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
You Have to Pay Your Dues
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
Dealing with Distractions
A few weeks ago, Bonnie was having dinner with her sister who lives near us. I could have gone along if I had insisted, but Bonnie needs her “Girls Night Out” periodically. That Saturday evening I decided to go play video poker at the Palms — in part because I was in the mood for Chinese food and I like their Fortune restaurant. (In actuality this restaurant is closing within a week — and on August 1 a new Asian restaurant will open where Little Buddha’s used to be) I took the novel I was reading at the time and asked the hostess for a “table for one, in the Chinese section, under a light.” Continue reading Dealing with Distractions
What’s Your Biggest Win?
A writer for a Vegas-themed website emailed me that question. It’s a question I’ve been asked before, and it’s a fair question, I suppose, but one that is difficult to answer (answer for the opposite question below!). In my case, just divulging the amount of the win would provide sufficient identifying information to compromise the participants and consequently the play itself. Continue reading What’s Your Biggest Win?
How Often Do You Win a Hand?
In video poker, I am interested in whether or not I am winning for the year. I care very little about whether I am winning today, and I care not at all about individual hands — unless that hand is something like Kâ™ Qâ™ Jâ™ Tâ™ 5♣. That hand gets my blood pumping. Especially when I am playing multi-line games like Triple Play, Five Play, Ten Play, Fifty Play, or Hundred Play. Continue reading How Often Do You Win a Hand?
Learning How to Lose
I used to play a lot of backgammon for money. Backgammon is not a casino game, but it is a gambling game nonetheless. From 1973 through 1991 I spent many thousands of hours playing competitive backgammon. I was good, but not great. I was only able to keep my head above water by competing with players not as skilled as I was. To do this consistently required strong backgammon skills, but also many social skills. Fortunately for me, I was the favorite in most matches for at least the last five years that I played. Continue reading Learning How to Lose
What’s the Background of a Quad?
I recently received a letter from someone who asked if more quads started as a single pair or as three of a kind? An interesting question to examine with not as easy an answer as you might expect. And since the letter was referring to games without wild cards, I’ll limit this discussion to that as well. Continue reading What’s the Background of a Quad?
More on unsuited AK, AQ and AJ in Double Bonus
In last week’s column I gave the rules for when you should choose an unsuited AK, AQ or AJ in Double Bonus, and when you should choose the A by itself. Since everybody has access to that article on-line, perhaps you should review it before you continue with this one.
The question I get most about these rules is: “Why?” Looking for the presence of low cards and off-suit tens seems strange. So this article addresses the “how come?” Continue reading More on unsuited AK, AQ and AJ in Double Bonus
Unsuited AK, AQ, and AJ in 10/7 Double Bonus
In my early years of video poker (say 1994-2000) 10/7 Double Bonus was one of my main games. As I increased the stakes for which I played, I drifted away from this game. It’s still available in Las Vegas for low stakes, but casinos that offer it punish players who play it — by reducing or eliminating the slot club and other benefits.
Still, it’s a slightly positive game from the get go and it still has its adherents. Popular or not, the correct play on hands hasn’t changed since I played it regularly. Continue reading Unsuited AK, AQ, and AJ in 10/7 Double Bonus
Money Management Rules Are Largely Worthless
Video poker is the only game at which I gamble. Although I moved to Vegas more than twenty years ago to count cards at blackjack and used to play both bridge and backgammon for money, today it’s video poker exclusively for me. But I still read publications devoted to other games. Occasionally I’ll read something by someone writing about another game that will give me insight into how I can improve my video poker play. Poker magazines, especially the free ones given out in poker rooms, are part of my library. Continue reading Money Management Rules Are Largely Worthless