Strategy to convert free play

[GeoSup]

Hi all,

I was lucky enough to win a drawing at an unnamed casino. My prize was $500 of free play a week for a year! Pretty nice!

I'd like to convert the free play into as much cash as possible. The best video poker games at this casino are the NSUD variety of Deuces Wild with an EV of 99.73% and JoB with an EV or 99.54%. Both are $1 machines. There are also a bunch of Double Double Bonus and other games that I'm not very familiar with. No roulette machines that take free play and I don't think slots are a good idea.

I thought I'd choose a VP game, play the Free Play through once and then cash out with whatever I had after running through the Free Play once.

Any advice about how best to convert to cash? Which game would work best? Any strategy tips or advice for me?

Thanks in advance,

George

[wildman49]

I use 9/6 quarters $100 a machine in the past, worked well. Not sure if using $1 machines would work since you get many less hands to average out. 

[billryan]

I convert free play to cash using a Game King BJ machine.
Find a machine that offers splits, DDs and surrender. Play $2 a hand and surrender when appropriate. No worries about hand pays or taxes, although I'm not sure how to treat $26,000 in Free play for taxes. That is a bridge I've yet to cross.

[Vman96]

I convert free play to cash using a Game King BJ machine.
Find a machine that offers splits, DDs and surrender. Play $2 a hand and surrender when appropriate. No worries about hand pays or taxes, although I'm not sure how to treat $26,000 in Free play for taxes. That is a bridge I've yet to cross.

Yeah that's a pretty good low variance route, if the casino would offer such a machine.

OP do you have any 25/50/100 line penny poker games at your casino?

[GeoSup]

OP do you have any 25/50/100 line penny poker games at your casino?

I _think_ so - I know there are some multi-line penny machines but don’t know for sure how many lines and haven’t played them. Tell me more...

Thanks!

[onemoretry]

That is one nice prize!

If you are restricted to single line dollar play, and are intending to play only the minimum each week, you will play just 5200 hands overall. That being the case, not hitting either a royal or straight flush in JOB, or a royal or deuces in NSU deuces is a real possibility. Without the two top hands, the return in JOB would be about 97%, while the NSU would be lower, at about 94.2%. You may have slightly "poorer" games available at lower denominations that would enable you to play a lot more hands, and give you a more realistic shot at a premium jackpot.

And, as alluded to by Vman above, if you had some half decent low denomination ( nickels or pennies) multiline games available, that would, in my opinion, be the way to go. Nickel play would result in a total of about 100,000 hands played, and pennies, 500,000. That's not quite the same as that number of single line hands, but it's highly unlikely you would be shut out of the top jackpots.

[billryan]

[QUOTE=billryan] I convert free play to cash using a Game King BJ machine.
Find a machine that offers splits, DDs and surrender. Play $2 a hand and surrender when appropriate. No worries about hand pays or taxes, although I'm not sure how to treat $26,000 in Free play for taxes. That is a bridge I've yet to cross.

Yeah that's a pretty good low variance route, if the casino would offer such a machine.

OP do you have any 25/50/100 line penny poker games at your casino?[/QUOTE]

In Nevada, those are pretty much standard rules. I don't play Video BJ with my own money because the 1-1 payouts on a BJ kill any long term profit. However, with FP ,I just play to get as close to even as I can.

[Vman96]

[QUOTE=Vman96] [QUOTE=billryan] I convert free play to cash using a Game King BJ machine.
Find a machine that offers splits, DDs and surrender. Play $2 a hand and surrender when appropriate. No worries about hand pays or taxes, although I'm not sure how to treat $26,000 in Free play for taxes. That is a bridge I've yet to cross.

Yeah that's a pretty good low variance route, if the casino would offer such a machine.

OP do you have any 25/50/100 line penny poker games at your casino?[/QUOTE]

In Nevada, those are pretty much standard rules. I don't play Video BJ with my own money because the 1-1 payouts on a BJ kill any long term profit. However, with FP ,I just play to get as close to even as I can. [/QUOTE]

Not for quarter machines on the strip. (Or All CET bartops even up to $5). Those are usually no DD or spilt (4.3% HA).

As for the 25/50/100 play VP games, these are notable because you often can max bet with any number of lines, so you could grind out the FP with a decent return.

[billryan]

I have no proven finding these machines. I will leave it at that. Said enough already.

[BobDancer]

As to the original question: $1 NSU or 9/6 JoB for $26,000?To me it's a simple question: the best play is NSU. The EV difference between the two games on this much play is $50 --- or about $1 a week. You seem to be treating this as a standalone situation. It's not. Not knowing the original poster personally, I assume that this is a player who plans to continue to play and this is not the last $26,000 he is planning on running through the machine ever. This is just shy of a $26,000 windfall. Nice hit! But now that money is in your gambling bankroll (assuming you make the 52 trips to pick it up), it's time to decide what the best play is. Even if you didn't play dollars before, with a $26,000 addition to your bankroll, you can now easily afford to play dollar single line.So do it!  With a bankroll of $26,000 plus whatever you had previously, the variance of NSU is well within what you can afford. Looking at taking a $50 EV hit to play a lower-variance game would only be important if you were strapped for bankroll.You're not! Congratulations!