Tag: video poker

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Knowing More Than One Video Poker Game

Bob Dancer

Presumably, the vast majority of my readers have a favorite video poker game. Or at least a “go to” video poker game that they play the most. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t spend their time reading a blog behind a paywall which primarily addresses video poker.

The reasons for knowing more than one game are multi-fold. In no particular order:

  1. Casinos change their inventory of games periodically. Always have. Always will. If your favorite game goes away, you’ll be in a lot better position to keep playing video poker if you have a back-up game.
  1. The conditions on the game you usually play might be less than ideal. There might be smokers, or sticky buttons, or chatterboxes, or something else that you’d rather avoid. If you only know one game, it’s sometimes a matter of putting up with bad conditions or going home.
  1. There are sometimes more players desiring a particular game than there are machines. This is especially true if you’re playing the loosest game in the house and there’s a special event going on bringing in more players than usual.
  1. Promotions affect games differently. If it’s some sort kind of a 4-of-a-kind promotion, deuces wild variants do not perform as well as games without wild cards.
  1. Different casinos have different game mixes. While to some degree “all casinos are the same,” they really aren’t. Each has its own restaurants, for example, and you probably prefer some more than others — plus however good any particular restaurant is, variety is nice. Some casinos include movie theaters, bowling, childcare, shuttles to get you there, or perhaps are nearer to shopping. If you have one or more travel companions when you go to casinos, some of these things might be important to whomever you’re traveling with.
  1. The more games you know and practice, the more you stay mentally sharp at playing the game. I’m a believer that to keep your brain sharp, you have to use it. Regularly. I’m not an expert in brain health, but I’ve heard that adage repeated enough that it’s gospel to me. While at age 77 my brain is not as sharp as it was when I was younger, I attribute the sharpness that remains to the regular use to which I put it.
  1. Video poker is a very repetitious game. You’re dealt two pair. You hold two pair. For many people, playing the same repetitious game over and over again gets boring. 
  1. Your financial conditions might change, and not all pay schedules are available in all denominations.
  1. There might be better games on Triple Play or some other format you prefer more than single line games.
  1. You might prefer slant top machines to uprights. Or maybe adjustable chairs. Or distance from the sound effects of a particularly obnoxious slot machine.
  2. Playing multiple games allows you to meet more people. While a lot of us, including me, prefer to play without chatting, a valuable source of information about games and/or promotions at the current casino and others will be your fellow players. Just as in “real life,” the more networking you do the more you’ll succeed.
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Staying in the Groove

Bob Dancer

I’ve been playing NSU Deuces Wild for more than 20 years. It’s a simple game to play at the 99% accuracy level. It’s easier than most other video poker games to play at the 99.9% accuracy level. But it’s virtually impossible to play 100% accurately. The appendices to the Dancer/Daily Winners Guide to NSU Deuces Wild contain hundreds of exceptions to the basic strategy. Even the basic strategy has some real toughies in it. 

Consider the following nine pairs of hands. In none of the pairs are the two hands played identically. Do you know which is which? As difficult as this test is, it is much simpler when you have the clue that the two hands are played differently, than it is when you face any of these while playing. 

As is my custom, a W stands for a deuce. In the answers, bold italics means the cards are suited with each other. 

Test: 

  1. W 4♠ 5♠ K♠ T♥ versus W 4♠ 5♠ K♠ J♥
  1. W 4♥ 5♥ Q♥ K♣ versus W 4♥ 5♥ Q♥ J♣
  1. W 6♦ 7♣ 8♥ K♥ versus W 6♦ 7♣ 8♥ K♠
  1. W 4♣ 5♣ 3♥ J♦ versus W 4♣ 5♣ 3♥ Q♦
  1.  K♦ T♦ 6♦ A♠ 9♥ versus K♦ T♦ 6♦ A♠ 9♠ 
  1. K♠ T♠ 5♠ A♦ 3♦ versus K♠ T♠ 5♠ Q♦ 3♦
  1. 8♥ 9♥ Q♠ A♣ 4♣ versus 8♥ 9♥ Q♠ A♣ 3♣
  1. A♣ T♣ 9♥ 7♠ 5♦ versus A♣ T♣ 9♥ 7♠ 5♠
  1. W A♦ K♦ T♠ 8♠ versus W A♦ K♦ J♠ 9♠

