I was having dinner with a buddy, Al, who received a text from someone we both knew, Sandy. The text showed a picture of 8/5 Ace$ Bonus Poker along with a query whether I published a strategy for it? Ace$ Bonus Poker is just like Bonus Poker, except the four aces each have a letter […]
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A Lesson from Improv
I regularly participate in Thursday night workshops for an improvisation group in Las Vegas. Improv is a form of on-stage comedic acting where the scenes are made up on the spot in response to a suggestion from the audience. Although the group I go to is “clean burning,” meaning the language is suitable for all […]
The Way You Walk
Assume the following: You are a very strong player. In a particular, large casino, they only have two machines of the type you consider best. There are other players who play these same machines. When you arrive on the property, how fast and purposefully do you walk to get to one of the good machines? […]
Worried About Blowing Your Cover?
In a recent Gambling with an Edge episode, Richard Munchkin and I were interviewing “Math Boy,” a Ph. D. in mathematics who for years used that knowledge to beat casinos. Math Boy told of the time in 2003 or 2004 when he met me despite his best intentions. Math Boy wanted to stay “low profile” […]
A Story from Frank Kneeland
For the first six months of the Gambling with an Edge podcast, my co-host was Frank Kneeland. One of Frank’s claims to fame, video-poker-wise, was that he managed a large team of video poker players for two years in the early 1990s. On one of the shows, about six years ago, Frank told a story […]
I Don’t Do Mornings
For most of my life, I have worked by myself. For a total of about 12 years, I worked in an office. Two years in the 1970s in a think tank, and basically all of the 1980s in IT departments of three different organizations. In each of the offices where I worked, there was at […]
What Can You Learn in Video Poker Classes?
I’ve been teaching video poker classes for more than 20 years and periodically I address the questions: What can students learn? What do they have no hope of learning? Since the next semester at the South Point begins next week, Tuesday January 8, at noon, perhaps it’s time to address these questions one more time. […]
Playing 9/6 Jacks or Better Multi Strike
Except for the last few weeks, I haven’t recently played any version of Multi Strike. In the past, I played 9/6 Jacks or Better, 8/5 Bonus Poker, and 9-4-4 Deuces Wild Bonus in the Multi Strike variation, but it’s been so long that I felt I needed a tune-up. Now in my seventies, my memory […]
Which Is It?
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about a casino running a food drive for the local food banks and offering free play to players who donated the most food. For those of you who listen to the Gambling with an Edge podcast, you now know that was the Hollywood Casino in Toledo, OH […]
An Early Christmas Present
In my email inbox, I regularly receive pictures of royal flushes and other video poker jackpots. Frequently, I get thanks in the email saying that if my writing and classes hadn’t taught the emailer how to play, they’d never have a chance. And then the picture of the royal is from an 8/5 Double Double […]
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