I’ve had an amazing experience that is new to me as a gambler.
I’ve been learning a bit about advantage slots — and playing them with moderate success. I’m not going to go into detail, but some games are the type that if one particular number is above 40 and another particular number is above 30, the player has the advantage for some length of time.
Continue reading A New Experience for MeThe following question was posed to me for inclusion in one of Richard’s and my mailbag shows on our Gambling with an Edge podcast. While I did give an answer to it on the air, I believe a fuller answer is appropriate and so I’m going to talk about it here as well.
“This version of Double Bonus Poker is called “Full Pay Double Bonus Poker” or “10/7/5 Double Bonus Poker.”
If Jacks or Better and Double Bonus Poker had similar strategies, it would be a no-brainer to select Double Bonus Poker as the preferred game.
Unfortunately, the strategy for Double Bonus Poker is more complex than the strategy for Jacks or Better making it more likely that mistakes will be made – mistakes which will cost you money.”
I decided to use the coupons for Golden Gate in the Las Vegas Advisor Member Rewards booklet. There were three that were of interest to me — $25 match play (worth $12 or so); first blackjack pays 2-to-1, up to $25 (worth about the same); and playing $10,000 in coin-in within 24 hours on video poker gets you $100 in free play. (We’ll talk about how much that is worth.)
Continue reading Coupons at Golden GateI was playing a very nice $5 progressive at Circa. It was on the 165-foot bar at the west end of their casino’s lower level. In addition to containing slots and blackjack, the machines have numerous video poker denominations from 25¢ to $5, and each denomination has numerous games all connected to the same progressives. The progressives on these machines are linked to similar machines at the Golden Gate (directly across Fremont Street) and the D (also on Fremont Street, but two blocks east).
When I started play on Valentine’s Day, the progressive was at $38,800 and the best game to play was 8/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe. I’d been tipped off by a friend. I know the 9/6 non-progressive version of this game very well, and practiced at this progressive level for a bit before I drove to the casino.
Continue reading Is It Worth It?Author’s note: Today’s story is a composite between two different incidents that were somewhat similar, but each different from the other. So, the final result is fiction but based on fact. Readers are invited to consider how they would have handled this situation had it happened to them in a game they played. Ignore for now that this game was larger than many of my readers play. This kind of situation can happen on a game of any size.
In 2002, there was one $5 Multi Strike Deuces Bonus Poker game at the ABC casino, along with three $1 versions of the same game. The game was worth about 99.6%, but with the slot club, mailers, and promotions, it was a good game. Especially since valuable weekly drawings were held and this $100-per-play game resulted in a lot of tickets obtained at an advantage.
Continue reading What Would You Do?You’re playing dollar pNSU Deuces Wild, the 15-9-4-4-3 pay schedule also called Airport Deuces, five coins at a time, and you’re dealt W W W 7♦ 9♦, where each W indicates a wild card. Specifically, a deuce. This is a dealt straight flush, worth $45 in this game. Congratulations!
Continue reading Video Poker EndowmentNSU is the 16-10-4-4-3 pay schedule of Deuces Wild that returns 99.728% when played well. “pNSU” (for pseudo NSU) is the name Liam W. Daily and I used to describe the 15-9-4-4-3 Deuces Wild pay schedule that returns 98.913%. Our name is still seen out there sometimes, but the name Airport Deuces, among others, is a far more common nickname for this game. Some people prefer to call these games “NSU (or pNSU) Deuces” or “NSU (or pNSU) Deuces Wild” but I’ve always preferred just NSU and pNSU.
I know NSU really well. I’ve played it probably 5,000 hours over the years. Taught it several dozen times, including the Advanced Strategy with all the penalty cards perhaps ten times. I co-wrote the Winner’s Guide for the game. And I still review the fine points periodically.
Continue reading Using NSU Deuces Wild Strategy for pNSU DeucesWhat I’m going to talk about today is a personal preference. It definitely works for me. I have no idea if it is something that would work for most people or not, but you take a gander and see if it’s a possibility for you.
One of the games I play at South Point is Multi Strike. Although I play the 25¢ 9/6 Jacks or Better Five Play version of Multi Strike, the technique I’m espousing works on any version of the game. It also works on Super Times Pay and Double Super Times Pay, along with a few others.
Continue reading How I Do ItI was playing dollar 10/7 Double Bonus at the Four Queens during a promotion. As always, before I started my play, I checked the pay schedule to verify that the game was what I was expecting. Casinos change games periodically and if the game has changed, I may well change the game I want to play there — or even decide the promotion is not worth playing.
After some time, my credits went to zero. This was not a big deal. It regularly happens. I reloaded the machine with some additional Benjamins and began to play again.
Continue reading An Embarrassing SituationA well-financed player, “Hal,” hired me some time ago to teach him 9/6 Triple Double Bonus Poker. This is not a particularly good game (98.15%), but it was the best he could find for the large stakes he wished to play.
I warned him, of course, that the game would likely be very expensive. He didn’t care that much. The excitement of hitting large royals and aces with a kicker (AWAK) would counterbalance any losing sessions he had. Okay. It’s not the way I want to play, but I was happy to teach him.
Continue reading How Do You Figure?