{"id":839506,"date":"2018-01-09T10:44:32","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T18:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=28535"},"modified":"2023-08-24T15:06:06","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T23:06:06","slug":"whats-going-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/whats-going-on\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Going On?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a recent videopoker.com forum post in mid-December, one member, \u201cGeorge,\u201d posted the following. It was in a thread that at the time was discussing players offering advice to players who sit next to them:<\/span><\/p>\n

For the last few weeks, I’ve been hitting one particular promo spread among a few casinos. I’m going to guess well over 100 hours since Thanksgiving. <\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i>Never once, not a single time could I even tell you what game the person next to me was playing. Not if they played it well, just what they were playing.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

George is a local Las Vegas player who I think plays quarters. I\u2019m going to assume he plays at that level in the commentary that follows. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I know George a little and I believe that he is seriously attempting to win at video poker. I have no knowledge of his actual scores, but I know he studies and attempts to play the best games using appropriate strategies. He pays attention to promotions and in this particular example believes he has found an edge.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know with certainty the particular promotion George has been playing. But I certainly know about believing a casino-promotion offering is so good that I\u2019ve gone in and hit it almost every day until it\u2019s over. I\u2019ve had that experience more than 100 times in the past 23 years. I know well the tunnel vision that can result from this — where nothing and nobody else matters.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that for me personally, such tunnel vision is expensive. Being at least minimally aware of my surroundings is important. Let\u2019s look at why, to me at least. As they say, your mileage may vary.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I\u2019m going to assume that George\u2019s tunnel vision included totally ignoring other players to the point of incivility. That may well not have been true with this particular player, but it is with some. One reason I\u2019m using the fake name \u201cGeorge\u201d is that it allows me more artistic license. If the real George wishes to identify himself in the comments on gamblingwithanedge.com and say I\u2019ve pegged him wrong, he is welcome to do so. But this article is meant to be about a behavior of many players rather than one player in particular.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. I believe you need to be generally aware of your surroundings — including other players. This would include, at a minimum, a nod or a \u201chello.\u201d It\u2019s fine if you don\u2019t want to talk to anybody, but basic manners make the world go \u2018round. Even if you sit down next to a \u201cchatty Cathy,\u201d it\u2019s not that hard to say you really need to concentrate and can\u2019t talk and play at the same time.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      There will be times when you accidentally leave your jacket on your chair or leave uncashed credits on your machine. Your odds are much better at getting those things back if there\u2019s at least a basic level of friendliness.<\/span><\/p>\n

      There will be times that the machine you want is busy. If you have some sort of positive relationship, even a minor one, it\u2019s easier to get the current occupant to agree to give you the machine when he is done. Your reputation follows you around. Players will respond better to a \u201cQuiet George\u201d than they will to a \u201cGrumpy George.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. A more important reason for at least being aware of other players around you is that they are often your best source of casino information. Even if you\u2019re the most knowledgeable guy around, nobody knows everything. However good this current promotion is, it\u2019s possible there is a better one somewhere else. Or a good one coming up that requires you to do some preparation (such as get a player\u2019s card in another casino or perhaps learn a new game). It can be very cost effective to share information with a limited number of other players who play in approximately the same casinos at roughly the same stakes as you do.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

         <\/p>\n

        You don\u2019t want to share information with everybody. It\u2019s wise to have some secrets. But to figure out with which players are worth sharing, you need to evaluate them. That evaluation includes which games they play, when they play, and how competently they play.<\/span><\/p>\n

        As a quarter player, if the person next to you is playing nickels, you can basically ignore them as a person with whom to share information. In most casino locations, nickel pay schedules are so bad that anybody willing to play them is almost always clueless. That player\u2019s goal is to gamble as inexpensively as possible and he doesn\u2019t have the knowledge to recognize that in most environments, he\u2019ll lose less playing the best quarter games than playing most nickel games.<\/span><\/p>\n

        If your neighbor is playing quarters, you need to look at the game he is playing. On most multi-game machines there are a variety of games. If the player is not playing one of the top two or three games, again he can be ignored — assuming you\u2019re a player who wishes to win. Winning may or may not be possible on the best pay schedule or two. It is virtually never possible on lesser pay schedules.<\/span><\/p>\n

        If this player is playing on a game you\u2019re unfamiliar with, you should take note of what it is — perhaps 8\/5 Super Double Double Bonus. When you go home, it\u2019s easy to check out how much this game returns. It\u2019s possible that it is a better game that what you are already playing.<\/span><\/p>\n

        You need to eventually evaluate this player\u2019s play. On occasion, glance over and watch a hand or two. It won\u2019t take long to conclude whether the player is basically competent or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

        If you identify the player as playing the right game and playing it competently, this person is at least a potential \u2018friend\u2019 with whom to share information. If you identify the player as not \u2018up to par,\u2019 that\u2019s useful too.<\/span><\/p>\n

        Over time, you\u2019ll get to know a number of potential allies. Depending on your personality and preferences, some will be a better fit than others. To see if they\u2019re interested, share something you know (e.g. \u201cHave you heard of the new policy at Sam\u2019s Town about xxxx\u201d). If they seem interested, share this information with them and see what comes in return. Some people are very good at taking all the knowledge you\u2019re willing to share and sharing nothing in return. You don\u2019t need friends like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

        This is a lengthy process, but to me it is very valuable.<\/span><\/p>\n

        George is enough of a \u201cregular\u201d at several casinos that others know him. If he is at least minimally friendly, he\u2019ll have a number of unofficial allies. If he totally ignores everybody, he\u2019ll have a much harder time in casinos. If he wants people with whom to share information, he\u2019ll have some basis for making an intelligent decision about whom to trust.<\/span><\/p>\n

        This isn\u2019t rocket science and everybody\u2019s style is a bit different. But to be so absorbed in your game that you see nothing around you is not a good idea. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        On a recent videopoker.com forum post in mid-December, one member, \u201cGeorge,\u201d posted the following. It was in a thread that at the time was discussing players offering advice to players who sit next to them: For the last few weeks, I’ve been hitting one particular promo spread among a few casinos. I’m going to guess […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15763,"featured_media":6498,"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":[558,643,557],"tags":[561,585],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839506"}],"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=839506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}