More Cheap Video Poker

[FloridaPhil]

I have been refining www.cheapvideopoker.com and came up with an opening that states the goal of the strategy and what I believe better than anything I've written before.  I posted it here because I think it will prompt a good discussion.  Here goes: 
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Answer this question. Given the following two options, which one would you choose?

Playing video poker and losing all your money in two hours going for a big jackpot.
Playing video poker all day with half your money left and being depressed because you were short changed on a great hand because you bet too small?

I created this strategy because I believe video poker is great recreation.  Personally, I would enjoy playing video poker if there was no money involved. Adding the element of money is exciting, but can also be unbelievably depressing and potentially destructive. The truth is 99% of all casino gambling is a long term loser.  It's true you may win money on a particular day, but you will eventually give it back plus more.  I know from personal experience what it's like to win a 4000 Royal flush jackpot and manage to go home a loser on the same day.  After years of recreational video poker play, I have come to the conclusion that the majority of video poker games should be played as cheaply as possible. Unfortunately, this also makes your jackpots as small as possible, or does it?
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[pokerpokerpoker]

I hear ya. But a 250 royal would seem so unfullfilling. But on the other hand, my luck lately has been so rotten that I might give it a shot. Anymore, it seems that I can blow through $700-800 PER HOUR playing mostly dollars, but some quarter multi hand too. I can't sustain this. Sure, every now and then I hit big. But that is given back over the next trip or two. I have access to some decent games, and can play them reasonably well. I do believe the games are square, but the variance is killing me. If I could get a lot of action for minimal money, it is worth a shot. It may be that, or give it up completely.

I guess to answer your question I would say number 1. The thrill of the big hit is what keeps me coming back.

[olds442jetaway]

I want to try this on a nickel 5 play machine if I can find one like this. Play a 5 play game for a nickel a line on Deuces Wild. Then max bet for a total of 25 nickels anytime you get back 20 or more nickels as a total on the single coin play. Should add more fun and one or more deuces quad hits for the day. Finding that machine in nickels will be tough though. I would play it on quarters if I had a big enough roll for the day. Those machines I can find, but none are going to give you 99% on the 5 play games. At least not in Ct.

     Hey, just thought of something. I can play this way on a spin poker machine. at Mohegan. There is one 3 cent spin game left that has Bonus Deuces Wild in it, but not regular Deuces. Also in that machine you can change denomination to five, ten, or twenty cents. Odds aren't great 20/12/4/3/2/1 with 25 for the wild Royal.
     There is also one nickel spin game left that does have regular Deuces. The odds are poor though. 12/9/4/4 and only 20 for the Wild Royal.
     If anyone wants to know the location of these 2 machines, let me know. They are old machines and I know they will never replace them once they are broken. Any vp machine worth playing at Mohegan is on borrowed time now. They are old and some barely functioning.

[FloridaPhil]

I tried the strategy pretty extensively with Jacks, DDB & DW.  Jacks worked OK, but the big jackpot is the Royal so waiting all that long and possibly having to settle for $62.50 was too much of downer.  The variance of DDB is all over the place and there doesn't seem to be any rhythm to the game.  I hit a 4A Kicker with dollars once doing it, but it was a fluke.  Some form of DW is the way to go.  Most of my money is won hitting Quad Deuces and Wild Royals at the higher denominations. It is very common to lose 100 coins then come back in 2-3 max coin hands.  Royals are all great, but I love hitting max coin dollar quad deuces.  They are much more common, come out of nowhere and are always a joy to see.  One $1,000 win will keep you in quarters for a very long time playing this way.  My bankroll is growing because when I hit one of these hands, I don't give it back the next day.
We are planning a road trip to Connecticut around the end of July.  How are the quarter DW odds?

[olds442jetaway]

Hi Phil. DW odds are pretty good on the quarter and up machines that do not pay points. 15/9/4/4 with the option to change denomination within the same machine. Also it gives you an option of playing up to 25 quarters so you might not have to even change denominations, just up the number of quarters played. Wife is off for the summer so we should be around part of July too and hopefully, will be able to meet at some point. You will find the above paytable machines at Mohegan under the non smoking turtle dome, most bartops here and there, a few in the wind casino, some in the sky casino, and some in the Hall of lost tribes non smoking area. The games that do pay points for the most part only pay 20 for the wild royal, and are 12/9/4/4 which is pretty bad. You can also have fun with a few nickel games that go up to 40 units bet if you want, but they are in the 95% range. On those, deuces is only 15/10/4/3/2. I am going to try the Phil method again tonight, but this time on a spin machine as described below. That is if I can even get the one machine left at the 3 cent and up level. Have a great weekend all....Olds......

