Playing Single Coin VP for Retirees

[billryan]

Siri stinks

[stevel96a1]

Phil if every casino introduced FPDW all around the usa would you try in your local casino? would your single coin method have any merit? would the casinos lose out on all the other games standing at 99.54 and below? we all know the answers to my questions above, but my reasoning still stands the same, and you are correct 99.54 on 0.25 or 99.54 on 1.25 which is smarter move? in my 4.5 years of gambling at negative games it is best not to go. with that said over all best option is to save up once or twice a year and play FPDW in vegas like all the other AP"s and earn your woopin 10$ an hour, i know i did i pounded away at that fpdw game i went as fast as humanly possible before that 3 card hold came up and it felt guilt free to gamble with an edge. i did not care about my wife being down 200$ at fpdw cause i knew id win it right back. i think everyone should make the choice to only play FPDW or VP with a high progressive

kinda mad at sands pa upped their blackjack tables min bet 25$ 8 decker so now its all high limit lol
or atlantic city 15$ min bet but 8h17 is crap

[FloridaPhil]

Phil if every casino introduced FPDW all around the usa would you try in your local casino? would your single coin method have any merit?

This is a great question. It's hypothetical of course as it will never happen.

In order to understand my response, you have to get into the head of a retiree. Retirees are living off their accumulated resources. In most cases, they don't have "new" income streams. Money spent can't be easily replaced. Let's say you have a million dollars in a retirement account. That would seem like a lot of money to some people. When you are in your early seventies, it is safe to spend about 4% of your money a year without reducing the principle. This provides you with about $40K a year. If you and your wife worked all your life, you may have another 40K in social security benefits. With 80K a year for doing nothing, most people can enjoy retirement. If they spend more than that, it affects them financially and mentally. They never know when a health issue is going to crop up and take away their money. They never know what the next Presidential Tweet is going to do to their accounts. They don't know how long they are going to live or where what they will find ahead of them. For this reason, even "wealthy" retirees are very frugal.

This makes them think about gambling in a much different way as a young person. A retiree is not looking to make money gambling. They are happy if they do, but it's not their main motivating factor. All they want is a lot of entertainment that doesn't cost a lot. They have more time to play, less money to play with. It's true that playing full pay VP games with max coins is the best financially successful strategy. But, you have to be able to tolerate long period of losing. This is something that retirees strongly wish to avoid.

For this reason, my answer would be to stick with single coin play and sacrifice your long term results for smaller swings. I realize this does not make sense mathematically. When you are retired and living on your savings, you will understand.

[olds442jetaway]

I agree in part phil. With many seniors its still always about the money and making money

[FloridaPhil]

I agree in part phil. With many seniors its still always about the money and making money

For sure. The question is "How many people make money gambling?" If we are being honest, we will have to admit few do. Seniors need to be more honest than someone who is still working. Playing single coin is one way to address a problem before it happens.

[case]

So why not tell these "seniors" to play nickel VP and only play one nickel at a time? Think of all the money they would save. Think of all the fun they would have! If single quarter is good then single nickel would be great!!

[billryan]

Single coin good. Single nickel better!

[FloridaPhil]

Single coin good. Single nickel better!

Since these games are negative, the math says this would be correct. I was in Cripple Creek a few years ago and an elderly gentleman was playing near us. His bell was going off so much it became very annoying. I walked over to see what he was doing. He was playing nickel Jacks or Better 10 coins at a time. On practically every hand it sounded like a drum roll. Fun is where you find it.

[billryan]

Phil seems to think retirees need to play scared because they may only be making $80,000 a year.
I wonder what percentage of non retiree casino players make $80,000?

[FloridaPhil]

Phil seems to think retirees need to play scared because they may only be making $80,000 a year.I wonder what percentage of non retiree casino players make $80,000?

To most retirees it doesn't matter how much money they have in the bank. Whatever that amount is, they have to live on it until they die. Unlike people who are still working, retirees can not easily replace lost income. They also don't know how long they will live or what lies ahead of them. Will they wake up tomorrow with a significant health issue? Will one or both of them need to go into a nursing home? Do they wish to leave some money to their family, their church, a charity or should they blow it all while they are still alive?

Retirees must think about things that working people do not. Most young people don't think about the future. For a retiree, the future is now.

$80,000 a year is not a lot of money to live on these days unless you are going to sit in a rocking chair all day. What would you like to do in retirement? Some people take cruises. Some people buy an RV or a boat. We like to travel around visiting different casinos. Video poker is the cheapest game to play in the casinos we visit. Many casino/resorts they let us stay overnight for free. We don't play video poker to make money, we play it to be entertained and we want it to cost as little as possible. If you are going to play video poker for a minimum of 70-80 days a year like we do, you learn this quickly or you end up broke.