Playing Bad VP Games?

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=eduardo]For me, the answer is easy: I don't play all that much. I go to a casino
once, sometimes twice a year and I have a relatively small bankroll.[/quote]I think a lot of VP players are in your camp.  My son is one of them.   He plays about 2-3 times a year and never more than $200 at a time. Playing better games does have a significant positive effect on how long your money lasts.   If you get 125 coins for a wild royal instead of 100, that's 5 more tries.   Then again, if you hit two sets of quad deuces or a royal in the first hour of playing a bad game you're a winner.  I do not prefer bad games.  We drive 4 hours to Hollywood for 2 points better odds.  However, if I'm itching to go to the casino and all I have is a 96% game, I'll chance it for a few hours.  Some of my best days have come on those so called lousy games.  What I won't do is sit in front of a 96% game and pump max coins into it for three days just to get a $100 free room.   Free stuff is not free if it costs you more to play than you get.

[Eduardo]

Well, we are very different there. I absolutely REFUSE to play any video poker game at less than max coins. I also do not play less than quarters unless it is multi-line.Like I said, the chance at a big win is the reason I play, so why would I reduce the most important win of all? If I hit a royal playing less than max I would never forgive myself.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=Eduardo]Well, we are very different there.[/quote]Yes we are and that is why one strategy does not work for all players.   I would never advise anyone who plays infrequently or has never hit a royal to play less than max coins.   Playing cheap is only for players who are willing to sacrifice the royal bonus and comps for longer playing time.  If hitting a royal flush is the best thing that can ever happen when you play VP,  never ever play short coin.  I guarantee you will hit a bunch of them.  To be honest, if I was only going to only play VP once or twice a year I would go to the high limit room, bet max coins, take my chances and shoot my entire yearly bankroll in 20 minutes.   I would rather take the pain once than suffer through a death of a thousand cuts.  Apple's up another $1.22 today.  Keep buying those iPhones!!

[OTABILL]

If you know of a small out of the way casino with decent odds, tell us about it.   We are always looking for new road trips and new casino adventures.



Phil: I have posted about Ft McDowell which is a Native American casino in Metro Phoenix which has several machines with a decent paytable for DDB and TDB. The same machines have deuces and several other games I never played so I can't evaluate the paytables for those games. As I have also posted, we gave up on VP locally because of the smoke for health reasons. I know LL played at the Fort when he visited this area a year or so ago and did well. My post regarding the Fort is at:

Fort

[FloridaPhil]

All Colorado casinos are none smoking. Hope it catches on.

[OTABILL]

All Colorado casinos are none smoking. Hope it catches on.

Native American casinos are not governed by state law. The tribes are sovereign nations and don't have to abide by State of Arizona regulations regarding smoking. The only way to have non-smoking casinos here is either voluntarily by a tribe or have it incorporated in the compact legalizing casino gaming when it comes up for renewal. Not holding my breathe (no pun intended) on that happening.

[FloridaPhil]

The Florida Hard Rocks are tribal owned casinos.  Hell will freeze over before they turn any players away, so a smoking ban is out of the question.  However, the management in Tampa listened to their players and just opened a separate non smoking casino.  This is not just an area back in the corner.  It's a large separate casino with lots of games all with the same odds as the smoking areas.   Hollywood is totally under new construction as well. They are building a new hotel/casino building that looks like a huge guitar.  I hope they have room for a separate non smoking casino.  Should be awesome and a real landmark for South Florida.  I wish they would buy the Dolphins and put them out of their misery. 

[mightwin]

I'm the type of player that wants to stay until I have no money left. I've been know to cash in the coins in the bottom of my purse to pay a little longer.

One night I had $1 left. Playing on a penny video poker machine. My last 10 cents I played a penny at a time. Two cents to go - I hit a royal. Whopping $2.50. But I was there and playing for a little while longer.

Stupid, I know. But it still had the same surprised/wonderful feeling. I won. On the drive home I had the thought - why couldn't that have come when I was playing $5 at a time, darn it.

Oh well. Wishing royals for everyone.

[FloridaPhil]

Good story.  Here's one you may not have heard as I posted it about 3-4 years ago.Years ago I used to play dollar 8/5 double double bonus all the time.  The thrill of those big jackpots sucked me in big time.  They sucked in all my money as well, but that's a different issue.  I wasn't aware that the game I was playing was a $120 an hour loser with max coins and I was playing it with a $300 bankroll.  Talk about a problem!!One Saturday I had played for about two hours and was dead broke except for one sorry $5 bill in my wallet that I was saving for a sandwich on the way home.  Quads were nowhere to be found.  As I sulked back to my car I walked by a video poker machine.   The machine called out to me and I just had to play that last $5er.   I selected dollar DDB and put in the bill.   I was dealt 2 aces.  I held the aces and got 2 more on the draw for $800.   I would love to tell you I pocketed the $800 and went home.  I actually did play a couple of hundred more and walked out with a small profit.  The feelings I had were all over the place.  Why didn't I walk out earlier?  Did I lose even though I won?  Why was I so stupid for playing VP in the first place?  Shortly there after I quit playing dollar 8/5 DDB for good.  At least I didn't conclude that I needed to up my bankroll!   Someone above sent me a message and I got it. 

[FAA]

I was losing like crazy yesterday, so I resorted to 9/5 JOB out of desperation. Max quad in a flash to halve the day's loss.