[FloridaPhil]

Thanks for the info.  We're looking forward to our trip.  Good luck tonight.  Hope you hit a good one at max coins.  I'm on my way to the Hard Rock this morning.  I've been on a good roll lately and am hoping it continues.

[olds442jetaway]

Ended up even again which is OK> Lots of misses on the single line games and even on spin poker, so before I gave up, I tried it on a Multi Strike game with denomination options of 5 cents, 25 cents, or dollars. Was able to hit 5 Aces on line 2 with max nickels in. The game allowed you to play from 1 to 10 at a time. It pays the correct amount for the Royal with 5 or more.
     Two hands after the 5 Aces hit on Double Bonus Deuces Wild, with max nickels, I had a loser hand so switched back to 1 coin play on all 4 lines. Wouldn't you know that is when the Deuces Quads came in also on line 2.
     I also had some nice hits on quarters using your method after hits on the nickels. Being up about 300- at that point, I decided to get out of that game and try some straight 5 per hand quarters on a 9/6 job game and bumped it up to 10 quarters any time I got a straight or better. Unfortunately, that sucked up my 300 pretty fast as no quads came in and the the full houses were far apart.
     I agree with you that your method seems most friendly to any variation of the Deuces Wild games. Those deuces do seem to come in bunches when they are coming in. They also can not come in at all for a long pretty dry spell, but using your method, you would be at a one coin bet during those times.
     I may try to work on your method where you try and stay at max for 2 hands as I am seeing a lot of flip flops. This could get more expensive if it doesn't work though. I can't complain so far. I have been up both times I tried it, I just decided to try other stuff while I was there. I am definitely going to give it some more tests. Proof is in the pudding for you that is for sure. Good luck....Olds.....

[FloridaPhil]

You will play even a lot of the days.  One day you will hit a good one like I did yesterday and you will smile a lot.   The big difference is the increase in the number of hands you are able to play.   If I play max coins, my budget usually allows me to play for 2 hours or so before I bust or walk out.  Using the Cheap Video Poker strategy, I can play all day long with the same money.   If a quad deuce averages every 5,000 hands, you see 3-4 times as many.  Sooner or later you are going to hit one at max coins and make up for all those cheap wins.   The pros don't factor this into their equations because there's nothing in them about running out of money.  With an unlimited budget, they keep playing assuming that the 100% plus odds coupled with perfect play will eventually win out.  Think about this and you will understand why this strategy is better for recreational players.

[olds442jetaway]

agreed Phil. Trying again tonight and tomorrow am if I am able to get out and go. Have to make sure the folks are settled in first etc. They are number 1 before any vp. Thanks again.

[olds442jetaway]

Had a plus side trip Phil. After many hours of back and forth, but not losing much, I decided to combine your method with my martingale clone and got good results. All of my really good hits were on one coin quarters like deuces quads once, several wild royals and 5 of a kind, etc. No real royals of course. I will post what I did below and I know it is a little different than yours, but I had fun with it and ended up plus 100- which is fine with me.

     I started with one coin quarters just like you and played regular deuces wild 15/9/4/4. I did not up my bet just like you until I hit 4 of a kind or a full house or higher like you.
     This is where I changed the Phil method, but the idea and hopeful end result is the same. After the 4 or better hit, my next bet was 5 quarters like you. However, if it hit a dud which happens most of the time, I went back to one coin quarter play and waited for the next cycle. On the next 4 or more hit, my following bet would be six. If dud again back to one coin play. On the next 4 or more hit at one coin, my bet would be seven and so the pattern would continue.
     Let's say I hit 4 of a kind on one coin play and I had already lost on 7 trials at the higher level. My bet on this trial would be 12 quarters since I had started to try at 5 earlier and lost 7 attempts to go up. The sum of those is 12. If I hit say a regular flush at the 12 quarter bet, I would have a profit of 2 times my bet. My next bet would be 10. If I lost at 10, it is back to one coin play. One time I was able to back it down all the way from 19 to 5 with several small hits. At the higher level though, they really added up.
     This is only 1 trial of course, but I like it and will try another soon. Also I only had to put in one bill for a hundred. I did come close to losing the entire hundred once on a long flip flop streak, but then it had a mini run and came out with the plus 100 for the day.