Why I like Playing Single Coin Dollar VP

[FloridaPhil]

I have discussed single coin quarter play many times before on this forum. I have to admit playing ultra cheap VP is not very exciting. Playing single coin dollar VP is an alternative that I very much enjoy.

When you are playing single coin VP, you are giving up approximately 1% of your return. If you hit a royal flush, you will not receive the royal bonus. If you have good VP games to play and good comps, you should not play single coin VP. There is no strategy that will beat an overall negative video poker game long term.

Playing single coin VP is for players who play Video Poker for entertainment. To be entertained, something must happen with regularity that holds your interest. I find most VP games fairly boring. Jacks or Better is a good example. No matter what the odds are, the game is the same. Once an hour or so you hit a quad and you win 125 coins. If you are playing quarters, that is $31.25. If you are lucky, that will be enough to offset your losses. Once every 40,000 hands or so you will hit a royal and win $1,000. If you are lucky, that will be enough to offset your losses. This continues into eternity or until you become bored and do something else.

Why are we going to the casino? Why not play at home for free? It's because we want to win big and $32.25 an hour doesn't do it. On the rare days that you do hit a royal, things are great. Unfortunately, those are very rare days.

There are VP games in the casino that have large payouts for relatively small bets. Games like Ultimate X and Super Times Play for example. These games reduce the odds severely to pay for the bigger jackpots. They also force you to play 15 coins or $3.75 a hand. Some players love these games and I understand why.

What I want out of a casino game are small bets, long playing time for my money and the potential for a really big jackpot. I want more excitement than one hand in 40,000. I also want to go home with most of the money I brought with me. I modify the game slightly to get what I want.

Instead of playing five quarters a hand, I prefer to play single coin dollar VP. This works well with today's VP games where quarter play is severely penalized. The quarter odds in most of the casinos where I play are in the 96% range. By playing at the dollar level, I can play 99% games. Taking away the royal bonus does not hurt me, sometimes I gain return.

I can play single coin dollar VP longer than max coin quarter VP because my coin in is about 20% less. My comps don't suffer as much as if I played single coin quarter VP. I gain better odds until I hit a royal. A quarter royal is $1,000. A single coin dollar royal is $250, so I give up $750 to play single coin dollars. Still, $250 can make me a winner on any given day. If you have never hit a royal, stick with max coins. I don't want to be responsible for the two weeks of depression you will feel if you hit one at single coin. I quit counting royals a long time ago.

When I play single coin VP, I always play deuces wild. Single coin strategy is different than max coins. I use VPW software to learn both strategies. I play the hands exactly as the software instructs me to. There are many reasons why Deuces Wild works with single coin play. First, it's a very exciting game by itself, much more exciting than Jacks or Better. Second, it has the quad deuce mini jackpot that occurs 9 times more frequently than a royal flush. Thirdly, it is a very streaky game. Streaks are what make this game perfect for single coin play. When you find yourself in one of these streaks, you hit max coins and your heart rate takes off. Now you are playing big boy VP. A straight flush pays $45. A five-of-a-kind pays $75. A wild royals pays $125. A quad deuce pays $1,000 (no W2G), the same as a max coin royal flush. The big jackpot is a $4,000 stack of hundred dollar bills. I have hit a number of these and they can make a whole year profitable.

How do you know if you are in a streak? You don't until it's over. Can you guess right all the time? No. What determines if you guess right? Pure luck, the same thing that determines if and when you will get a royal flush playing max coin quarters.

This style of play is not about maximizing long term results or making a profit. If that concerns you, play like the pros. The quarter games I have to play are not close to positive. If I played them like a professional player, I know what will happen. Playing my way, the results are up to chance and I like it that way.

Do not confuse this post with an instruction of any kind. I am not an expert on VP math. I am describing a style of play that I personally enjoy. I do not claim it will beat the casinos long term. There are expert VP players who will tell you the way I play does not work. They are correct if your definition of "working" is making a profit. It works for me because it delivers what I want.

One more thing. I do not play this way all the time. I use it when the quarter odds are so bad I determine this way of play is a better option. If a casino offers me 99% quarter games and good comps, I will play those games with max coins. Casinos should stop reducing quarter game odds. They are driving away players. Quarter players generate the majority of casino profits. We deserve better games and comps.

[billryan]

An uneducated player is the casinos dream client. Having people doing their work for them must be a dream come true.

[FloridaPhil]

An uneducated player is the casinos dream client. Having people doing their work for them must be a dream come true.

