Category: Video Poker

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A Look at Casino Drawings — Part I of II

Bob Dancer

It’s been a while since I’ve written about casino drawings. In Part I, I’m going to address a selective history of drawings. And Part II deals with how to improve your chances in drawings.

My personal history deals primarily, but not exclusively, with drawings in Las Vegas starting in 1994. The ways they did it in Atlantic City and other places are mostly a mystery to me. 

While most casinos held drawings similarly to the way other casinos did it, any marketing director could say, “I’ve got a good idea. Why don’t we . . .?,” and you had a different twist on how to do it.

“In the beginning,” drawings used paper tickets on which you filled out your name and player’s card number. Sometimes you needed additional information like your address. If you had a lot of tickets, you had to allow considerable time to prepare them. Using rubber stamps or address labels made it faster than doing everything longhand, but it still required an effort.

Some players believed that folding the tickets was useful, and many players had their own techniques. Some casino executives drawing the tickets felt that folded tickets provided an unfair advantage, so they would intentionally feel around for unfolded tickets. I was never sure, so I folded half of mine and left the others au naturel.

The tickets had to go into some sort of drum. If the drum was large, say able to hold 20,000 tickets, and there were only 500 tickets in the drum, spinning the drum mixed the tickets pretty well. If that same drum was filled with 22,000 tickets, the tickets were so jammed that no matter how many times they spun the drum, the tickets stayed right where they were. In this kind of drawing, it was vital to place your tickets in the drum within the last half hour or so before the drawing. If your tickets were placed before that and are now at the bottom of the drum, you had zero chance of it being picked. Someone might dig down one foot or so into a batch of tickets to get one, but nobody could dig down six feet.

You usually received tickets based on your play — maybe every 1,000 slot club points earned you one ticket. Sometimes different tier levels received different numbers of tickets per slot club points. Sometimes video poker machines earned tickets at a different rate than slot machines. Sometimes there were “ticket multiplier” days. Sometimes everybody received free tickets.

Often, but not always, you had to be present to win. Often, but not always, if somebody called wasn’t present, they drew again. Sometimes you could win two or more prizes if your name were drawn more than once. Sometimes anybody could enter and win a drawing, but sometimes it was only for invited guests.

Sometimes the first name drawn gets the biggest prize. Sometimes they keep drawing until they get the right number of names, and then each of the contestants picks an envelope, spins a wheel, or does something else to decide how much they have won.

In Nevada, usually the drawings were fair — but more than once a casino was caught cheating. I have to assume that sometimes casinos cheated and were not caught. It isn’t that difficult for a casino employee to have a ticket palmed when he/she reaches in to pick out a ticket. If done well, it’s extremely difficult to catch. 

I’ve entered many hundreds of Vegas drawings over the past 30 years — possibly more than one thousand. I don’t know the total amount of prizes I’ve won, but it easily exceeds $1 million, including cash, free play, and sometimes physical prizes like cars, jewelry, and even cruises. That’s not all profit, of course. Sometimes I had to play a negative game to earn drawing tickets.

Sometimes there were cash or free play options. For example, if your name were drawn for a $25,000 car, the casino would arrange for you to buy any car you wanted at, for example, Finley Toyota, or would offer you $20,000 if you didn’t take the car.

Sometimes casinos issued 1099s when you won at least $600. Sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes, if you won more than one drawing over the calendar year, the casino would sum up your prizes and present you with the tax form if your total winnings were at least $600. Sometimes casinos would treat each drawing as a separate event tax-wise.

Next week I’ll discuss how drawings are different today than they used to be and give you some pointers on doing well in these drawings.

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You Have to Choose Your Battles

Bob Dancer

I’ve played at Caesars properties for a few decades and generally play up to Seven Stars status. If Bonnie and I didn’t enjoy cruising, we might not play here. But we do, and we do.

They used to have Seven Stars lounges at each property. While each property did these lounges differently than the other properties, generally you could get free food and beverages for the price of a tip. The company was sold several times, went through a bankruptcy or two, and now Seven Stars lounges are called Laurel Lounges — and basically don’t exist.

Still, each property modestly rewards their Seven Stars customers with respect to food and beverages. Whenever we go to a different Caesars/Harrah’s/Eldorado property, we check out how the system works there. In Las Vegas, Seven Stars players get four drink coupons and one $10 food voucher daily. (Diamond players get the drink coupons but not the $10 food voucher.) The drink tickets can be used for any beverages which cost $25 or less — and at a significant number of restaurants and bars across town. Each property also has bars and restaurants that don’t accept these food and beverage vouchers.

