Bob Dancer on Losing

[FloridaPhil]

I think I own a copy of most every book Bob Dancer has written.  I reread them often and usually find something that I had previously missed.  Preparing for our upcoming Vegas trip, I found myself rereading Bob Dancer and Liam W. Daily's "A Winner's Guide to Full Pay Deuces Wild" Volume 3.  Last night I read this paragraph."As well as playing within his or her financial budget, a player must play within his emotional budget. Although the financial budgets of the authors may be of the same order, Liam W. Daily generally plays lower denominations than Bob.   For Daily, losses really hurt emotionally even though he never plays at a level where losses could have any effect on his lifestyle."This statement acknowledges that losing affects players in different ways.  For a Bob Dancer losing $50K a week is not going to put him in a straight jacket.  For others losing $100 may be something that causes a lot more angst.  Bob points out that this phenomenon has nothing to do with net worth, bank balances or bankroll.  Bob says losing doesn't affect him like other people.  If this is true, it has the potential for great financial harm. To Bob's credit, he says he turned a potential problem it into an advantage.  Personally, I hate losing with a passion.  If I win $500 in the morning and lose $300 that afternoon, I stay up all night mad at myself for giving it back. I concentrate on my profit/loss on a daily basis which is something Bob says is a negative.  On the other hand, I see my personal feelings as a good thing.  I love video poker too much and if I didn't hate losing I would most likely be a Gambler's Anonymous "Gold" member by now.  I play a lot of small denomination VP when I know I'm giving up a few percent to do so.  It works well for me because it allows me to enjoy a full day of video poker without the pressure of a significant loss.  Losing $1,000 or more in a day is well within the realm of VP possibility and hard to recover from.  If you have enough of these days, you may find yourself down $50K in a year wondering what happened.  There are many lessons to learn from Bob Dancer.  Not all of them are obvious and not all of them are stated as clearly as this one.  Before you decide to follow his example, ask yourself if you have everything it takes.  I know I don't ...

[billryan]

Life is one long session. Hourly, daily, even monthly results are meaningless. A few years ago, one of the best blackjack players I know had a horrible run of over 18 months. I know it caused a strain on his marriage, as his wife always considered it gambling. Looking back five years later, I t s just a short term glitch.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=billryan]It s just a short term glitch.[/quote]Not much comfort in that statement for me.  I play to go home with some money every session and let the game tell me when it's time to leave.  If that makes me a lousy player, so be it...

[Vman96]

I believe in the math, but I also let losses bug me more then basking in the wins. I tend to not take as many risks as other players might.

[FloridaPhil]

I play at least 98% according to the math.  I play mostly quarters so I don't care about a few cents here or there.  I play 95% of my hands at max coin quarters.  I use a strategy that triggers $1 play about once an hour.  I never invest more than $20 in $1 play before I switch back to quarters.  The only reason I do this is to add a little excitement into playing quarters.  It's may not be right according to Dancer strategy, but getting an occasional $4,000 royal or a $1,000 quad deuce is well worth what it costs me.I find all this concern about playing 100% according to the math an overreaction by most players. If I was going to risk huge stakes like a Bob Dancer, you better believe I would play as computer perfect as possible.  With that kind of money on the line, I would dress like him, walk like him and probably even get a rug so I could cut my hair like him too.   I embrace being a recreational player.  I play small stakes and concern myself with having a good time and not worrying about how much I may lose on a particular day or year.   This may increase my loses somewhat, but they are so small I think it's worth the effort.  In return, I put myself in a position to hit more jackpots which makes happy.  Over the past few years this strategy has worked well for me keeping me close to even.Grinding it out on some game I hate hoping for math to make me a winner is a very boring prospect.  If professionals want to do this for a living that's fine, it's just not why I play video poker.   Some members of this forum like to play with numbers and are very capable when it comes to video poker math.  I see this as a game in itself and can totally understand their interest.  For me, it doesn't mean that much and it just gets in the way of my fun.  I don't fantasize about being Bob Dancer and don't really care what the math tells me to do.  I've played long enough to know it's not that good at predicting what's going to happen when I play.

[Bobbi]

You have to admit that hitting a royal and then going home a loser can be depressing... I pretty much play until the clock runs out and it is time to head home - so unfortunately I have gone home a loser after a big hit when the hit is early in the day .. but it is my form of recreation and I chalk it up to something to do for the day...

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=Bobbi]but it is my form of recreation and I chalk it up to something to do for the day...[/quote]I agree.  Hitting a max coin Royal and going home a loser is one of video poker's worst nightmares.  I'm not disputing any strategy.  I'm pointing out that players have different goals and correspondingly different strategies. Stating that everyone should play the same and that there is only one correct all encompassing  strategy ignores this fact.

[Sea Lion]

I believe in the math, but I also let losses bug me more then basking in the wins. I tend to not take as many risks as other players might.When I'm dealt a KQJ in the same suit with a paying pair, the gambling side in me tells me to go for the RF, but the conservative side tells me to keep the paying pair. On a single line game that is exactly what I'll do. Probably on a 10 play too. On a 50 or 100 play, I'm going for that stinkin' royal though!

[billryan]

[quote=Bobbi]but it is my form of recreation and I chalk it up to something to do for the day...<span style="font-size:10px"></span>I agree.  Hitting a max coin Royal and going home a loser is one of video poker's worst nightmares.  I'm not disputing any strategy.  I'm pointing out that players have different goals and correspondingly different strategies. Stating that everyone should play the same and that there is only one correct all encompassing  strategy ignores this fact.[/QUOTE]

Strategy is long term, tactics are short term.
No matter what your long term strategy may be, each hand has a correct mathematical play.
I don't think it's much of a coincidence that posters who are lifelong losers in vp almost brag about how they ignore the correct plays when they have a feeling or if they are winning, or losing, or if the person next to them is a blonde.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=billryan]I don't think it's much of a coincidence that posters who are lifelong
losers in vp almost brag about how they ignore the correct plays when
they have a feeling or if they are winning, or losing, or if the person
next to them is a blonde.[/quote]Spoken like a true Bob Dancer follower.  Why is it that you guys seem to believe your way is the only way to play video poker?  Winning has a lot of definitions and it's not always tied to profit and loss.  You're new here, so I'll give you the benefit of ignorance.   Since 2008,  I've posted over $20,000 dollars worth of jackpots on this website by playing mostly single coin.  Do a search and you will see I discussed each one separately and described how it happened.Talk is cheap.  Have you ever once seen a picture on this forum of any jackpot made by Bob Dancer or even one speck of real proof that he nets a profit?  I think you would be better off working on your own VP, before you call anyone here a loser.   Players play VP for a lot of different reasons and many use strategies that you don't think are worthwhile.  A few of these players may actually do better than you will.  Video poker math is 90% fact and 10% hype.  The reason for this is the RNG itself. No one can predict what it will do and no manner of math will guarantee you will be a winner or a loser over your lifetime.  Sorry, but that's the way VP works.