Category: Video Poker

Let’s assume that I think all video poker machines in Nevada are fair — and when I say fair I mean that each unseen card has an equal probability of showing up next. Now let’s assume that I play 200,000 hands of single line Jacks or Better and do not hit a royal. That’s about five cycles. The chances that I will go the next five cycles without a royal on a fair machine are about 1-in-150.

You then ask me if I still think the machines are fair. My answer is going to be, “Yes, the machines are most likely fair.” My ‘prior belief’ dominates my belief system. Continue reading How Do You Convince Somebody?

More often than once a year, I get emails from people I’ve never met who want me to teach them to play video poker and then bankroll them. They assure me that they’ve always been good students, they’re positive they could do well at this, and they will give me a very fair share of the money they make during this process. Continue reading Maybe Your System Doesn’t Even Work

On Saturday November 3, I was at the Palms for a special drawing. This was not the typical 7 p.m. weekly drawing open to everyone. This was a special invited guest drawing where fewer than 200 people (based on previous play) had been invited to receive a free cruise — and this group would have a special drawing at 9:30 p.m. where $20,000 in cash, free play, or cruise credit was to be given away. Continue reading Why Didn’t Somebody Tell Me?

On October 27 the Palms gave away $50,000 to one player. There were 40 possible tickets in the drum — if everybody eligible showed up. Some players had more than one ticket. When players earned the tickets they received somewhere between $100 and $3,000 but for the final drawing there was no second place. It was “winner take all.” Continue reading Sharing a Big Jackpot

One of my favorite websites is www.richardmunchkin.com. Munch is a friend and a frequent guest on the radio show — and also someone who regularly writes or says something that gets me to thinking. His October 7 blog called “What makes a great AP?” was one of those somethings. Continue reading The Ability to Pull the Trigger and Keeping One’s Promise to Oneself