In 1999, I started communicating with “Richard,” the marketing director of the Laughlin Flamingo hotel. (Today the same property is called the Aquarius, and it may change names again because the parent company is in the process of changing owners.) Richard knew my name because I wrote columns for Strictly Slots and Casino Player, both of which were distributed for free in that casino.
He wanted to use my “fame,” such as it was, to draw in customers, but he didn’t really want me to teach his players how to beat him. Was there any middle ground?
I suggested he hold a video poker tournament, giving away whatever amount he wanted, and I could teach a class on “How to Succeed in a Video Poker Tournament.” His players would get real value because tournament play definitely has some skill elements to it (in addition to a considerable amount of luck) and most of the lessons for tournament play don’t translate into regular casino play. We reached a deal for me to host two events over the next year.
The only tournament software they had was for Jacks or Better. An unusual choice for a video poker tournament, but I could adjust my class accordingly.
One of the major points in tournament strategy is that on the last hand, if you aren’t “in the money,” you should go for broke. If a tournament had 250 entrants and paid out 50 places, then being in 51st place was tied with 250th place. Zero is zero. This is very different from casino play, where 51st place might represent a profit of $100 and 250th place might be a loss of $500. These aren’t the same at all.
Players are used to the concept that a higher score is better than a lower score, but this is only true in tournaments if you’re above the “bubble.” If you’re below the bubble, all scores are equal.
Since it was a Jacks or Better tournament, the example hand I used was being dealt AAAAT on the last hand where you weren’t already in the money. Assuming 125 coins (the payout for four aces in this game) wouldn’t be enough to move you into pay dirt, you should throw away three of the aces and just hold the suited AT. Your only chance was to get a royal flush. You didn’t have a big chance — actually 1-in-16,215, but a small chance was better than no chance at all.
If this were the more standard Double Double Bonus tournament, I would have picked a different hand. Four aces pay at least 800 credits, maybe 2,000, and just that score would usually be enough to move you into the money.
The following year I received a call from “Cheryl” who was Richard’s assistant. She said Richard was busy, but she was asked to call and see if they could get me to Laughlin again for two more events. But there would have to be a few changes in the contract.
First, they wanted to lower my fee by $100 each time. Since I had already prepared my notes, it would be easier on me and that should be reflected in the price. I told Cheryl that I wasn’t crazy about this change. At that same time, there was a casino in Las Vegas that was giving away the store (I didn’t tell her this was the MGM Grand). To induce me to come down to Laughlin for two days at a time would take more money, not less. But what was the other change you were talking about? Maybe that would offset the money.
She told me there were complaints from some of the seniors that I was telling them to throw away four aces! They didn’t get such a good hand very often and they just KNEW this couldn’t be right. Since the complaints went through her, it would be making her life easier if I never told them to throw away four aces.
I asked her if she understood the context behind sometimes throwing away the aces. She didn’t. She didn’t care. She never gambled anyway so she paid no attention to somebody else’s silly ideas about gambling. She really only cared about getting fewer complaints from the players.
I asked her if Richard knew about the changes she was requesting. She said no, but she was sure he would be proud of her for reducing the costs and not making the players angry.
I told her “No thanks,” but if they wished to increase my fee and allow me to teach the class as I saw fit, she knew how to get in touch with me. She never did.
I never taught there again, but as I recall things worked out pretty well for me at the MGM Grand.
Author’s Note: The next semester of classes at the South Point will begin Tuesday January 9. The original schedule of classes on bobdancer.com accidentally said Sunday January 7. The schedule has been repaired, but I want to make sure everybody has gotten the word.
Should anyone be worried about the classes upsetting them, I promise that this semester I will never tell you to throw away four aces!
Obviously these people didn’t understand the difference between tournament strategy and regular playing strategy. I’m sure if you told these same seniors to split 10’s vs an ace in a blackjack tournament when way behind on the last hand, they’d give you the same response.
i agree with yout mate, sometimes people like that ruining our time, right…
I played a tournament there in the 90’s and they were clueless. They sectioned off some machines for the tournament, some were quarter denomination when not in tournament mode and some were dollars, and the pay tables were not identical. The full house paid more on the dollar machines, and since I drew a quarter machine I pointed it out to them before the session started.
They couldn’t change the pay tables to make the machines equivalent so they had to get some employees to stand behind the players on the quarter machines and keep track of how many full houses we got.
Since it was almost two decades ago can you tell us about the MGM Grand play?
My first book, “Million Dollar Video Poker,” was all about that play. I write about it periodically, but not too often because many readers are familiar with it by now.
If I remember correctly from reading “Million Dollar Video Poker”, the short story is Bob hit a $100,000 royal on a $25 Jacks machine and his wife hit a $400,000 royal on a $100 Jacks machine. MGM was apparently not aware that these were the top jackpots on those machines and they freaked out. I think Bob admitted that he didn’t have the bankroll for either play, he just got lucky while taking a “potshot”. His regular money partners refused to buy any of his action on the grounds that the play was too risky.
I played in that tournament at Flamingo-Laughlin. Many of the people on the bus had never played VP so they went to your seminar to learn. Some of them decided to use your strategy for the whole tournament. The leader of the qualifying round actually had two royal flushes in qualifying. However, he did not do well in the final round. I had enough points to qualify for the finals without a royal or go-for-broke strategy. Since the final round was after the bus departure time, I stayed an extra night and took a flight from Bullhead to Long Beach the next morning. This was my first VP tournament but my winnings did not cover the cost of the plane ticket.
Though I never experienced playing in a video poker tournament before, I really enjoyed this story (as well as the many others in the past in the weekly column). The trend is clear to me that Mr. Dancer certainly makes sure that he values his time/opportunities very effectively, and knows when something is not worth it to say NO. I personally had to take a mental break away from the game for personal reasons. I will need to catch up with the past columns that will help me study the game.
I played in a couple of VP tournaments several years ago. They sectioned out a bunch of machines and let the costumers go at them. Most of the contestants were slot players with little or no knowledge of correct play. They just hammered at the deal button as fast as they could and let the chips fall where they may. Not very challenging or satisfying. Whose ever got lucky won. They don’t think any of them really knew what they were doing. Mindless playing, just like they were playing a slot machine.