Long Play - Big Pay Strategy

[FloridaPhil]

Unless I'm staying at a casino on vacation, my video poker play is normally a day long affair. It takes me about an hour and a half to drive to Tampa and the same time to drive back.  I love the casino experience and I like to play video poker for as long as possible.  Unfortunately, I also like big jackpots.  I don't want to risk more than $300 a day, so I'm always working on a strategy that fits my definition of "fun".  The best I've come up with is to play JB max coin quarters $20 at a time and switch to max coin $1 DDB when I get a 4-of-a-kind.  I've won over a thousand dollars doing this more than a few times.  Unfortunately, my $300 goes away too quickly if I'm having a bad day.
Lately, it dawned on me that I might switch to playing DDB "single coin" quarters, then switch to max coin dollars on a 4-of-a-kind.  I tried this yesterday and was able to play for 5 hours.  I never hit a good one, but saved enough tickets to walk out even.  I don't care about Royals.  I normally get about 2-3 a year, and hitting a $62.50 Royal doesn't bother me anymore.  I've won much more long term hitting $1 DDB quads than I ever would waiting for a Royal.  I also play the first $50 at max coin DDB $1s just in case.  I had a $1,500 day a couple of weeks ago doing that.  I hit a bunch of quads in the first 15 minutes of play.  Of course, I could have one of those crazy multiple royal days which would be bad.  I just feel like playing for the Royal on a 8/5 machine is boring and looses more money than what I'm doing.  

[Vman96]

I'm guessing you are playing at Hard Rock Tampa on these trips? What are the paytables for quarters vs. dollars?

I would still try to avoid shortplaying when possible, especially if you want big wins! The Royal is the big win! I'd only recommend shortplaying if the payouts are at least 2 units higher on the full house/flush payouts combined on the next highest denomination, e.g. I'd shortplay 9/6 DDB over 8/5 DDB.

To stretch your dollars per trip, I would start off slow early, with something like quarter JoB (or 3-line nickels if the paytables are equal), and then the longer you are there, change games to ones with big quad payouts and/or increase stakes. Like if you have $200 left, and are okay with leaving in the next hour, then sure you can play max coin dollars and hope for a big win.

If you like bigger wins, games like DDB are obviously a better choice. But you don't have to play only JoB, Deuces, or DDB. Super Aces Bonus is also a great choice for big wins if you can find a machine that has it, even at the bad 6/5 payout, it pays nearly as well as 9/5 DDB longterm.

[FloridaPhil]

Yes, I play mostly at the Tampa Hard Rock unless I'm on vacation or taveling to Miami on business.  All DDB is 8/5 at the Florida Hard Rocks.
I've thought about this a lot. I'm gambling with "throw away money", so It's not the gambling wins or loses that mean anything to me.  It's the fun of trying to beat the machine on a daily basis.  We all pay for entertainment, I choose to buy mine at the casino.  I know I'm not going to win long term and I don't care if I do.
That said,  my definition of a win for a particular day is to hit a hand big enough to walk out of the casino and stop playing.  For me, that would be up about $500 or more.  There is no way to predict when a good hand will pop up and I also know that each hand is independent from the other.  Royals are always nice, but they normally don't happen often enough to get me excited (although I have had a few of those days...)
 
So, my strategy is to play most of my hands at a low denomination (.25) and a small percentage of my hands at a high denomination ($1).  I've hit a bunch of $1,000 dollar 4 deuces that way and a number of 4As $800.  For some reason a dollar 4Awkicker has eluded me.  The single coin quarter play lets me play a lot more hands and also disperses my $1 play evenly across the session.  I'm kind of up in the air about giving up the Royal.   My fear is that I will have a crazy day like I had in 2008 and see four Royals in a day.  I would hate to miss that.
 
One thing I'm thinking about is walking into the high roller room and playing $100 at $5 a point once each visit.  I have done this in the past and have received some nice W-2Gs that way. I would then play quarters for the rest of the day.  I love messing around and trying these ideas, especially when they work.  
 

