I moved here to Las Vegas in January of 1998. The timing was pretty good, as
Silverton (it might have still been called Boomtown) was running some awesome
promotions during January and February of that year.
There were about a dozen dollar 10/7 DB machines, all of which were set on a
pretty high speed. Base CB was .267%, and there were lots of 3X point days
and times. And there was a COTD promo as well, good for an extra 200 coins on
dollars. The COTD was usually 5s-Ks.
So, base game was 100.17%, 3X points was another .80%, and the COTD was
another .71%, for a total of 101.68%. Pretty nice! Since the Royal contributes
1.67%, the game was break-even WITHOUT the Royal! You don't see that very often
for dollars, even back in 1998!
Anyway, I played the dollar 10/7s for many hours during 3X points for almost
two months. I hit a total of seven Royals, and won over $25K. A nice
beginning to my LV VP career!
ยทยทยท
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Now, on to fun with MCR. Hi, Steve! 
As I understand the concept, MCR strategy minimizes the loss between Royals.
One arrives at this strategy by "pretending" the Royal is a value which
makes the game exactly 100%, if you played with MER strategy for that Royal
value.
I was wondering what would happen if I had played MCR strategy back at
Silverton, during those great promos. After all, I was pretty risk averse back
then, much more so than I am now. And my bankroll was MUCH smaller as well!
Only one problem. Even if I set the Royal to ZERO, the game is still
slightly positive (100.21%) when you add in the 1.51% value for the two combined
promotions. Oh, well, that's the best I can do. I don't know of software that
can accept a negative value for a hand!
So, the Royal is set to zero. It's interesting to note that the Royal cycle
is about 78,600 hands, even with no value at all for the Royal. So, let's
look at a few hands, and how to play them with this strategy. Most hands are
played the same as "regular" MER strategy, with the exception of hands with RF
draws. Naturally the RF holds are worth less, but you still hold most of them.
After all, there are high pair, flush, straight, and SF possibilities. And
you still hold JTs, though you don't hold the T from QTs or KTs.
Say you are dealt AKs (or any two suited high cards) with no other suited
card. the correct hold is the AKs. If there is another card of the same suit,
you should always hold the three card flush.
Next, say you are dealt a RF3. If there is another suited card, you should
hold the four flush. If there is an open ended straight draw, you hold those
four cards. If not, the right hold is the RF3. Pretty simple and basic, when
you take into account the reduced Royal value. And of course, high pairs are
always better than the RF3, and some low pairs as well.
Now, say you are dealt a RF4. If you have a made straight or a made flush,
you hold all five cards. Otherwise, you hold the RF4. No surprises here.
Finally, let's say you are DEALT a Royal Flush! The machine locks up, the
lights flash, music plays, it's a fine thing! Or is it? Well, no, not exactly.
According to the wonderful MCR strategy you are playing, a Royal is worth
ZERO! And the correct hold is the suited KQJT, so you are going for the K-hi SF!
Unfortunately, you can't. The machine is locked up, and soon a floorperson
will come over and ask for your ID and SS number. Pretty amazing isn't it?
Usually the most valuable VP hand, and you are supposed to just throw it away! I
love this strategy, don't you?
Strange things happen at the "extremes" sometimes. Near the speed of light,
you get increasing mass, time dilation, and Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction.
Near absolute zero, you get superconductivity and superfluidity (in liquid
Helium). Obviously, when you reduce the value of the Royal to zero, you get some
strange plays too!
Finally, in this case, playing MCR strategy reduces the ER from 101.68% (MER
strategy) to 101.24%. Yuck!
Brian
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