Because of the game's structure, it is really easy to get killed. About half the plays lose all "four" bets. Also since about 21-1/4% of the payback in DDB is tied up in the four of a kinds or better going any significant period without them will absolutely destroy your bankroll. (Unfortunately, having played $1 9-6 DDB with progressives at the Joliet casinos, I know that experience way too well!!)
Also, if you think Multi-Strike is volatile, also check out Super Times Pay (A bad version of that game is available at Trump.). The one good thing about it is that the strategy is always the same as the base game but returns about 0.33% more than the base game. (In case you do not know, this game is either 3, 5 or 10 play. You play a sixth coin on each line that on average is worthless 14 out of 15 times. When it "hits" the game issues a multiplier from 2 to 10 that works for every hand on that play. The average multiplier is 4.05. If the multiplier would average 4, the game in total would return the same ER as the base game. Getting your fair share of multipliers, getting a good average value on those multipliers and how you do on those hands is obviously huge at almost 27% of your ER.)
···
----- Original Message -----
From: vp_nbi
To: vpFREE_Chicago@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 3/1/2004 8:28:08 PM
Subject: [vpFREE_Chicago] Re: crushed by Multi-Strike
--- In vpFREE_Chicago@yahoogroups.com, "Howard Stern"
<howard.w.stern@e...> wrote:
In theory DDB (at 99.18%) is one of the lower return games on that
machine.
I know about the return on Multi-Strike DDB, but I wanted to play the
game I know best on MS even if it meant sacrificing a little return.
It did not occur to me to check out SDB. Maybe after I've recouped
from this walloping I'll give that a look see. Incidentally Reno has
DDB MS at "super pay" (10-6). Almost tempted to fly out for the April
chess tournament, but that's coming up too fast.
If you decide to play and like DDB you might want to play SDB
(99.89%). Multi-Strike is a volatile game and when mixed with DDB or
even worse TDB (better return than DDB) is a very volatile game. I
have been playing DB2s (A fairly volatile game but also the highest
return at 99.96% versus 99.18% for DDB) on that machine and I am
definitely behind. Due to the structure of Multi-Strike about 8/15 of
your hands will be on the first line, 4/15 on the second, 2/15 on the
third and 1/15 on the fourth. (This will be slightly skewed by the
strategy adjustments on early lines such as two high cards rather a
low pair etc. Being a member of this group, I assume you are aware
that the strategy is different on each of the four lines.)
Yes, I'm aware of Dancer's article. Even if I were to play all 4 lines
straight up (which I don't) the difference can't possibly account for
what transpired yesterday. I wish I had a video tape of my session
that shows game count and elapsed time because I can't adequately
describe the mauling in words. It simply had to be seen to be
believed. I don't know what I could have done differently and don't
know how to approach MS in the future. Might try SDB. OTOH, if the
paytables don't measure up maybe I'll just defer MS to any Vegas or
Reno visits.
----- Original Message -----
From: vp_nbi
To: vpFREE_Chicago@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 3/1/2004 1:00:23 PM
Subject: [vpFREE_Chicago] crushed by Multi-StrikeAfter 4 consecutive winning sessions and one break even session I
suffered a major setback in $.25 Multi-Strike. All of the previous 5
weeks profits were erased.How bad was it? Even though I played the first 5 hours at 4x1 I still
managed to lose over $1k. That took some doing as I play DDB
perfectly. This experience has we wondering if these machines are
legit. Extremely conspicuous was the appearance of "blocker cards"
especially when drawing to trips, open ended straights, and flushes.
The open ended straight draws deserve extra comment. The void card was
always at the end of the range and it never resulted in a qualifier
(Q-J-10-9, draw is Q). It definitely caused me to wonder if an
algorithm was at work here. Also noteworthy is how often I failed to
make it past the 2nd level and that what few big hits occured they
took place at the first level.At this point I'm willing to concede my previous successes to a run of
incredible luck. Something definitely seems amiss with this game as
other competent players have gotten clobbered as well. My
recommendation would be to avoid it until more detailed analysis
becomes available in print.vpFREE Links:
http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1955/20228/VP/Links.htm
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vpFREE Links: http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1955/20228/VP/Links.htm
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To visit your group on the web, go to:
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