Page 12 - April 2007 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
IAs an Investment, How Risky is Video Poker?
have money invested in the stock market. ere have been good years and bad, but historically the stock market has been a good place for your money if you keep it there for a lengthy period of time. I can’t tell you if the market will be higher in 2007 than in
2006, but I’m betting a large amount of money that it’s higher in 2016 than it is in 2006. I’m still young enough (I’m 60 currently) that my investment horizon is considerably longer than ten years.
I also “invest” in playing video poker. I look at every Except, note the way I’m suggesting to play. Only play dollar I bet as one dollar working for me. My“investment when you have the advantage. (Few people religiously
you can spend your time doing other things while the market works for you.
Also, intelligent investing in video poker is only possible for relatively small stakes. If you have $10 million to invest, there are no pro table opportunities as a player to invest that much that I have ever heard about. Perhaps there are some, but I would be surprised.
For one million dollars or less, however, video poker opportunities abound. ere are at least a few dozen players with this size bankroll who are clearing $75,000 or more year after year. If you look at $75,000 as a return on $1,000,000, it equates to 7.5%. It’s okay, but nothing spectacular. If you look at $75,000 as a year’s earning, then it is a pretty good job. Not exceptionally high, by any means, but better than many people can earn working in more conventional jobs. If you believe, as I do, that part of the $75,000 represents a return on investment and part of it represents “wages,” then earning $50,000 is a rather small total return. But it comes with some fringe bene ts that some of us appreciate, such as we get to be our own bosses and never have to stand in line at restaurants.
Most people, of course, do not have $1,000,000 to “invest” in video poker. at’s ne. e same principles work if you have $1,000. Learn how to play the loosest games well and limit yourself to them. Learn about casino promotions and carefully choose when
you play. Do this, and you will succeed.
Bob Dancer is America’s best-known video poker writer and teacher. He has a variety of “how to play better video poker” products, including Winner’s Guides, strategy cards, his autobiography Million Dollar Video Poker, and his two novels, including Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. Dancer’s products may be ordered at www.bobdancer.com.
strategy” is to choose games that return over 100% when you include
the player’s club bene ts, learn to play the games computer-perfectly, and then to play when the casinos give me most to do so. is is a strategy that has worked well for me—although my daily scores go up and down. In fact, a plotting of my daily video poker scores would look very similar to a plotting of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
I believe that investing in the intelligent playing of video poker is a far safer and less risky course than in investing in the stock market.
limit themselves to this). Learn to play very close to perfectly. (Even fewer do this.) Know the player’s clubs inside out and do most of your playing during promotions of one kind or another.
Investing the way I suggest in the previ- ous paragraph is an intelligent, conserva- tive approach. Follow those rules and you will succeed. You can even predict how much you will make in a year with a reason- able degree of accuracy.
is is a labor- intensive way to invest. In many ways it is like a job. Investing in video poker requires many hours of time—both in study and other
preparation and the actual time in the casino. Intelligent investing in the stock market involves considerable e ort selecting which stocks or mutual funds to buy and when, but once you have done it,
is is opposite
to common sense.
Certainly if you were
told that the manager
of your pension fund
went to Vegas regularly to “invest” this money by playing video poker, you would be morti ed. is sounds like the opposite of responsible nancial investing.
Bob Dancer Video Poker Seminar Saturday, April 21, 2007 at Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino’s Golf Events Center
Registration Begins at 9 a.m. at Club Barona or VIP Booth; Satellite Registration at Golf Events Center
begins at 10 a.m.
Jacks or Better I (Beginning)
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Jacks or Better II (Intermediate)
3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Seating is limited and will be
first-come,firstserved.
Page 12
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
April 2007
Video Poker with Bob Dancer