05/.25/$1 Bally poker machines I USED to play a lot. There is 8 machines. People would sit behind them and almost  fight over them when someone got up. I hit many royals on them, it was nothing to see someone hit one while playing them. The machines got moved as they changed the floor lay out. Some machines like Wheel poker and UX that had JOB on them got taken out. As for the bally 20 coin machines, you guessed it, you can walk up and play them any time. You go thru $20 after $20 now like its a hoover vacuum!On a busy day they might be full but people are getting up almost as soon ass they sit down. It's been like this for almost 2 years now as I sit at them once or twice a month and its the same ol story.

[ko king]

WTG KO... Won't have to worry about the gas mileage now on the way home... ...Hit the pedal once for me...hopefully no smokys in the area... ...

     Edited to add one more car tidbit. Back in the day, I sold the following cars for these prices. Any one of them today would pay for my vp losses this year. 68 Camaro conv. factory 3 sp...700-, 68 Charger R/T...1200, 63 Galaxie special conv..900-, 65 GTO conv 850-...65 MGB...550, 64 TR-4..600, and the grand finale...1957 Austin Healey 100-6 needing just a little work...200 BUCKS... This was back in the early 70's right around the time the first gas crisis hit.

Olds, looking through your list you had some cars that would bring big bucks today. I laugh looking back at the so called gas crisis back in the 70's. I also remember the climate warnings back then only it was a reversed, global cooling. I guess my favorite car on your list was the 65 GTO convertible, one of those in mint condition today would get around $80K.

[ko king]

[QUOTE=ko king] I really don't think there was a choice, the only way the majority of casinos in this area could continue operations was to increase their take. .

If you go to google, type in "November 2015 casino revenue for whatever state you are in " you should find a result from UNLV Center for Gaming Research. It will have a report for every casino in the state you chose, going back years. I check it a few times a year, just because I am curious as to whats going on in my home state. The reports are very good, the whole report will have a summary from the beginning of casino gambling in my state (2013) up to last month. Tell us what you find. And feel free to tell me that doesn't tell you anything. Casino take at my home casino is consistent since they opened [/QUOTE]

Yeah, I check the reports on occasion, revenue continues to drop in the area where I get beat up so bad.

[ko king]

I tried, but can't resist another quick car story. Promise to end with some vp though. In 1970, with no money, no job, and fresh out of UCONN, I took a job for 8 months at a local junkyard. Best job I ever had. Paid almost nothing, but loved it. Anyway, they also had a used car lot up front. One day a drunk guy showed up with a 62 Ford Galaxie 406 tri power. Had a weak clutch and bad thermostat. He junked it for a hundred bucks. I offered the owner of the yard 125- for it which I didn't even have. He said no and by the end of the day had sold it off the lot for 250-. Never saw it again.
     Looking good so far for heading up to the casino sometime late tonight. It will be a fairly quick trip and I have to be back right after breakfast tomorrow. For that reason, I changed my mind and will just play single coin Deuces Wild. Going up to bet 5 on hits of 4 or more. I haven't had much luck so far with the method, but haven't lost much either. I have to do a little stocking stuffer shopping up there anyway, so as good excuse as any to head up there. Have a little free play and free gas too.

I wish you the best of luck.

[ko king]

[QUOTE=ko king]For a few years I've been hesitant to use the word "rigged" in favor of "adjusted" or "manipulated", the more I think about if a casino either adjusted or manipulated the machines it would still be considered "rigged", so be it.. KK I fully understand where your coming from. There is a bank of machines 20 coin .05/.25/$1 Bally poker machines I USED to play a lot. There is 8 machines. People would sit behind them and almost  fight over them when someone got up. I hit many royals on them, it was nothing to see someone hit one while playing them. The machines got moved as they changed the floor lay out. Some machines like Wheel poker and UX that had JOB on them got taken out. As for the bally 20 coin machines, you guessed it, you can walk up and play them any time. You go thru $20 after $20 now like its a hoover vacuum!On a busy day they might be full but people are getting up almost as soon ass they sit down. It's been like this for almost 2 years now as I sit at them once or twice a month and its the same ol story. [/QUOTE]