There are some glasses of wine that cost $25.99 available at these bars and restaurants. It seems obvious that your $25 voucher would cover most of that, leaving you with a small overage to pay for using a different means. But obvious answers aren’t always correct. Here if you order that glass of wine, you can’t apply a voucher at all. It’s over $25 and that’s that. The restaurant servers don’t like this rule, but they have to abide by it.

In late February, Bonnie and I had some Seven Stars visitors and so we all went to Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill inside Caesars Palace. Bonnie and I each get 10 annual $100 “Seven Stars Celebration” Dinners, from February 1 to January 31. We’re not big eaters and, including our $10 food vouchers, can easily order enough food for $120 to satisfy both of us. Our friends had their own vouchers.

I was not playing anymore on this day, so I ordered a glass of wine. My first choice of wine would have been a $25.99 glass, but I knew the rules and ordered a glass for $21.99. While I was ordering, Bonnie took her ID and Player’s Card to one outlet where she can get 750 ml bottles of Diet Pepsi for her tickets. While I’m sure diet soda isn’t healthy for her to drink, and have told her as much, she enjoys them, and she uses two of her drink tickets each time we go there to get soda to take home. She knows how I feel about diet soda, figures that I’m probably right healthwise, but it’s not a battle either one of us want to fight repeatedly. She’s 80 years old. That’s one of her pleasures in life. Let her be!

Until recently, one of the fast-food outlets, DiFara Pizza, sold liter bottles of Fiji water at a hotel price of $9.99 apiece. Any extra drink tickets that are not spent elsewhere go towards this water. They seem to have done away with this water, and now 700 ml bottles of Aquafina are the biggest you can get. Still, we always need portable water in a desert.

On this particular night, Bonnie got two bottles of Diet Pepsi, I had one glass of wine charged to her drink tickets, and so we stopped to pick up five bottles of water on our way to the car. Somehow, though, the system showed that I indeed had four drink vouchers to spend, but Bonnie didn’t have any. Either the outlet where she got the soda or the restaurant over-charged her. 

I suppose we could have spent 15-20 minutes and figured out exactly what happened and gotten it rectified, but we’re talking about a bottle of water here. Probably costs $4 at Walmart – although certainly more than that here. 

I did mention to the server that it’s not fair that we don’t get that fifth bottle of water. The server was polite enough, but unbudging. If her computer doesn’t tell her that Bonnie has another bottle of water coming, we weren’t going to get one. So, we let it go. Another battle not worth fighting. 

Both Bonnie and I were slightly irritated — but that feeling passed quickly. We’re fortunate that we’re able to shrug off these things and not sweat the small stuff.

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How Do I Figure?

Bob Dancer

Bonnie and I regularly played at an out-of-town Caesars property where part of the monthly mailer was $200 in resort credit apiece. If we played our usual amount, our host would pick up food charges. So that left the resort credit to be spent at gift shops. They had a women’s store, a men’s store, and a jewelry store, in addition to a typical small gift shop where you could get various sundries. 

Generally speaking, you don’t expect casino gift shops to compete on price. At the men’s store, I was told that if I paid with cash or credit card, I’d get a 35% discount. If I used Reward Credits, I’d get a 20% discount. And if I charged to my room, I’d get no discount. Part of the deal with the $200 resort credit was that you had to charge it to your room. 

The resort credits weren’t worth anywhere near face value to us — but they were obviously worth something and made the play worth more to me than if I didn’t get to spend them. So how much are they worth?

No gift shop is worth the same amount to every player. I would wear a few of the shirts sold by this particular men’s store — but not all that many. A younger man — or a man whose taste is different from mine — might find he liked a much larger percentage of the inventory than I do. Bonnie is usually with me on these trips — and she can usually find something in one of the gift shops. If I tell her she has $400 to spend at such and such a selection of stores, she’ll find at least that much for one of us — or for one of our relatives or friends.

If I were thinking a $200 gift shop award might be worth $100, I asked myself, “Would I pay $100 in cash to get that $200 gift shop award?” For me, the answer was, ‘No.’ But I might pay $50 in cash. So, I figured that’s what the award was worth. 

