I recently received this post after I wrote a rather glowing blog entry about the video poker at the new casino M:

“My dear Mrs. Scott,

It's quite obvious that you are no longer in touch with the nickel/quarter players. From the information you've supplied on the video poker schedules [at M] I would never consider playing there. Marnell [owner of M] did the same thing to the Edgewater/Colorado Belle that he's done at M Resort. He took out every 9/6 machine and put in inferior 8/5 bonus. Most players aren't professionals like you, Brad, Bob Dancer and all the other writers. We're merely looking to play the longest and get good slot club benefits. 

The Boyd properties: Gold Coast, California and Main Street Station, all have significant 9/6 in quarters and comp meals for play without the use of points. Gold Coast offers many 4x, 5x, and 6x points during the month. I'm equally certain that most of these casinos have full pay games in far more abundance than M Resort. The Boyd properties offer very good mailings as well. The Four Queens offers the same cash back and has eight 9/6 machines 5¢ to $1 MD MG and quite a few 8/5 bonus progressives. The Plaza downtown is showing a great many quarter 9/6 on vpFREE2, which I'll be checking out next trip. 

According to vpFREE2 the Las Vegas Hilton has a ton of 9/6 in nickels and quarters. I believe the vast majority of casual video poker players have done at least some investigating of strategy and know what a decent pay table is. For us the better game is 9/6 since that is the strategy most of us use. For nickel/quarter players that are only going to gamble a couple of days and nights, the M Resort doesn't have great pay tables!!!! 

Other than this little disagreement I think your blog is great. Hope Brad and you keep getting royals wherever you play.  Thanks!"

First, I am so glad you still seem to “like” me in spite of the one criticism you have. And I appreciate your pointing out your disagreement in a polite and gentlemanly manner. 

To your main point, I have been noticing that many casinos are cutting down on offering 9/6 JoB at the lower levels, even if they keep it at the higher ones. Sometimes they offer it only at the $5 or higher denominations and this cuts out even the numerous $1 players as well as the quarter ones. 

I do realize that many players know only one VP schedule strategy and that is usually 9/6 JoB. I guess I had temporarily forgotten that fact because I was so excited that M offered a game that had a higher EV than JoB (99.5%), even on the quarter level – a deuce game we call NSUD (Not So Ugly Deuces) with an EV of 99.7%. 

What is the answer to these problems? First, you had one good answer within your own post: Play somewhere else where there is JoB and good extra benefits. And I was so glad you mentioned vpFREE2 since I was needing to write about this new database anyway. For years I had been recommending the vpFREE Web site and its good database as THE place to get valuable information on the location of good video poker machines. However, that database is no longer being updated because there is now a new database at vpFREE2 (http://www.vpFREE2.com/). 

This new database is still experiencing some growing pains as they transfer data from the old one. And there is some delay in inputting new information, like on the M Resort VP inventory. But when the kinks are all straightened out, this will be a much better database, with more features than the old one. Right now you can sign up (for free) and go into the “ADVANCED” section where you can input the game you want to play. So whether you are a nickel/quarter player or a high roller, you will be able to find where you can play any particular game, in the particular format you prefer (Multi-Strike, multi-line, etc.), and at the denomination your bankroll can support. 

A second suggestion I can give is that if you want to become really serious about playing VP, you might want to learn a second game, in many cases this might be the NSUD I mentioned above. In today’s VP world, it is getting very difficult to have only one game in your arsenal to use against the casino.

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