Questions for the Veterans

[JonizZooted]

I started playing online poker (Sng's and MTT's) well under the legal age and by the time I was 19 it was my full time job, shortly after the infamous "Black friday" basically killed my dream of playing poker professionally... Anyway I miss the constant grind, hand analysis, bankroll high's and low's, all of it. I don't have the free time it would take to relearn and adjust to live cash games and video poker has always interested me. Two weeks ago I bought the "WinPoker" iphone application and have been practicing JOB, i've also spent 15+ hours in the casino on my days off and am fortunate enough to only be $40 dollars in the red. However, I'm new to all of this.
I'm looking for any and all advice on:
The best way to practice videopoker
Whether the WinPoker iphone app is an acceptable way to learn perfect play
Advice on casino etiquette, how to get the most out of your players club points, how you cut out distractions from other loud machines so close by and what Machines to play (i've only played Game King machines)
I would also like to know if you have any suggestions on other types of video poker to play, what you enjoy, what is most often see with full pay tables.
And most importantly what is the lowest paying table you are still comfortable playing. (The large majority of the JOB games I've played have been 8/5).

I'm in the Northern Indiana area, close to the Michigan border and willing to drive an hour or two to find the best pay tables available. I normally play quarter machines and don't have the bankroll to really go a significant amount higher.

I'm not ignorant enough to assume I'll make a lot of money doing this, I'm just looking for the best way to hopefully make a small profit doing something that I really enjoy. I appreciate anything you can give me and apologize for the long post.

[case]

Hi Joniz and welcome to the forum. Playing VP from your part of the country is poor. I am talking about pay tables. To get the best payback you would have to play dollar and up and still face a losing game (over time). You mentioned playing JB at 8/5 and this is a 97.3% return. There is no way to make money long term playing this game. You might do ok for awhile but the return will eat you up.

You can play for entertainment but if you plan on making a profit, don't hold your breath. You have the right idea to learn the correct holds but the games in your area are just bad. Four Winds casino in New Buffalo might have the best vp in your area but again it requires dollars and up and is still a losing game.

If noise bothers you why not wear headphones with some of your own music.

Most of the country has poor vp. My advice is play for entertainment only. If you really want to show a profit....I can offer no help. Some people in Vegas and a few areas make a bit of money playing full pay but 99%+ of people lose.

[notes1]

case, honest and realistic appraisal of VP play. good advice, excellent post.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=case]You can play for entertainment but if you plan on making a profit, don't hold your breath.[/quote]Case, great post...  This is excellent advice which I totally agree with.  Despite the marketing profitable VP is very rare.  Most of the games in the US are negative, especially at the quarter level.  There are a few people who know how to work the comp system and/or make money selling VP related products that make a living at VP, but those opportunities are rare and getting rarer everyday.  The best thing you can do is play VP for recreation.  By picking the good games and learning the best strategies you can play VP for very little money.  Occasionally you will go ahead, but long term there will be some cost.  Once you get this in your head, you will be at peace with the game and could find VP a fun and exciting pastime.

[BobDancer]

Post unable to migrate

[pokerpokerpoker]

Indiana has some great video poker in the northern part. Even some winnable games, but usually only for dollars on progressives - many of which have decent paytables.

For quarters, while good games can be found, not so much. 99.54% sounds great, but to make up that last .46% is tough. The slot club benefits for the best games are meager at best, maybe .1%.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=BobDancer]Be careful about the advice you get here. The most frequent
posters are recreational players who really have no idea about what it takes to
win long term. They have accepted that the casino wins long term and they hope
to have fun while they’re gambling. There’s nothing wrong with this approach if
that’s all you have potential for --- or you've retired and are planning on living out your  days as pleasantly as possible. [/quote] Mr. Dancer is right, recreational players don't consider video poker beatable because they are not willing or able to make the personal and/or financial sacrifices necessary to make it a career. He also knows the odds of success are very slim indeed.  I suspect he will also tell you that some of the sacrifices he has made were painful. In my opinion gambling is not a career path that anyone should follow.  You won't get a pension, health care, a title or a nice office with a window.  You will get long nights, health problems, wild financial swings, social scrutiny and you will have to explain to your potential in-laws how great their daughter's life is going to be married to a professional gambler.  Some people can pull this off, most can't...

[pokerpokerpoker]

For practice I like The Winners Guide, VPW and this site. Sometimes I will use the games here on my phone (because it is fast, and the hands seem random enough) while VPW is on the laptop to analyze any hands I am not quite sure of. The hands on VPW seem to recycle pretty often.

[BobDancer]

 Some people can pull this off, most can't...

As I said, the regular posters here are living in a very different world than successful players. These people cannot get their head around what it takes to succeed.FP's conclusion might be reasonable  for regular members  of this site, but the original poster was a successful online poker player. And for players in that subset of people, most CAN be successful at gambling.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=JonizZooted]I'm not ignorant enough to assume I'll make a lot of money doing this,
I'm just looking for the best way to hopefully make a small profit doing
something that I really enjoy.[/quote]I'm not big on gambling as a career, but I don't think it's that hard to make a small profit or break even if you factor in your comps.  Bob Dancer's strategy works at any denomination as long as you can find games with good odds and comps that have value to you.  For quarter players we get a lot of free rooms and food.  I personally don't count them as profit, but if I did I'm pretty sure we wouldn't do that badly.