Answers:

  1. W45 and W
  2. W and W45
  3. W and W678
  4. W45 and W
  5. KT and draw 5
  6. KT and draw 5
  7. 89 and draw 5
  8. AT and draw 5
  9. WT8 and WAK

Don’t fret too much if you didn’t score well. The test was my way of supporting my statement that it was virtually impossible to play this game perfectly. Each of these nine examples have a lot of similar hands to learn. Learning these particular 18 hands still leaves you with several hundred different tough hands to struggle with.

As it happens, until some casinos change their inventory, I’ll be playing NSU Deuces Wild more, dollar-wise, than all the other video poker games I play. So even though each of these distinctions are worth fractions of a penny if you play for quarters, I’m playing enough hands for large enough stakes that it makes sense, to me anyway, if I spend time mastering them.

I could have an exact list of hands in a PDF that I could carry with me on my smart phone. In addition to it being illegal in Nevada and some other states to use cell phones to help you make gambling decisions in a casino, I find this tedious. I’m playing games where I have the advantage, everything considered, and taking 15 seconds to make sure I have the correct play by a tenth of a penny makes no financial sense.

It may surprise you, but I would not have aced the test I presented today. In question 5, I would have drawn five new cards both times, in question 6 I would have held KT both times, and in question 7, I would have drawn five new cards both times. The other six hands I would have aced.

So, what gives? Why would I play these hands incorrectly?

I have worked out a strategy that is “good enough.” I have the Level 4 strategy completely memorized, and for the appendix material, I use the shortcuts provided there. These shortcuts are relatively easy to memorize and get me close enough. I don’t have the tools to accurately measure how accurate my “simplified” strategy is, but I suspect it’s well over 99.99% of what is possible. And I can play it relatively fast.

It’s a far bigger risk to make mistakes by oversight. I know the right play, but maybe I don’t see it, or maybe I get momentarily confused. This happens to me more as a senior citizen than it did a few decades ago.

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Sometimes You Have to Guesstimate

Bob Dancer

The big key to winning at video poker and other gambling games is to only play when you have an advantage. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to know whether you have the advantage or not — or even how to measure that advantage.

Casino drawings provide one example. The casino agrees to give away such and such prizes. If you knew how many tickets were going to be in the drum, how many tickets you were going to end up having, and the value of the prizes, you could figure out what your EV was in the drawing. Factoring in how much coin-in it cost you to earn that many tickets and you can figure out your percentage return. Even if you could calculate it at 0.2%, it comes with a high variance. Usually, you don’t get drawn. Occasionally you do.

But you don’t usually know how many tickets are going to be in the drum, nor the exact number of tickets you’re going to end up with. And sometimes you don’t even know how much the prize is worth. Cash or free play is pretty straightforward. But what about if the prize is a car? Sometimes there’s a cash option, at 75% or 80% of retail, but not always. It might be a specific vehicle, or it may be a voucher for $25,000 (or any other amount) at such and such dealership.

What if it’s a Chevrolet dealership and you hate Chevies? Or if it’s a Toyota dealership and you practice a “Buying American” philosophy? Hard to put a number on these things.

What about comps? Some casinos offer you a certain amount of comp dollars, but these are hard to value as well. There are usually a limited number of outlets at which you can spend your comp dollars. If you get $100 to spend at the gift shop, if there is nothing there you want or what is there is greatly overpriced compared to what you can buy it for elsewhere, that comp is hardly worth $100.

You may earn enough comps to eat at one of the gourmet rooms, but what if this isn’t the kind of food you enjoy or is on your diet? Even if it is food you enjoy, if you have $200 to spend (eat it or lose it), you’ll probably use most of it up even if your typical dinner costs far less than that. You might decide a $40 tip is warranted on this meal while your typical dinner with tip might be $50. Is this comp worth $200 or $10?

The South Point casino regularly runs promotions where you play a certain amount and earn one or more spins where each spin is worth between $5 and $100. (The exact rules vary each time, but are often similar to this.) If you don’t know how much average spin is, how are you going to put a value on the promotion?

