Cheap play

[Punch1234]

Hi
   I've been trying you strategy and seem to like it.
What strategy are you using know flordia phill?
And if I wanna play full play when do I cash out or move up. If you don't mind posting your full play strategy
Thanks
Ken

[FloridaPhil]

You can find a link to the Cheap Video Poker Strategy website at the link below my posts. The website is detailed, but the strategy itself is pretty simple. Basically, it's a single line traditional deuces wild variable betting strategy.  It's designed to work when playing seriously negative expectation video poker games or in those times when money is tight and you want to play longer.   Keep in mind that the closer you get to a 100% game including comps, the less effective it becomes.  I've been using it lately with single coin dollars and have been doing well.   My wife plays max coin quarters and I'm considerately ahead of her this year even though she hit two $1,000 royals lately.   The strategy has it's doubters, but most of those have never actually tried it for very long.  If you have any questions, let me know.

[Punch1234]

Ty phill.
   What is your strategy for when the game I closer to 100%
Prior to starting this experiment I was using your older one every four of a kind cash out.
Thanks again.

[FloridaPhil]

 When the game is 99-100% including comps, I play max coins and use traditional strategy with quarters, 50 cents or $1s.  I will occasionally play Cheap Strategy at the $5 level if I'm significantly up for the day and I never let the day go negative with these attempts.  My goal is to always to go home with at least as much as I brought that day.  I don't always make my goal but it's never because I put my winnings back into the machines.I never put any more than $20 in the machine at a time.   My wife stays at quarters all the time.  I like to switch to .50 or $1 play at $40 and switch back at $20.  She plays longer with the same money, but I occasionally hit a bigger jackpot.  That's the great thing about recreational play, you can do whatever you want and aren't going to lose your home or marriage over it.  If you find yourself in financial trouble from playing video poker, it's not recreation anymore. 

[WVRadar]

FloridaPhil, I used your Cheap Video Strategy on my recent trip to the Rocky Gap Casino in Maryland. My wife and I visited the casino for three days, each day limiting our bankroll to $100. She usually plays the slots while I play video poker only. We play 4 sessions, $25 at a clip. I start with $20 each session and only played $80 for the first two days as she is usually finished before I am. I usually cash out whenever she is done with her session so we can head to the bar.

For three days I played 13 sessions and cashed out on 7 of them. I was pretty lucky, hitting Quad Deuces three times but they were all at the single quarter level. My other big hit was a Wild Royal Flush at max quarters. My totals for three days were: $260 coin in, $261.75 coin out with $1129 played through the machines.

I did deviate from the Cheap Video Strategy by playing Jacks or Better twice. I'm planning on a trip to the Horseshoe Casino in Cincinnati where I will try the strategy again. I am planning on tweaking it a little bit by playing either Jacks or Better, or Bonus Poker a few times. While playing these two games I'm going to make the trigger for a max quarter bet 3 credits instead of 4. Not sure if the math will support my theory but it seems that a 4 quarter hit comes around less frequently in JOB or BP, but once you've hit the max quarter bet it's easier to keep hitting at that level.

[BIKERDICK]

As a recreational player I found your system very intriguing! Tried it on my computer and the results were really great. Can't wait for my next casino caper for the real test!

[FloridaPhil]

The Cheap Strategy requires a lot of patience.  Don't try to force a jackpot, just let things happen as they will.  Sooner or later you will hit a max coin quad deuce or royal and you will appreciate it much better.   Even if the math folks say it doesn't work, we think it's way more fun to play this way.   Check out the website strategy page.  I just updated the dollar strategy and it works better than anything else we have tried so far.  Good Luck!

[FAA]

The premium hands seem to come at the most inopportune times. I had an itch to play five more dollars on the way out two days ago, on the Cheap of course, and take maybe one full pay shot at a quad or full house on my last hand. The machine showed a quad sevens, so I was already somewhat skittish about playing it due to superstition, but I overcame the old wives tale. I got to $2.75. Got JK clubs. Drew TQA clubs. The $62.50 Royal Flush disaster I had always feared came to pass. Very mixed feelings. I was on the fence about throwing away $5 after only winning $24 on the day, so I pulled my punches. I had one foot out the door, to be honest. Royally screwed. 

[DaBurglar]

Gahhhhh   sorry to hear that FAA........Several years back in Resorts AC, I had a marathon VP session on a 8/5 Bonus Poker 25 cent machine (a 99.2% game).....I played for over 4 hours, wound up down about 50 bucks which really was not bad considering how long I played and the fact I hit very few quads (and none were Aces), just a lot of straights and full houses to keep me alive.When it came time to cash out, I had several other tickets in my wallet so I combined them into one by consolidating them all into my machine to get one single ticket.    Well, when all was IN, I had a balance of $600.25!    I hate untidy amounts especially on screen, so you guessed it....I played 1 hand with that single 25 cent credit to get rid of it (or conversely, hit something and then double it up unti either I got it up to something like 5 or 1o bucks, or I lost it.Well, I was dealt a Royal of clubs!     This (i believe) is the last time I was ever actually dealt a Royal in a real live video poker game in a casino!!!!    How pathetic is that??   I was at once both shocked and pissed!    I did not even recognize at first what was happening because, unlike Dealt royals where you bet MAX coin, a dealt royal with LEss than max coin does NOT automatically hold and then payout the credits won;  you need to manually hold the dealt cards on the dealt royal, so naturally I am looking at this travesty and going  "WTF!?!?!" over and over.....I thought seriously about doubling up the dealt royal for 62.50, figuring if I could double it up at least 2 times successfully I would have a decent enough win ($250) to make the dealt royal something special in terms of payout  .... but alas, I declined and simply cashed out for 662.50, remembering that the 62 bucks I just won would at least buy me a nice steak dinner in galaghers!

[Galeygoo]

Back in about '94 or '95 I was playing at O'Shea's with my Mom and newly 21 year old niece.  I was dealt 4 deuces and a joker on a progressive machine.  At that time in my gaming career, I was not playing max coins and had only 3 coins in at the time.  I was paid $750 and missed out on a 5K payout.  When the staff came to pay me; they essentially told me what a dumb move that was......Well, in very tactful terms.   At the time, I DIDN'T CARE  and was thrilled to get the $750.The next morning I enjoyed sending my Mom and niece a room service breakfast to them that they STILL tell me how much of a pleasant surprise that was and I'll always have that memory to savor in place of  the not so smart max bet.