5/3/2002
One of the most frequent questions I get is, “When should I change machines?” This is the major conundrum of most slot and video poker players. Should I change after I hit a big hand? (Maybe the machine isn’t likely to give me another jackpot anytime soon.) Should I change after I’ve lost a lot of money? (Maybe a new machine will treat me better.) Should I pause after winning hands to let the machine get some losing ones out of its system? (Maybe I should go play a machine just like this one, but in a “looser” casino across the street.)
Here are a few facts that will answer most of those questions.
The RNG (random number generator) doesn’t have regular cycles in the sense we sometimes use that word. It doesn’t go through every possible combination before repeating the same cycle. ANY result can come up on ANY hand, even the same hand back to back, even the same jackpot back to back. You have the same odds of hitting a royal flush on every hand, for example. The result of one hand has nothing to do with the result of the last hand, or the last 100,000 hands.
Two VIDEO POKER machines with the same paytable, IF they’re in a regulated jurisdiction that ensures that they’re random, will have the same long-term average payout, wherever you find them. But they’ll give you different hands and different results in the short-term — and there’s NO way to tell which is going to be “good” to you in the next minute or next hour.
Two SLOT MACHINES that look the same, even in the same casino, will not necessarily have the same long-term average payout. The reason for this is that a casino can legally order the same machines from a manufacturer with a variety of chips that control the long-term results. However, since the constantly running RNG makes each hand a random event, you can’t tell what any one machine will do for you in the short term.
I like the way a friend of mine addressed this question in a recent post to a VP Internet group.
“You might want to consider changing machines if:
* The person next to you is emitting noxious fumes (smoke, body odor, perfume, cologne, or use your imagination).
* Your machine insists on holding a 3 when you pressed the hold button for that ace.
* Your machine’s screen is blurry enough that 33366 is a “”Full Mouse.””
* The person next to you has just poured gasoline on himself and is reaching for his lighter.
* The sound level on your machine has caused everyone near you to move away or insert earplugs.
* Your machine is slow. You have time to “”root in”” that fourth ace (double bonus) or deuce (deuces wild).
* The bill acceptor on your machine is apparently waiting for that one special serial number.
* The person next to you is so attractive you can’t concentrate on playing — video poker, that is.
* The person next to you WILL NOT SHUT UP!
* Your machine says “”Out of Service”” on the screen.
If you want to improve your chances of winning, play the best game available within your bankroll, play correct strategy, and play as fast as you can accurately. You can’t play fast if you keep wasting time changing machines!””
Thanks, my friend, and a hearty “amen” to your advice!
5/10/2002
First up, a clarification for something I wrote in last week’s column, from a friend of mine who keeps me on my toes about math and technical details.
I said:
“”Two VIDEO POKER machines with the same paytable, IF they’re in a regulated jurisdiction that ensures that they’re random, will have the same long-term average payout, wherever you find them. But they’ll give you different hands and different results in the short-term — and there’s NO way to tell which is going to be “”good”” to you in the next minute or next hour.”
My friend’s so-true observation:
“”I think you should have mentioned that the two VP machines will have the same long-term average payout ONLY if identical strategies are played on each! The novice might be led to believe that he will only have to choose the “”good”” machines, and the payoffs will take care of themselves, at least in the long-term.””
I’ve discussed this very subject in More Frugal Gambling (coming out in the fall). It’s true that choosing the best VP pay schedule is the FIRST consideration. There’s no strategy that will make you a long-term winner on a schedule that has an expected average long-term payback below 100%, as calculated on innumerable computer trials.
However, even on “”good”” (100%+) machines, you have to know the accurate computer-derived strategy rules to come close to the expected payout over the long term. (Note that I said accurate, not perfect. No one can play computer-perfect VP strategy for any length of time. But the more accurate you can be, the faster you’ll get to those all-important long-term results.)
Interesting Surfing
The Nevada Gaming Control Board Black Book http://gaming.state.nv.us/loep_main.htm. Click on Francis Citro. “”Citro appeared at his Black Book hearing wearing a tuxedo, telling commissioners,
‘I’ve never been invited to join anything in my life; I just wanted to show the proper respect.'””
The Nevada Gaming Control Board Most Wanted List http://gaming.state.nv.us/wanted_main.htm
Thanx to vpFREE for suggesting the two links above. This is a new VP website you can subscribe to at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vpFREE
Go to www.thewizardofodds.com/ if you want to find out the math for most casino games. Excellent Web site just full of “”good stuff”” for the gambling student.
