Maybe Your System Doesn’t Even Work

More often than once a year, I get emails from people I’ve never met who want me to teach them to play video poker and then bankroll them. They assure me that they’ve always been good students, they’re positive they could do well at this, and they will give me a very fair share of the money they make during this process.

I always decline. I wish them well, but tell them this is not something that I do.

Almost inevitably, I get a return email that tries to shame me. Something like: “If your system really works, then you should be eager to get more people to make money with it because you’d get a big share of that money. If you’re afraid to back others, then that’s a pretty good sign that maybe your system doesn’t even work.”

I usually ignore that email.

While I prefer to use the term “methodology” instead of “system,” it definitely does work — but it doesn’t work for everyone. It takes a certain level of intelligence to master video poker. A genius IQ is definitely not required, but it certainly does help if you have one.

My methodology requires you to learn the games VERY well. After receiving a series of my tutorial sessions (which the emailers invariably want me to provide for free), most intelligent players could achieve this level of skill. But GETTING TO this level and STAYING AT this level are two very different things. Most players need to practice and review the strategies regularly for more than a year before they have them mastered.

Learning a second game well is always a bit easier than learning the first game well. There are certain similarities between all video poker strategies and it becomes easier over time to learn new strategies more quickly. At the same time, learning a second strategy often causes your knowledge of the first strategy to decline. Going back and forth seamlessly between games is not a trivial skill. It requires considerable study over a long period of time to be able to accomplish this.

Handing a stranger $10,000 of my money for gambling isn’t something I’m going to do lightly. Many people can be trusted with this amount of money. Many can’t. It’s possible that the ones who are most likely to ask for this money are the ones least likely to be trustworthy. Even if someone is trustworthy, managing money requires considerable skill. There is at least some correlation between people who CAN’T MANAGE MONEY well and people who DON’T HAVE MONEY today.

There are many temptations in a casino and everyone yields to different ones. I never drink alcohol so that’s not a temptation to me. But how do I know about a student? If I say, “Never drink alcohol during or immediately prior to playing,” is that sufficient? Will he abstain while I’m around, but indulge when I’m not there checking on him?

Is the student going to be distracted by silicone-enhanced cocktail waitresses in skimpy costumes? It’s all right to look, but you need to immediately refocus on whether you should hold this particular 3-card straight flush or that particular inside straight. You have to keep your head on straight when you’re in a casino and it’s tough for me to know beforehand how someone else will act under various circumstances.

Losing streaks are inevitable for everyone and losing streaks can bring out the worst aspects of a player’s personality. Lying, cheating, and stealing, among other shortcomings, are fairly common when losing. If I’m bankrolling someone, I’m likely to be on the short end of these imperfections from time to time. No thanks.

I am better at deciphering promotions today than I was three years ago. And three years ago I had already been playing video poker for more than fifteen years! What I’m trying to say is that mastering video poker is a “lifetime-of-learning” type of endeavor. Are you willing to be a student forever? A lot of information to help you learn is publicly available, but you’re still going to have to figure out many things on your own.

Finally, video poker can, at times, be a boring game. Not many people can keep their attention focused for long periods. It’s usually more exciting when you’re first learning a game, but that excitement dissipates over time. It takes a certain type of player to maintain concentration for hours and hours in the face of this type of boredom.

The best way to judge whether someone has what it takes to be a successful professional video poker player is after-the-fact. Do the last five years of results add up to enough money to cover all living expenses and, importantly, also allow for bankroll growth? If the answer is ‘yes,’ then this person likely has whatever it takes to succeed at this game. If the answer is ‘no,’ then this person needs to make adjustments to his game and habits or he will likely continue to lose.

Not everyone has the goal to play at the professional level, of course. But I certainly wouldn’t want to bankroll somebody who played poorer than that.

Simply put, the idea that you can learn to become a master video poker player with a few dozen hours of instruction from me or anybody else is ludicrous.