I find it useful to turn this into a percentage — so I can add it into the mix along with the return on the game, the slot club, and other such awards. If I regularly played $10,000 and they gave me this award worth $50 to me, the award would be worth 0.5%. If I played $100,000 (which is closer to what I actually play), the award is worth 0.05%.

Frankly, something worth 0.05% would rarely be enough to tip the play-or-not-play scales into positive territory. Maybe if a play were already worth 100.3%, which is about the minimum I’ll play, I’ll make a play I might otherwise pass on. But that exact circumstance rarely happens.

It turns out that I find such awards most valuable for “keeping Bonnie happy” reasons. 

Bonnie and I keep our finances separate. If I win or lose $40,000 on a trip, it basically doesn’t affect her finances at all. But if I have the advantage on the play, and I can play on her card as well as mine, it’s good for her to make the trip with me, even if there is not much for her to do once she’s there.

So, gift shop awards, at least one nice dinner per trip, free movies in the room, and excursions to sight-seeing places are all part of what we do while we’re there. Sometimes I give her half of my win in a drawing. She’s 80 years old, I’m 77, and staying happy together is a significant part of our game plan. If there is suitable music, we dance for a few hours. If we earn cruises, she gets a big say in where we go. Bonnie’s generally a good sport about coming with me when I take these “business trips,” I want her to look forward to our time together. If getting to go shopping brings a smile to her face, I’m all for it.

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What Do You Do?

Bob Dancer

A gambling friend shared an incident that happened to him at a casino recently. It’s never happened to me, but it could. I’m writing this as a hypothetical, because there are a lot of different ways it could turn out. So, there are lots of choices to be made — and it’s probably wise that you’ve at least thought about it beforehand.

I’m waiting for a casino drawing. They call my name and I have three minutes to make my way up to wherever the drawing is being held. Usually that’s no problem. But what if I’m doing something else?

If I’m playing video poker, it’s usually easy to cash out and leave the machine. If there are players around, let them know that you’ll be back after the drawing. That usually works.

But let’s say I’m playing a slot machine, and the machine is positive. That is, assume it’s well known that it’s a play if the mini jackpot is at least 20, and it’s now at 25. If you leave this machine unguarded, often somebody else will recognize the situation for what it is and play until the jackpot hits.

Now you need to get some casino employee to watch your machine. So, I’ll start hollering and making quite a commotion. Usually, some employee will come investigate. When that happens, I explain that I’ve been called for the drawing — and usually the employee will assist you. Not always, but usually.

Another situation is that you’ve hit the bonus round on the machine, and the bonus round takes several minutes to play out. This is actually better for you because nobody can claim the machine while this is happening. You can actually leave the machine while hollering and searching for an employee. 

If you know for a fact that the bonus round will result in a W-2G, then it’s okay to leave — assuming your card was in the machine and the casino can identify who hit the jackpot. But usually, you don’t know for sure. It might end up for more than $1,200, and it might not. If it only goes up to $1,100 and you’re not around when it finishes, someone can cash out with your win plus however much in credits you had before the bonus round started. They can collect the ticket, cash it out, and leave the casino before you return. Casinos have different policies on how much, if any, of your money you’ll retrieve.

If hollering doesn’t work, you’ll need to make a quick analysis of how much the slot machine jackpot is worth versus how much the drawing is worth. If it’s a drawing where you get at least $500, and can earn quite a bit more than that, and the slot jackpot will only be $200, then it’s an easy choice. If the hollering doesn’t work, cash out and go to collect your drawing winnings. If you’re playing on the two-cent machine, 40 coins at a time, you probably should leave another screen (perhaps one cent, 50 coins at a time) that is not in positive mode so maybe the good game will still be there when you return.

On the other hand, if the drawing is for $100 and you believe your equity in the machine is worth quite a bit more than that, then you simply keep playing the slot machine if the hollering doesn’t work. Yes, you’d like to collect both, but sometimes you have to make a choice.

One way to guard against this is to not do anything else while waiting for a drawing. That’s fine, but not doing anything is worth $0 per hour. And these drawings can go on for quite some time — especially if there are one or more rounds of redraws because people didn’t show up when their names were called. And unless it’s a fairly unusual situation, you are probably not a favorite to be called in the drawing. The combination of being called and being on a game that can’t be left without losing equity and you can’t find an employee to watch the machine is pretty remote. It could happen, of course, but usually it’s better for me to be scouting while I’m waiting for the names to be called. I don’t have to be present for three minutes and if necessary, I can run from quite a distance in three minutes. (Well, maybe not today. As I write this, I’m still recovering from hip surgery — so running is not an option — but that is hopefully a short-lived restriction.)

