I'm off for a morning ride on my Harley right now. But to keep Dicky
occupied (which he desparately needs when not near a video poker
machine) I'm posting this week's Gaming Today column for those
unfortunate enough not to be able to get one on Tuesday mornings.
Here ya go, RG!-----------------------------------------
By Teaching A Friend How To Play Video Poker Intelligently
By Rob Singer 09-20-05
Most people get involved with the game of video poker with little
knowledge of what they are doing or why. That's how I started out.
A `short' roll of quarters, a quick first-time visit to Las Vegas and
the Gold Coast, and a lucky hit of a Royal Flush after a `concerned'
cocktail waitress suggested I play 5 coins per hand instead of the
one or two that I was.
A thousand dollars seems like a lot of money when it just `happens'
like that. But I soon realized that compared to what I was making in
corporate America, it wasn't really that much at all. I'm sure that's
the reason I set aside so much money over the next 6-years-plus to
play the game that made it all seem so very easy. The problem is, the
few weeks after that deceiving Royal was the only time over the
following 6 years that I was ever ahead! The casinos had me right
where they wanted me, and I was taken in by the game just as easily
as every regular player of video poker ever is.
One thing I did that I thought was right, however, was to learn the
mathematics of the game as well as anyone could. And that's exactly
how I approached my play over these years of losing. I studied the
correct holds, I practiced for hours each week while traveling the
globe, and when I returned home I went straight to Nevada, confident
in my new found ability to withdraw money "at will" from any casino
that had the games I learned to play. After all, anything over 100%
meant I would win, right?
So goes easy money. All the people who sold me a bill of goods about
the game and it's `perfect-play/long-term strategy fantasy' never
seemed to take the time to tell me that it does not work without
extreme and consistent good luck at the machines. I took them at
their marketing-best-word, and I fell into the trap hook, line and
sinker. They made money off of me while I was merely a link in the
chain of those helping them keep gambling money in their pockets. Now
I knew the real truth about whether they won or lost.
Yet that system was sold to me as THE INTELLIGENT WAY TO PLAY, but I
should have known better. Video poker is a game in which one DOES NOT
win on a consistent basis if the player chooses to sit for long hours
as often as possible at the machines, while playing as perfectly as
they possibly can. It was then that I learned the only party that
truly holds the long-term video poker advantage over the other is the
casinos.
But that was then and this is now. Time marches on and time makes us
all the wiser for it. I've had nearly 9 years of consistent success
playing the game since then, and it's all because I combined the
ingredient of knowing the optimal plays with the just-as-important-
ingredient of knowing when to deviate from expert strategy in order
to experience the best chance at short-term gain. Along with pre-set
goals, a proper bankroll, and the discipline to make it all work,
I've found there is not other way to beat the game other than to go
about it with a short-term strategy such as this.
I've had my differences with certain people about what the most
profitable way to play the game is over the years. Most of the time
it's with people who don't really matter in the overall scheme of
things. But I do take a special interest in when any of those whom
I've made friends with during my life come to me and want to learn to
be successful playing video poker too.
No doubt that's a double-edged sword. A few years ago I wrote right
here in this column about how a friend of mine from Australia was in
debt far over his head regardless of his 6-figure income only
because he played far too much video poker. He played in the States,
he played Down Under, and he played on cruise ships. He was basically
out of control, yet he always felt he SHOULD be winning because of
his brilliant mathematical abilities, his detailed knowledge of the
game as well as optimal strategy to along with his large bankroll.
His story did not end well.
That's why I was somewhat timid to teach the proper way to play the
game to a long time friend from my high school days who came to me
this past year for assistance. He had a medium sized bankroll, had
read about me on the Internet, and decided that being a professional
gambler was his calling. Thank God he came to me!
He came out here from New England and spent a week with us, and I in
turn trained him at both the Indian Casino in Scottsdale as well as
in Laughlin. He was adamant in that he only wanted to learn the
expert way to play, which to him was only optimal play. Although it
took several days to get him to see why that was the wrong approach,
he soon enthusiastically began going for the hands that would best
allow him to meet his win goal and cash out, and he no longer was a
slave to mathematical play only. He felt he was on a roll.
But video poker is such an unforgiving game, and for those who can't
stomach the swings then it's best for them to only play
recreationally and seldom. My friend was ahead almost $1500 in 6 days
of play, but during his last session where he was down $900, my
strategy required he play at the $5 level which was his highest. He
got the familiar case of cold feet, asked if I would think he
chickened out if he took his $600 and went home, and I gave him my
blessing to go.
That's a lesson in true intelligent play. If you can't do what you
said you were going to do while gambling, quit. Take the profit (or
accept the loss) and go home immediately. Plans have to be followed
through on to attain success. People who go up in denomination after
a jackpot, feel the urge to quit but are compelled to stay out of
habit, or run to the ATM machines after getting wiped out have no
business playing video poker. To do so would be playing directly into
the hands of every casino manager ever born. Learn the smart way to
play. And remember it.