Page 14 - June 2007 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
IAf It’s Good Enough for Dancer...
lthough this particular incident happened in Las Vegas, the principles apply everywhere video poker is played. I was in Sam’s Town to collect free play for Shirley and me. I saw a woman I recognized from my classes, “Sally,” and she excitedly told me some news.
A few months back, Sally told me, she saw me playing the $5 8/5 Bonus Poker progressive on a Saturday afternoon. She didn’t want to bother me so she didn’t come up and say hi. But she was in the casino the next day and decided to check out the machine. I wasn’t there, but she decided to play anyway. Lo and behold, she hits the royal for $24,500. e biggest jackpot of her life!
o ered there, how much the players club returns, and even what are the usual promotions. Without knowing all of that information, I couldn’t possible recommend what game to play.
Also note that the value of the players club has no e ect on the play of the hands. Whether you should hold the clubs or the hearts from A♣ K♣ 7♥ 8♥ 9♥ doesn’t depend on whether the players club returns 0.10% or 0.60%. e correct answer in 8/5 Bonus Poker, by the way, is that you should hold the clubs when the royal pays 4,900 coins (i.e. $24,500 on a $5 machine), but hold the hearts if the royal pays 4,600 coins (i.e. $23,000). If Sally didn’t know when the game was worth playing, it is unlikely that she was aware of what strategic changes she should make at each level.
is is no sin. Progressives are tough, after all. But if you’re not aware of all of the changes, you should probably assume you’re giving up an extra tenth of a percent (or more) o of perfection. is can change the attractiveness of a play. It could well be that even if Sally was playing on the six-times-points day that she should have waited until the progressive was at $26,000 or more simply because she’s unfamiliar with the game’s nuances. Using an expert player as a guide for when you should play only works when you play as good as the expert.
Some may argue that since Sally hit the royal that day, it was the “right play” even if the situation returned less than 100%. It’s very shortsighted to think that way. You need to make your decisions before you know the results.
A good decision remains good whether or not you win today. Likewise, a bad decision remains bad whether or not you win today. Winning players think this way. Casual players do not. One of the secrets to having better results is to start thinking like a winning player.
Ignoring $100-per-hour in di erences in expected value is not something that winning players do. Winning players put themselves into good situations.
ey don’t know when the royals will happen, but they know that over time they will very likely be a winner.
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.
“I don’t know when the progressive is high enough to make it worth playing,” Sally told me,“but I gured that you did. Since it was high enough for Bob Dancer, it was high enough for me. I’m still excited and it’s been several months.”
I congratulated her and we went our separate ways. I didn’t tell her that she had made a major miscalculation.
get my play in is that the casino o ers monthly cash mailers, up to $240, for players who play enough above a minimum amount. If you play less than that, you get smaller mailers or none at all. Although I prefer to do all my play when the progressive is higher, frankly it isn’t high enough to be interesting very often.
On Sunday, however, usually only single points are o ered, which makes the game worth only 99.72%. is is nowhere near playable
After all, why rain on her parade? In video poker, though,
it’s not just about choosing
the right game, but rather asking me what game to learn. And wants to win. ere’s a
reason I wasn’t there, and the reason is that the game returned too little to be of interest. Although the machine itself returned slightly more on Sunday than it did on Saturday (because the progressive keeps going up with every coin played), the situation returned a lot less. A half percent di erence on a machine where you can play $20,000 an hour means that it was worth $100 an hour less on
Sunday than it was on Saturday.
Sally is not alone in her misconception. I get several
e-mails a week asking me what game to learn. And my answer always, “It depends.” It depends on what casino you’re going to be playing at, what games are
choosing the right situation.
For those players who play
enough at Sam’s Town
to get monthly mailers,
Saturdays are always a 6x
points day, adding 0.60%
to whatever game you are
playing—unless it’s one
of the 100% games where
the bonus is 0.30%. A $5
8/5 Bonus Poker machine
with a $24,500 royal is
worth 99.62%. You add a
0.60% players club and it
returns 100.22%. While
this is slightly positive, it’s
still rather skimpy. It must have been one of those months where I needed to get in my monthly play
today because I was going to be busy later on, so I played the progressive that would otherwise have been too low to be of interest. What I mean by needing to
“I get several e-mails a week for anyone who seriously
my answer always, ‘It depends.’ It depends on what casino you’re going to be playing at, what games are offered there, how much the players club returns, and even
what are the usual promotions. Without knowing all of that information, I couldn’t possible
recommend what game to play.”
Can’t Get Enough of our Casino Experts?
Bill Burton: About Gambling Bob Dancer: Video Poker Jean Scott: The Frugal GamblerTM Jim Mercurio: Poker
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Page 14
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
June 2007
Video Poker with Bob Dancer