Comments on: Harrah’s Cherokee Trip Report – Part 5

By: Maureen+(Mo)

Maureen+(Mo) — Fri, 21 May 2021 03:27:30 +0000

Jean, thanks for your insight and most of all your teaching us so many things. I think as a teacher you might feel that you are rather “forceful” but just like learning anything repetition is key. I also think that you really give us so many facts that of course we go into the casino with our eyes open and don’t think it will be a cake walk .
Sometimes the people who go to the casino will check out schedules and still have FUN even if we only win a little or lose a little. We are all different and have different ideas of what kind of experience we want in a casino……We also know and practice proper play on VP hands Please keep giving us those “forceful hints”

By: Denis Mcintosh

Denis Mcintosh — Mon, 17 May 2021 20:44:53 +0000

Hi Jean, on episode four, you mention playing to max tier level. What did that level return? It seemed to be an important goal for you,. Thanks, Denis McIntosh.

By: Dave C.

Dave C. — Sat, 15 May 2021 16:17:35 +0000

It is all about the thrill of victory and sometimes the agony of defeat. But hey, it’s fun to gamble! Odds? “Never tell me the odds”-Han Solo. You may win some money.

Last week at a local casino, my buddy and I walked into a REALLY hot craps game. We both won 100’s of dollars and he was betting on the hard ways! Every number was getting hit. My heart was racing over 90 BPM most of the the time.
When that shooter finally “sevened out” , I got my first ever $500 chip. Boyeeeee!

We were smiling all of the way home. You just never know. Sometimes, you have to get LUCKY.We did.
Thank you Jean for your blog. It’s one of my go-to places in my morning.

By: The Maverick

The Maverick — Sat, 15 May 2021 08:06:08 +0000

AMEN to the idea that people are different, and that’s fine. I’ve read stories from or about “pro” video poker players (not including Bob Dancer) who will fly to Iowa or wherever on a moment’s notice because of an inside tip about some game at some casino, and these guys play so unemotionally that they’re like machines. They are like a different species than us who primarily go to Vegas for fun (but we try to have fun wisely). And different aspects of the experience (e.g. the casino, the specific machine) vary widely from person to person in terms of how much they matter. In addition to whether the spot you are at is freezing, whether you’re getting hit by cigarette smoke, whether the casino is too loud, how fast the machine is, whether the machine has TITO, there’s another aspect that affects my enjoyment: how much I like or dislike the graphics. I love the old video poker machines’ graphics (how the cards look) in a few downtown casinos like the El Cortez, compared to those on newer machines, and some newer machine graphics I really, really dislike, such as SpinPoker. Those robotic “pro” players will think that this like/dislike of mine is ridiculous, while I think that their total lack of emotion is really sad. But Jean is right: Let’s not put each other down by voicing our uncomplimentary opinions publicly. Just know that we are different, and “live and let live”.

By: Kevin Lewis

Kevin Lewis — Sat, 15 May 2021 03:22:24 +0000

I think one source of all the negative comments is that people don’t understand that neither you nor anyone else can (any longer) just breeze into town, play a bunch of positive EV .25 video poker, and be awarded the moon, the sea, and the stars. Not any more! Advantage VP players are virtually a thing of the past, and recreational players have a much, much more challenging path to their goal of having fun without spending (risking) too much money. The $25-a-hand approach is not one that most people could stomach, even though it might be viable for you and may return more comps than your theoretical loss (what you actually lost isn’t all that relevant).

So perhaps you could explain that you played at those stakes because you were essentially forced to, because lower-denomination play a) wouldn’t have earned you the same comps and b) would have exposed you to a greater theoretical loss despite the ostensibly lower stakes. For instance, you would actually have lost more money playing the $2 Airport Deuces (in terms of EV, at least), even though your play amount would have been only 40% of your actual stakes. It’s a distinction that is very important to VP players—higher denominations often provide a lower total -EV than lower denominations.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 15 May 2021 03:16:06 +0000

To the person that asked about lower denominations: on the same machines that have the full pay options at $5 (which also include 9-6 DDB, 9-7 DB and 8-5 ACE$/BP among others), the $1 & $2 options are usually 1 step down. For example 9-5 DDB, 9-6 DB, 7-5 ACE$/BP. If you go to quarters, it’s even worse. And most of the games like STP and Ultimate X are 8-5 DDB, although I think for dollars the STP is 9-5 for DDB. There are also some progressives so those could potentially get interesting if the jackpots get high enough.

By: matthew roberts

matthew roberts — Sat, 15 May 2021 02:13:11 +0000

What Alex said. +1

By: Richard Catterall

Richard Catterall — Fri, 14 May 2021 20:03:12 +0000

Yeah the $25 a hand can be brutal ! My wife and I play together and check out that we are playing correctly according to optimum return, no mistakes allowed. I’m playing with house money from the last, long Reno/tahoe/las Vegas trip but the multi thousand negative days do take some starch out even though you know they are coming most days. I’ve gambled a lot in most areas of the country and never had a positive trip to Cherokee, I’m hoping there is at least a pony in there somewhere. Good health and good luck to all

By: Clawed

Clawed — Fri, 14 May 2021 17:48:05 +0000

We haven’t been able to get to Vegas since the Covid outbreak. In fact we hadn’t been to a casino in over 16 months. We finally decided to hit a local casino about an hour forty minutes away. We went in knowing the pay tables were not up to Vegas machines. But we figured in the short term let’s just go and what will be will be.
Last time we were in Vegas we played at the Gold Coast ( our home base when we visit ) and both my husband and I played NSUD . How many royals did we get- ZERO how many times did the four deuces show up- ZERO!
Well at our local casino with an awful pay table my husband got a two thousand dollar royal after a half hour. Just goes to show short term you never know.

By: Bonnie Strong

Bonnie Strong — Fri, 14 May 2021 16:45:49 +0000

I found going from a professional gambler to recreational gambler was very difficult, so I quit gambling. The mindset for making money was too instilled in me! So pleased that you recouped some of your losses during your last trip.