For me, since I play approximately a breakeven game at the South Point (99.7%+ games and a 0.3% slot club) before the promotion and mailers, any additional free play is welcome, but not needed to justify playing. I’ll come in on the days you can get the spins (if I’m in town) and collect the extra money, but the promotions aren’t sufficient for me to play extra. Whereas unlimited double points just might be.

I do not put a value on room comps, although I definitely use them when out of town. If I weren’t there, I wouldn’t need a room, and I can’t “cash in” the value of the room. (Or, rather, I don’t. Years ago, I sometimes sold room nights, but not anymore.) A suite is appreciated over a regular room, but if the game isn’t more than 100% without the suite, I stay away.

In Vegas and many other cities, there are professional sports teams and some casinos offer you tickets to the events — often premium seats with amenities. Were I someone who would buy tickets to these events, this is a comp worth money and I would conceivably play a slightly-under 100% game to score the tickets. Since I basically have a “I’ll take the tickets if they are offered, but I wouldn’t go out and buy them” attitude, I don’t factor this into whether a game is playable.

Sometimes there is a jewelry or some other giveaway that attracts Bonnie’s eye. I’ll play extra for that. I don’t put an exact value on “keeping Bonnie happy,” but it is definitely something worth investing in. So I do.

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End of an Era

Bob Dancer

Bonnie and I regularly fly to Reno to play at Eldorado — which, along with Silver Legacy and Circus Circus, are called the ROW. While the casinos physically remain separate, they are connected on the second level by walkways passing over the streets that run between the casinos. All three ROW casinos run the same promotions, use the same slot tickets, are considered “one place,” and are part of the Caesars Rewards system.

The game we’ve been playing at Eldorado has been $10 Triple Bonus Poker Plus (TBPP). Although this game has cleaned my clock in 2024, I hit three royals in 45 days in 2023, and overall, my score has been reasonably close to expectations. The game has a variance very similar to Double Double Bonus, and as players of that game know, that game leads to heaven or hell results. Within the past year, they also removed $1 and $5 Super Aces Bonus (SAB) poker, which has a slightly higher return and a much higher variance than TBPP.

Without going into great detail about their promotions, suffice it to say that Bonnie and I regularly got on an airplane from Las Vegas to go play there.

Although the next loosest game is NSU Deuces Wild, I don’t believe the casino removed SAB and TBPP in order to have a tighter floor. They removed the games because those particular games were only found on decades-old IGT machines. The casino decided, correctly, I believe, that they needed to upgrade their floor with newer machines. For whatever reason, IGT has decided not to have those particular pay schedules on their newer machines.

Under the video poker management at IGT, many high paying video poker games have been removed from their inventory. And when new games are created, IGT has, at times, refused to release them with pay schedules looser than 99%. At more than one Global Gaming Expo trade show, the manager of IGT video poker told me he believes that very few, if any, slot directors mind that the games are tighter now. I’ve responded to him, fruitlessly, that some casinos choose to offer loose games some of the time. IGT’s refusal to supply those games is a slap in the face to players. I’m sure he at least listened to me, but then decided not to do as I requested.

So the loosest high limit Eldorado machines are a bit tighter than they used to be. This doesn’t affect many people, but it does affect Bonnie and me. However, we’ll still go and play there. While not as good as it used to be, that casino still offers a good enough “game plus promotions” combination for us to get on an airplane to go play it. 

Comparing a game to what used to be and isn’t coming back is a fool’s game. You need to compare a game to games currently found elsewhere. And by that criterion, Reno here we come!

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Don’t Count It Twice!

Bob Dancer

At least two casinos in the Caesars system (in Cherokee, NC and Danville, VA — possibly others) offer next day bounce back for your slot and video poker play. I have not been to Danville, but I can describe the promotion in Cherokee.

Video poker players receive 0.75% next day bounce back while slot players receive double that. At least some “unprofitable” players receive a smaller percentage. To make it work for the casino, mailers and other offers have been reduced. Still, some of the mailer offers (spa credit, for example) are useless to some players, while “extra” free play is welcomed by all. If you want to go to the spa and no longer get as much spa credit, use the money derived from the next day free play and use it at the spa.

