{"id":120328,"date":"2019-11-12T09:14:36","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T17:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=120328"},"modified":"2019-11-12T09:14:36","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T17:14:36","slug":"an-exception-to-the-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/an-exception-to-the-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"An Exception to the Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If someone were attempting to describe my \u201csystem\u201d of winning at video poker, a reasonable 20-second summary would be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Only play when you have the advantage.<\/li>
  2. Play within your bankroll.<\/li>
  3. If you do the above, over time your bankroll will increase.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Yes, there are some nuances, but basically, that\u2019s it. It\u2019s not that complicated. It\u2019s not something I can proclaim is original with me. It\u2019s simply the way I do it, and it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I was playing a $1 9\/5 Double Double Bonus progressive, where the royal was above $7,000, the aces with a kicker was at $2,300, 2s, 3s, and 4s with a kicker was at $840, and the aces without a kicker was at $820. Along with the slot club and promotions, in my opinion, it was playable. There were others playing for the progressives as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This time, I was the one who hit the royal progressive. (Not the usual result when there are multiple people trying for the same prize, and I\u2019m not as fast as I used to be, but anyone participating and playing appropriately hits some of the time.) While the other knowledgeable players cleared out (because the house has a considerable edge on this game when the royal resets at $4,000), I stuck around and waited to be paid. Of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A student from my classes congratulated me and we chatted until I was paid. After they counted out the money, they asked me to play one more hand. Which I did. Then I cashed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The student asked some of the usual questions that all jackpot winners get, such as \u201cHow much money did you start with today?\u201d I declined to answer specifically, other than to say this isn\u2019t a game where your daily score matters that much. It\u2019s a game where your monthly and yearly score matters much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    She then asked me if there was a law saying I had to play one more hand after hitting a jackpot. The house did, after all, have an advantage on that hand and my rule is to only play when I have the advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I answered that I could have legally refused to play it off. Sometimes the floor people know the law, and sometimes all they know is that their bosses tell them to get the player to play it off.  If somebody refuses to do it, at minimum, that player is \u201cwritten up\u201d as some sort of a troublemaker and reported to the bosses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Either way, I would draw unwanted attention to myself. Since I\u2019m welcome to play unrestricted at few enough places, why would I do something that might get me complained about to the slot director? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Depending on the exact slot club and promotion, the casino had an edge of less than 1.5% on that one bet of $5. That\u2019s a 7\u00a2 expected loss. Sometimes it makes sense to not sweat the small stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another way to look at it is that yes, there was an expected loss of 7\u00a2 by playing the hand.  But there was a possibly bigger, although unknown, cost if I had refused. Better the devil you know than the devil you don\u2019t. Including keeping my welcome, I consider playing one additional hand a positive play, even though it cost me 7\u00a2 in EV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I could have played one coin only with an expected loss of 5\u00a2, which would have saved me a little, but that would also look strange to the floor person. That being a memorable encounter for the floor person was definitely not what I had in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, I tip a modest amount, (or I don\u2019t tip at all, depending on factors I\u2019ve discussed in other columns and will undoubtedly discuss again someday), play one hand, and then put my newly gained money away. The reason I do it in this order is that the floor persons generally leave when I play a hand and don\u2019t even know how much I play beyond the one hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There are times, of course, when I would continue to play after picking up a W2G. If I hit the aces with a kicker hand when it was at, say, $2,020 because it had been hit by somebody else (or maybe even by me!) recently, the fact that it reset to $2,000 wouldn\u2019t affect the playability of the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Or, because I play games with a 4,000-coin royal far more than I play progressives, hitting a jackpot doesn\u2019t affect the playability of the game. The same odds that were in effect before I collected the jackpot remain unchanged on non-progressive games. <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    If someone were attempting to describe my \u201csystem\u201d of winning at video poker, a reasonable 20-second summary would be: Only play when you have the advantage. Play within your bankroll. If you do the above, over time your bankroll will increase. Yes, there are some nuances, but basically, that\u2019s it. It\u2019s not that complicated. It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[428,196],"yoast_head":"\nAn Exception to the Rule - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/an-exception-to-the-rule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Exception to the Rule - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If someone were attempting to describe my \u201csystem\u201d of winning at video poker, a reasonable 20-second summary would be: Only play when you have the advantage. 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