Advanced Strategy – Page 14 – Las Vegas Advisor

Posted on July 26, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 3 Comments

My Lucky Shirt — Part 1 of 2

This true story happened some time ago, but so far, I haven’t written about it. I was playing $25 single line Double Double Bonus (DDB), rather heavily, at an out-of-town casino for more than a week. What casino, pay schedule, slot club, and promotions that made this a good play in my opinion are for another story, another day. Suffice it to say that I believed it to be a play where I had enough of an advantage to warrant playing hard.

If you can figure out where and when this took place (perhaps you saw me — a lot of players know what I look like), please keep it to yourself. There are reasons I don’t specify all the details of the game here, and please don’t undermine my reasons.

Posted on July 19, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 8 Comments

Adding Triple Double Bonus to WinPoker

I was associated with WinPoker for many years. It was, and is, a good product. Our breakup happened when Video Poker for Winners invited me along and promised to have a strategy calculator — a feature I think is important.

So I left WinPoker. I’ve remained on good terms with Dean Zamzow, the man in charge of all things related to WinPoker, but have no remaining financial interest in that product.

Posted on July 12, 2022August 29, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 8 Comments

How Long Can It Last?

I was leaving the South Point one morning in early June and “Sam,” a man who has attended many of my classes over the years, approached me and said, “Bob, I have to ask you. How long can a losing streak last? I haven’t hit a royal flush since November.” For occasional players, a six- or seven-month royal-free streak would not be that unusual. But I’ve seen Sam in casinos dozens of times, so I assume it’s been several 40,000-hand cycles. Always painful. Always expensive.

Posted on June 21, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 15 Comments

It Might Not Scratch My Itch

I was walking through Sam’s Town here in Las Vegas on a Tuesday in June. The casino offers 10x points (worth 0.5%) for seniors on Tuesdays and I was scouting the place looking to see if anything might be of interest. Even after all these years, scouting is part of my routine.

I’ve been restricted from receiving mailers for more than a decade at all Boyd properties (including Sam’s Town), so anything I find has to be good enough by itself to be worthwhile, because there won’t be additional benefits coming down the road.

Posted on May 31, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 9 Comments

I Get By with a Little Help From My Friends

The last week in May, Bonnie and I will spend aboard a railroad traveling through the Canadian Rockies. We’re scheduled to travel east from Vancouver and fly home from Calgary eight days later. Although we will be back in Vegas before you read this, and I may well write about that trip, I’m writing this blog while still in Vegas.

Why that’s important is because more than one of the casinos I frequent had monthly “playups” in May of various sorts, where for so many points during the month, I get certain prizes. One that takes a lot of time is the South Point half-price Chevron or Walmart gift cards, requiring almost $167,000 in coin-in for Bonnie and me combined. And I only have three weeks to get in that play instead of four.

Posted on May 24, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 4 Comments

How Do I Prepare to Stay Awake?

I received the following question for Richard’s and my mailbag show on Gambling with an Edge. It’s too involved to answer on the air. I thought I’d give it a go here.

Can you describe the steps you take to prepare for a play that may require you play during a time of day (graveyard for example) that is not a normal time for you to be playing? How far in advance do you start to adjust your schedule, and what other steps do you take?

Posted on May 17, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 10 Comments

Card Pulling Revisited

I was asked to answer a Question of the Day sent to The Las Vegas Advisor. My answer was “too long” for a QOD, but appropriate for one of my blogs. Since LVA hosts my blog and they have plenty of QOD questions “in the hopper,” I was allowed to answer this question here.

Is card-pulling at video poker still an effective way of minimizing wins?

Posted on May 10, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 5 Comments

Figuring It Out

I received an email to be answered on the podcast. Here it is:

I have a strategy question about 8/5 ACE$ bonus. I’ve been told that you play it the same as you would 8/5 bonus with the following exception: when dealt a full house with 2 or 3 aces where ACE$ is possible, you only hold the aces. Is that true? When dealt 2 pair and one of the pair are aces in the right position do you go for the full house or just hold the aces?

Posted on April 26, 2022 by Bob Dancer — 15 Comments

A New Experience for Me

I’ve had an amazing experience that is new to me as a gambler.

I’ve been learning a bit about advantage slots — and playing them with moderate success. I’m not going to go into detail, but some games are the type that if one particular number is above 40 and another particular number is above 30, the player has the advantage for some length of time.

Posted on April 15, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 4 Comments

How Much Does Complexity Cost

The following question was posed to me for inclusion in one of Richard’s and my mailbag shows on our Gambling with an Edge podcast. While I did give an answer to it on the air, I believe a fuller answer is appropriate and so I’m going to talk about it here as well.

“This version of Double Bonus Poker is called “Full Pay Double Bonus Poker” or “10/7/5 Double Bonus Poker.”

If Jacks or Better and Double Bonus Poker had similar strategies, it would be a no-brainer to select Double Bonus Poker as the preferred game.

Unfortunately, the strategy for Double Bonus Poker is more complex than the strategy for Jacks or Better making it more likely that mistakes will be made – mistakes which will cost you money.”

Category: Advanced Strategy