You earn your free play from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m., and it’s put on your card at noon. It’s good for 90 days. There are a few other “fine points” to the promotion, so if you go to one of these casinos, make sure you read the rules.

There’s always the question of when do you count this extra free play? Do you count it when you earn it or when you redeem it? While either methodology is defensible, personally, I count it when I redeem. 

What I mean is I do most of my play there on $5 deuces wild. At the outset of my trip, I take a marker and get a supply of $2,500 TITO tickets. My score generally goes up and down, mostly down, until I hit four deuces ($5,000) or a royal ($20,000) when I get paid in tickets. 

As I play, I put in these tickets and keep track of how many. Sometime after noon, I download the free play I’ve earned, but I don’t record that as money inserted. At the end of the day, I record my net win or loss. If I had $500 in free play (meaning I played about $67,000 coin-in the previous day), that money will end up as increasing my win or reducing my loss for the day. And, legally, this free play is as taxable as the results from playing the game.

The machines I play on are $1, $2, and $5 denominations, where the return on the game is highest on the $5 games. While I was playing a $5 game one day, I was next to a player playing $1 7-5 Bonus Poker. I heard him recount his score to his wife.

He said, “I started with $1,000 of my own money, and had $50 in free play from yesterday’s play which I downloaded. I earned 1,000 Tier Credits ($10,000 coin-in), so I’ll get another $75 tomorrow. Since I cashed out for $950, I really made $25 today. Let’s celebrate at the bar!”

This player was counting his free play twice in his mind. He counted yesterday’s $50 in free play and today’s $75 in the same session. Tomorrow, he’ll count today’s $75 again. It’s a mind game. The thing is, he only gets the $75 once.

Relatively few of you will play at these particular casinos, but this same principle happens at other casinos as well. In August, South Point is offering free spins Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, where you will earn free play up to $100, for playing $500 in slots or $1,500 in video poker. 

The day I’m writing this, playing on both Bonnie’s and my card, I earned a total of $140 in free play that’s redeemable until the end of the month. I could redeem it immediately, but there’s no need. I’ll be back in two days to play the promotion again and use the $140 as “ammunition” for my play next time. My results of that will then be recorded.

As of today, I don’t know the exact ending date for redeeming this promo. I’ll earn some free play on August 30, and am not planning on playing again until Tuesday, September 3, which is usually when my regular Tuesday-Thursday free play will be available (Sometimes there’s a different pickup schedule but I won’t know that until I receive the September mailer.) I’ll check the rules before then to see if the free play from the August spins will still be on my card when I pick up my first September free play. If the free play will still be there then, I’ll wait. If not, I’ll redeem it on August 30.

Another local casino in Vegas (Four Queens/Binion’s, which use the same card) gives you $160 for earning 1,200 points during the month. They regularly have variations of this promotion where you earn some amount of free play, comps, and/or gifts of some sort. I count the money when I redeem it.

Taxes aside, even if you’re playing recreationally, it’s good to know how you are doing. Fooling yourself into thinking you’re winning more (or losing less) by counting this kind of promotion twice gives you an erroneous picture of the profit or cost of your gambling.

At the same time, this is a clever way for a casino to run a promotion. Even when the rules of the promotion are perfectly clear, this makes it easy for players to think they’re getting more than they actually are.

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Are Video Poker Machines Actually Random?

This post is syndicated by the Las Vegas Advisor for the 888 casino group. Anthony Curtis comments on the 888 article introduced and linked to on this page.

AC says:

Are video poker hands dealt randomly? A debate over this comes up from time to time, due to the true meaning of “random.” The cards video poker players receive are determined by a “random number generator” (RNG), but purists point out that true randomness cannot be created by a computer algorithm. The argument can go on, but the reality is that the video poker machines you play in Nevada, and presumably in any legal and licensed casino in the U.S. (and mostly beyond), are random enough, given the game’s procedural objective. This article correctly makes that point, while also imparting bonus information many players want to know (even though it doesn’t affect their outcomes) about how the cards are dealt on a video poker machine.

This article was written by Jerry Stich in association with 888Casino.

Are Video Poker Machines Actually Random?

