We’re off to spend the weekend at Palazzo/Venetian, where Brad is playing in a video poker tournament and I’m taking a short vacation from my computer. We like video poker tournaments better than slot tournaments. Although the same in the short term - there is a lot of luck involved - in the long run we will have an advantage because we know proper tournament strategy, which is much different than “basic” strategy on a regular VP machine. Many players are at a disadvantage because not only don’t they know basic OR tournament strategy but they are slot players who don’t regularly play video poker at all and therefore are slow and sometimes don’t even finish their credits in the time allotted.

Speaking of slots, the late Lenny Frome, the godfather of smart video poker - and my first tutor - was always “preaching” to slot players that they should switch to the better-paying video poker alternative. I encourage players to study and play video poker but I don’t try to “convert” players if they prefer the entertainment of slot machines. But I will leave you with this clip from an Internet forum:

SLOT MACHINES:

When you rearrange the letters,

CASH LOST IN ME

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