Advanced Strategy – Page 10 – Las Vegas Advisor

Posted on August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 by Bob Dancer

The Use of “fp or worse” in Strategies

A few weeks ago, I discussed the taxonomy of 3-card straight flushes. The first comment after it was published was “Dork Alert!” I assumed that I was being called a dork by someone who didn’t like the column. I was such a dork that I didn’t even know the meaning of dork! By the time I figured out what it meant, a couple of other readers defended me by saying that I was certainly not a dork, but the jury was still out about whether or not I was a nerd.

I’m so glad we got that straightened out!

Posted on July 18, 2023August 29, 2023 by Bob Dancer — Leave a comment

A Look at SF3+1, SF3+0, SF3-1, and SF3-2 — Part II of II

This is a continuation of last week’s discussion. You might want to check that blog out for context.

Consider the values of these combinations, playing 9/6 Jacks or Better for dollars, five coins at a time. Note that the value of these combinations can vary depending on the other two cards in the hands. In the examples so far, I’m considering the fourth and fifth card to be an unsuited 2 and 3.

Posted on July 11, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 18 Comments

A Look at SF3+1, SF3+0, SF3-1, and SF3-2 — Part I of II

When Liam W. Daily and I began looking at publishing strategy cards and later Winner’s Guides for a number of video poker games, we devised a terminology for discussing the various forms of 3-card straight flush combinations. We decided to start from zero, add one for every high card in the combination, and subtract one for every inside (which is usually, but not always, a gap).

Although the idea was original to us, in the sense that we didn’t read or hear about it from anybody, we later found out that other strong players were using very similar terminology among their teams. These notations weren’t published or otherwise publicized, so we hadn’t heard about them.

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 13 Comments

The Value of Creating Strategies

In my opinion, much of the value of a strategy lies in the creation process — figuring out what makes this game different from the others; looking for the rare cases; figuring out how to transcribe those cases — not in using a strategy created by somebody else.

When I’m looking for the rare cases, I’m learning all of the not-so-rare cases automatically along the way. So much of video poker is playing the mundane hands correctly.

Posted on June 28, 2023August 29, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 8 Comments

Do Strong Players Ruin It for Everybody Else?

I received an email from Deke Castleman with the Las Vegas Advisor asking me if I’d answer the following QOD (Question of the Day):

Posted on June 20, 2023August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 21 Comments

There’s a Reason

The following is a true story, other than the names of the gamblers. It happened at Harrah’s Atlantic City a number of years ago. Since I’ve played little at this particular casino, and always as a tourist rather than a local, I might have some of the details wrong. But the gist of this story is accurate and might provide fodder for thought and discussion.

Amy and Bo lived not too far away from Atlantic City, and drove to visit this casino perhaps three weekends a month — except when they were on cruises (which they enjoyed a lot) or were otherwise busy. They played single-line $1 Double Double Bonus mostly, but sometimes went for the $2 game or perhaps $1 Triple Play.

Posted on June 13, 2023August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 14 Comments

I Almost Threw It Away

Bonnie and I have been married nine years now, and she turned 80 years old June 3. From the get-go, she knew I was a professional gambler, and it became clear to me early on that she had no potential to understand advantage gambling. But she enjoys the meals, cruises, and other traveling that my profession brings me, and my life works better with her in it.

One of the things we did early on was to insulate her from the gambling swings. The bulk of each of our assets are not commingled and file taxes separately. She had some assets of her own coming in — as had I. Our wills are set up that she gives her money to her heirs, and I give money to mine. We have a “Bob and Bonnie account” for household expenses and we each contribute to it.

Posted on May 16, 2023August 29, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 11 Comments

Which One is Better?

I’m going to present a case about a Caesars property with conditions that may not exist anywhere. I’m trying to address how I would figure things out if this property did exist. I know many of my readers would prefer I do all the calculations for their particular casino and tell them, “Just do this.” I can’t do that. There are thousands of casinos out there with a different game mix at each one. And the game mix is different for quarters than it is for dollars than it is for higher denominations. And to top it off, I have readers who insist on playing Double Double Bonus even if there are numerous superior games EV-wise.

Posted on April 18, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 18 Comments

It Goes Both Ways

In January, I had an incident at the Harrah’s Cherokee casino that I wrote about. I started my trip by taking a $20,000 marker, consisting of eight $2,500 TITO tickets and began to play $5 Deuces Wild. When I hit four deuces, I got two more of the same size . When I hit royals, I collected eight more.

It was a very successful trip and at the end, I had far more than eight of these tickets. I had signed for every one of them. At the end of the trip when I cashed out, the cage said one of the $2,500 tickets had been cancelled. They weren’t going to pay it until they figured it out.

Posted on April 11, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 8 Comments

She Don’t Know What She’s Doin’ but She Tries to Do Her Best

Author’s Note: I wrote a similar blog recently, with some readers requesting more information. I think there’s enough different between that piece and this one to make this one worthwhile.

The title of today’s blog comes from a mid-90s song “Baby Likes to Rock It” by the Tractors. I’ve liked that lyric since I first heard it when the song was new, and think that it’s a perfect fit for explaining Bonnie’s gambling.

Category: Advanced Strategy