Another Single Coin Royal

[FloridaPhil]

I went to Tampa on Friday. Last week one of my $20 max coin dollar plays produced a $1,000 white ticket. This week when I put my player's card in the machine, I was pleased to see my free play was $45. This is one of the benefits of my limited dollar play. Whenever I can stay with dollars for any period of time, my free play jumps accordingly. Last week the casino gave up $1,000. This week they doubled my free play. So far, so good.

Playing single coin is not something any player should take lightly. If you are a casual player, don't even think about it. If you hit a royal, you will walk around depressed for days. If you play a lot of negative games like I do, you will eventually realize you are paying more for royals than they are worth. Your view of the game changes. Instead of chasing royals you start to see them for what they are, just another paying hand.

The Hard Rock installed some new machines near the front of the non smoking casino. I sat down and played single coin dollars. About half way through, I hit a royal flush for $250. I switched to max coins, hit a wild royal and cashed out at $400. Most players would have been looking for a bridge to jump off. It made me happy because I knew I was going home with money again. So why wasn't I depressed because I didn't win $4,000? Because I didn't feed $225,000 into a machine to win it.

[advantage playe]

why be blue?? the rng is constantly spinning as u already know , so it by no means indicate that u would have hit a 4 k royal if u had max in !! long run u r giving up near 2 % but u know that I hope .

[advantage playe]

98.37% as opposed to 99.54%

[advantage playe]

if its jacks or better full pay sorry about multi post !!

[FloridaPhil]

why be blue?? the rng is constantly spinning as u already know , so it by no means indicate that u would have hit a 4 k royal if u had max in !! long run u r giving up near 2 % but u know that I hope .

No one who is serious about making a long term profit from VP would play the games I have to play at the denomination I want to play them. I am already giving up 3% to the house before I put my first $20 in the machine. These are the games the majority of small time players are facing in today's casinos. If you are going to play these games, you can accept the cost of a max coin royal or you can lower your cost by limiting your coin in. On the Strategy Forum you will be given another option, "Don't play these games".

The way I choose to play them comes with a number of advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is I can play 20% more hands with my money. That has value to me. The second advantage is I am putting myself in position to profit from good luck. If a quad deuce happens while I am playing max coins, I win $1,000. This possibility is 9 times more likely than hitting a royal flush. If I hit a max coin royal flush, I'm taking my wife on vacation. My comps are more because I play some of my hands with max coin dollars. On days where I can hang onto max coin dollar play, my comps grow accordingly. The only disadvantage is the possibility of short coin royal which pays the same as a max coin quarter quad deuce.

Everything that happens in a 97% video poker game is negative. If you have the good fortune to hit a $1,000 max coin quarter royal, you will pay at least double that amount to hit it. That is why the casino offers the royal bonus. My strategy is not in conflict with math or Advantage Play. If you can play the games the pros play the way they play them, do it.

[Jstark]

There are no advantages to play them. And by playing them, this is why they keep getting worse. Because people like you just don't care to walk away. If nobody played these awful pay tables, the better ones would stay. Same goes for 6:5 blackjack. The only reason it stuck around and is spreading like the plague is because the suckers just don't care. If they did, 6:5 would go away.

[billryan]

Playing bad games is dumb.
Playing single coin is dumb.
I'm not sure how playing bad games badly is anything but dumb.
Then again, bragging about hitting a single coin Royal is every bit as intelligent as any of the above.

[Tedlark]

Congrats on your windfall Phil, imagine how many fishing lures you can buy with that.

[FloridaPhil]

There are no advantages to play them. And by playing them, this is why they keep getting worse. Because people like you just don't care to walk away. If nobody played these awful pay tables, the better ones would stay.

It sounds like you are saying everyone who doesn't play positive VP games should quit going to the casino? If that happened, do you think casinos would start offering only positive games? Hell no. The casinos would take their video poker machines to the land fill. The casino is there to make money, not make a few players happy.

Most players could care less what the odds are. They go to the casino for a few hours of entertainment that may or may not include a profit. The worst way to play video poker is to play like you have an advantage when you don't. The $1 Jacks or Better odds at the Hard Rock are 8/5. At $5 a hand, it won't take long to lose $300. In the mean time, I'm play single coin dollar 98.9% deuces wild all day while the max coin players are pounding away playing max coins. Once in 40,000 hands or so they will have a good day. At the end of the year, they will lose far more than I will.

[Tedlark]

There are no advantages to play them. And by playing them, this is why they keep getting worse. Because people like you just don't care to walk away. If nobody played these awful pay tables, the better ones would stay.

It sounds like you are saying everyone who doesn't play positive VP games should quit going to the casino? If that happened, do you think casinos would start offering only positive games? Hell no. The casinos would take their video poker machines to the land fill. The casino is there to make money, not make a few players happy.

Most players could care less what the odds are. They go to the casino for a few hours of entertainment that may or may not include a profit. The worst way to play video poker is to play like you have an advantage when you don't. The $1 Jacks or Better odds at the Hard Rock are 8/5. At $5 a hand, it won't take long to lose $300. In the mean time, I'm play single coin dollar 98.9% deuces wild all day while the max coin players are pounding away playing max coins. Once in 40,000 hands or so they will have a good day. At the end of the year, they will lose far more than I will.

And you too; are pounding away playing single coin, hoping to win enough so that you can take a max coin potshot. It doesn't take 40,000 hands for a max coin player to have a good day either.