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My husband and I often play together. Yesterday we ran into something unusual.
We were playing video poker at Green Valley Ranch. When we got our multipliers, my husband's was higher than mine. Since I'm faster, we switched cards. As we played, a window appeared on my husband's machine with the heading saying, "Advantage Player Tracking System." It was there only for a moment and then disappeared. We have never seen it before. Is this something on every machine? Or should we worry? We play NSUD for quarters, usually when the multiplier makes it +EV.
[Editor's Note: This answer was written by Bob Dancer.]
The “advantage player tracking system” is used by Station Casinos to identify (and later restrict) players whom they deem to not be profitable customers.
I have no inside information on what parameters go into this system. The following is “educated speculation.”
The casino knows that a player who plays only on loose machines on big multiplier days has the advantage. For casinos that are nits about this (think Station Casinos, Boyd, M Resort, and a few others), this is a reason to restrict the player.
The casino also looks at your win-loss record. If you’re playing the way a “smart” player plays and you’re sufficiently ahead, your mailers will get very small or maybe non-existent. If you don’t take the hint, they’ll take stronger action, like eliminating multipliers or making you ineligible for certain other benefits.
I would definitely take the message you received as a wake-up call. You need to give the casino some play where they have the advantage. Perhaps play 8/5 Bonus sometimes. It’s 99.17%, but even with most multipliers, the casino has the edge. Perhaps some slots sometimes.
It’s painful for knowledgeable players to play lesser games, but it’s money in the bank if they do. If they always play the loosest games on the highest multiplier days, sure as shootin' they’re looking to be restricted. By playing with some camouflage, you’ll extend your welcome much longer. You’ll end up with more money in the long run, although with a lesser dollars-per-hour return along the way.
It’s a real shame that casinos are doing this to quarter players. You might have a $3/hour advantage over them on the big multiplier days if you play competently. You’d think a casino could fade that.
Also, even not-so-good players sometimes wake up to extra royals or extra sets of deuces. They’ll appear to the casino as advantage players when in actuality they aren’t. Some casinos just aren’t very sporting. It’s very possible that Station Casinos is the worst at this, although I need to see data that they aren’t going to let me see in order to say this with complete confidence.
Welcome to video poker in 2019!