I get lots of emails from players asking about this or that. If the questions aren’t too frequent from the same player, I usually answer them. I recently got a question which I very much disliked from a player named Gary.
“Bob, I’ve been trying to figure something out that Linda Boyd said on YouTube. She said that when you were dealt the 4♠ 9♣ J♥ Q♥ K♠ that you would hold the J♥ Q♥. Is that true, because to me the 9♣ is a penalty card, not really sure what to think of all this, would you help me out?”
Here are my problems with this question:
- It is so easy to look up how to play a hand using software. Any player trying to learn should have one or more video poker software products. This level of information is also available for free online. Emailing me to ask how to play a hand is equivalent to asking me to add 432 to 743. Yes, I know how to do it, but I’m not interested in being a calculator for you. If you are unable or unwilling to look up how to play a hand, playing video poker well is beyond your capabilities.
- Gary didn’t tell me what game he was talking about. For some games, 9/6 Jacks or Better among them (which is the game most authors write about), J♥ Q♥ is the correct play. For other games, such as the versions of Double Bonus where you receive 5-for-1 for a straight, you play 9♣ J♥ Q♥ K♠. Somehow, I’m supposed to figure out the game that Gary is interested in.
- Gary mentioned a penalty card, although not in a way that indicates he knows what he’s talking about. Penalty cards are a consideration for advanced players — and many such players think they are more trouble than they’re worth. At the minimum, however, you need to know basic strategy cold before you start messing with penalty cards. And if Gary is asking about this particular hand, he clearly doesn’t have basic strategy mastered.
The fact that Gary is at the intermediate level is neither here nor there. Everybody starts at the beginning and each one of us is at a different point along the learning curve. I’ve had raw beginners in my classes as well as students who are professional video poker players. If Gary were to attend class or discuss private lessons, that would be fine.
But asking me questions that he could answer easily himself is abusing my generosity. I do answer questions via email for free, but not questions like this.
Casinos love Gary!
Reply
Did you really have nothing better to post today then ragging on one of your readers. 99% of the time you write things people want to read. We want your insight on VP not your daily rants.
Reply
lol I’m betting that “99% Dancer Fan” = “Gary”.
Reply
I think Bob is spot on. He is sending a message that questions should be relevant and not so basic that most players know the answer. That is a waste of his time and limits other email requests. Someone that knows what a penalty card should already know what the answer to this question is. Duh! This is a message to all of us to keep are questions meaningful and not class VP100 .
Reply
I empathize with your irritation, but I don’t see what benefit this week’s column confers other than allowing you to vent a little. I think you might best handle inquiries like Gary’s (and I’m sure you get many) by emailing back a canned response that contains links to some of the resources you mentioned–also maybe saying that you don’t provide specific strategy info (not for free, anyway).
Linda Boyd’s YouTube videos are potentially useful, but learning how to play VP decently–let alone at the expert level–is FAR more information than can be conveyed in a ten-minute video. Bottom line–you have to READ, and study, to become even halfway proficient at VP. But today’s generation doesn’t want to assimilate information from icky old books, which means they’ll never be able to learn anything more complicated than that which can be conveyed in the aforementioned ten-minute video. That’s fine; that’s what the casino wants–ignorant. lazy customers.
Reply
I do not believe this is a vent.
I agree with Bob 100%. He is correct.
I’ve read every book about video poker ever written, including Jean Scott, Linda Boyd, and Bob Dancer.
I am a slow learner and the only game I know perfectly is 9/6 jacks or better.
But there is one thing I know. If you are going to earn a small amount of money as a video poker advantage player these days, you are ALWAYS carrying around a lap top computer under your arm.
The bennies and comps are so tight now and the games are so complex, that if you don’t have that computer with you at all times, you are just spitting in the wind.
Bob is right.
Reply
These days most people use smartphones and not laptops. But don’t be surprised if a casino goon tries to confiscate your smartphone. Casinos and smartphones are in direct competion and people are spending more time on smartphones and becoming addicted to them than they are to the casinos. Casinos hate smartphones.
Reply
Yes this could be fairly called a vent or a rant.
Also, many of the readers who would send me such a message read my column. So this is the best way to reach them.
I apologize to the rest of you who would never send me such an email, but I know no better way to get the message out there.
I will not be ranting next week
Reply
I first met Mr. Dancer at the Flamingo in Laughlin (now Aquarius) at a seminar circa 1990 that was part of a senior bus group package. Before then, I had no idea that somebody could make money at VP. All of us should applaud him for his generosity. We all know about lazy VP players who want to take the short cut to riches. If you have ever tried to write a weekly column about anything, you know that all of them cannot be winners. Mr. Dancer deserves his occasional rant and I enjoy reading them.
Reply
This would have been 1998 or 1999, rather than 1990.
Your comment reminds me of an incident there that would make for a good column. Thank you! You’ll see it in late November.
Reply
Yes, it was when you were teaching WinPoker.
Reply
Who is Linda Boyd ? Don’t want to know unless she is a better VP resource than Bob Dancer.
Reply
Thanks, but you’re being short-sighted
Every author brings something different to the table and discusses things other authors don’t. In Linda’s case, she addresses Class II and Class III gaming better than I do (a subject I’ve basically ignored.)
I recommend you skip her strategies as they are seriously flawed, but there’s a lot of other information in her book that is useful.
If you’re betting money that is important to you, you need all the information you can get and ranking authors before you’ve read them is cutting off information that could potentially be profitable to you.
Reply
When I’m practicing with VPW I use perfect play option. On Jack or Better I can go 250 hands without a miss.
I’ve started practicing Triple Double Bonus and I’m at around 95% this is also set t Perfect play.
What keeps bothering me is Should I use Strategy or Perfect Play?
There are those times when i wounder should I pick this hand differently. Based on my perception of how that particular machine has been behaving.
Reply