{"id":91538,"date":"2018-12-04T09:38:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T17:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=91538"},"modified":"2018-12-04T09:38:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T17:38:00","slug":"counting-thing-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/counting-thing-twice\/","title":{"rendered":"Counting the Same Thing Twice"},"content":{"rendered":"

I received some emails from a player, call him \u201cSam,\u201d who was trying to talk himself into playing 8\/5 Double Double Bonus Poker Multi Strike, a game that returns 97.07% when played well. It returns far less than that for most players because the game requires four separate strategies to play correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n

As most of you know, Multi Strike is a game where you pay 20 coins for four lines before you start. If you get no score on the bottom line, the hand is over. You\u2019re out 20 coins.<\/span><\/p>\n

Should you at least get your money back on the bottom line, you get to play the second line at double stakes \u201cfor free.\u201d It\u2019s not actually free. It\u2019s simply that you\u2019ve already paid for it. \u00a0Five of the coins you initially paid go for playing the second line, which happens about half the time, at double payoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Score on this line and you get to play the third line at 4x. Score on the bottom three lines and you get to play the top line at 8x. Each of these two lines were pre-paid, five coins at a time. Periodically, to make the math work, you get a free ride on one or more of the lines which allows you to move up to the next higher line whether you score on the current line or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam had read enough of my writings to know that I would not be a fan of a game that paid so little. You can play it if you want, but for me, the game plus the slot club, plus the various promotions must exceed 100% to be playable.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Sam argued, if he hit a royal on the second line, he\u2019d get $2,000. On the third line this was worth $4,000. And on the top line, the royal was worth $8,000. Surely, he argued, those big numbers would boost the 97.07% payout. Couldn\u2019t that boost be enough to make the game worthwhile?<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer is \u2018no.\u2019 Those rare hits are already included in the 97.07% figure. One or more of those jackpots could make you a winner today, but when you don\u2019t hit them (which is far more likely), you\u2019re going to be losing at a much faster rate than you\u2019re used to. It\u2019s not 97.07% PLUS the royals. It\u2019s 97.07% INCLUDING the royals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another factor is taxes. The tax law is different today than it was a few years ago. W2Gs are the same now as they used to be, but for many recreational players who used to itemize, the standard deduction is now high enough so that itemization doesn\u2019t make financial sense. And if you are in that category, W2Gs are taxable. <\/span><\/p>\n

The only time you can \u201cwrite them off\u201d is if you itemize, and there are so many things that are no longer deductible. The math behind itemization has totally changed. The first $20,000 or so worth of W2Gs each year are far more taxable than they were a few years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, playing a game that generates extra W2Gs is a game to be avoided unless you play enough that you\u2019re going to get a lot those jackpots. So, a quarter Multi Strike game should be less desirable this year than last. The same conclusion applies to Ultimate X and other games involving multipliers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep in mind that I\u2019m not a tax expert and my explanations here are simplified. See your tax professional for guidance.<\/span><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I received some emails from a player, call him \u201cSam,\u201d who was trying to talk himself into playing 8\/5 Double Double Bonus Poker Multi Strike, a game that returns 97.07% when played well. It returns far less than that for most players because the game requires four separate strategies to play correctly. As most of […]<\/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":[1901,428,196],"yoast_head":"\nCounting the Same Thing Twice - 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\/counting-thing-twice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Counting the Same Thing Twice - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I received some emails from a player, call him \u201cSam,\u201d who was trying to talk himself into playing 8\/5 Double Double Bonus Poker Multi Strike, a game that returns 97.07% when played well. 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