I think when Bob Dancer says a play is worth $53 per hour to him, that is correct. I do not see him as a gambler anymore than the person who builds a house with the intention to sell it when completed. The house builder goes out every day and pays workers and material suppliers for months, paying out money all the while with nothing being returned. This builder also has other houses that he is building that are at various stages of completion, and some have already been sold. When a house is completed he reasonably expects to sell it at a profit. Some builders are building $100,000 houses and others are building $1,000,000 houses. Some people play $.25 VP and others play $5 VP. I don't know Mr. Dancer, but I believe that he plays video poker at a competence level and for extended enough periods that he can determine what his expected return will be at the end of the project--when he "sells the house" so to speak. I can not do that. I do not play enough VP to be able to count on "selling the house", and I don't play as competently as he does. So for me, VP is much more of a gamble and a pleasurable diversion, and I see it as such. If I played VP for the money, I would just stay with my day job, but the fact that I can't do it doesn't mean that he, and a limited number of other players, can't.
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