Noobie question and suggestion please

[Sarah.W]

Hi all,

I was able to find a 9/6 pay jacks or better machines at my local casino. My accuracy rate is about 96% and I am still practicing. I joined the casino reward club today and won $150 of slot cash. I put in a $20, played for 2 hours and cashed out $175 after I used all $150 slot cash. Put in another $20, cashed out $15 after 15 minutes.

I would had lost $150 in two hours for playing 9/6 quarter jacks or better. Am I doing the math right? I really enjoy playing Vp and would love to play a couple hours couple days a week.

What should I do to avoid breaking my bank besides trying to get to 100% accuracy? My goal is to limit my lost to less than $20 a day, is that even possible?

TIA,
Sarah

[Eduardo]

If you want to limit your loss to only $20 a day, you'll have to just bring $20 with you.

Assuming you are playing quarters, the swings are simply going to be bigger than that.

You will win more when you hit a 4 of a kind or royal of course, but you have to be prepared to lose more than $20 if you are going to play for a couple hours.

As for your math on this session, if I'm reading it right... you didn't lose $150 if you cashed out $175. You put in 170 and cashed out 175, you WON $5. Then if you put in another 20 and cashed out 15, you lost 5. In all, you broke even and hopefully earned some points on a players club card in the process.

[FAA]

You'll be recording so many -$20 entries, you'll think you were starring in Groundhog Day.

[Vman96]

A couple of hours, you'll need more than $20 a day. You might lose less than $20 over a few hours on average if this is a quarter machine, but on any given day, you could lose $100 or more in a few hours.

[FloridaPhil]

If you want to limit your loss to only $20 a day, you'll have to just bring $20 with you.

When playing VP, there is no way to keep from losing money on any one day. This comes with the game. If the games you play including comps don't make the game positive, the more you play the more you will lose. You can play a negative video poker game 100% computer perfect and you will still lose long term. At least 99% of today's video poker games are negative. 9/6 jacks is a negative game. When a professional plays these games there are comps or incentives that together make the game positive. These opportunities are hard to find and may require taking bigger risks than you are comfortable with.

If you are going to pay to play, choose a game where the cost of playing is worth the enjoyment you receive. It costs my wife and I about $5K a year to play VP. Add back our free play and comps and the cost is a few thousand. We get that much fun out of our trips to the casino, so we are OK with the cost. If we played the same games at $5 a coin, our cost would be much higher. Our comps would be better too. It's the net cost that matters.

My daily quarter VP bankroll is currently $300. Do not play VP out of your purse or regular spending money. Set aside some money just for VP. If you are going to play quarter VP, you will need at least $3-5K in reserve to be safe. If the games you play are negative, you will have to add money on occasion. Your bankroll will go up and it will go down. You will lose for long periods of time, get hot and recover some of your loses.

If you are only going to the casino once in a great while, do what Eduardo says and only take what you can afford to lose. One more thing. Never ever use an ATM card in a casino. Leave them at home.

[Sarah.W]

Thank you everyone especially thanks to Phil - Very helpful tips. My original plan was to play two days a week for about 2-3 hours a day. What Phil’s doing is my goal. On the other hand, I am a worry if I will turn myself into a gambler. I am going to limit myself to $300 a month. If I lose all in one day, I wait for another month.

[FAA]

-$300 hard cap is a great plan.

[FloridaPhil]

I am going to limit myself to $300 a month. If I lose all in one day, I wait for another month.

That's a good plan if you can stick to it. It's very easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can play VP without losing money. I know I felt that way for years. You read about people who claim to live great lifestyles from this game. It sounds so easy. It's not.

About seven out of ten trips, you will lose some money. If you manage your money well, it won't be that painful. Once in a while you will be totally busted. I hate those days. Two or three out of ten trips you may beat the casino. If you play enough hands, in time a royal may come your way. That's when you will recover some of your losses. If you get really lucky, you may hit more than one royal in a short period of time and you will believe you have the game figured out. You don't.

If you keep these things in mind, you won't have a gambling problem. It's when you start believing you can beat this game that causes trouble. You can't.

[Waiting4RF]

What is your local casino? Are their VP machines Class III ?

[FloridaPhil]

What is your local casino? Are their VP machines Class III ?

She said she is playing 9/6 Jacks, so I assume they are Class III.