It’s a nice problem to have — because you’re going to be getting some money — but getting all of your money is better than getting part of your money.

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A New Hip — After Six Weeks

Bob Dancer

I had my right hip replaced with a titanium one on December 28. I’m writing this after almost six weeks of recovery. It hasn’t been as smooth or as fast as I hoped. And it disrupted my life far more than I expected!

Two-and-a-half weeks after the surgery, there was a juicy out-of-town promotion I really wanted to go to. Bonnie and my doctor were strongly opposed to me going. Finally, I acceded and stayed home — probably the right move. But giving up on a good promotion really goes against the grain.

I’ve shared before that I belong to the Las Vegas Improvisational Players (www.lvimprov.com) and perform in a showcase once a month. The leader of the group wanted me to sit out the January performance — figuring I was still a bit wobbly. Improv does include some physicality, and you never know what’s coming because the suggestions come from the audience. He figured it would be easy to accidentally exceed my physical limitations in the heat of the moment. While I figured that I could still perform, I yielded reasonably gracefully. But I’ll be in the February 17 showcase, and all the future ones when I’m in town. For the next few months, though, I’ll be cast in skits with little potential for physicality. 

Three-times-a-week physical therapy (PT) works well if you apply yourself. They tell you to do 30 repetitions and then let you decide how many to really do — and whether you lift your leg all the way or halfway. Basically, their business plan is to collect $100 a session (or whatever the amount is) from the insurance companies. If you take six months instead of three months to recover, so much the better as far as the PT company is concerned.

PT also works better if you do the exercises at home between sessions. I knew this but was not as diligent as I could have been. I probably averaged two sessions a week at home (rather than the recommended four) on the days I didn’t go to PT.

The exercises, though, were only geared for my right leg — because that’s the side where my new hip is. I decided early on, though, to do the exercises on both sides. Even though the exercises were way too easy for my left leg, I felt it made no sense to only exercise one side of my body. My hour-long PT session got extended by twenty minutes or so. The PT staff had to notice this, but so far haven’t said a word about this.

I was cautioned not to bend over too far too soon after the surgery, and not to cross my legs. If the hip pops out of socket, needless to say, it’s not a good thing. So, for the first four weeks or so after the operation, I needed Bonnie to help me with the compression hose they recommended and tying my shoelaces. I couldn’t bend over enough to put on pants of any sort without help. One month out, I could dress myself unassisted.

I have a player-friend who drove me to casinos periodically after about three weeks. I’d take my walker and take frequent rests. He’d drop me off at the front door of casinos and then go park the car. I wouldn’t do my full slot-scouting run at first, but each time was a little bit further.

I was told not to drive for six weeks after surgery. This is a longer period of time for the right hip than the left simply because driving in this country uses the right leg more than the left. After four weeks of using Lyft, though, there came a day when Bonnie and I had six places we needed to go to back-to-back — none of them more than three miles from the last. After one around-the-block test drive, I decided I could do it.  

For the next two days, though, my right leg and knee really ached. Whatever muscles are used in driving had deteriorated. I drove every other day for short periods of time, and about a week later could drive for an hour straight without discomfort. 

My first out-of-town casino trip came at about the four-week mark. It was tougher than I expected. The nicer rooms they assigned us were far away from the hotel elevators. Had I thought about it, I would have requested a regular room close to the elevators — but I didn’t think of it until afterwards.

I only played four hours a day, but I had to split that into two sessions. I knew about how much walking would be required at this casino — we’ve been there before — but taking that many steps turned out to be more difficult than knowing how many steps it was going to be. I was pretty wiped out when I returned home four days later. Although it was a losing trip this time, I’m pretty sure that was just normal variance and not due to my infirmity. But I can’t be sure.

As I write the first draft of this blog, I haven’t had my six-week post-operation medical visit yet. I expect I’ll be told I can now submerge into a bath (if there are handicap bars to help me get out — which there are in our home) if I want. I’m now taking an aspirin tablet twice a day to avoid blood clots. Whether that routine is changed — or whether I’ll still be told to wear compression stockings — I’ll find out. Other than not doing my exercises as much as requested, I’ve been a pretty good patient. And I’ll continue to do so.

My next casino trip is in another three weeks. I’ll take my walker with me — in case. The walking distances there will be considerably longer than the ones on my last trip. They have motorized scooters available if necessary — but I’m assuming/hoping I won’t need one. We’ll see.

