Contests

[Bubbster]

Can't help but notice that the same people seem to be accumulating 1,000's of points each day in the monthly tournament. This would mean that they are getting Royal Flushes, Aces, Deuces, etc. daily. How does that work?? I have been playing all month and have had 1 Royal since joining Video Poker a year ago. I don't get it. Are these people really that good at playing, extremely lucky or something else. Does anybody know?

[BillyJoe]

Luck. Also, if you are playing contest games like 100 Play, your opportunity is much greater.

[Webman]

2500 points per day would be about the average (a little less, of course). Remember you are looking at the top ten players overall, so yes everyone up there will always appear very lucky. You'll see some people hold up in the top ten, and others fade into the sunset when their luck disappears. It's easy to notice the ones that stay and forget about those who have dropped off throughout the month.Perhaps one day, you'll be one of those making  a great run at it. Players get, on average, 1 royal flush every 3 months in the Monthly Contest. Getting 2, 3 or more is very lucky indeed. Some have come close to winning without a single royal (with a lot of help from quads) and that would be even more incredible.You're far from alone... there are thousands with you.

[Bubbster]

That makes sense. Thanks for the reply.

[bostonbill60]

Do you play the same game for all 5 sessions or bounce around ?

[sherburge1973]

tipsforplay

[chevelle482]

I have been playing 3 years and haven't been on boards to 10. Frustrating

[nova369]

That may make sense, but those are dealt hands...
I fail to see how dealt hands show any kind of skill.

If we all were to get dealt hands, which in 3 years I never have done,then it would be just the score for the game, not any kind of personal skill or knowledge of the game.

And yes if you follow the games for the year, you will see some people many times as winners, or as random draws. They cannot be that lucky to have their names drawn randomly many times.

By the way I got notification that I was in the top 100 for a day.

[edog743]

Nova, I have been *****ing to Webman for years about exactly what you are talking about. He is like the Honey Badger he just doesn't give a ****.

[Webman]

Edog, You have indeed been asterisking me about it for years, and I've always done my best to explain properly how what you see is expected. I will do so once again.Let's say 5,000 people play in each contest throughout the year.With daily (365) weekly (52) and monthly (12) contests, there are a total of 429 contests each year.For simplicity, we'll say all people play the same amount and we will only look at a first place score, and throw out strategy to give everyone an equal shot. So each person has a 1/5000 chance of winning each contest under those assumptions.Based on a 1/5000 chance (0.0002) and 429 contests, statistically each person has a 8.2% chance of placing first at least once during the year. That's 91.8 percent of people who will go home (or stay home) without a first place finish. Most people, by far.What about people winning more than once?  I'm glad you asked!Statistically with the assumptions above, 0.347% of people would win two or more times in a year. Multiplied by 5,000 people that's 16.85 people we'd expect to win more than once! Salt in the wound for those who have never won, but fair nonetheless.So, it really is not surprising at all that 1) We see some people win more than once and 2) A lot of people (most) have not won in yearsBecause that's exactly what should happen.Now, strategy does figure in to an extent, primarily in the Monthly, and much more so in the old Winner's Challenge that had people repeating far too often for everyone's liking. And, some people play a lot more than others. So all this changes things a bit, but as you can see above, all of this is expected to happen in a perfectly fair game with equal odds.Thanks again. Turns out, I do give an asterisk. You just don't like the answer.