I was playing 25¢ Ten Play 9/6 Jacks or Better at the Palms. For some promotions, it’s the best game at that casino to play. They have a strange rule at the Palms that the number of drawing tickets you earn is based on the lowest denomination games on the machine you are playing — rather than the game itself. For example, if you play a 25¢ game on a stand-alone machine you earn half as many tickets per coin-in as you do on the same game which also has penny or nickel games on the same machine. If I play the $2 9/6 Jacks or Better game I only receive one-fifth as many tickets as 25¢ Ten Play.
A player I hadn’t seen for a couple of years, “Joe,” came up and said, “How the mighty have fallen!” The last time he had seen me I was playing $5 Five Play, which requires ten times as much coin-in as does 25¢ Ten Play. I didn’t ask him what he meant by his comment, but I assume he was referring to the change in stakes. Probably Joe believes when somebody cuts their coin-in by 90% then there must be a losing streak or bankroll or confidence problem.
Joe didn’t ask me why I was playing that machine. I don’t think he cared. He just wanted to tell me what he’s been doing the past two years.
In my case, I’m not on a losing streak and my confidence and bankroll are just fine. If I want to play intelligently at the Palms, however, I need to play lower stakes than I would otherwise prefer. That’s just the way they set up the games there.
The higher stakes machines are significantly tighter than 9/6 Jacks and/or do not qualify for promotions. For the rest of this week they have gift cards (worth 0.33% up to $63,000 coin-in a day, Monday through Friday). That’s one promotion that I’d have to give up if I were playing in the high limit room. They also have drawings three days a week — which is another promotion I’d have to give up if I were playing in the high limit room. That’s a lot to give up just for playing the stakes I prefer.
There are players who insist on playing one game only. I don’t want to do that because different casinos have different opportunities. In the past six months I’ve played 9/6 Jacks or Better, 9/5 Jacks or Better, 8/5 Bonus, 8/5 Bonus Multi Strike, 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe, Double Bonus Deuces Wild, 9/6 Double Double Bonus, 9/6 Double Double Bonus Quick Quads, NSU Deuces Wild, and a few different progressives. Sometimes single line. Sometimes Hundred Play. Often somewhere in between.
Occasionally for stakes as low as $5 per play. Occasionally for stakes as high as $250 per play. It all depends on what game is available, for what stakes, and with what promotion.
It’s not my purpose in this article to either be bragging or complaining. I’m just stating what I do in order to succeed. If you can succeed with a different formula, that’s great. But this Is what works for me.