Comments on: Helping You Understand Bankroll Needs – The Royal Flush

By: Jim Corzine

Jim Corzine — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 18:11:23 +0000

what are the odds of having a royal delt to you?

Also if you get one in six cards, 7or 8 or 9 or 10 cards

By: Kevin Lewis

Kevin Lewis — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 17:33:11 +0000

Just answering some of the questions posed:

You know how many hands you have played by recording or remembering the balance of your slot club points when you begin play, then calculating the coin-in and dividing by the appropriate number based on denomination and what the slot club $-per-point number is. For instance, if you’re playing dollar denoms ($5 per play) at a casino that awards one point for every $2 played, every 100 hands would award 250 points–so 2,000 points would mean you’d played 800 hands.

There is no “optimum” bankroll level–as your bankroll increases, your risk of ruin decreases, so “optimum” would be whatever amount gives you a risk of ruin you can live with. Obviously, we’d all like infinite bankrolls. The reason to look at RoR is that below a certain level of bankroll, you will probably bust out, i.e., your RoR is above 50%, even if you are playing a +EV game. Volatility also enters into RoR and thus, bankroll requirements.

If you wish to calculate strategy changes for progressive royal games, simply use any one of the many video poker software programs out there, change the royal payout to the actual number of coins represented by the progressive, and then compare the resulting strategy chart with the one for the “base” game. Also note: on 9/6 JOB, you don’t even reach breakeven until the progressive is about 5,300 units, so playing when it reaches 5,000 units is still a losing game.

By: Julia Ramirez

Julia Ramirez — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 22:58:16 +0000

Great article! I play JOB at an OK casino where there is very little cash back offered. However, the progressive often gets over 5000 units for a royal. Where do I find out how to adjust my strategy when the progressive puts me in “advantage realm?” Thanks for info!

By: Don Rust

Don Rust — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 19:15:36 +0000

Kevin raises a good question. Should my bankroll be at the optimum level every time I being play?

Don

By: Jim Embrey

Jim Embrey — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 19:24:15 +0000

Like Jim and Bev’s comment, how do you know how many hands you have played in any given session?

By: john hunady

john hunady — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 18:08:54 +0000

Jean, as usual you are right on point! My wife and I have been Royal…less since last February when we hit, while playing on machines next to each other, within 10 minutes. Seven days later I hit a progressive royal at a different casino! We are recretional players only, visiting casinos about 2 to 3 times a month, in the So. California area.

During a 6 hours play yesterday we could not hit much of anything and found ourselves depressed going home on a down-streak. Your article comes at a very good time to put our perpective back on track. We will regroup and refigure our bank roll as we plan a Vegas trip next month. To good fortune and good health!
Thanks as always.

By: Kevin Lewis

Kevin Lewis — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 04:57:20 +0000

Playing seriously since 1995, I have had a 200,000-hand royal drought at least six times (my records aren’t complete for the entire last eighteen years). My worst sustained losses have never exceeded $5,000 (4000 hands) at .25 denomination (the vast majority of my play). I therefore view $5,000 as a minimum bankroll for quarters. However, I have one question that I’ve never seen adequately answered. Given that your bankroll is constantly being depleted while you wait for your next royal, if you have what you consider an adequate bankroll when you start playing, that bankroll will drop below that threshold as you wait for the royals to show up–it’s the nature of the beast. If my 5K bankroll dropped to 2K, I might consider myself functionally unable to play, as my risk of ruin would now be unacceptably high. I’m sure that the reason many good players go broke is that they are undercapitalized: they have an adequate bankroll, but only barely so. If they hit a rough patch, they don’t either a) stop playing, b) move down in denomination, or c) play higher EV games; rather, they just keep playing even though their bankrolls are no longer sufficient. The smaller your bankroll, the less short-term bad luck you can withstand. And we all know how in video poker, things can go to pot in a hurry–and stay there, for many sessions in a row. You have to be able to weather the storm–so my stated 5K .25 play bankroll would really have to be, say, 7K for me to be comfortable.

By: Jim and Bev

Jim and Bev — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 01:34:52 +0000

Great article. Would you happen to know how many hours of play it might take someone to complete one cycle?

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Sun, 11 Aug 2013 23:42:32 +0000

I think one factor that is almost always ignored in these discussions is the tax implications of being a recreational player and trying to get an advantage. If you only gamble a few times a year it is very hard to reach the “long term” in one year. My recent statistics showed 3 losing years punctuated by 1 very profitable year but after paying taxes on my “winnings” it was obvious that I was not going to have an advantage unless I played much more frequently. Not many of us are able to file as professional gamblers.