June 24th, 2022

I appreciated all the comments about my recent Harrah’s Tahoe trip and I especially was happy for those who kindly gave me some corrections. You readers are good in helping me keep the information in my blogs up to date and accurate.

Writing about the Spin Poker jackpot I hit, I said:  I was dealt 4 cards to a royal in the 1, 2, 3, 4 positions. My 5^th card could have come up in 3 different positions. One would have given me one royal – and I would have been happy with $4,000. However, it came up in a corner position, which produced 3 royals. $12,000 made me very happy!

I always have gotten confused figuring out which of those nine crisscrossing lines would produce the best outcome. Fortunately, a reader helped me out: “The middle position would have produced three royals as well. Only the 3rd column works as 2, 5, 2 (all three always have to add up to 9). When needing more than one card, the combined positions matter.”

 

This photo will puzzle some people. As you see here, on the screen it looks like I was paid for only one royal. However, on Spin Poker, the result for each winning line quickly cycles through and the winning amount is only briefly on the screen. You will see that the total credits of 12,000 do appear in the lower left-hand corner. Only after that cycling process does the total amount appear, like in the picture I posted in the last blog.

I was also happy to learn from readers that not all Laurel Lounges have disappeared. The ones in Atlantic City are still open, but only on weekends and with limited hours. Laurel Lounge is open at Harrah’s Joliet, but only Friday through Sunday. The one in Cherokee is open, but for drinks only, no food. Perhaps this is the situation in other non-Vegas properties. A phone call to check before your visit might be a good idea.

Now for your questions.

Q:  Please let me know how to get a good deal like yours at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

A: One of the basic cornerstones of casino deals is that casinos reward players based on their play. That’s the high concept of something I’ve explained, discussed, and written about for 35 years! It all starts with using your players card every time you play at a casino and then you begin a study of the casino comp system that you’ll continue the rest of your playing life if you want to be successful.

I got a good offer for this Tahoe visit, thanks to my play the last year or so at another Harrah’s casino, in Cherokee, NC. I put in a lot of high-denomination play and reached the Diamond Elite tier level, which generated many good benefits in my casino mailings.  However, people who play at lower levels will also see some offers in their mail and the more you play, the better mail benefits you will receive. Most players should start small; they need more study and experience. Thirty-eight years ago, we started with quarters and very slowly moved up to higher denominations as we became more knowledgeable. But I’ve never stopped studying to find the best plays.

Q: Do you play JOB in Tahoe and Deuces Wild in Cherokee? Where do you practice on the computer?

A: I’m so glad you asked that question. It reminded me that I wanted to talk about how hard it was for me to switch games when I went to Tahoe.

I was surprised about this. After all, Jacks or Better (JOB) is the first video poker game for which I learned the proper strategy – way back in 1984 – and I played it off and on for the next 35 years. However, for most of those years, I could find better games, with higher mathematical expected value (EV), like Deuces Wild and Double Bonus. At times, especially for high-denomination play when there were promotions and extra benefits, JOB was the best choice. (Remember, you don’t just look for a good game; you look for a good play. That means adding together the EV of the game and the value of the extras.)

The last few years we lived in Vegas, we played Not-So-Ugly-Ducks (NSUD) almost exclusively at local casinos. When we moved to Georgia, that was the game we played on our four trips to Harrah’s Cherokee. So, I knew I should brush up on JOB strategy; it’s always a rule for me when I am tackling a game I haven’t play for a while. But I figured this could be a quick review for this most basic VP “oldie.”

So, a couple of weeks before the Tahoe trip, I sat down at my desktop computer. (As it has been since I was a child, my desk is still the most important piece of furniture wherever I live, even in our present senior apartment.) I pulled up my VP software, set it for JOB, and clicked the choice to warn me of any errors.  I also turned up the TV very loud. I wanted distractions, like you do in a casino.

I dealt the first hand. Nothing to hold so I quickly hit “Draw.” Immediate pop-up message: “Major Error”!!!

Whaaaatttttt? The software said I should have held the lone king.

Oops! My sub-conscious was still in automatic Deuces Wild mode where you don’t hold single cards (except for deuces).

I’ve talked about this in the past, how your memory cells play such an important part in video poker play. I noticed this often in the past when I was playing while I was tired. I didn’t see a hold, but my fingers seemed to be held back from immediately hitting the Draw button. Then I gave the hand a second look and saw why. My subconscious was stronger than my tired consciousness.

I’d intended to play very fast in just a couple of quick practice sessions, but making error after error, I realized that I needed a lot of practice to reprogram my memory cells. I’m not sure whether my 83-year-old brain is just getting worn out; my body sure is. Or perhaps this can happen at any age after a long time away from former learning. But I wasn’t taking any chances, so I practiced almost every day until I left for Tahoe.

I also made a conscious decision to play more slowly than my usual pace when I got there.  I was playing mostly multiple lines and one mistake expands exponentially through all the lines. I wanted to play as perfectly as I could, since my advantage was already thinner than I prefer.

Actually, I was glad that I didn’t feel the need to rush through my play. I had a goal to get to a certain tier-point destination, but there was no hurry to get there. I had plenty of hours to reach this goal. After all, this was to be a relaxing vacation and I really savored the slower pace. It didn’t hurt that I hit a couple of nice jackpots along that leisurely path.

And now here’s a little surprise for people who had wondered if I would ever again do any public speaking about gambling. Actually, when we moved to Georgia, I planned to leave the casino life completely. But it has worked out for me to return, albeit on a much more limited basis than when we lived in Vegas. And Steve and Matt Bourie, who have made many videos with me down through the years, were eager to make an updated one.  Thanks to Zoom, you can see that new one which was  just posted. Looks like I haven’t lost the ability to talk endlessly about smart gambling — we chatted for almost 45 minutes! Click the arrow to watch.