Question of the Day - 28 December 2021

I've found that playing at my maximum speed just isn't worth it. I can't play perfectly at that speed, and quite often, the cost of a mistake is huge--it can be much more than one bet. So let's say I'm speeding along at 1000 HPH playing FPDW. I figure to make 0.76%, or 7.6 bets, per hour. I could easily negate most or all of that +EV with one mistake. Therefore, I play at 800 HPH, being willing to cut my profits down to (0.8)(7.6) bets for the sake of accuracy.

Horrible case in point: $1 10/7 DB. I hold KQs instead of KQ10s (i.e., I mistakenly discard the 10), and the next two cards I draw are the AJ of that suit. Minus $4000, from playing too fast.

Mike Ditka said that football is a game of mistakes. I think that applies to any sport, and gambling. Coach Ditka,with two artificial hips,was also the best racquetball player on the 85 bears team. He said you gotta know where the ball is going to end up. I think you have to play video poker at a speed that forces you to concentrate on the game and make the fewest mistakes. At 72 I play slower than I did years ago but make fewer mistakes. I’ll take the time to check my Dancer’s players card if need be. I’m having more fun and making more money. Speed kills.

Is it foolish to bounce around from machine to machine or even casino to casino searching for hot, paying VP machines?  I give it 8-10 spins at different denominations, then move to another machine if it isn't giving out.   Also, the LVA coupon book promotes my style of bouncing around, seeing multiple places in LV or even OH-IN-KY where we gamble.  

Does a denomination of .50, $1, $2 or $5 get hot or cold?  

Should you always max bet?  


I prefer picking a different amount every spin, usually on $1.

I would think even at perfect play at 1k hph you would still mess up. These damn machines have buttons that don't register a hold every so often. Sure you can have a slot tech check the past plays and you can tell them it didn't hold when you told it to, but are you going to bother on a 3oak or a straight? Probably not.

Kevin your calculation didn't include the fact that even the split-second more you take to hold that extra 10 would have given the RNG time to change many times. So you may not have made that $4000 royal at all.  

All fast play would guarantee me is losing faster. I just finished playing quarter Bonus Poker and didn't get my first winning hand until I was down to $3.75. It took me less than five minutes. I never had a chance to order a drink (I was playing at the bar).

Kenny, I am pretty sure that once you hit the deal button, the RNG has already done its thing and the cards are placed in the order that they will come out.  So in all reality, holding the 10 would have given him the Royal.  I have also heard that some machines have the draw cards behind the 5 play cards.  I am not sure about that one.  That may have changed the outcome also, depending on what would have been behind the 10.  I defer to experts on this for verification.  I get about 500 hands per hour.  Fast enough for me.  No way am I good enough to try to make a living at this.  Since it's for the fun of coming out ahead, I am not in that much of a hurry.  I do practice a lot with software to get as close as possible to perfect play, but its for fun.

I go for accuracy rather than speed although both are important.  

Correct me if I am wrong as I am not an expert VP player, but I thought once you hit the “deal” button and your 5 cards displayed the possible 5 cards to be drawn are in place.  Am I wrong.  In other words the random number generator is done for that hand.

What real dif does it make. Does speed equal to profits. Only if you have a favorable progressive. Since all vpoker in Vegas has been gutted you basically increases your loss. This dates to time l when there was 10/7 DB and other positive games. We are playing for fun. If you are in vegas maybe. That era is over. It seems the Advisor is now tailed to locals. You should address the policy of no comps etc. if local it makes no diff to you. For visitors it does. The theory that increases sped increases your comps. Only makes diff for the few so called prof players. The only people who lie more than fisherman are gamblers. Read in the advisors where you can still make huge profits in CherokevNC. I checked vpoker free inventory on that casino and guess what? I do not see a playable machine at any schedule. Of course they change them. You cannot even find 9/6 JOB in these casinos. I don’t drive long distances to play a few machines. I am 30 minutes from tunica. Is it worth it to fly tovegas 

Note on the few 10/7 DB machines you do not get points or markly decreased points. Again what diff does it make. 4 queens hasv7 DB machines. Am I coming to Vegas to ply 7 machines. The whole Las Vegas experience is a holographic one. Pretend or fact I don’t know. According to owners they are getting Rick with no comps no room offers. Yet resorts world has 55% occupancy. Does not make sense. 4Queens has best deal. No resort fees and you get free rms with play. Points can be used for free rooms. No comps no room offers. Record profits. I smell a fish. 

Get Dancer’s Jacks or better and Vp for the intelligent beginner in the LVA bookstore and get straightened out. You’ll see a line one the book. It’s simple but not easy. I don’t see his software but it is also a must. Find your game, correct pay table and good buttons. You’ll be fine.

Yes, except on a very few, older machines, when you press DEAL, ten cards are dealt. You see the first five and then #6, 7, etc. will come up if and when you draw.

If your a drinker I would think you would want to slow your rate of play and measure your success I n drinks per hour. Your win loss ratio will converge first because of your slower rate of play will increase your accuracy and then your accuracy will decline due to the win ratio of the booze… lol !

Everyone thinks they are "fast" until they see that guy that plays two machines at the same time. Pretty sure there's videos out there but I say him play live once at Red Rock and it's a site to behold, one of the most amazing things I've seen in a casino. I can't speak to his accuracy, but he was playing at the 100%+ machines, so I can only assume he had a +EV style. 

Depends on my beers per hour speed. 

I watched a guy play two machines in the high limit room at Caesars. As I was walking by, he was just pounding buttons like he was playing whack-a-mole. They were $5 machines; I thought, This guy's nuts! Had to stop and watch. He was playing two machines faster than I could keep up with one. But on that one I could keep up, he was completely accurate. At that speed and that level, he must have been racking up some serious expected value.

Above a certain speed level, the faster you go, the greater the chance that you will make a mistake, either primarily due to your goof-up, or primarily due to the machine (such as sticky buttons). You cannot be sure that any machine you sit down at has been well-maintained. If you hit a button to hold a card, but the machine doesn't do the hold, then you need to be playing slowly enough to notice that occurrence, so that you can fix it. If you're playing super-fast, you will hit the Draw button before you notice the glitch. Same thing applies to the case when you decided what cards to hold after your initial thought but then realized too late (after you hit the Draw button) due to further thinking, that the correct hold is actually something else. The cost of your mistake could easily be more than whatever amount of extra profit you would've made by playing faster. Plus, your enjoyment in playing is less if you're playing faster. Playing super-fast just isn't worth it.