I doubt many video poker players even consider this question. They head to the casino (or play online) hoping their luck will bring them riches – or at least buy them some decent time playing their favorite video poker game.

Serious video poker players – those who learn and practice perfect video poker playing strategy for the specific game and pay table they will play are betting on the game being random. Each line of playing strategy assumes that video poker games are random. If the game is not random, the strategy is flawed and perhaps worthless.

So, what is the truth? Are video poker machines actually random? Will playing strategy based on a random game have the desired results? This article addresses these topics.

Continue reading …

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Planning an Almost Free Trip to Vegas

Bobby Vegas: Friends Don’t Let Friends Play Triple-Zero Roulette

Do you use a points earning credit card? My flights are free.

I’m currently staying at the Downtown Grand. My casino rate (50% off) runs $50-$100 per day total, including reduced resort fee, parking, and Gallery Tower upgrade.

Downtown Grand invited me to a $10K slot tournament with currently 120 players (200 are expected) paying to 30 places, so one in four wins so far (current EV $83+). The cost was $20 for the first entry, with additional entries earned for 60 points or $120 coin-in at video poker. I plan on having three. Most VP was downgraded, but I hear they still have a progressive at Furnace bar. We’ll see.

Others may be happy with Uber, etc., if staying on Fremont or the Strip. Myself, I run around a lot, visiting 15 to 18 casinos with fullpay video poker: M, South Point, Palace Station, Gold Coast, downtown, and the Rainbow in Henderson. I might stop at Boulder Station for the $1.99 shrimp cocktail.

It was a slog, spending an hour on multiple travel sites (even U-Haul!), finally getting a reservation direct from Dollar for under $50 a day. From where it started, I ended up saving about $150, so that was worth an hour for sure.

I’m signed up for Rakuten cashback, which pays 3% on this rez and of course Dollar and airline points, plus the points earned on my credit card for a triple stack! It all ends up worth about $50.

I’ll be returning to the Pinky Ring, Bruno Mars’ lounge at Bellagio, for two nights. I expect to see Bruno and my friends in the band. They’re also playing several nights at Dolby. I’m also expecting a surprise “lady” guest to be with Bruno, as he dropped a song with her last week and she’s been with Bruno at the Pinky Ring. I give it 55% or better.

Lots of Bruno Mars superfans are in town for his Dolby shows, so it’s VERY VERY EXPENSIVE and very booked to hang at the Pinky Ring — starting at $2,000 for a table. Owww. But I can walk in on my host open invite. And I booked an early-evening table for $50! I won’t have a table after 8 p.m., so I’ll do SRO hanging at the bar (you can too), which is fine, as I dance all night. I just need a place to set my drink down and I almost always find a place to hang with the band or some guest or hosts let me have a seat.

It’s a tough job being the unofficial house dancer. Someone’s got to break open the dance floor.

I’ll also be going to the opening of Speigelworld’s brand new Discoshow. Yes, I love disco (along with funk, R & B, pop, Latin, and rock n roll) and that will be a hoot. The Friday night show is $69 (Saturday $99). Dance dance dance.

My week in Vegas: out of pocket for air, hotel, and rental car before any winnings is … $980.

Living my best life. Keep on dancing.

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More About Airport Slots

Bob Dancer

A few weeks ago, I wrote about slot players (including me, occasionally) “hustling” at Harry Reid International Airport and the organization that runs those slots doing what it could to remove these hustlers. I received a few comments that didn’t get posted, and I want to address those now.

One comment was from someone whose contacts among knowledgeable people in the gambling world are as good as anyone’s. I’m not naming him. Had he wanted to be identified, he could have figured out how to post the comment so that everybody could see he sent it. He wrote:

I am told that it is the employees who are playing these slots so that they are trying to intimidate players off them to get them for themselves. I’ve also heard a big team is paying them off, but I think it is more the former.

My personal contact was with the managers of the airport slots. One of them was a former shift slot manager at the South Point, and since Michael Gaughan owns both the South Point and MJG Airport Slots, this strikes me as a reasonable, believable promotion for him. This man had worked for Gaughan for a couple of decades.

