A well-financed player, “Hal,” hired me some time ago to teach him 9/6 Triple Double Bonus Poker. This is not a particularly good game (98.15%), but it was the best he could find for the large stakes he wished to play. I warned him, of course, that the game would likely be very expensive. He […]
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Changes in NCL Cruises — Part II of II
A staple of cruising on NCL is the “Washy Washy” people at the entrance of the buffet encouraging everybody to receive a squirt of sanitizer on their hands. On the Bliss, instead of the sanitizer, there were four sinks at each entrance which we were strongly encouraged to use. And they still had the workers […]
Changes in NCL Cruises — Part I of II
Author’s Note: The blog for this week and next will be a trip report about a cruise my wife and I took aboard the Norwegian Cruise Lines Bliss from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera between November 28 and December 5. There were Covid protocols in place, and to my knowledge, no outbreaks on board. […]
Trying to Go Back Again
From 1974 to 1980, I was involved full-time in backgammon — to the tune of 3,000 hours a year, including playing, studying, and for a brief while running a tournament. I went broke. While I had done well against new players, the backgammon craze waned, and the remaining players were superior to me. Playing against […]
What’s Wrong with Jacks or Better?
In terms of number of hands played, or number of dollars played, 9/6 Jacks or Better has been the video poker game I’ve played most in my career. Not so much recently, but certainly over my entire career. The major things I like about the game are: a. Return (99.54%). This isn’t high enough to […]
A Trip to New Orleans
This year, Caesars Entertainment merged with Eldorado. I have Seven Stars status at Caesars and haven’t played at any Eldorado property for several years. Because of the pandemic, I played not at all at Caesars in 2020. My Seven Stars status was extended to January 1, 2022, and any Seven Stars unused benefits that would […]
Is This a Good Idea?
This incident happened in 1999 or 2000. I don’t think I’ve written about it before. The video poker world in Las Vegas was much different then. Casinos had been giving away money right and left to knowledgeable video poker players for at least five years, and many of us were becoming financially very well off. […]
New Video Poker Games at G2E
Every fall (except last one because of the pandemic), the world’s largest gaming show meets in Las Vegas for the Global Gaming Expo. All sorts of products directly or indirectly relating to gaming are on display in the exhibit hall, including new slot and video poker games, new table games, new player tracking systems, surveillance […]
What’s More Important than EV?
Not long ago, I mentioned in a blogpost that if the only difference between an IGT game and a Scientific Gaming game was that straight flushes paid 250 in the former and 275 in the latter, I’d choose IGT because I like the feel and touch of IGT games better. I received some pushback for […]
It’s Not So Easy
I’ve been playing video poker promotions for almost 30 years, and before that exploited blackjack promotions for about five years. I’ve absorbed a lot of “how to do things” over the years that are now second nature to me. When a new promotion comes along, I have enough experience, usually, to get the most out […]
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