My Vote for the Best Gambling Quote of the Year Someone on an Internet gambling bulletin board wrote about a friend who had been playing blackjack at Harrah’s Laughlin when two motorcycle gangs
showed up. The pit boss came around to the dealer of the blackjack table and warned the dealer that there was some trouble coming and that the police were on their way. Soon after, fighting broke out, including shootings and stabbings. The blackjack player ended up spending 10 hours in the buffet, while police tried to sort out the good guys from the bad guys.
The Internet poster asked his friend why he didn’t leave when he heard that early warning.
The friend said, “”I was winning and had a drink on the way.””
5/16/2002
I’m writing this on the road, where Brad and I have been much of the time since April 1, speaking at various conferences and seminars for casino employees from Indiana to Laughlin to Gulfport, Mississippi. It’s kind of funny, actually. After 18 years of trying to figure out how to understand the often-convoluted systems that casinos use to give their customers benefits, after several years of writing explanations to help other players understand the systems so they could use them to easier gain those benefits, and, yes, after a lot of years of complaining about many of the practices and policies of casinos that aggravate me — at last I can do something to vent my frustrations. And maybe I can do at least a little bit to help make things better for the player in the future.
Many of my friends have asked what I’m telling these casinos executives, so I thought I’d share some of the notes from my talks, which mainly have been to groups of hosts, player-development supervisors, and top casino management.
Although I emphasize that, on the personal level, I count most of our hosts as good friends, I find the whole host system extremely difficult to use. Here are some of the problem areas (and most of these I discuss at length in More Frugal Gambling):
1. Why do the details of the comp system have to so often be so secret? If the comp system is put in place to reward customers so they’ll continue to be loyal to the casino, why don’t the casinos want the customers to know what they need to do to reach these rewards?
Why does the casino make people “beg” for benefits? If they reach a certain level, why doesn’t the casino offer them the benefits more often?
Why does the casino change its rules so often? Don’t they know this frustrates customers, after which many decide to go play in another casino?
Why do they make us go to another casino to play the day we check out of their casino to go home? We would play an hour or two in their casino before our plane left, but that would incur the wrath of the God of the Trip Average — and we would get fewer comps our next trip.
Why can a casino comp you hundreds of dollars in rooms, meals, and shows — and so many times won’t pick up a local phone call charge of $1?
Why do they send us a mail offer for a free room, which we find out when we check in really wasn’t “free” at all? Why do we have to learn the hard way that the slot club has already docked our comp account for the room and now we’re in the red — so we can’t get any meal comps until we play enough to make up the deficit?
If you don’t use a host, you may not have experienced some of these problems. When we were strictly quarter players, we mostly used slot club benefits and direct-mail offers for our comps. We had very few dealings with the host system — although we certainly could have used it more: It would have saved me a lot of organizational effort.
However, tune in next week; I’ll have some information for all levels of players. We’re in Palm Springs, California, right now, at a conference for all kinds of casino management involved in Indian gaming. My talks here have been on slot club operations — and you can be sure that’s a subject about which I’ll never run out of material! The amount of advice I can give for the “perfect” slot club is a never-ending stream.
5/25/2002
Last week I promised to tell you more about my talks at conferences for casino executives. But first, I need to clarify some things. I got some e-mails this week expressing high hopes that my talks will result in better VP games being put into casinos in these areas where I’ve been.
That is not the purpose of my speaking at any of these conferences! I’m not there to advise casinos about the games they offer. The reason I’m put on the schedule is that I can represent both the savvy player (that’s me) as well as the purely recreational one — thanks to all the e-mail and personal input I get from this latter group — thus giving the casinos some input about how customers view their systems and policies. I talk about customer service matters and casino methods and actions that confuse more than they help.
While I’d personally like to see more good VP games in every casino, I also know that casinos are not non-profit organizations — at least they try not to be! But there’s much I can tell casinos that will help their bottom line AND also make our casino visits more profitable and enjoyable.
A perfect example of what I try to accomplish: At the last conference, in Palm Springs, California, I was speaking about slot clubs to Indian gaming marketing executives. Many tribal casinos are just beginning to establish slot clubs and the Palm Springs attendees were very interested in hearing about customer reactions to more established clubs in other places.
I told them some of the things we customers like: a booth that’s easy to find and open whenever the casino is open; a printed list of club benefits and how to get them, written in plain English, available without standing in line; friendly and knowledgeable club employees; a simple point system for earning benefits, where you don’t have to be a mathematician to figure it out; and a system that shows your point countdown and point balance right on the machine.
