Page 19 - August 2003 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Video Poker vs. Blackjack (Part 1 of 2) Tby Bob Dancer
here is considerable overlap between blackjack and video poker players. Let’s look at why. The personality skills of successful blackjack players and successful video poker players are quite similar. Good players in both games are bright, have excellent
memories, and can sit and play for hours. Each player is playing a winning game, although certainly not every session.
is because blackjack players can vary their bets a lot more and cheat a lot easier.
Skilled, or lucky, blackjack players are frequently barred from playing. This rarely happens at video poker, even when players consistently win. Why?
I think the reason is that the general public thinks that card counting at blackjack is a form of cheating, so a counter being barred is just what he deserves. The general public does not, I believe, differentiate between slot machines and video poker, and they believe that winning is largely a matter of luck, not skill. A casino barring people who are lucky is not considered sporting. Unfortunately, in recent months, barring of successful video poker players around the country is becoming slightly more common.
The Grif n Detective Agency publishes records of blackjack players who count or cheat — which are not at all the same thing. Once a player is “in the book,” rightly or wrongly, his playing days are limited at many, many casinos. Although Grif n does publish a list of various kinds of slot cheats, it doesn’t list players merely because they win. Therefore, successful players often play unimpeded for years.
The danger of being barred at blackjack is very real. To avoid being barred, many players resort to a variety of disguises and other special moves in
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Memorizing the strategy for 9/6 Jacks or Better is approximately as easy (as dif cult?) as learning basic strategy in blackjack. Memorizing how to play Double Bonus Poker is as dif cult (as easy?) as all the matrix numbers in a 3-level blackjack count system.
In blackjack, the strategy changes as you go through the deck. In video poker this is generally not true. Each hand is independent of the last one. Getting four aces in a video poker hand does not affect your chances of getting them again the following hand.
Video poker is always played off the top of a single deck. “Penalty cards” in video poker have similarities to top-of-deck plays made in blackjack. For example, a good blackjack player, at the start of single deck, would hit a 16 against a K if the 16 consisted of a 9 and a 7, but not if it consisted of 3,3,5,5. In jacks or better, with K♥ J♦ T♦ 5♠ 3♣ a good player plays J-T. But with K♥ J♦ T♦ 5♠ 3♦, that same player would play K-J. The blackjack player varied his play because there were fewer low cards remaining in the
deck. The video poker player varied his play because there were fewer diamonds left in the deck.
Break points for video poker progressives are analogous to matrix numbers in blackjack. That is, you play more aggressively for a royal ush as the progressive increases just as you double more frequently in blackjack as the true count rises.
You can stop and talk to someone while playing video poker without losing your place. Whenever you get back to the game, it will be ready. In blackjack, this distraction may well cause you to lose the count.
In winning blackjack, the bet size varies with the count. That is, as the player’s advantage increases, so does the amount of the bet. In video poker, the bet size is constant at “Max Coins” every time. The only way to increase your bet is to change to a higher-denominated machine.
In blackjack, expert players are watched a lot more closely than they are in video poker. Probably this
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August 2003 Page 19
Column: Video Poker with Bob Dancer
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