We have one casino in this area that used to be vp heaven, the pay tables weren't fantastic 9/6 on $1 and $2 denomination DDB and TDB. The place stayed packed with vp players and the machines put out, I loved the place. I went to the casino one day and the entire vp area was shut off because they were removing all the machines and putting in brand new ones. I went back as soon as the area was opened back up and the new machines had the same exact pay tables. The place was packed with players like always but none of us were hitting anything, after a few months most people gave up, the machines just weren't hitting like the others. I could walk in that casino today and I bet there wouldn't be a single person playing $1 or $2 denomination.

[barblair]

No but I sure would like to hit one....especially when I see in the contest forum where they say I was dealt a Royal...what are those odds?????

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=olds442jetaway]For that reason, I changed my mind and will just play single coin Deuces
Wild. Going up to bet 5 on hits of 4 or more. I haven't had much luck
so far with the method, but haven't lost much either.[/quote]CS allows you to play a lot of hands cheap, stay close to even and walk away with any lucky jackpots.  CS does not create jackpots, it keeps you from building up loses allowing you to keep more of what you do win.  If all CS does is reduce loses, most recreational players would benefit from it financially.  If the thrill of hitting max coin jackpots is worth the cost, go for it.   If you're tired of being beat up by the casinos and still want to play, CS is a viable option.

[FAA]

CS keeps my losses down to about $20 an hour at the fairer casinos when I'm running cold, as opposed to going bust. I mostly do two coin CS. But I could get that down to $10 loss if I go all the way rock bottom cheap with the strategy! If I go bust, the trip was a pure waste given the infinite entertainment options at my disposal back home. 

[ko king]

CS keeps my losses down to about $20 an hour at the fairer casinos when I'm running cold, as opposed to going bust. I mostly do two coin CS. But I could get that down to $10 loss if I go all the way rock bottom cheap with the strategy! If I go bust, the trip was a pure waste given the infinite entertainment options at my disposal back home. 


You mention "fairer casinos" which leads me to wonder if you might notice the same thing as myself. There was a time in this area every single casino was doing pretty well, they used to boast about the amount of people who attended the casinos everyday, I read an article that mentioned that 20K people per day on average went to these casinos. The number of visitors has been dropping every single year and their revenue reflects that issue. Now all of these casinos have laid off employees (last figure I heard was over 3K), cut back on comps, slashed slot machine returns and cut back or discontinued so many other things, all of these actions have only aggravated the problem they face, getting folks into the casinos. Getting back to "fairer casinos", it's been my experience and observation that the casinos I experience the worst results at are some of the least attended casinos in this area. Least attended equals least played, least revenue, pretty much least of everything. When I first noticed that my vp results suffered more at the least attended/least played casinos I introduced the possibility that it could be having a negative effect on my personal results. Most of the regular posters on this site said my results were my own and no other outside influences could or should have any effect on my results. In other words it was all about the amount of hands I played versus pay tables and statistics. Now while in theory this may ring true but in real life it just doesn't work out that way here. I can walk into the most crowded casinos we have in this area and play 100K hands of $1 DDB at max play and see far, far different results than when I play 100K hands of the same game with the same exact pay tables at one of the least crowded casinos in this area. When common sense is added into the scenario it becomes even more clear to me. If a crowded casino with that same games and pay tables is drawing a far bigger crowd than one of the least crowded casinos that has the same games and pay tables something has to be missing. Like I said when I introduce common sense into the situation it tells me there is a reason the majority of players choose not to play there, they are providing "less fairer" games. I can stop 30 minutes earlier and attend a casinos that is packed with players playing every denomination there is from .01-$5, the vp machines stay full of these players and my results are very respectable. If I choose to drive an additional 30 miles I will walk into a much less crowded casino and in fact I may find that I'm the only one playing vp, my results are very poor. I can't get away from the fact that my results suffer when I choose to play a small market, less crowded casino in comparison to a larger market casino that draws big crowds. I wonder if you have noticed the same thing?