Is growing a Video Poker bankroll possible?

[daredman]

I've been saving my money to play video poker and I've gotten pretty good at breaking even over the past year. I practice hours daily and really enjoy it. I've hit a 3 royals, countless premium hands, I've used some free hotel rooms, many free buffets, a little cash back, etc which I understand adds to my bottom line. But now I'm trying to get a little more serious.

Is there a good place to learn how to build or rather grow a Video Poker bankroll, if that's even possible. I see regular Poker advice everywhere but not much for Video Poker.

[FloridaPhil]

Great question!Having an adequate dedicated VP bankroll is an absolute necessity if you want to play video poker optimally for any period of time.  Without it, you are consistently in fear of busting enabling the casino to use their monetary advantage against you. Here's what we do.We never commingle our VP bankrolls with household money.  At this time both of our VP bankrolls are 10 times the royal
amount.   You don't need a cushion this large, but it helps your attitude
greatly which in turn makes you a better player.No one wins all the time, so you will need to add money on occasion.  Instead of going out to dinner for no reason, add it to your bankroll.  Instead of buying that extra pair of shoes you don't need, add the money to your bankroll.  If you hit a royal flush, add it to your bankroll.  I think you get the idea.  Saving is addictive. My wife and I have continued to build our bankrolls over the years.  Once you get into this mode, it's easy to become fixated on the
task.  The absolute killer of a bankroll is playing above it in an attempt to recover your loses.  Loses happen, so when you are done leave and come back to win another day.  Be consistent and play within your bankroll.  Slow and careful is a lot better than swinging for the fences all the time. I think it's perfectly OK to take a small pot shot once in a while, but if you do it all the time it's not a pot shot.  A better plan is to build your bankroll to the point where you can play at the pot shot level indefinitely.Stay away from quirky games where you don't know the odds or the strategy and forget about slots.  They're like playing DDB without the Bonus.  Play the games with the best odds and learn to play as perfect as you can. Others on this forum will have much more to say on this subject.

[River_Phoenix]

I have a bankroll of about 1000 I made from VP. I did get lucky and hit the royal twice in one weekend. I imagine if I were to do solely video poker the way I would is start with about 1000 bets of whatever game I was playing. Five to 25 centry bets (x5 for royal bonus so anywhere from 25 to 2.25 cent bets) then I'd try to find a casino that had a full pay machine and a good points to cash system so it be worth playing. Then I'd just play optimally til I hit royal or straight flush. If I didn't hopefully I'd break even or make enough in points to make it worth my playing and stay alive til that big win.

You can always make the jump to Texas hold em. I started with video and now I play microstakes. Much more lucrative but also requires intense study and bank roll management.

[FloridaPhil]

If you're asking if you can grow a sizeable bankroll from nothing, my answer is no.   It takes capital even if you play 100% games.   Once you have enough capital, it is possible to add to your bankroll by playing the best games, developing your skill and having some luck on your side.   Good money management is key to winning long term at VP.  If you are the best VP player in the world and consistently make bad decisions with your money, you will consistently find yourself among the losers.   We can't play 100% games all the time.  We can't play computer perfect forever.   Still, we manage small wins or come close to breaking even most years by staying conservative and keeping our hands out of the bankroll box. 

[olds442jetaway]

IMO yes, but it won't be easy. If we didn't like to play so much it would be easier. Like Phil said, you need a sizeable roll to start with and if you play with scared money you will almost always lose. Also it has to be money that will make no difference in your life if you lose it all. I would say on 99 percent of my trips and I go at least 3 days a week, I have been ahead at some point in the session at least ten percent of what I brought with me as a stake. Do I quit when I hit that percentage early on in a session....No hardly ever. If you could do that, I firmly believe you could build over time. I also tend to play a way that few players do and that is slowly increase my bets in a losing session. That way, when something hits or even a string of small hits close together, it outweighs the earlier losses at the lower betting level. I never count on getting Royals to bail me out and have had 2 times gone over 500k hands without a single one. Right now, I am up to 400k hands without one, but am still doing OK. The bottom line as far as I am concerned is quitting while ahead is the key and you need those long sessions on off days to try and recoup the sessions earlier losses. A traditional Martingale system will ultimately bust your bankroll at some point, but I only use the Martingale method to hit a premium hand below the Royal level and only bet the amount I need to be even if I hit one of the lower premium hands. I would stay away from all of the gimmick games and try and find a game that will return more than your bet back every 4,5,or 6 hands. JOB, regular deuces wild, and Joker kings will all fall into that category. These games often produce small winning sessions deuces wild being my favorite because there are so many hands where your bet is returned to you and you have another shot next hand. I also like the pot shots Phil mentioned, but they have to be limited. If they don't hit and you play too many, they will eat you up quickly. All of the above is just my opinion of course. Everyone has their own methods. Learn all of the strategies, find the best paytables, and use good money management and you might do pretty well. I say might because that is why they call it gambling.

[billryan]

I'd think it's nearly impossible to build a bankroll playing video poker.
It's really a matter of sustaining it until the premium hands hit.
To be prop early prepared, your BR should be at least at least three times what a Royal will pay at your level.
If playing quarters, your BR should be at least $3,00. $4,000 would be b better.
If you are playing dollars with less than a $12,000 bankroll, you are playing out of your depth.

[alpax]

The person was pretty much trolling...

[jalr]

I love Video Poker but it gets too boring to quick. The only way to really "win" is by hitting a Royal or 2nd tier hand which is not an every trip occurrence. So I just play VP when I feel like it. Like other forms of gambling, I don't look at it as a way to "build" anything. Just my opinion but like most people would say, quit while you're ahead!

[ko king]

I'd think it's nearly impossible to build a bankroll playing video poker.
It's really a matter of sustaining it until the premium hands hit.
To be prop early prepared, your BR should be at least at least three times what a Royal will pay at your level.
If playing quarters, your BR should be at least $3,00. $4,000 would be b better.
If you are playing dollars with less than a $12,000 bankroll, you are playing out of your depth.



I would like to add a lot of it has to do with what part of the country one plays in. For instance, if you play in the area I live the pay tables aren't that great and when you do hit a premium hand playing $1 denomination 4% of the payout is going to the state. That $12K bankroll will be gone if you don't have the ability to keep adding to it.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=ko king]I would like to add a lot of it has to do with what part of the country one plays in.[/quote]Definitely true.  Also, the denomination comes into play.  In Florida the odds are better at the higher denoms.  The easiest way to build a bankroll is to write a check.  This may sound obvious, but keeping your VP bankroll separate will help you to manage your money better.  Once you become dedicated to building your bankroll, you will find it easier to add to it by winning and by making regular contributions.Video poker can be an enjoyable hobby.  For example, suppose you take up fishing as a hobby.  First you need a boat, a vehicle to tow it, tackle, gas, insurance, baits and so on.   Add up everything and that fish hanging on your wall could easily cost you $1,000 or more a pound!   When it's all over you sell the boat for pennies on the dollar and all you have are memories.  If you treat video poker the same way, you will find it's a bargain.  Video poker is not all about losing.  You will win sometimes too and years later when you have $10-20K or more in your bankroll, you will look back and think about all the fun you had and you will have something to show for it.