Bob Dancer

Posted on November 3, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — Leave a comment

An Interesting Choice Between Straight Flush Draws in Joker Wild

Author’s Note: About 30 years ago, Bradley Davis published Mastering Joker Wild Video Poker. It was one of the standards when I started to study the game in 1993, so I bought it and read it. A few years later, I met Davis in Atlantic City at a symposium where several gambling authors gave presentations — probably sponsored by Casino Player magazine. Although I’m older than he is, at the time I was a new gambling writer and Davis was already established. We chatted for a while, discovered we liked each other, have stayed in touch, and occasionally hook up. He emailed me recently that he was coming to Vegas and suggested we get together for a drink, which I accepted.

In his honor, I’m dusting off an article about Kings or Better Joker Wild that I first published more than 20 years ago. Although these games aren’t as plentiful as they once were, the principles in this article still apply when you find such a game.

Posted on October 27, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 2 Comments

Which One is Worth More?

I’ve written about this subject a few times in the past, but not recently. If you’ve seen it before, check to see if you remember the correct answer. If you haven’t seen it before, now is the time to test yourself. All of us need to review from time to time to keep our skills sharp.

Assume you’re playing any version of Deuces Wild, where W represents a deuce, and we’re comparing the following two hands: W 6♦ 7♦ 9♦ T♣ and W 6♦ 7♦ 9♦ 8♣.

Posted on October 20, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 4 Comments

Which Game is Best?

Today I’m going to describe a casino that doesn’t, to my knowledge, exist. But there are a number of casinos with more-or-less similar situations. The math to calculate these things is fairly easy, once explained.

By “best game,” I usually mean the one that pays the most. Later on, we’ll consider some other factors that can come in.

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Bob Dancer — 13 Comments

Food Comp Stories

The local mailers at the Four Queens for September and October included some hotel room nights accompanied by food/beverage credit. My offer came with $75 worth of such credit and Bonnie’s offer came with $50. You could not get that credit unless you also checked into a hotel room.

We weren’t having any visitors and prefer our own bed at home to those at the Four Queens, but we do enjoy eating at Hugo’s Cellar, where the two of us can easily go through $125 in a single meal. So, we both got rooms for the same night, played a fairly significant amount (because we didn’t want to get dinged for picking up a nice complimentary with no play), and made a reservation at Hugo’s.

Posted on October 6, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 14 Comments

Big Sequential Royal Jackpot

Recently, at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, a lucky quarter video poker player, with a $1.25 bet, collected more than $150,000 for a sequential royal flush.

I’ve received a number of inquiries asking things such as: Was I said lucky player? (no) Was it a play with a positive expectation? (yes) and, If I had known about how large the jackpot had grown, would I have been playing it? (absolutely not!)

Posted on September 29, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 6 Comments

When Do You Quit?

At www.gamblingwithanedge.com , in the comments section for a recent blog post of mine, a poker player said he had two stop limits–one for being ahead and on for being behind. (It’s possible he uses the same amount for each. He didn’t say.) He wanted to know if winning video poker players use this system as well.

In all gambling, money management is important. One of the key elements is being able to stay in the game. If you go broke, you’re out of the action.

Posted on September 22, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 5 Comments

A Sexy Correlation

Author’s note: I ran this originally in December 2009, while I was teaching classes at the Eastside Cannery.

After this was published, Andy and Sharon became good friends with Shirley and me, and later Bonnie and me. Recently Sharon, real name Phillis, died after dealing with a brain tumor for years. Reprinting this article is one way to say, “Rest in Peace, Phillis.”

Posted on September 15, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 9 Comments

What’s in a Phrase?

Listeners to our podcast know I typically end with the line, “Go out and hit a royal flush!” Colin Jones, the owner of blackjackapprenticeship.com, one of the sponsors of our podcast, has numerous podcasts of his own in which he typically ends with, “Keep generating EV!”

Not that I’m planning on changing, but I like Colin’s ending better than mine! It’s far closer to what I believe intelligent gamblers should do.

Posted on September 8, 2020 by Bob Dancer — 6 Comments

Valentine’s Day

Author’s note: I’ve become very active recently in the storyteller community. I’ve appeared on several national shows — all via Zoom. I’ve won a few competitions, but have lost far more than I’ve won.

This story is about a video poker promotion which happened 24 years ago. Although a story is different than a regular blog, I hope my readers will enjoy it. It describes a variant about something many of you have experienced before.

Posted on September 1, 2020August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 12 Comments

They Make You Wait

Author’s note: Sometimes I get criticized for “bragging about my success.” The unusual feature at Dotty’s I’m discussing today is only relevant when you do have success. Like all players, I have good and bad weeks — and this ~~one~~ was a good one. So, if you get annoyed at me talking about one week when I was successful playing the game, better skip this week’s article.

As I write this, my last trip to Dotty’s was less than a week ago. It was a much, much better trip than average. And I still don’t know exactly how well I did! I will know before you read this, so I will note my actual results at the bottom, but this is intended to describe my thought processes before I know. That’s typically when you have to make your decisions.

Author: Bob Dancer