I asked him if identifying “advantage” players and restricting them was company policy or just some rogue employees doing their own thing for their own purposes. He was very clear that it was company policy. I’ve known him for years and watched him closely as he answered. I believe he was telling me the truth. If my expert friend is correct, I got conned. You can draw your own conclusions.

Another player wrote words to the effect of:

If the advantage players keep going after certain brands of slot machines, the obvious solution is to remove those machines so there’s nothing to attract these players.

Perhaps obvious to you, but to me this is clearly the wrong approach. Many of the machines the pros like are also very popular with the recreational players. If the airport removed these slots, whatever machines they replaced them with would not be as popular — and hence, not as profitable.

One thing not obvious to some of my readers is the difference in the way a casino profits between video poker and slots. 

In video poker, if only expert players play the machines, the house makes a lot less money — or they may even lose, depending on the pay schedule, slot club, and promotions. Whether a casino profits or not can depend on removing expert players. 

In slots, however, the house makes the same percentage whether the game is played by pros or novices. The competition is not between players and the house, but just among the players themselves.

So, if they’re making the same percentage, why do some casinos run off advantage players? Let’s say a casino’s slots average a 94% return. If pros pick off the games when they are positive, regular players are playing games averaging maybe 89%. Occasional players can’t tell the difference, but frequent players get a sense that their money doesn’t last as long at this particular casino. When the game returns that little to the players, many quit. 

If the casino removes the knowledgeable players, the average player gets a 92% return or higher. These players enjoy themselves more and play more. The casino holds more money because there are more coins played. Casinos depend on repeat customers — especially casinos with a lot of competition. 

The airport is different in several ways. While at the airport, there is essentially no competition from casinos. If someone wants to play slots, he/she has to play whatever is offered by the airport. You can bet that these slots are tighter than they are at most of the casinos in Vegas.

A related factor is that the customer base of players at the airport is a lot more diverse than the players inside the casinos. Many people inside the airport are not casino patrons. Their flight between, say, Fresno and Phoenix, makes a layover in Las Vegas. These customers are not in town to gamble — but since they have an hour to kill between flight legs, why not? Such players might not be able to differentiate between tight and loose slots. You have to be a somewhat frequent player to know this.

This means the organizers of the airport slots have less incentive to kick out pros than regular casinos do. So why do they do it?

My guess is that it’s in the DNA of the managers that having an environment that supported professional gamblers was a bad thing for them — simply because it was a bad thing back when they worked for regular casinos. So they continue to do it.

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Documenting Video Poker Play

This post is syndicated by the Las Vegas Advisor for the 888 casino group. Anthony Curtis comments on the 888 article introduced and linked to on this page.

AC says:

The basic advice here is to keep records of your gambling results. This article is about video poker specifically, but the advice applies to all gambling activity. I’ve always advocated record-keeping for two reasons. The first is obvious — if you’re audited for taxes, you need to have a gambling log of some type or your claims can be rejected. The second is even more important. You need to have a true picture of results and this applies to both winning and losing players. If you’re playing for profit, tracking results can confirm that you’re playing with the expected edge or alert you that you’re not making enough to justify the time and effort spent. If you play for entertainment, record-keeping will tell you how much gambling is costing you. It’s not necessary to be anywhere near as detailed as the author suggests; keeping a daily log of wins and losses will usually be sufficient for both purposes I’ve mentioned. However, more information is better, especially when dealing with the IRS. The definitive source of information on tax matters is our book Tax Help for Gamblers, by Jean Scott, Marissa Chien, and Russell Fox. You can also get win/loss statements from the casino players clubs, which doesn’t require any record-keeping on your part and will provide reliable data.

This article was written by Jerry Stich in association with 888Casino.

Documenting Video Poker Play

Most video poker players simply sit down at a machine and play. They do not keep track of which machine is played, amount deposited, amount cashed out, nor anything else.

This may be okay for casual players – those who only play a few hundred to a few thousand hands per year – but are more serious players missing something by not keeping records of their video poker play?

This article offers suggestions on what details to keep and why it is a good idea for serious players to document them.