When I last saw my surgeon, two weeks afterwards, he said it was normal to be thinking “Oh God! What have I done?” And to be sure, there was a little of that. He also said that after six weeks I’ll be saying, “This is the best thing that ever happened to me! I should have done it years ago!” 

Well, it’s almost six weeks, and I’m still recovering. But I’m a lot closer to being really happy I did this than I was a month ago.

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Playing With House Money

Bob Dancer

The expression that titles this blog has at least two different meanings. First, it could mean you have some sort of a cash windfall, so losing it would be less painful than if you earned the money doing hard labor. Second, it could mean that you have already exceeded expectations, so even if you don’t win in the current situation, it’s not so bad. An example of the second meaning was heard in the first round of the football playoffs between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Philadelphia Eagles. It was said that nobody expected the Bucs to even make the playoffs, so they were playing with house money.

In both meanings, the word “house” refers to a casino — at least originally. 

Although the phrase is fairly common and is understood by most adults, I think it is based on an entirely false understanding of what “house money” really is. The fact that this expression is used so frequently means that most people think of “house money” incorrectly.

Let’s say there’s a casino drawing and the winner receives $50,000 in cash. Lo and behold, this time you are the lucky winner! Congratulations! 

Now, after you’ve won the drawing, does the fifty grand belong to you or the casino? I think it belongs to you. Whatever your wealth/bankroll was before the drawing, it’s now $50,000 greater. 

If you’re a multimillionaire, the extra money is nice, but doesn’t change your fiscal priorities very much. If you are struggling financially, that much money can literally be life-changing.

Of those for whom the money is life-changing, it’s prudent to think twice on what you wish to do with these funds. Seeking advice from an advisor might be a good idea. 

There are tax considerations to this win. If you want to think of this as $35,000 after taxes, it’s probably smarter than thinking of it as $50,000. It’s easy to spend however much you have in front of you, but next April 15, Uncle Sam will still be waiting with his hand out. Not preparing for that is an expensive mistake.

It may well be that a new car is highest on your list of current needs, but just because you have $50,000 in your pocket doesn’t mean you need to get a vehicle with all the bells and whistles. This $50,000 windfall is usually a one-time event. Helping yourself solve two or three financial problems is usually better than just solving one.

Calling the windfall “house money” takes away from recognizing the importance of making the correct decision. It’s your money and you only have one life. Make the most of it!

I heard a funny story recently — supposedly true. It’s not exactly in line with what this column is about — but I have some extra space so here goes:

A famous poker player won a $1,000,000 prize at a tournament. He was asked what he was going to do with the money.

“Well, I have some people I owe money to. I’ll pay them off.”

“But what about the rest?”

“They’ll just have to wait.”

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This Game Tonight

Bob Dancer

The following incident happened while a friend of mine was playing slots, but there’s enough in common to gambling at video poker that I think it’s worth discussing.

“John” was scouting a casino in Las Vegas looking for slot machines in positive conditions. There are many, many slot machines that are sometimes positive — but most of the time, on each of these machines, the house has the advantage. Most players, however, are not aware of when the game is positive or not and simply play the game, quitting whenever they feel like it. Sometimes they quit when the game is positive, and then when the next knowledgeable player comes by, that player typically sits down to play it off. 

John has “strike numbers” on perhaps 20-30 different slot machine titles. That’s nowhere near all or even most of the beatable machines, but still, it’s more than most players know.

He found a game for $25 a play that he thought might be positive. This is a much larger game than usual for slot players. Most players can’t afford to play this game, but the size of the game was not a showstopper to him. He shifted the denomination on the machine so that it showed the $10-per-play game and consulted his notes. The $10-per-play game was nowhere near a positive play at the moment, and other pros seeking games would walk right by. He wanted time to think about this situation without drawing attention to the game.

His notes said that the game was a play when a certain meter was at 15 or higher — and sure enough this meter was at 16. So, it was a play. His notes also said the game is highly volatile. He knew that on a volatile $25 game, he could easily win or lose several thousand dollars. If he played this game in this situation several dozen times, he figured he’d make a sizeable profit. But there was no way to tell at the outset whether this time would be positive or negative.

