Back from Laughlin

[ko king]

Interesting posts on how many people including myself are finding our returns in that 85-88% range. Hmmmm...makes me wonder since that is in the allowable range for slot returns and at least in Ct. and many other places. Slot return stats and vp are lumped together in CT. and I suspect most places as well. ( the public record portion). Are they really using true RNG programs or some sort of RNG clone that allows them to fall within the guidelines no matter what the paytables say???? They will of course pay according to the paytable, but are other things removed and replaced from the RNG program? I would love to know that and if that is the case, as much as I love vp, it will be back to craps for me.
Who really knows, I always think about the conversation I had years ago with a person that was in the position of understanding the system far better than myself. The gentleman was telling me that there was around 13 approved programs for the vp in that state. Now I don't know about you but that's more than a little confusing to a guy like me, why 13, it would seem that 1 would be all that was needed for any casino, right? I mean if we're playing a game that is supposed to be completely "random" and the denomination, amount of credits played or the choice of game played is said to have zero influenece on the dealt cards why so many aprroved programs, I don't get it, or do I? Now my true thoughts on gaming are funny and possibly a little warped but they are based on what goes on around us and the way corporations do things. For instance, I see your thread about the Royal Flush drought you're in and I could almost guarantee that could come to an end if you lived in this area. Sounds crazy right, but that's just the way it is at this one particulair casino. It's not that I alone hit more Royals there so do the other regular players, many of us even understand why. A hand that should occur around once every 36 or so hands on average will show up more often, "four cards to the flush off the deal" and you can't help but notice it if you pay attention. Now the other goodies like the premium quads will suffer a bit but the Royals WILL COME. I've now had a total of 4 dealt Royals there in around 400K hands, a hand that should occur on average every 650K or so on average, so you can see I'm bucking those odds in a pretty big way. Like I said though the other premium will suffer, every single year I've played there the Royals were there, every single year I either hit more Royals or the same amount as I do quad Aces w/kicker, no exception. Now some people will say "so many shots at Flushes is a good thing" and I would agree if you converted those shots to flushes at the accepted percentage of just below 20% of the time but you won't. Why they do it or why I happens is beyond me but that's just the way it is. So in closing my answer would be that not all RNG's are created equal.

[olds442jetaway]

And just as a follow up, repeating a line from one of my recent posts.....An old time slot attendant who is quite versed in everything going on at the casino said and I quote when I asked him, don't the vp machines follow a completely RNG program. His answer...." partial". That says just about all I need to hear unless in short order, I can get my Royal percentages back to 40-43k average. Finally, as to dealt Royals, none since 2001. In the 6 million hands since then, I should have had between 8 and 9.

[ko king]

And just as a follow up, repeating a line from one of my recent posts.....An old time slot attendant who is quite versed in everything going on at the casino said and I quote when I asked him, don't the vp machines follow a completely RNG program. His answer...." partial". That says just about all I need to hear unless in short order, I can get my Royal percentages back to 40-43k average. Finally, as to dealt Royals, none since 2001. In the 6 million hands since then, I should have had between 8 and 9.
Not that I put any stock in it but I ask a machine tech a few years back if there was anything that controlled or influenced the jackpots or handpays on the vp and he said "yes, there is a secondary chip". I once had a gaming official at one casino tell me that the casinos in another state had been cheating for years and the vp was not completly random, the funny thing was when I ask the fellow what his previous job was he said he sold cars, haven't seen that guy since that time. My father in law was a great guy but he used to actually believe the casinos pretty much had a button or dial they used to determine how much money the machines were going to let go on any given day or time. I really don't know what to think or believe as far as how the true randomness of vp goes anymore but I do understand very well what the primary objective of any casino is.

[rascal]

Sorry you had back luck in Laughlin, but that's all it is: bad luck. There are only three types of luck in video poker: good, bad, and worse. You happened to hit worse, but it does not mean that Laughlin is a terrible video poker destination, not at all. I live across the river from Laughlin part of the year and I have played many hands there. My largest jackpot ever was won at Laughlin. My results there have been just like anywhere else: good, bad, and worse. The only place where I have consistently had bad luck without fail is Tunica. I realize that it is coincidental. But even with good luck I don't like Tunica --- seedy casinos, and the way the casinos are laid out in the area so far apart from each other does not appeal to me.

My only advice would be to choose your video poker casino(s) based solely on paytables and the working condition of the machines, as well as the overall atmosphere of the casino. But if you are in a casino with good paytables and you lose, that doesn't mean that you won't be a huge winner next time.

