Playing Single Coin VP for Retirees

[billryan]

I'm retired and live very well. No real need for vacations as I live near Paradise.
Turned 59 1/2 this year so I could tap my IRAs. The interest and dividends more than cover my expenses. In two years, I can collect early Social Security. I think it makes sense to collect early, but am still reading up on it.
Let's be real here. Older folks who somehow got through life without planning for retirement and arrived in old age near destitute shouldn't be gambling at all, certainly not at glorified bingo halls with terrible games.

[FloridaPhil]

I'm retired and live very well. No real need for vacations as I live near Paradise. Turned 59 1/2 this year so I could tap my IRAs. The interest and dividends more than cover my expenses. In two years, I can collect early Social Security. I think it makes sense to collect early, but am still reading up on it. Let's be real here. Older folks who somehow got through life without planning for retirement and arrived in old age near destitute shouldn't be gambling at all, certainly not at glorified bingo halls with terrible games.

I'm happy for you. When to take your Social Security benefits is a big decision. You may want to take them early before they run out of money.

Just because you have great VP games to play doesn't mean everyone does. At least 98% of us don't. Does this mean we should not play VP? You can enjoy playing negative games if you adjust your expectations. The cheapest way to play these games is not to play them. The next cheapest is to play them as small as possible. Most retirees don't go to the casino to supplement their income. They go to enjoy the company of friends and have a few hours to escape their troubles.

When you make statements that anyone who plays single coin is stupid, you are disrespecting people who play VP on a budget. Those people may in fact be wealthy and more intelligent than you think. They may know the games are negative and play accordingly. If they played those games like they had an advantage, they would most definitely be paying your bills.

Were you always well off financially? I wasn't. I have some money now, but I remember when I didn't. That affects how I play VP and how I think.

All I am asking is that you try to understand other people's feelings. There are many ways to enjoy your retirement, they don't all have to make a profit.

[billryan]

Maybe you would be better off organizing cheap entertainment for these people instead of offering bad advice on bad games. Instead of driving hours to bad games, why not head to the nearest vets home and play low stakes poker with some heroes?

[DougJ]

Phil, you do realize you are bantering back and forth with a guy who can't afford to own a home, rents a woeful apt. in Henderson, rents are rising rapidly in Paradise, still doesn't understand the "math" in Social Security (but they can "read up on it", ha ha), and professes to be "well off."
Phil, you should see the clones of this guy, they are all over Paradise, eating "free" meals and then declaring this is AP.
I am laughing all the way to the bank.

[billryan]

Phil, you do realize you are bantering back and forth with a guy who can't afford to own a home, rents a woeful apt. in Henderson, rents are rising rapidly in Paradise, still doesn't understand the "math" in Social Security (but they can "read up on it", ha ha), and professes to be "well off."
Phil, you should see the clones of this guy, they are all over Paradise, eating "free" meals and then declaring this is AP.
I am laughing all the way to the bank.

That's the ticket. We are laughing with you, not at you.
Woeful apartment, eh? Seems like you and Phil get your facts from the same place.

[billryan]

Facts about real estate in the Vegas Valley.
90% of homes are worth less today than they were twelve years ago.
25% of mortgages are underwater, and the foreclosure rate is 50% above the national average.
Imagine you bought a stock in 2007 and today it was worth less than you paid for it.
Great investment,right?
That's the Vegas market in a nutshell.
It has a few months that heat up, then all the underwater sellers try to sell , the market is flooded and prices go back down. Not a bad market for flippers but the smart money has been renting and investing into a great bull run.

[FloridaPhil]

Phil, you do realize you are bantering back and forth with a guy who can't afford to own a home, rents a woeful apt. in Henderson, rents are rising rapidly in Paradise, still doesn't understand the "math" in Social Security (but they can "read up on it", ha ha), and professes to be "well off." Phil, you should see the clones of this guy, they are all over Paradise, eating "free" meals and then declaring this is AP.

I feel sorry for Billy. All he seems to know for sure is what he learns in Dancer's classes. There is so much more to life than that.

There is no logic involved here. All Billy wants to do is fight. I guess that comes from his experiences as a bouncer. If webman would take my suggestion and ban him from the Recreational Forum, we could get back to discussing Recreational VP in peace. On the other hand, what else would there be to talk about if we didn't have BIlly and Advantage Play to fight about? It does fill up a lot of space and it is entertaining in it's own way. It's kind of like a reality TV show. Actually, it's more like the Simpsons.

I have offered to make peace with Billy many times. If he wants peace, he can have it. If he wants to continue arguing, I had a physical last week and my doctor tells me I may live to be 100.

[FloridaPhil]

Back to the original topic. For most retirees and Recreational video poker players as well, playing video poker is a different experience than professional play.

I have never been a video poker professional, but I did fish professional bass tournaments for many years. Fishing for money is not fun, it's work. You don't care about the fish or the fun of fishing. All you care about is how you are going to get a check. You may have to do something for days at a time that you hate. You may have to endure bad weather, rough water and mechanical or physical breakdowns. Your arms ache. You stand up all day. When it's hot you sweat. When it's cold you shiver. Before you earn any money, you invest $50,000 in a boat and another $50,000 in a truck to pull it. Your tackle costs $20K and you always need the latest gimmick to compete. Travel cost money. Food on the road is terrible and the competition is brutal. Sponsors want all your time even when you don't have any to give.

What drives people to do this for a living? They love the competition. When you are winning, it's the greatest feeling in the world. When you are losing it's devastating to your ego and your pocketbook. The attraction of doing what you love for a living is very enticing. Think about how great it would be to pay your bills with checks from a casino. The problem is you are not playing on equal terms with the casino. They hold the edge. If they don't, they change the rules. If you get too good for their taste, they tell you to play somewhere else. Literally, the deck is stacked against you.

Now you can kid yourself into thinking you are going to hit and run by only playing when you have the advantage. That will definitely help, it won't guarantee to make you a winner. The cards have a way of derailing your plans. Whenever chance is involved, anything can a happen. You may become a world famous video poker expert or you may go broke like so many others before you.

How you play VP is up to you. I choose to play for fun and not take the game seriously. I play small enough so the math or my mistakes don't hurt me. How anyone can get upset about that is beyond my comprehension.

[billryan]

How does one make peace with someone who constantly fails to keep his word and more importantly, why would one bother attempting to make peace with someone with a proven track record such as our fountain of misinformation?
How many times has Phil promised to lay off attacking Dancer or myself only to wake up to some nonsensical thread based on Phil's apparent lack of understand basic math or trying to intentionally mislead people. His latest attempts to frame this as a battle between good and evil are downright frightening. Who knows what some weak mind might do or believe after reading this stuff.

[Tedlark]

There's THAT name again, what was the over/under?