Old Video Poker Machines

[GaryMA]

When I was in Laughlin and some casinos in Las Vegas, I played on the old type video poker machines. It seems that I have had better luck on the old machines versus the new ones. Any thoughts?

[FloridaPhil]

There are lots of differing thoughts on this subject.  Personally, I hate old machines.  They are usually slow, clunky, prone to button and screen problems and I haven't seen any real difference in the frequency of jackpots.  You can win or lose on an old machine or a new one, makes no difference as far as I can see.  There are suppose to be some differences in the way older machines shuffle the cards.  Jackpots are all about being at the right place at the right time, so I can't see how this would matter all that much.

[GaryMA]

I know that jackpots are the ultimate goal. They don't come up that often. The way I gauge the performance of a machine or casino, is how many 4 of a kinds I hit over a certain period of time. There has been discussions about these machines being random, but I know through experience, that some casinos or machines seem to be looser than others.

[FloridaPhil]

Personally, 4-of-a-kind jackpot games drive me nuts.   Some days they are everywhere, then they seem to go on vacation for hours or days on end.  I'm a deuces player, so the only quad I care about is quad deuces.  Our mini jackpot is a wild royal and I can live with that.  No matter what game you play, the pay schedule is much more important than the age of the machine.  This is because it lets you play longer with the same bankroll, which equals more chances at a jackpot.

[OTABILL]

It seems that I have had better luck on the old machines versus the new ones. Any thoughts?

Agree. The question is why?

[phnxnmartini]

My theory is that the newer VP machines have much faster processors and shuffle the cards faster.

[FloridaPhil]

That is a fact.  Given the speed of a computer chip, I seriously doubt this would affect the frequency of quads in a 52 card deck.   Humans are always trying to explain the unexplainable.  There's nothing wrong with that, it's just humans being humans.

[Lucky Larry]

FWIW: An interesting note on the older machines with older chips shared with me by a Slot Supervisor in Biloxi a few years ago. He explained I could find the older processor chips by checking the same game at different denominations. If the same hand shows up on multi-denomination for the same game (say DW, DDB) the chip is an older one.

[phnxnmartini]

Just as the saying goes; "opinions are like ass holes... everyone has one and they stink"!

[GaryMA]

If anyone had it figured out, we wouldn't be home reading these posts. We'd be playing VP.