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 […]
Posts in category Video Poker
Appearance Money
Sometimes casinos give you money just to come in and play. There are a number of considerations concerning how you should deal with this. For this article, I’m going to assume the amount the casino offers you is $1,000. I understand this is much higher than many of you receive and much lower than others […]
Simple Math for Deuces Wild
A friend of mine, Steve, is someone I know from square dancing. He is retired and recently decided that he wanted to increase his monthly income by gambling, so he asked me which game he should learn first. I told him Full Pay Deuces Wild for quarters. It’s a relatively easy game to learn and […]
Comparing Strategies in Deuces Wild
There are many, many Deuces Wild pay schedules found around the country. Unlike games such as Double Double Bonus where all pay schedules are played approximately the same way, in Deuces Wild there are some great differences in strategy necessitated by the pay schedule changes. These strategy changes are systematic — meaning once you know […]
Musings About Dishonesty in Casinos
I’ve recently written about Dan Ariely’s free course that I’ve also been taking. One of his books is called The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty.. I’ve been wondering how some of what I’ve learned by reading that book can be applied to my normal life — which for me means life in casinos. Today I want […]
Risk Aversion for Gamblers
A few weeks ago, I strongly recommended that my readers take the free course on Irrational Behavior offered by Dan Ariely. I have no idea how many readers actually followed my suggestion, but I’m now in the middle of the course, enjoying it, and learning from it. One of the topics discussed in the course […]
How Do You Play These Hands?
Most of us occasionally switch from game to game. The strategy for each game, and even each pay schedule, is a bit different. Today I’m going to give you eight different hands with three games each. In each case, two of the games will have the same play and one of them will have a […]
Good Bye, Jackie Gaughan
John D. “Jackie” Gaughan (1920 – 2014), one of the founding fathers of Downtown Las Vegas, passed away last week. Gaughan had a number of casino licenses through the years, but is probably best known for the Union Plaza (later Jackie Gaughan’s Union Plaza), El Cortez, and Western. Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal […]
Sign Up for this Course Today!
I started college 51 years ago. I earned some degrees and over the years went back and took a number of non-credit courses. I enjoy the learning process and I’m positive that this is one major key to my success as a gambler and instructor. There’s a new way to learn, called MOOC, which stands […]
Seeking Out Unfair Games
Many times I’ve written about video poker games that I consider fair. And what I mean by “fair” is that every unseen card has an equal chance of appearing next. Most people seem to accept my definition — or at least understand what I am talking about. However, I recently received an email at [email protected] […]
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