Using Math to Choose a VP Play – Part 3
In this series I have been giving examples showing how to figure the basic math calculations and then how to add some easy-to-figure extras, like multiple-point bonuses, to increase the value of a play. There are other valuable extras but many of them are more complicated to figure out. (Notice I round down my figures, a “safer” more conservative action for the great majority of players.)
Let’s talk about bounce-back (BB) benefits. This is an extremely complicated benefit that I covered in detail back in my September 13 blog titled “Not So Simple.” I suggest you go back and read that if you want to review the many problems you will encounter in trying to maximize this benefit.
However, IF you know or at least can fairly accurately estimate, perhaps based on past experience with a particular casino, how much BB you will get for playing a certain amount, then here is how you can figure how much this benefit will add to your total play. Take the BB amount and divide it by the coin-in (CI) amount you have to play in order to get that. And if your grade school arithmetic is rusty, here is my simple rule for people who are scared of math: divide the little number by the big number!
Example: you find a miracle situation where you have to play only $10,000 a week in order to get $50 BB each week. Okay, divide the $50 bounce-back amount (the little number) by the $10,000 coin-in amount (the big number). It’s okay to use your calculator! You will get .005. You do have to remember how to change a decimal into a % – I’ll help you out here: Move the decimal point two places to the right – and you now have .5% which you can add to your other figures, like this:
99.5% – JoB 9/6 – the game you want to play
.1% – the basic players club point value where you want to play
.5% – the value of the BB
100.1% – the positive total of the whole play
To give a more realistic example, you are more likely to get $25 a week for this same coin-in and the best game might be 8/5 Bonus:
99.1% – 8/5 Bonus
.1% – Club points
.2% – BB
99.4% – Total value of play
This formula can be used for any benefit IF you know exactly the value of the benefit and how much play it takes to get it. Let’s take comps, for example. You can substitute comp value for the BB amount in the above examples. However, how comps are valued depends on personal factors. A $50 food coupon for a steak house may be worth only $25 to those who prefer to eat at less expensive restaurants.
In fact most other benefits are not one-size-fits-all when you are trying to figure out the mathematical value. They depend so much on personal factors like bankroll considerations, individual goals, and time scheduling. And often you don’t have enough exact details of a possible benefit, like the number of people you are up against in a tournament or how many entries are in a drawing. Then it becomes guesstimation instead of exact math.
This is the end of this series, since my goal was to cover only the basics. However, I have written at length about how to maximize your use of extra benefits in my books, especially in More Frugal Gambling and Frugal Video Poker. Although both of these books, and also Frugal 1, were written some years ago and obviously contain some outdated material, they still have enough valuable information that if someone hasn’t read them, they might be a worthwhile purchase, especially since they can be ordered at shopLVA at a very frugal discounted price.