He had $3,500 on him. He figured that would cover the swings most of the time. He wouldn’t likely run out of money, but if he did there were people he could call. He didn’t like making these calls — partly because that meant others would have the right to call him when they ran out. He trusted himself to run out of money very rarely, but some of the people he called wouldn’t have the same discipline. But if he asked for help, he had to be prepared to give help to others in the future. He didn’t want to open that door.

He actually called me to ask my opinion. John and I respect each other’s knowledge and have helped each other out occasionally. I know him well, know how he handles swings, and I thought he should go for it. I wasn’t in Vegas at the time, and he was, so there was no way I could get money to him if he ended up needing some.

He was just about to start when another pro, “Peter,” approached him and asked if he were going to play the $25 game. John knew Peter vaguely. He’d seen him checking out machines but wasn’t sure how knowledgeable he was.

John said yes. He thought it was a good play and he had the bankroll to play it. Peter said he had the bankroll too, but wasn’t in the mood to risk his daily score on such a volatile play.

Peter, it seems, had been losing recently and was sort of gun shy. He didn’t trust his own judgment, so he didn’t want to play such a big game. He could likely find a sizeable number of smaller games where he could increase his bankroll by dribs and drabs rather than making a big jump one way or the other all at once.

Peter said he had a few thousand dollars on him and suggested they partner up for this one game. John thought about this. It had some positive aspects to it. It essentially guaranteed he wouldn’t run out of money. 

At the same time, John had never done business with Peter before. Was he trustworthy? Who was going to eat the W-2G if there was one? Peter was friendly now, but what if Peter was the one playing when the bonus round hit and denied making a deal? So John passed and played it by himself. Peter wished him luck and left.

As it happened, the bonus round went off rather quickly and John ended up making $900. This was a nice result, but it certainly didn’t have to be that way.

I want to look at Peter’s reaction to this. Peter had actually seen the game first and passed on it. He had the financial bankroll — but not the emotional bankroll — to play the game. So, I believe he was right to pass.

Everybody has his own emotional bankroll. Respecting your bankroll parameters, both financial and emotional, is critical to long term success at gambling. I also think that Peter suggesting they be partners was a move that made sense for him. This would lower the swings and lower the risk. So now it might have been within his comfort zone. 

It couldn’t have been too much of a surprise for Peter that John turned down his offer to partner up. That’s probably the usual result. But you don’t know unless you try. 

All in all, the situation was well played by both men.

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A Variety of Games

Bob Dancer

Today I play different video poker games at different casinos — usually the highest-returning games offered in denominations that interest me. It wasn’t always this way.

In the “good old days,” which for me were the mid-1990s, the best $5 and higher games almost everywhere were 9/6 Jacks or Better. With slot clubs and promotions, this game could be played with an advantage at a dozen or so different casinos in Las Vegas. I learned the game 100% accurately and it was just a matter of putting in the hours, assuming you had the bankroll to survive the swings. Borrowing the title of a Josh Axelrad book that was based on playing blackjack, this was a matter of “Repeat Until Rich.” And I did. And many others did. 

There was some strategy choosing at which casino to play, and when. Casinos offered point multipliers sometimes, or had a promotion where they invited a lot of players in and gave away lots of money over a weekend — usually by a slot tournament or by a drawing — and if you played then, sometimes you got a piece of that money. Not every time, of course, but when you’re already playing a game where you have the edge, these extra “pieces of money” add up. In a typical year, I’d play in maybe 75 events (meaning some weekends I played at two different events), and collected the extra money at 10 or 15 of them. 

Back then, mailer money in Las Vegas was rare, whereas today it’s common. Today, it’s rare when I play 9/6 Jacks or Better. At the five casinos I play the most (limiting the discussion to video poker and not including playing slots, which I also play), I play five different games. Actually, more than five, because at two of the casinos, there is more than one acceptable game. I “rotate” which game I play depending on the monthly promotion.

And the games I play vary in denomination. At one casino, I play dollar single line, meaning $5 per hand. I’d prefer to play larger, but the higher-stakes games at that casino aren’t good enough. And the dollar game, plus slot club, mailers, and promotions, provides me with enough benefits that I keep playing there. 

I’m no longer playing just in Las Vegas. No longer just in Nevada. Although I’ve mentioned some other places I play periodically, and there are some I haven’t mentioned, it’s still a surprise to me that a resident of Las Vegas can find better video poker out of town. Don’t expect me to announce exactly which game I play at which casino. At some of the places I play, the good situation would not last if lots of players were playing it.

