I received an offer from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino for $1,000 in free play, $500 in travel reimbursement, $250 in casino food credit, two rounds of golf, and two concert tickets — valid anytime between early April and the end of June. I also received an even bigger offer from Harrah’s New Orleans which was available for approximately the same time period. Since Bonnie had never been on a casino trip with me, it seemed a no-brainer for her to join me on back-to-back visits to both casinos where we would pick up the goodies. Continue reading A Trip to Cherokee
Category: Video Poker
Playing for an Entry
I received an email from someone named Al asking about slot and video poker tournaments in which you have to play to earn an entry. He wanted to know, basically, whether or not it’s worth it to participate.
An example of this type of contest is the Thursday senior slot tournament at the South Point which has a prize pool of $5,200. If you are at least 50 years of age, you receive one free entry. Earning 250 or 500 points entitles you to one or two additional entries. Continue reading Playing for an Entry
Checking Up
In business, there is a motto regarding employee supervision: EXPECT. INSPECT. That is, assume that they are going to do a good job — but check on them anyway. You should do the same thing as a video poker player.
Continue reading Checking Up
Using Markers in Casinos
I’ve used casino credit on a semi-regular basis for more than two decades. While I’ve learned many things over the years, I don’t consider myself an expert on using casino credit. Still, I’ll share what I know (or at least think I know) and perhaps it’ll be useful to some of my readers. Continue reading Using Markers in Casinos
Holding All Five Cards
A friend of mine, I’ll call him “Dan,” was playing Ten Play Jacks or Better and was dealt AAAA7. Dan held only the four aces and hit the deal button. Since Jacks or Better is not a kicker game, he received 125 coins for each of the 10 lines. While this is a nice score, it pales in comparison to being dealt the same hand in Double Double Bonus, which Dan also sometimes plays. He noted that he received two kickers and, therefore, would have received (8 x 800) + (2 x 2,000) = 10,400 coins playing DDB rather than the “mere” 1,250 credits he received playing Jacks or Better. Dan didn’t hold the fifth card so that he could see how many “kickers” he would have received had he been playing Double Double Bonus. Apparently Dan has a small streak of masochism and wanted to know just how badly he should feel for NOT playing Double Double Bonus. Continue reading Holding All Five Cards
A Quizzical Evening at the Casino
I mentioned a few weeks ago that a man named Dan Sechkar edits my columns for me. Dan is a puzzling sort of guy and he created a column full of puzzles. I enjoyed working these out. Perhaps you will too. Continue reading A Quizzical Evening at the Casino
It’s the Casino’s Choice
A friend of mine, I’ll call her Sarah, recently told me of two almost identical incidents that she was involved in at two different casinos — and each casino handled the incident very differently. I think it’s instructive to examine what happened.
Continue reading It’s the Casino’s Choice
There’s Something About Mary
Longtime readers of mine have read several dozen articles that at least mentioned my wife Shirley. Shirley and I are no longer married. We divorced five months ago, due primarily to her health. She has severe COPD (a lung disorder) and couldn’t be around anyone who had contact with first- or second-hand smoke. While I’m not a smoker, I spend a lot of time in casinos and even showering immediately after I came home wasn’t good enough. According to Shirley, my pores reeked of cigarette smoke. To stay with her, I would have needed to give up casinos entirely and move away from Las Vegas. Given my vocation, I found this to be a difficult dilemma. Even though I was extremely reluctant to do this, with all factors considered, it seemed best for both of us that we go our separate ways. Continue reading There’s Something About Mary
My Best Plays
I’ve mentioned several times that I enjoy reading the posts at www.richardmunchkin.com. Richard is my co-host on our radio show, Gambling with an Edge, and also a friend. His insights come from his successful play on the table game side of the casino whereas mine come primarily from video poker. The similarities and differences in the way we think about things are definitely worthy of column-discussion.
Continue reading My Best Plays
How Can A Lifetime Be So Short?
One of the things that separates Video Poker for Winners software from its competitors is the bankroll calculation module. (Each of the major video poker trainers has features the others don’t. Serious players often own two or three such trainers and use them for different purposes. Compared to the money you run through the machines, the price of each trainer is very small and the potential benefits very large.) Continue reading How Can A Lifetime Be So Short?