Continue reading …

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Gambling at the Airport

Bob Dancer

About 2½ years ago, McCarran International Airport underwent a name change to Harry Reid International Airport. Under whichever name, it’s a major portal to and from Las Vegas, with 57.6 million passengers passing through it in 2023 — probably more this year. In terms of passenger arrivals and departures, it’s the19th busiest airport in the world (8th busiest in the U.S.).

Because it’s Las Vegas, there are legal slot and video poker games to be played at the airport. The slot machine concession at the airport is owned by Michael Gaughan, who also owns the South Point casino in Las Vegas.

The South Point, of course, is one of the best places to gamble in Las Vegas. At the airport, maybe not so much. Michael Shackleford, the Wizard of Odds, estimated that the airport slots are as much as 8% tighter than slots in Vegas casinos. Why this is so is because the airport has a captive audience. If your plane is delayed by an hour or two, very few of us would hop into an Uber to go to the South Point or elsewhere to receive a better gamble. If you have the urge to gamble (and that’s not so rare among passengers in the Las Vegas airport), you gamble in the airport as you’re killing time. 

As a video poker player, I’ve always avoided gambling at the airport — just as I usually avoid gambling at video poker on cruise ships. When casinos have captive audiences, the odds are not in the players’ favor. And since I live in Las Vegas, I have good games available to me 24/7 and do not need to play bad games to scratch any gambling itch I might have.

That all changed when I started playing slot machines a few years ago. Certain slot machines store up value. Although there are many formats for beatable slots, a common one has three or four meters, which rise with coin-in and eventually, randomly, give you however many spins are on the meter. And the meter is then reset to a lower number. Players learn that on such and such a game, if the mini meter is 20, or the minor meter is 30, or the major meter is 40, or the mega meter is 140, it’s a winning bet to sit down and play. You don’t always win, of course, but you’re playing with an advantage. If you find these games at the airport, you probably want to bump your strike numbers up to 22, 33, 44, and 155. The lower return to players (RTP) means that you do not get as much per spin in the bonus round as you do in casinos with a higher RTP.

In regular casinos, when the meters get high enough, players continue playing until the meters go off. But at the airport, if they call your flight and you HAVE to get home today, most players will leave the machines and get on the plane — no matter how high the return percentage currently.

As you might expect, this has given rise to airport slot hustlers. Some players will buy refundable tickets in order to get past airport security, and then walk (and take free shuttles where available), from one terminal to the next. I’m guessing it’s three or four miles of walking to check every machine in all of the terminals. If you have a refundable ticket, once you’ve checked all the machines (and played the ones you believed were positive), you leave the airport without even getting on a plane. And then you do it the th e next day. And the next.

As a general rule, casinos do not like the idea of certain players always beating them. Casinos in Nevada are allowed to 86 such players — for virtually any reason at all that doesn’t involve discriminating on the basis of sex, skin tone, national origin, or a few other categories.  Harry Reid International Airport, however, is United States Federal property. MJG Airport Slots does not have the right to 86 players from the airport. 

I’m not sure of exactly what legal rights MJG Airport Slots has to prevent unwanted players from playing their machines, but it definitely takes actions. They know the slots that the pros commonly examine and if you show up several times a week checking those machines, in all the terminals, you will be noticed. The airport has security cameras all over the place. Perhaps MJG Airport Slots has access to that camera feed — or has its own cameras which it uses.

If they believe you are an advantage slot player, you will be approached and told not to play the airport machines anymore. Your picture will be taken. You will be told that if they catch you again playing these slots, the police will be called.

If we still had the Gambling with an Edge podcast, I’d ask Bob Nersessian to tell us what rights players have and what rights MJG Airport Slots have. 

I fly in and out of this airport a couple times a month. Sometimes I’ll allow time for a slot run before or after the flights. Since MJG Airport Slots senior personnel used to work for Michael Gaughan and have paid me hundreds of jackpots over the years, I assume I’m recognized on sight and considered an advantage player. Making extra trips to the airport to check these slots wouldn’t be worth it to me. I’d be picked off for sure. For me, if I were asked not to play there and the police would be called if I did, that would be sufficient grounds for me to cease. 

The Reno Airport, which is much smaller than Harry Reid, also has slot and video poker machines. I assume there are slot advantage players there as well. I don’t know how they are dealt with in that airport.