Today I play different video poker games at different casinos — usually the highest-returning games offered in denominations that interest me. It wasn\u2019t always this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the \u201cgood old days,\u201d which for me were the mid-1990s, the best $5 and higher games almost everywhere were 9\/6 Jacks or Better. With slot clubs and promotions, this game could be played with an advantage at a dozen or so different casinos in Las Vegas. I learned the game 100% accurately and it was just a matter of putting in the hours, assuming you had the bankroll to survive the swings. Borrowing the title of a Josh Axelrad book that was based on playing blackjack, this was a matter of \u201cRepeat Until Rich.\u201d And I did. And many others did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was some strategy choosing at which casino to play, and when. Casinos offered point multipliers sometimes, or had a promotion where they invited a lot of players in and gave away lots of money over a weekend — usually by a slot tournament or by a drawing — and if you played then, sometimes you got a piece of that money. Not every time, of course, but when you\u2019re already playing a game where you have the edge, these extra \u201cpieces of money\u201d add up. In a typical year, I\u2019d play in maybe 75 events (meaning some weekends I played at two different events), and collected the extra money at 10 or 15 of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back then, mailer money in Las Vegas was rare, whereas today it\u2019s common. Today, it\u2019s rare when I play 9\/6 Jacks or Better. At the five casinos I play the most <\/s>(limiting the discussion to video poker and not including playing slots, which I also play), I play five different games. Actually, more than five, because at two of the casinos, there is more than one acceptable game. I \u201crotate\u201d which game I play depending on the monthly promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the games I play vary in denomination. At one casino, I play dollar single line, meaning $5 per hand. I\u2019d prefer to play larger, but the higher-stakes games at that casino aren\u2019t good enough. And the dollar game, plus slot club, mailers, and promotions, provides me with enough benefits that I keep playing there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m no longer playing just in Las Vegas. No longer just in Nevada. Although I\u2019ve mentioned some other places I play periodically, and there are some I haven\u2019t mentioned, it\u2019s still a surprise to me that a resident of Las Vegas can find better video poker out of town. Don\u2019t expect me to announce exactly which game I play at which casino. At some of the places I play, the good situation would not last if lots of players were playing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Playing a number of games keeps me sharper than playing just one game. Plus, 9\/6 Jacks or Better is arguably the simplest game to play well. Every additional game I learn has special one-of-a-kind sorts of situations that I have to master. And when I do master them, sometimes they provide inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is also the issue of keeping the games straight in my mind. The combinations that are the toughest to keep straight are the 3-card straight flushes versus two high cards, suited or not. Every game has its own rules and going back and forth between games, it\u2019s easy to get mixed up. It\u2019s also easier for a senior citizen to get mixed up than it was when I was still \u201cin my prime.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I find myself practicing more today than I did before. Just before I go and play a game I haven\u2019t played in a month or more, I\u2019ll spend a few hours mastering it again. I can get so I can play a game 100% perfectly, but it takes regular review to stay at that level for a number of different games simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it is no longer, \u201cRepeat Until Rich.\u201d The available edges are smaller today. Casinos continually become savvier and savvier in what games and promotions they can profitably offer. Casino mistakes are still out there, and I still try to exploit them when I find them, but they aren\u2019t as numerous, as large, and don\u2019t last as long as they did before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are still some players who do well, of course, and I am one of those some of the time. But I believe the number of players who regularly exceeded $100,000 annual profit was higher twenty or twenty-five years ago than it is today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, I\u2019m out there trying. It\u2019s what I do. It\u2019s what I enjoy. It\u2019s part of what keeps me as intellectually sharp as I can be at my age. Yes, I\u2019ve shifted to also playing slots as well as video poker, but video poker remains my mainstay. And probably will so long as I can find good games — even if those games aren\u2019t the same ones I\u2019m playing today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today I play different video poker games at different casinos — usually the highest-returning games offered in denominations that interest me. It wasn\u2019t always this way. In the \u201cgood old days,\u201d which for me were the mid-1990s, the best $5 and higher games almost everywhere were 9\/6 Jacks or Better. With slot clubs and promotions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15763,"featured_media":843442,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[601,557],"tags":[561,585],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/spinach-2.png?fit=500%2C300&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850942"}],"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=850942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}