I hit them hard with some of things we customers do NOT like: frequent major changes in benefits; long lines; card readers that “time out” after just a minute or two; coin-out systems; “free” offers that aren’t really free, with too many strings attached; coupons and vouchers that are more trouble than they’re worth; and promotions that involve too much waiting-around time.
I talked for an hour — and I talk fast — but I could have talked for another hour. I never run out of ideas on how casinos could be more customer-friendly!
If you haven’t been to a Indian casino recently, you’d be really surprised, as Brad and I were, how much so many have changed — from the small, often shabby, bingo-hall image to a Vegas glitzy appearance. And you might be surprised how many there are all over the country. One report said that last year 212 tribes operated 340 “”gaming facilities”” (of varying size and gaming options) in 30 states. The facilities paid $5.5 billion in wages to 298,000 employees out of $11.9 billion in gaming revenue and $1.2 billion in nongaming revenue. “”The (combined) revenue was $13 billion. However, when you look at the multipliers and indirect effects, it comes to $32 billion, so a large portion of the whole business is benefiting not just the tribes, but also benefiting the whole economy,”” said Alan Meister, author of The Economic Impact of Indian Gaming in the United States. Read more at www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/business-casino/051702INDIANGAMING.html.
Many Indian casinos, no matter how big and luxurious they become, still have bingo. And that brings me to this important fact (from SurfingthePlanet.com) that I’m sure you’ve been wondering about for a long time: According to suppliers, purple is overwhelmingly the favorite ink color in daubers used by bingo players.
5/30/2002
This week I want to take the opportunity to warn you not to believe everything you read on the Internet. I’m sure most of you are experienced enough in the cyberspace arena, that you already know this — and you dismiss any information that “doesn’t seem right.”
The reason I mention this is that I’ve had a rather ugly experience with this problem recently. One Web site (I won’t give them any publicity by mentioning their name) decided, without permission from Anthony or me, to “summarize” The Frugal Gambler, chapter by chapter. Although that is legally a very gray area — copyrights are routinely and roundly ignored on the Internet — we could have probably lived with that, figuring it was good publicity and would sell some books.
However, whoever did these summaries must have gotten tired of reading the book, because they decided to put some of their own ideas in these summaries. Worse, they’re not very knowledgeable about gambling, because they not only used terms no gambler would ever use, but it was obvious that they subscribed to a lot of gambling myths.
They say that no publicity is bad publicity. But in this case, bad reporting HAS hurt me personally. One casino has taken away some of my slot club benefits (a monthly coupon sheet that included cash and other good stuff) because of something erroneous that was put up on this Web site. I’ll quote one part that upset the casino in question:
Under the section the Web site summary called “Extending Your Gambling Dollar with Comps,” they give number one: “Join the casino slot club.” So far so good — I’ve said that hundreds of times.
But then comes number two: “Ask for extra comp cards. If the casino asks why, just say that you are forgetful. Once you get your cards, leave one or two of them in a slot and/or video poker machine in the hopes that someone will walk up to the machine unaware and start playing. Take your leftover card and use that to play the games you play.”
I can forgive writing errors and bad sentence structure, but I’m furious about them stating something that I have NEVER said. First of all, I wouldn’t call a slot card a comp card — no gambler I know calls them that. Second of all, even if I did advocate this, I would have to point out that it isn’t a tactic you can use in most casinos, because your card “times out” after a short period of inactivity.
However, not only have I never suggested this idea, I have specifically written about this several times as being an abuse of the system! In fact, I have chided even some of my good friends when they played on other people’s cards to qualify them for a tournament or some other promotion.
I guess now is a good time to repeat some of the ideas I first wrote about in Frugal’s Chapter 11, “Ethics and Gambling, Odd Bedfellows” and that you will see that I continue to discuss in More Frugal Gambling. I try very hard to keep my same high standard of ethics IN the casino as I do outside of it. Sometimes it’s hard when it seems the casinos have everything on their side, with no recourse by customers who have been treat unfairly. We lose slot club points because computers are not working correctly. We try to follow the rules — and then they change rules. We find promotions have been discontinued mid-stream, with no public notification. Slot clubs change their system and we aren’t given enough time to use the benefits we had earned before they expire. Coupons and promotions have so much fine print, full of “outs” for the casino to invoke.
It’s no wonder that some players feel they are in a war zone and that “anything is fair in love and war.” I’m not judging anyone here — and I understand why the temptation is strong to use any weapon possible to win. But everyone has to draw his own line in the sand.
I find that the older I get the less I enjoy being close to any gray area of action. Ah, the blessings of advancing years!!