Playing a number of games keeps me sharper than playing just one game. Plus, 9/6 Jacks or Better is arguably the simplest game to play well. Every additional game I learn has special one-of-a-kind sorts of situations that I have to master. And when I do master them, sometimes they provide inspiration.

There is also the issue of keeping the games straight in my mind. The combinations that are the toughest to keep straight are the 3-card straight flushes versus two high cards, suited or not. Every game has its own rules and going back and forth between games, it’s easy to get mixed up. It’s also easier for a senior citizen to get mixed up than it was when I was still “in my prime.” 

So I find myself practicing more today than I did before. Just before I go and play a game I haven’t played in a month or more, I’ll spend a few hours mastering it again. I can get so I can play a game 100% perfectly, but it takes regular review to stay at that level for a number of different games simultaneously.

And it is no longer, “Repeat Until Rich.” The available edges are smaller today. Casinos continually become savvier and savvier in what games and promotions they can profitably offer. Casino mistakes are still out there, and I still try to exploit them when I find them, but they aren’t as numerous, as large, and don’t last as long as they did before.

There are still some players who do well, of course, and I am one of those some of the time.  But I believe the number of players who regularly exceeded $100,000 annual profit was higher twenty or twenty-five years ago than it is today. 

Still, I’m out there trying. It’s what I do. It’s what I enjoy. It’s part of what keeps me as intellectually sharp as I can be at my age. Yes, I’ve shifted to also playing slots as well as video poker, but video poker remains my mainstay. And probably will so long as I can find good games — even if those games aren’t the same ones I’m playing today.

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Hockey Knights in Vegas Episode 67 — Speaking of Paul Cotter, Dirty Martinis, and Warm-Up Pucks

Hockey Knights in Vegas: Episode 56

It’s just another episode of Hockey Knights in Vegas. Not really!

Chris and Eddie recap the MLK matinee win over Nashville and Captain Mark
Stone hoisting the VGK on his back to the tune of his first regular-season
Hat Trick.

The injury bug is hitting the VGK hard at the moment, with seven regulars out of
the lineup. Panic time? The guys spend some discussion on how well the call-
up kids from Henderson are filling in and then the conversation turns to
second-year forward Paul Cotter.

Eddie has been a fan for a long time and Chris is on board too. At about
the 33-minute mark … THANKS FOR JOINING US, PAUL!

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How Should You Cash the Extra Free Play?

Bob Dancer


Let’s assume your regular casino gave you $250 in extra free play for the holidays. You normally get $50 a week, and now you have all this extra money. What should you do?

There is not a one-size-fits-all answer. It depends on your situation and your priorities. Let me go through a few examples.

Professional player. Gambles as a source of income.
In this case, the $250 in extra free play is merely an increase in bankroll. Yes, you have to play it, but it’s nowhere near enough to move you into being able to play for a higher denomination. Presumably you’re already playing on the best game for you in the casino — taking into consideration things like: return on the game, slot club, how much you need to play to keep the mailers coming, how much you need to play to reach the tier level you’ve decided is best for you, and how much to play to take advantage of the current promotion should you deem it worth playing.
At the end of your normal play, if you would have been ahead $700 without the bonus free play, now you’re ahead $950. If you would have been behind $400, now you’re behind $150 because of the extra free play. You record your score, and move on. It’s nice to receive $250, but it’s hardly a big deal.
This is the way I would handle such a windfall — even a much larger windfall.

Wealthy recreational player. Has plenty of money to survive his normal losses.
This is a position I’ve never been in. More times than I can count, I’ve lost more than $20,000 in a day and been relatively unphased about it because I knew I was playing with an advantage. But playing a bad nickel game for fun? Never! So, my advice here is “theoretical,” rather than from experience.

I suspect this sort of person will see the $250 as “found money,” and hence able to be spent without the normal boundaries. Maybe take a 10-hand flyer on a $5, high variance, game like Triple Double Bonus. Probably it will be all lost, but there’s a chance for a $20,000 windfall. Now we’re talking!

Low-stakes player, trying to make intelligent decisions.
The problem was set up so that the player normally received $50 a week in free play. This limits how “low stakes” the player can actually be, because you have to play quite a bit, or quite badly, to be eligible for $50 a week in free play.
Still, with an extra $250 in free play, this player will typically take an intermediate approach between the first two. Maybe take a mini-flyer on a game one denomination higher.

There are an infinite number of ways to handle this “problem,” but we all agree that it’s a nice problem to have and wish we could have it more often.