As I have stated at least a thousand times, I don't play video poker to make a profit. However, sometimes I do. Yes, the casinos love me and I love most of them.

I am a human being. Humans are motivated by feelings and emotions. Some people claim they can turn themselves into a computer when they play video poker. They call that "discipline". Because I am human, I like to enjoy myself and go home with money in my pockets. Playing the way I do let's me do that at least 80% of the time. This works because I set low cash out limits and stick with my plan. If my goal is to go home near even every day, my long term results take care of themselves.

If I played VP the traditional way, I would spend my day shoveling money into a reverse ATM waiting for a royal flush to bail me out. I could lose money 9 out of 10 times. I tried playing that way and it's boring and stressful. I like my way better. If you don't like the way I play, I'm sorry. I tried playing your way and it doesn't work for me.

You will notice that I did not make any outrageous claims about how I play. I did not say I fund a "great lifestyle" by playing this way. I did not even claim to make a long term profit. I did this for two reasons. First, it wouldn't be true and second I wish to avoid arguments. As I suspected you would, no matter what I say or how I say it, you react negatively. You are just like my dog. When you see a squirrel, off you go chasing something you will never catch.

There are many ways to enjoy video poker that do not have any basis in math. If this bothers you, get a placard and start walking around South Point lecturing the players. That should keep you busy until they throw you out.

[billryan]

Just yesterday, you posted that you don't play single coin. Now you are starting your umpteenth thread on a strategy you yourself have up on.

[FloridaPhil]

Just yesterday, you posted that you don't play single coin. Now you are starting your umpteenth thread on a strategy you yourself have up on.

I guess you don't read very well. I only play max coins when the odds and comps exceed 99%. I try to play only those games. They are not always available. My favorite game is single coin dollars because it's more exciting in my opinion.

[oobla]

"Playing single coin dollars is foolish because you are only betting a quarter per hand less than max coin quarters and you are giving up the royal bonus. Never bet 2,3 or 4 coins either for the same reason.Play either single coin cheap or max coins and wait for a royal." Phil,this is a direct qoute from the opening post of your thread "Single coin VP for retirees", which you started on 9-24. This is but one of numerous times you have contradicted yourself in your posts, yet when someone points it out you opine that they must not "read well." Maybe the problem is not with everyone else.

[FloridaPhil]

I don't always play VP the same way. When I can play 99% or better games, I play max coins. If the comps have value to me such as staying at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, I play max coins and limit my coin in to whatever it takes to gets us invited back. Read the title again. What I am writing about in this post is how I like to play, not the best financially beneficial way to play VP. I play that way in Tampa where the quarter VP odds are terrible. I don't have to play single coin at the Hollywood Hard Rock as they have 99% games in quarters and give us comps on top of that.

What surprises me is everyone on this forum seems to play the same way. When I go to the casino, I see all manner of strategies and playing styles. Is everyone on this website an AP playing full pay games? I think the problem is the strategy police have everyday players afraid to post on this forum. They see how I am treated and don't want the same thing to happen to them. What is the problem with someone playing any way they enjoy with their own money as long as they know the ramifications?

This forum is boring. When all you are allowed to talk about is VP math and simulations, you run out of things to talk about pretty quickly. The Strategy Forum goes days at a time without a comment. Everything you need to know about that is in Dancer's books, why rehash it over and over again? Let's talk about having fun playing VP for a change. To me having fun playing VP is not about losing a ton of money in the short term praying a one in 40,000 time hand will appear to cover your losses.

The Recreational Forum is about "entertainment" however you make that happen. If we are going to censor everyone who plays differently than the experts, what's the point in having a forum at all? Why not have a teaching class where only the experts talk. That's what they want isn't it?

I want to be part of a forum that has some life to it. I want to hear someone say he increases his bet when the clock strikes three or a blond walks by. My bet is he does just as well as someone with all those strategy cards. (humor)

If all you APs out there want to sit around here telling each other you never lose and talking about how much money you are making playing VP, I wish you luck. Keep me out of that discussion because I don't care.

[Eduardo]

You don't get criticized because you play differently. Nobody cares how you play.

[FloridaPhil]

You don't get criticized because you play differently. Nobody cares how you play.

Good. I'm working on a new VP strategy called CS 2.0. Billy will love it. I enjoy his comments. I wish he was a little more clever with his insults, but he does OK. I sincerely hope he doesn't take this stuff seriously. I don't. What is this forum going to talk about when we're both gone?

[Eduardo]

Why don't you take a break for a month and find out.