[Vman96]

Well, if $500 is a nice hit goal for you, then Super Aces Bonus for five quarters would be a good game. Any quad Aces (no kicker needed) pays $500. And the 6/5 version of the game definitely paysback more longterm than 8/5 DDB. All quad 2s-4s pay $100 and other quads pay $62.50. But obviously a lot of your eggs are in the 4 Aces basket, and the swings are a bit worse than DDB even. I'm also not sure if Hard Rock Tampa even has this game on a Game King.

But generally speaking, I think you have the right idea. Start off slower (quarters), so you can be at the casino for at least a "little while". And then if you have had your fill, then it's okay to move up with some of your stake and go for the "Big Win".

And let me get this straight, do you actually play 1 quarter at a time on some hands? Don't they have nickel machines there? Why not play 5 nickels in that case instead?

[FloridaPhil]

So far, I have not seen any nickel video poker in Florida.   Too bad, I would probably play a lot more if they did.   I'll have to look for the Super Aces Bonus.  They just put in a bunch of new machines and they may have it now.
I have decided to give up on 1 quarter play. I haven't had a Royal in about 6-8 months and I'm due about now (maybe).  My best results have been playing Deuces max coin quarters $20 at a time.  When my $20 goes to $40, I switch to $1 max coins.  I've hit a bunch of $1000 quad deuces doing this.  I also cash out if I get a run up over $100, just for take home money.  I can usually play for 2 hours this way and most days come home with something in my pocket other than my keys.  

[Vman96]

So far, I have not seen any nickel video poker in Florida.  

Really? Even with gimmicky games like Super Times Pay and Ultimate X? Or 50 and 100 play machines? The great thing about STP and 50 or 100-play machines is that you don't have to play max lines to play max credits. Since I am poor, I am quite often playing 1 line of a triple play STP machine for nickels. $20 definitely stretches a LOT longer doing that.

As for Super Aces, they will most likely be on your normal game kings. I usually notice it more often on slightly older machines. The game itself is definitely not new, it's just that most people play DDB instead.

[FloridaPhil]

I've never thought about STP or Ultimate X.  I think those games are all quarter and up around here, but I'll have to check.  So far, all the big Casinos in Florida are controlled by the Indian tribes.  They don't have any competition, so they kind of have a free rein on things at the moment. They don't even give multiple points on Video Poker, just regular slots.  This is all going to change soon.  I expect to see a lot of new casinos in Florida in the coming years.  I just hope they put in a decent Gaming Commission.  Right now it's the honor system...   I haven't seen any reason to suspect that the games are not honest.  It would just make me feel better. 

[EDC1977]

  VPFree2 lists Tampa and Seminole Hard Rock games here: http://www.vpfree2.com/casino/hard-rock-tampa


 
   I don't see anything listed under a quarter but there might be given that these lists aren't too often updated.

[FloridaPhil]

I went to the Tampa Hard Rock today.  I checked and all the UltimateX and STP machines are 3 row quarter minimum or $3.75 a throw.

[olds442jetaway]

As far as lasting a long time until something good hits, this works the best for me. In Ct we have 1 cent 100 play vp, 3 cent spin poker, and up in denomination. I start with a minimum bet of one coin in on one line. I count losing hands. If I am playing a combination of say 20 coins per bet on various lines and amounts per line, I will not go up on my bet until I have a total of 20 losing plays. I go up 1 coin at a time, say to 21 after the 20 losses and will not go up again until I have another 21 losing plays. Anytime my total credits reaches my original bankroll of say $ 300-, I start over at the minimum of 1. To play this way on quarters, you would need quite a bankroll unfortunately. It is nice to hit a good hand on multiple lines when your bet is higher, because it pays for all of those losses at the lower level and then some. Also you never get bored playing this way which is a plus for me. So far, this has worked the best on Kings or Better Joker, but it should work pretty good on any of the games that in the long run hit more than your money back in 5 or 6 hands. That would include JB, Deuces, Joker kings, Bonus poker, but would be dicey on games like DB, or DDB. which I think only give you more that your bet back every 10 hands or so. I haven't checked on that in awhile, but I think that is what it is. It is nice when those tougher games hit though, I just don't have the time or bankroll to wait them out....good luck all....