Today I want to get away from “my advice” and give you examples how other video poker players do things. We skilled gamblers don’t all march in step. We each have our own unique gambling goals. Our bankrolls and thus choice of machines are all over the place. We have very differing personalities.
So here are some personal stories that people have e-mailed me privately or shared on the vpFREE forum. Maybe they will give you some good ideas you can use!
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From Anonymous, an example of discipline – and patience – being an important need for a gambler:
At our casino the promotional drawings are on the weekends when there are usually no point multipliers in place. The drawings usually cover a 10- to 12-hour period. Without the multipliers in place the games are less than 100% but you have to be present to win. We take our iPads and read while the drawings take place but it takes a good deal of discipline to enter a casino and not play for that length of time. (I confess that at times we cannot resist the temptation but that is the exception as opposed to the rule). We have been pretty successful in these drawings but only because we do not lose at the machines while waiting for our names to be called.
[Some might argue that you could use this waiting time to better advantage, but this is a personal choice that works for you – so I won’t criticize it, especially when I don’t know all the details, i.e., how much can you win, are there other gambling activities in your area that would be more valuable, how much pleasure you get from this vs. non-gambling activities.]
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Here’s one from a Forum contributor who chimes in about “playing for comps.”
Another thing to consider is some players knowingly play under-100% games for the comps. I don’t live in Las Vegas, so I need a hotel room. I also need to eat. I consider free rooms, food, drinks and entertainment to be part of my return. I know that I’m not an advantage player under these conditions, but they are items I would have to pay for if I didn’t play.
At the Hard Rock Hotel in LV, I’m willing to lose money to get a free room, free meal at Mr. Lucky’s, free cocktails and water, and free Motley Crue tickets. My expected loss will always be less than if I had to pay for all these items at full price.
[I wouldn’t say you aren’t an advantage player if you are careful to keep your losses less than you could afford to lay out for expenses. Our problem with this when we first started playing video poker was that we had a very small bankroll and we were getting more comps than we would actually have been able to pay for. So from the beginning we have never counted comps as part of our EV but rather as “gravy.” So you need to be careful in this area.]
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From Mickey, one of my favorite contributors on vpFREE:
If I were a working stiff just getting into video poker and had little or no bankroll this is what I would do. I would allocate so much money per paycheck to video poker. I would only play with an advantage. When the first royal comes off I will add the money to what bankroll I have. But I won’t change the routine. I’ll continue to allocate so much money per paycheck to video poker. Every time I hit a royal it goes into my bankroll. The routine will remain the same until I have a swing -resistant bankroll. Trust me, if you do it like this, it won’t take you long to get there.
To me the three keys to successful gambling are knowledge, skill and disciple: the knowledge to figure out an advantage, the skill to exploit it, and the discipline to maintain the pace. A breakdown in any one of these areas will lead to failure.
[I couldn’t say this better, Mickey.]
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Comps Shmomps. The only way to stay ahead financially is to only play the games and at the casinos where the dollars in the monthly mailers more than compensate you for the losses in the game you are playing.VPfree2.com will tell you where the best games are and experience will tell you who has the best mailers. Without that, unless you are playing FPDW, you are guaranteed to eventually go broke no matter how rich you may be at the start.
For the occasional visitor who comes to Vegas couple times a year Jean Scott’s books will tell you how to spend less while enjoying your visit more.
George
Quote: \…we have never counted comps as part of our EV…\ What you meant, of course, was that comps only have value insofar as you actually use them. \I wouldn’t say you aren’t an advantage player IF…\; you mentioned losses, not theoretical losses–you might have meant to say theoretical, not actual. And not everyone knows your methodology forwards and backwards. For this reason, if you misstate something, not every reader is going to say \I know she really means…\ My point, which seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle, was that there is an element of subjectivity to EV; a play could be profitable for someone like Mr. Hard Rock but not for you (or me), which is why I reacted to your surprising statement that you have never counted comps as part of your EV.
Question for Mickey. I found your comment to Jean most interesting. I do not understand the following sentence. Would you please explain. “I would only play with an advantage.”
Kevin, you ARE belaboring the point. Read again my last comment on this. I DISAGREED with his statement that he wasn’t an advantage player. And when I said “losses” I was meaning theoretical ones. Everyone knows I use EV to evaluate a play and that means the theoretical value of the game, the added promotions, and the comps if you are using them – all theoretical percentages which you add together.
Jean: not to belabor the point, but though he said that he wasn’t an advantage player “under the conditions” he described, he’s actually wrong about that–he IS an advantage player, assuming his comp values exceed his theoretical losses. And you were incorrect to mention his “losses”; actual losses can’t be controlled, only theoretical losses. His play should be evaluated whether he hits five royals or gets hammered for $5000–in terms of his net theo. I would also hasten to point out that comps have value (though that value may vary from player to player) and therefore should be considered as part of overall return, in the context of evaluating a play. Your stated discounting of comps for your own use doesn’t mean that they are any less valuable for players in general; in fact, they are a significant, even a primary, source of EV, and many plays would not be +EV without considering them. It might be easier to reach advantage play, in fact, if you’re a visitor, since room comps have little to no value for a local resident.
Hi Jean-
I’m coming to Vegas for several days, flying in on 9/30/13, can’t wait! We’ll be staying at the Fremont for 3 days(for free). Yay! My friend Andrea likes to play BJ, and I like to play craps. But since I lost mostly playing craps last year, even with low minimum tables, we’ll both be playing some VP. Would you recommend O, or KA, if we chose just one show? We want to go visit Dave Mull’s Meats, after seeing it on the Triple D show. It would be lots of fun to run into you, thanks for the articles. 🙂
The bottom line is u have to have a big bankroll to even have a chance at the Casino. It’ s not worth it. With the bean counters running the Casinos even if u play modestly it’s hard to get a comp. The best advice is just play the best game and hope to win.
Kevin, re-read what I said about the Hard Rock player. He said he wasn’t an advantage player but I disagreed.
Jean, the methodology that got you started isn’t even possible today. You can’t play +EV quarter games and build any kind of significant bankroll any more, nor can you realize significant earnings. It used to be that you could play FPDW AND get generous mailers AND earn decent slot club points. You say you got more comps than you could use back in the day, so you discounted them. That’s because your inherent return on the games you played was already over 1%. Nowadays, comps, promos, mailers, etc. are the only things that make the vast majority of available plays +EV, and comps are so stingy that only a $5 player would earn more than he could use; with $1 and below players, it’s quite the opposite ($1 or less comps for every $1000 coin-in, and it’ll be quite a while before you even get a comped buffet, let alone a free room). The guy who plays -EV games at Hard Rock but receives MORE than his theoretical losses back in comps is playing +EV no matter how you slice it, and I’m surprised you would even hint otherwise. Room comps may not have much utility for you, but for a visitor who is coming to Vegas anyway, a room comp is worth exactly as much as the money he would have otherwise spent for accommodations. If his theo is less than the cost of the room, his play is definitely advantage play. Not all of us can afford the stratospheric levels of coin-in that you give the casinos; we have to pull and scratch to get anything significant, being less-than-10K-a-day-playing lowlife scum.
Thanks, Jean. Tell Brad I said Hi.