When I moved to Las Vegas in 1994, I was 47 years of age and weighed 210 pounds — which was the heaviest ever for me. My exercise and weight management attempts fluctuated over the years and by 2010 I was up to 260 pounds. The combination of all the free food I wanted from casinos and a relatively sedentary life added up to obesity.
Continue reading Whatever It Takes
Category: Video Poker
Why I Don’t Play Progressives
A month or so ago on vpFREE a poster asked why I don’t play progressives. I thought about my answer for a while and decided to write about it here.
Before I start, I should say I “usually” don’t play progressives. There have been exceptions, which I’ll mention. Continue reading Why I Don’t Play Progressives
An Invisible Promotion
I recently wrote how I played during the $600,000 July Money Madness promotion at the South Point. To summarize, there were two progressives running at all times during the month. One between $10,000 and $25,000 — where, in addition to the one lucky winner, all players playing with a card inserted when it hit received $25 in free play. The second between $1,000 and $2,500 — where no additional money was given away to players playing when someone else hit the jackpot. Continue reading An Invisible Promotion
Concentrating on the Deltas
While most of my video poker play is done in Las Vegas, I do have a few out-of-town plays which I like. I go back to some of them again and again. Unfortunately, publishing what and where would be a death sentence for the games. Continue reading Concentrating on the Deltas
Working a Promotion That’s Hard to Figure
This past July, the South Point ran a “$600,000 Money Madness” promotion for the second time in 2015. A very similar promotion was run once in 2014. It’s reasonable to predict that we will see this promotion again sometime down the road. They have the software to run this promotion, so they just might run it once or twice a year for the foreseeable future. Continue reading Working a Promotion That’s Hard to Figure
A Change in Strategy
In July of this year, Gold Coast Casino in Las Vegas ran a “second royal in five days gets paid double” promotion. While that particular promotion inspired this article, that promotion had a particular set of rules that I’m not going to address.
The promotion I’m going to propose today doesn’t exist — it never has existed and may never exist. Still, when a good promotion is active, few pros want to discuss how to attack it. Consequently, it is sometimes best to discuss the attack strategy for a promotion “before” it gets announced. Continue reading A Change in Strategy
Not as Close as you Think
I recently read that Colin Cowherd was leaving ESPN radio after being a personality there for 12 years. His morning show aired from 7 a.m. – 10 a.m. in Las Vegas. I’m not always up at that time, and I don’t always listen to the radio when I am, but I probably caught 5% or so of his broadcasts over the past few years. I enjoyed them.
Cowherd is not your typical sports radio host. He would often go off on tangents that were thought-provoking. Sometimes related to sports, but often not. Continue reading Not as Close as you Think
Keeping the Story Straight
If your personal philosophy requires you to tell the truth 100% of the time, and anyone who doesn’t is going to hell, you’re not going to enjoy this article very much.
I married Bonnie, the widow of a career United States Air Force officer, in May of last year. Our planned European honeymoon needed to be scrapped because of a health issue for Bonnie which arose unexpectedly. This year we planned a make-up honeymoon consisting of four days in Paris, France followed by two weeks aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line Jade out of Venice, Italy. Continue reading Keeping the Story Straight
An Instantaneous Professional
A version of this article was originally published in 2008. As I’ve progressed in my video poker knowledge and experience, I answer some questions differently. Therefore, I’ve changed several things in the article.
Not long ago I received the following email from someone I didn’t know:
Mr. Dancer:
I recently inherited some money. I’ve decided to set $50,000 aside as a bankroll so I can play video poker professionally. What games should I play? Please be specific. (signed) Lucky Heir
Continue reading An Instantaneous Professional
Risk and Uncertainty in Video Poker
In May 2000 I was a guest in the home of my brother Dick and his wife Lisa, who at that time lived near Houston, Texas. My then-wife Shirley was off on a women’s religious retreat and I chose to spend time with Dick and Lisa rather than being a temporary bachelor in Las Vegas.
Without going into specifics and with me as the exception, my family is largely very conservative, especially when it comes to religion. I’m the only gambler in the group and in many ways have been a non-conformist compared to the others. On the second day of my visit, the discussion got around to video poker and my success — or lack thereof. Continue reading Risk and Uncertainty in Video Poker