The specifics of the following are fiction. But similar situations have happened numerous times.
Let’s say there’s a drawing at a casino, with about 50,000 tickets in the barrel. I’ve hammered away at a $25 machine for 15 hours and have 800 tickets myself, resulting from $800,000 coin-in. A lady in green, on the other hand, is a quarter player who played four hours and has 3 tickets. We both show up, hoping to win the $25,000 prize. Continue reading Is This Fair?
Author’s note: I am posting two articles today, September 9, and none next week. This article tells of a September South Point promotion that is good for the player community and will expire September 30. Therefore I didn’t want to delay it another week.
Continue reading Good Thing the Machine Malfunctioned and Should You Make a Fuss?
This article was first published in 2005. The specific game I was playing is no longer found at this particular casino — and now I’m married to Bonnie rather than Shirley. But the point the article makes is still a good one to remember.
I was playing NSU Deuces Wild one evening recently at the Palms. Depending on the specific promotion, I frequently play on multi denomination ($1, $2, $5) Triple Play / Five Play machines that have several choices of games to play. I hear a female voice to my right querying, “Why does everyone play Deuces Wild on these machines?” Continue reading First Things First
This past Saturday, August 23, the Palms casino in Las Vegas hosted a $50,000 slot tournament. This was a tournament where, so far as I know, extremely limited skill was required. As long as you were hitting the button whenever the reels were stopped, you were going to get the maximum score that your particular machine would allow for that session. Whether it was a little or a lot was dependent on the luck of the draw. Continue reading A No Brainer — Or So I Thought
Check out Part 1 of this story here. I’ll wait until you come back.
I asked John to provide me with a number of things before I flew to Foxwoods, including:
a. A photograph of the pay schedule and denomination. A one digit mistake in how much a flush pays, for example, can change whether the game is playable or not. Continue reading Contemplating Foxwoods, Part 2 of 2
I received an email from somebody, “John,” who wanted to know if I was willing to pay a finder’s fee for information about a $5 video poker game on the East coast that had so far slipped under everyone’s radar. He thought the game was worth more than $200 per hour. I know John and I trust John–which is a very good start.
Before we went through the “How much do you want?” “How much are you willing to pay?” two-step, I needed to know some information, including: Continue reading Contemplating Foxwoods, Part 1 of 2
Winning video poker players DO NOT think the same as casino managers. While there is no one “right way” to think, it’s wise to remember that casino managers often are the ones who make the rules. Sometimes players need to shift their thinking cap in order to understand those rules. Continue reading Thinking Like a Casino Manager
Author’s note: A somewhat similar version of this article appeared in 2005. The argument remains valid.
During the 1980s, I worked in the computer departments of three different corporations. As I explained in my autobiography, Million Dollar Video Poker, I needed to go to work as a computer programmer because I was not sufficiently successful at my profession of choice, namely being a professional backgammon player.
The language I programmed in was COBOL–this was way before personal computers were common. I haven’t had anything to do with programming since the early 1990s and do not claim any current proficiency. Continue reading Lessons Learned as a Programmer
I memorized 9/6 Jacks perfectly almost 20 years ago. (I knew the strategy very well before that, but there were some rare hands that nobody had written about and it took me a while to find them all.) It’s fairly simple, as video poker games go, and the exceptions aren’t numerous or difficult. Additionally, I’ve played 9/6 Jacks for perhaps 2000 hours and taught the game in class close to 100 times. Given all of that, I suspect I’ll have the game memorized for as long as I’m mentally competent. Continue reading More Interesting Hands in Bonus Poker
I discuss gambling subjects with many people. There is a small group whom I consider “equals or better” and who know as much or more than I do about various gambling games. (My radio co-host Richard Munchkin is in the “or better” part of this group. Although he knows relatively little about video poker, there are numerous table games and “gambling situations” where he is extremely knowledgeable. The gambling public is very fortunate that he shares some of what he knows weekly on our program.) There is a much larger group of people who don’t know as much as I — they are in various states of ignorance.
Continue reading You Have to Pay Your Dues
