CS strategy

[SHANEMC]

Hello. Can someone please tell me more about the CS strategy? I understand that you play one coin, then max bet once a 4-coin or higher win is hit. But how long do you stay at max bet? Only for one bet, then back to one coin until another 4-coin+ win is made? Or do you just stay at max indefinitely. Any additional info would be greatly appreciated. I searched everywhere online to no avail. Thank you.

[billryan]

Sure. If the cocktail server is blonde, you go from one to four coins after your second drink. If shes not blonde, move to another game.
CS has no basis in reality, so feel free to make up your own basis for increasing or decreasing your bets. Any advantage player will tell you never to bet less than full coin. Some mathematically challenged will argue playing one coin is best. No one in their right mind can tell you jumping back and forth based on the last hand makes any sense.

[FloridaPhil]

First, let me say I am not a VP expert, nor do I claim to be.  I developed CS some years ago because I got tired of watching royal after royal be eaten up by losses.   I am not teaching anyone anything in this post.   I play VP for fun and that's all I want out of it.   CS or "Cheap Strategy" is a purely Recreational VP Strategy.   It is not a way to beat the casinos.  It's primary goal is to allow a player on a tight budget to play more hands with the same money while retaining the possibility of a max coin jackpot.  Some players find playing with CS a more exciting experience.Casinos have drastically reduced VP game odds in recent years.    The average quarter VP game outside of Nevada is currently 97% or less.   CS is for players whose only choice is to play seriously negative video poker games or not play at all.  CS is also for players who do not value comps.  Comps are part of your winnings.  You will not receive many comps playing CS.  In addition, CS considers a natural royal flush hand to be the same as any other small jackpot.  If you have never hit a royal flush, do not play CS.   If you hit a short coin royal you will be seriously depressed and I guarantee all your friends will say you are an idiot.  On the other hand, if you enjoy playing VP purely as a game and are tired of shoving hundred dollar bills into the coin slot, you may like CS.Before you play CS for real, play it on this website for free.  Test drive it and see what you think. You will notice the coin counter goes up and down very slowly.   You may lose for a while, then catch back up or streak way ahead.  CS is holding your loses to a minimum while maximizing your wins.  Your CS casino experience will be similar.CS is a primarily a quarter strategy.  I have tried it with all the popular VP games and it works best with standard single line deuce wild.   Wild card games run in streaks, which plays right into CS.   Deuces Wild strategy is much different that quad based game strategy.  If you do not know how to play deuces wild, buy software or train on this website.   I use Bob Dancer's Video Poker for Winners Software.  It's as good as it gets.Start out playing single coin quarters. Use your training software and play as computer perfect as you are able.  Keep in mind that single coin strategy is different than max coin strategy.  Play single coin deuces wild until you win 4 coins or more on any one hand.  When you do, switch to max coins until you lose a hand.  If you lose a hand, go back to single coin and repeat.  You will hit a lot of single coin jackpots.  A single quarter quad deuce pays $50 and a single coin royal pays $62.50.  This seems small, but you are only losing 25 cents a hand on most non winning hands.  You will hit an occasional max coin jackpot as well.  These you can keep.   If you hit a max coin quad deuce, you win $250.  That is a big jackpot to someone who is playing a quarter a throw.  If you hit a max coin royal, you win $1,000.  That's should be enough to fund your play for many many months.  Your long term results will depend upon how many max coin jackpots you hit.Those are the CS basics.  There are a lot of small nuances and adjustments you can make as you play.  I suggest you try basic play first.  If you like it, we can talk some more.The key to enjoying CS is to realize all paying hands are a good thing, some are just better than others.  In DW a quad deuce comes every 5,000 hands on average.  A natural royal in deuces wild comes every 45,000 hands on average. This means you have 9 chances of hitting a $250 quad deuce for every royal flush.   Because you played 90% of your hands at 25 cents each, you have a decent chance of coming out ahead long term.  Even if you don't, you played a lot of video poker for very little money.  Most players can't say that.Some members of this forum think CS is silly.  Others have personal reasons for being against it.   I don't see how anyone can be against helping players play more VP for less, but some people are against everything.  I played CS over a two year period and posted photos of all my jackpots on this website.  At the end of two years, I was ahead.  In my over 10 years of play, this was one of the only periods of time I ever made money playing VP.

[billryan]

You'll notice he doesn't play it any more, yet claims he was successful with it. Who stops playing a winning strategy, especially to go play slots?

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=billryan]You'll notice he doesn't play it any more, yet claims he was successful with it. [/quote]Having past sucess with CS has nothing to do with how I play now.  CS is not an "end all" VP strategy.  It's a way to enjoy VP on a budget.   I don't play CS now because my wife and I enjoy getting free rooms and food.  I lose more money when I play max coins, but the comps make it worth the extra cost.Back when I developed CS, comps had no value to me.   I also didn't understand how VP works.  VP is rigged.  It's not that the games are illegal or unfair, the odds are set so that a player will pay to play them.  All the mathematics in the world can not make a 96% game a long term winner.   CS tackles this problem by reducing the cost to play.   It's actually even cheaper to play single coin all the time.  The problem is you have created a game with no incentives and a max coin jackpot is the big prize.  CS allows you to play cheap and retain that goal.Bill is having a hard time understanding CS because he can't get his head around the idea that someone can go to a casino for entertainment instead of profit.   If everyone in the world that loses money in a casino stopped going, there would be no one there.  When I go to the casino I want a shot at a jackpot but I don't want to clean out my wallet.  I manage my money so that that doesn't happen.   I don't believe any strategy is "guaranteed" to make me or anyone a winner.  I expect to pay to play the games, I just want to play less than the casino wants me to.

[onemoretry]

I also didn't understand how VP works.  VP is rigged. 
I'm not so sure you do yet, when you offer up a comment like "VP is rigged"

"Rigged" suggests, at least to me, that there are unknown factors negatively affecting the outcome. That, simply, is not the case.

[DougJ]

.... is having a hard time understanding CS because he can't get his head around the idea that someone can go to a casino for entertainment instead of profit.   ..



Phil, it's Okay. Really. You don't need to explain yourself, nor justify your strategy, because it's YOUR money.
People with overt hostility may in fact have too many tchotchkes from the "JEWEL OF HENDERSON" casino, but nothing in the bank account.

[FloridaPhil]

The word rigged is used to describe situations where unfair advantages are given to one side of a conflict.   I do not believe there is anything unfair about video poker games.  The problem is in the perception of some players, especially those new to the game like I was before I created CS.In 99.9% of video poker games, the house is your business partner.   The extent of that relationship is the house edge.   If the player sampling is large enough and they play perfect long enough, results will mirror the odds.   However, no math can predict what will happen to any one player over the short time they play the game.   Your personal results are determined by chance.Game makers are not in the business of creating games that lose money.  Casinos will not keep games on the floor if they lose money.   If you can play positive games perfectly, you have an opportunity for a positive result.   That doesn't mean it will happen.  There are no "can't lose" video poker games.For this reason I approach the game as if I am going to lose no matter what I do.  By limiting my losses, I control the amount I pay the house.  I will never be able to live off my VP winnings, but I will never lose more than I am comfortable with.

[SHANEMC]

Thanks, Phil. Do you have a recommended starting bankroll based on your experience? Also, is there a point at which you suggest moving up to dollar coins? Thanks again!

[SHANEMC]

Billryan...You seem to be a strong disbeliever in Phil's system. Can you suggest a better one?