[onemoretry]

My only advice would be to choose your video poker casino(s) based solely on paytables and the working condition of the machines, as well as the overall atmosphere of the casino. But if you are in a casino with good paytables and you lose, that doesn't mean that you won't be a huge winner next time.
Amen!

[ko king]

Sorry you had back luck in Laughlin, but that's all it is: bad luck. There are only three types of luck in video poker: good, bad, and worse. You happened to hit worse, but it does not mean that Laughlin is a terrible video poker destination, not at all. I live across the river from Laughlin part of the year and I have played many hands there. My largest jackpot ever was won at Laughlin. My results there have been just like anywhere else: good, bad, and worse. The only place where I have consistently had bad luck without fail is Tunica. I realize that it is coincidental. But even with good luck I don't like Tunica --- seedy casinos, and the way the casinos are laid out in the area so far apart from each other does not appeal to me.

My only advice would be to choose your video poker casino(s) based solely on paytables and the working condition of the machines, as well as the overall atmosphere of the casino. But if you are in a casino with good paytables and you lose, that doesn't mean that you won't be a huge winner next time.
Yeah Tunica is horrible when it comes to getting around and there's really nothing else there except for the outlet stores. I can't say I got impression that Tunica casinos were any more seedy than the Laughlin casinos but it could be I'm just used to Tunica and don't notice the little stuff. I was impressed with how nice the strip casinos in Vegas were, I'm not sure how old the Tropicana is but it was still a very nice casino and I liked the layout of the machines, I didn't feel a bit crowded. I was a little surprised that a place as nice Bellagio had so many vp machines that had either button or graphic issues but that place was huge. Overall though the paytables in Vegas that we found were nothing to brag about.

[onemoretry]

Overall though the paytables in Vegas that we found were nothing to brag about.
You have to get away from the strip to find decent paytables.

[Vman96]

The gentleman was telling me that there was around 13 approved programs for the vp in that state. Now I don't know about you but that's more than a little confusing to a guy like me, why 13, it would seem that 1 would be all that was needed for any casino, right? I mean if we're playing a game that is supposed to be completely "random" and the denomination, amount of credits played or the choice of game played is said to have zero influenece on the dealt cards why so many aprroved programs, I don't get it, or do I?

(snip)

I've now had a total of 4 dealt Royals there in around 400K hands, a hand that should occur on average every 650K or so on average, so you can see I'm bucking those odds in a pretty big way.

Well, 13 are approved I think mainly because there are many different ways to program a RNG to yield streams of random numbers. The different algorithms are not necessarily better or worse than the other.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ra ... generators

As for the 4 dealt Royals in 400k hands thing, a random game is doing that about 1 in 272, more likely than even I thought. Too bad you don't play much multi-line!

[QUOTE=ko king] Overall though the paytables in Vegas that we found were nothing to brag about.
You have to get away from the strip to find decent paytables. [/QUOTE]

Pretty much. It's nearly impossible to find 9/6 DDB on the strip at less than the $5 level on a single hand machine.

[ko king]

[QUOTE=ko king]The gentleman was telling me that there was around 13 approved programs for the vp in that state. Now I don't know about you but that's more than a little confusing to a guy like me, why 13, it would seem that 1 would be all that was needed for any casino, right? I mean if we're playing a game that is supposed to be completely "random" and the denomination, amount of credits played or the choice of game played is said to have zero influenece on the dealt cards why so many aprroved programs, I don't get it, or do I?

(snip)

I've now had a total of 4 dealt Royals there in around 400K hands, a hand that should occur on average every 650K or so on average, so you can see I'm bucking those odds in a pretty big way.

Well, 13 are approved I think mainly because there are many different ways to program a RNG to yield streams of random numbers. The different algorithms are not necessarily better or worse than the other.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ra ... generators

As for the 4 dealt Royals in 400k hands thing, a random game is doing that about 1 in 272, more likely than even I thought. Too bad you don't play much multi-line!

[QUOTE=ko king] Overall though the paytables in Vegas that we found were nothing to brag about.

You have to get away from the strip to find decent paytables. [/QUOTE]

Pretty much. It's nearly impossible to find 9/6 DDB on the strip at less than the $5 level on a single hand machine.[/QUOTE]
I may try a little multi-line when I go to Harrahs/Tunica next time I go there seeing as how they took out all the $2 denom but one.

[Vman96]

I may try a little multi-line when I go to Harrahs/Tunica next time I go there seeing as how they took out all the $2 denom but one.

Yeah, that's definitely an option, but unfortunately, I think the best they offer at the moment for any multiline game is 9/5 DDB.