{"id":4842,"date":"2016-11-15T09:16:37","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T17:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamblingwithanedge.com\/?p=4842"},"modified":"2023-08-24T14:24:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T22:24:03","slug":"it-takes-more-than-a-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/it-takes-more-than-a-book\/","title":{"rendered":"It Takes More Than a Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

In addition to where my blogs usually appear, starting a few months ago they also have been found at www.gamblingwithanedge.com<\/a>. This is a site created by the folks at The Las Vegas Advisor<\/em><\/a> and groups together podcasts from the radio show and blogs from a number of successful gamblers.<\/p>\n

One feature of that site is it\u2019s a handy place to post your own comments for or against anything written. Today\u2019s blog was inspired by comment written about one of my recent blogs. It wasn\u2019t an unfriendly comment. It wasn\u2019t a personal attack of any sort. It was likely intended as gentle teasing. But nonetheless I disagree strongly with what was written.<\/p>\n

The blog in question was dated October 25, 2016 and part of it referred to an incident where I \u201cinstructed\u201d my ex-wife Shirley on my way of gambling. More than one reader responded with how they <\/em>have taught spouses how to gamble.<\/p>\n

One reader posed the following:\u00a0 My wife and I have been married for 44 years. She has just started to play VP. Instead of me teaching her I just gave her a copy of Bob\u2019s book on how to win at JoB\u2026\u2026.if she loses there is only one person (other than herself) to blame\u2026\u2026sorry Bob.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks for plugging my Winner\u2019s Guide<\/em><\/a> (actually co-written with Liam W. Daily). If I personally were trying to learn a game and someone had already created that kind of a book, it would definitely be part of my learning process. I use all sorts of sources to help myself get better at things.<\/p>\n

With that said, tossing someone a Winner\u2019s Guide<\/em> and telling them they\u2019re now on their own is a lous<\/em>y way to teach them how to play a winning game.<\/p>\n

Why? Because people learn in different ways. Some people learn by reading. Some learn by listening. Some learn by doing and being corrected. Some people are A students and very proficient at comprehending what they read, but more people aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n

A Winner\u2019s Guide<\/em> make a lot more sense if you also are using computer software along with it. I personally use Video Poker for Winners<\/em><\/a>, WinPoker<\/em>, and Wolf Video Poker<\/em> to assist me. For learning a new game they all work, and each has small \u00a0advantages the others don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Even with a computer and a book, most players can\u2019t tell you when Q\u2660 T\u2660 8\u2660 is more valuable than a 4-card inside straight with three high cards in the same hand. Studying at that level by themselves is beyond what most players can or will do. A personal tutor (assuming that\u2019s what you call an accomplished player who has already learned the game well) can explain this easily enough, but it will often take several repetitions before the new student has it mastered. And then a few weeks or months later, a review will often be required. And then later, another review.This kind of information doesn\u2019t stick firmly in the minds of many.<\/p>\n

Perhaps more fundamentally, even though the Jacks or Better Winner\u2019s Guide <\/em><\/a>can help teach you how to play each hand correctly, it won\u2019t turn you into a winning player. Although there are some exceptions in a few places, the best common version of the game returns 99.54% before including the slot club and other benefits. That means the house has an edge of 0.46% if you can play perfectly — and it takes a while to learn how to play perfectly.<\/p>\n

The concepts of free play, mailers, promotions, comps, and other goodies won\u2019t be learned from the Winner\u2019s Guides<\/em>. These concepts are every bit as important as how to play the hands correctly, and are arguably more difficult to learn.<\/p>\n

Plus, they keep changing. Very few slot clubs are the same today as they were three years ago. Similar, yes. Identical, no. And knowing where those differences lie can make or break you.<\/p>\n

Although my blogs sometimes address these subjects, I may be talking about casinos and\/or stakes which you don\u2019t play. For \u201clocal\u201d (to the student) information, that student is going to need local tutoring.<\/p>\n

Does every reader of my blog need to be a tutor? No, of course not. But thinking that you\u2019ve done a good job teaching by giving the student a book, even a good book, is fooling yourself. It takes a lot more than a book.<\/p>\n

And if you become a teacher to help somebody else, you will become a better player in the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In addition to where my blogs usually appear, starting a few months ago they also have been found at www.gamblingwithanedge.com. This is a site created by the folks at The Las Vegas Advisor and groups together podcasts from the radio show and blogs from a number of successful gamblers. One feature of that site is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15763,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[601,558,643,557],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15763"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}