{"id":4591,"date":"2016-09-27T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T17:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamblingwithanedge.com\/?p=4591"},"modified":"2016-09-27T10:00:13","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T17:00:13","slug":"wasting-an-ace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wasting-an-ace\/","title":{"rendered":"Wasting an Ace"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was playing $10 Bonus Poker at the M Resort in Las Vegas at 5 a.m. one morning. I know it\u2019s too early for most players to be at a casino but there was a method to my madness. The machines I want to play are at a bar in a room that is frequently rented out for luncheons or other functions. If an organization rents out the room, they expect the room to be devoid of players for the duration. If I get there early enough, there\u2019s a really good chance I can finish my play uninterrupted.<\/p>\n

I was dealt 2\u2660 2\u2665 2\u2663 8\u2666 9\u2666. I tossed the diamonds, of course, and was fortunate to draw 2\u2666 A\u2666, making the final hand four deuces with an ace \u201ckicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was a $2,000 jackpot and I quietly waited for an attendant. They have a system at the M where jackpots trigger some sort of electronic message which gets relayed fairly quickly to a floor person. I typically bring a book along in case this takes awhile. At this time of day, they have a skeletal crew because there are relatively few patrons compared to other times of the day and things can back up if two or more jackpots happen at the same time.<\/p>\n

When the attendant came up, he smiled and said, \u201cVery good! With a kicker!\u201d Were I playing Double Double Bonus, the hand would be worth $8,000. Had I been playing Triple Double Bonus or Deuces Bonus on the same machine for the same denomination, the jackpot would have been worth $20,000 rather than a \u201cmeasly\u201d $2,000. When he first saw the number pop up on the screen, he assumed there was another zero because after all, it was a $10 game and good jackpots on such a big game must be \u201cYUGE!\u201d (or however you spell this year\u2019s new word).<\/p>\n

When he finally realized that the game I was playing didn\u2019t pay extra for good kickers, he told me I had wasted the ace. I could have used it so much more lucratively in other games.<\/p>\n

I smiled. I took this as friendly \u201cadvice\u201d from someone who meant well.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue,\u201d I said. \u201cBut unfortunately they don\u2019t let you pick the game after you hit the jackpot! I guess I\u2019ll just have to live with this.\u201d<\/p>\n

To my mind, I didn\u2019t waste the ace. \u201cWasting the ace\u201d presumably is based on the theory that we only get so many 2222A jackpots in our playing career and we must maximize the value of each one.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t subscribe to that theory. There is no video poker scorekeeper in the sky keeping track of how many times I\u2019ve received that particular hand.<\/p>\n

The 99.45% version of Deuces Bonus, with appropriate play, yields such a hand every 36,200 hands. It\u2019s possible to get two or three of those jackpots in the same day. It\u2019s possible to go several hundred thousand hands without hitting it. Whether I stay on the same machine or switch lots of time; whether I leave for the day after losing or winning some predetermined amount or keep playing straight through; whether I average four hours of play every three months or 40 hours a week–none of those things matter.<\/p>\n

What does matter? The return on the game is one important factor. If Triple Double Bonus is the highest paying game in a casino within the range of denominations I prefer — and I can afford the swings — and if I play there at all, that\u2019s the game I\u2019m playing. If Bonus Poker pays the most, I\u2019ll play that.<\/p>\n

The first game has a sky-high variance. That means it\u2019s very exciting and you\u2019ll either win or lose a ton. The second game has one of the lowest variances in video poker. For some players that means it\u2019s the most boring. How exciting or boring a game is isn\u2019t in my list of major concerns.<\/p>\n

The slot attendant had to come back to pay me. He didn\u2019t actually give me $2,000 in cash (although he would have if I wanted it that way), but rather left the 200 credits on the machine so I could continue playing.<\/p>\n

He was still a bit sorry for me that I had wasted that ace, but I assured him that I wouldn\u2019t lose any sleep over it — and getting the fourth deuce was good news and I was happy with the hand. He shrugged like I was really confused but he didn\u2019t want to embarrass somebody who couldn\u2019t understand his point. And then he left.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was playing $10 Bonus Poker at the M Resort in Las Vegas at 5 a.m. one morning. I know it\u2019s too early for most players to be at a casino but there was a method to my madness. The machines I want to play are at a bar in a room that is frequently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWasting an Ace - 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\/wasting-an-ace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wasting an Ace - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was playing $10 Bonus Poker at the M Resort in Las Vegas at 5 a.m. one morning. I know it\u2019s too early for most players to be at a casino but there was a method to my madness. The machines I want to play are at a bar in a room that is frequently […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wasting-an-ace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lasvegasadvisor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-27T17:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lva_tweet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@lva_tweet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/\",\"name\":\"Gambling With An Edge\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wasting-an-ace\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wasting-an-ace\/\",\"name\":\"Wasting an Ace - Gambling With An Edge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-27T17:00:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-27T17:00:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#\/schema\/person\/c27a91b6679cdf3c71f73bd2bdc844c7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wasting-an-ace\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wasting-an-ace\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wasting-an-ace\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Wasting an Ace\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#\/schema\/person\/c27a91b6679cdf3c71f73bd2bdc844c7\",\"name\":\"Bob Dancer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/GWAEDancerVP-e1466809008667.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/GWAEDancerVP-e1466809008667.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Bob Dancer\"},\"description\":\"Video Poker Expert\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/author\/bob-dancer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4592,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4591\/revisions\/4592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}