A few weeks ago, Bonnie was having dinner with her sister who lives near us. I could have gone along if I had insisted, but Bonnie needs her “Girls Night Out” periodically. That Saturday evening I decided to go play video poker at the Palms — in part because I was in the mood for […]
Posts in category Casino Games
How Often Do You Win a Hand?
In video poker, I am interested in whether or not I am winning for the year. I care very little about whether I am winning today, and I care not at all about individual hands — unless that hand is something like K♠ Q♠ J♠ T♠ 5♣. That hand gets my blood pumping. Especially when […]
Learning How to Lose
I used to play a lot of backgammon for money. Backgammon is not a casino game, but it is a gambling game nonetheless. From 1973 through 1991 I spent many thousands of hours playing competitive backgammon. I was good, but not great. I was only able to keep my head above water by competing with […]
What’s the Background of a Quad?
I recently received a letter from someone who asked if more quads started as a single pair or as three of a kind? An interesting question to examine with not as easy an answer as you might expect. And since the letter was referring to games without wild cards, I’ll limit this discussion to that […]
More on unsuited AK, AQ and AJ in Double Bonus
In last week’s column I gave the rules for when you should choose an unsuited AK, AQ or AJ in Double Bonus, and when you should choose the A by itself. Since everybody has access to that article on-line, perhaps you should review it before you continue with this one. The question I get most […]
Unsuited AK, AQ, and AJ in 10/7 Double Bonus
In my early years of video poker (say 1994-2000) 10/7 Double Bonus was one of my main games. As I increased the stakes for which I played, I drifted away from this game. It’s still available in Las Vegas for low stakes, but casinos that offer it punish players who play it — by reducing […]
Money Management Rules Are Largely Worthless
Video poker is the only game at which I gamble. Although I moved to Vegas more than twenty years ago to count cards at blackjack and used to play both bridge and backgammon for money, today it’s video poker exclusively for me. But I still read publications devoted to other games. Occasionally I’ll read something […]
An Open Invitation
It hasn’t been much of a secret, but Bonnie and I are celebrating a wedding commitment ceremony on Friday, May 23. The ceremony itself will take place in the late afternoon and there will only be about 30 family members and close friends in attendance. However, the reception afterwards, from 7:00-9:30 p.m., is an open […]
An Interesting Combination in Deuces Wild
It’s been a while since I’ve written about hands such as the ones we’ll discuss today. If you’ve read every one of my columns, you can find the first mention back in 2001. But this will be new for most of you. Letting a W stand for a deuce, let’s compare the two hands W […]
Dodging a Bullet
I recently approached the four Quick Quads machines at the South Point. There was a lady I didn’t recognize sitting on the far right (call it Chair 4) and I rather arbitrarily sat down in Chair 1. Because of my classes, I’m recognized by far more people than I am able to remember, so whenever […]
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