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.
Continue reading The Value of Creating StrategiesI received an email from Deke Castleman with the Las Vegas Advisor asking me if I’d answer the following QOD (Question of the Day):
Continue reading Do Strong Players Ruin It for Everybody Else?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.
Continue reading There’s a ReasonBonnie 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.
Continue reading I Almost Threw It AwayI’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.
Continue reading Which One is Better?As I type this, Bonnie and I are aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line Encore on a 15-day Miami-Panama Canal-Los Angeles cruise. We get highly discounted 7-day NCL cruises from Caesars because we have achieved Seven Stars status. But a Panama Canal cruise has been on our bucket list for a while, and here it is. Seven Stars players get “significant” discounts on all NCL cruises — even if those discounts are not as big as we get from 7-day cruises.
The Encore is a relatively new NCL ship — one of those with most of the restaurants and entertainment venues on levels six, seven, and eight. It is huge, holding up to 4,000 passengers. But passenger amenities are much less than we’ve experienced on other NCL cruises. Perhaps this is a major change in NCL policy. Perhaps it is unique to the Encore.
Continue reading Some Thoughts from a CruiseAt most casinos, you accumulate slot club points. Sometimes these are good for comps only. Sometimes you can redeem them for cash and/or free play.
When you redeem slot club points for cash or free play, this is taxable income. I know that many players “forget” to report this, but it’s taxable nonetheless.
Continue reading Hanging on to PointsIn 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.
Continue reading It Goes Both WaysAuthor’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.
Continue reading She Don’t Know What She’s Doin’ but She Tries to Do Her BestThis blog suggestion was sent to me by a friend, “Al.” It happened at a casino somewhere in the Mid-West. I honestly don’t know where exactly.
Al was playing video poker near a bank of Quick Quad machines that weren’t very popular. Possibly players knew how to play the machines and avoided them because they had lousy pay schedules, or maybe they just didn’t know how to play. I don’t know. I haven’t seen them. (If you’re in the latter boat, you can get a free copy of “Quick Guide to Quick Quads” on www.videopoker.com.”)
Continue reading Time to Be a Good Samaritan?