vpFREE2 Forums

Dropped hold

#1

Recent thread here about a dropped hold. Well, it happened
to me.

I was at the Westgate in LV for the pool world championship.
Playing some deuces wild in my off time. Hold on card 5 dropped when I hit the “draw”
button.

Was it my fault? Sometimes when you play too fast you think
you hit a hold, and you didn’t. Few hours later it happened again. Next day I
paid attention. Dealt three treys and a deuce for card #5. Held, using the
buttons (not the finger swiping). Hit the “draw” button. Hold on the deuce
dropped.

I summoned the authorities. Explained what happened. Explained
that it was just my word, and I wasn’t asking for my money payout. But told
them they really should shut the machine down and have their tech look at it.

They diddled their buttons and recalled the dealt hand and
the drawn hand. No hold on card 5.

Nothing happened! I got into a short conversation with a
fellow later, telling him what happened. He said, “They don’t care.”

How can they not care? Somebody is going to raise a real
stink, sooner or later.

As any technician knows, it is tough to analyze an
occasional intermittent fault. How does a thing like this happen?

The drop seems to be simultaneous with hitting the draw
button. I’ve done digital circuit design for years. I doesn’t “feel like” an
electronic misfiring to me, flipping a one to a zero somewhere in the guts. It
feels “mechanical.”

“Switch bounce” is a known problem with mechanical switches
and buttons. Especially when a single device is used to toggle between two
states. You think you hit it once, but the contacts bounce and toggles again
(and possibly yet again). The cure is routine: You catch the first action with
a “latch”: an integrated chip that locks to the first switch action for an
appropriate period of time, milliseconds or seconds.

The best guess I can offer is that hold button #5 is wearing
out, and the vibration from hitting the “draw” button causes button 5 to
actuate. It is the closest hold button to the draw button.

But how come this never happens in reverse? Has anyone ever
seen a non-held card jump to “hold” when “draw” button is hit?

And I remain surprised that the machine wasn’t shut down for
repair.

    • Norma
#2

That is BS it happened to me 3 or 4 weeks ago and I reported as well. I have not played there since. Happened at least 3 timed at first I blamed myself as well but by the 3rd time I spoke with an attendant.

Sorry to see they did nothing.

···

From: vpF…@…com <vpF…@…com> on behalf of normagi…@…com [vpFREE] <vpF…@…com>
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2018 4:24:46 PM
To: vpF…@…com
Subject: [vpFREE] Dropped hold

Recent thread here about a dropped hold. Well, it happened to me.

I was at the Westgate in LV for the pool world championship. Playing some deuces wild in my off time. Hold on card 5 dropped when I hit the “draw” button.

Was it my fault? Sometimes when you play too fast you think you hit a hold, and you didn’t. Few hours later it happened again. Next day I paid attention. Dealt three treys and a deuce for card #5. Held, using the buttons (not the finger
swiping). Hit the “draw” button. Hold on the deuce dropped.

I summoned the authorities. Explained what happened. Explained that it was just my word, and I wasn’t asking for my money payout. But told them they really should shut the machine down and have their tech look at it.

They diddled their buttons and recalled the dealt hand and the drawn hand. No hold on card 5.

Nothing happened! I got into a short conversation with a fellow later, telling him what happened. He said, “They don’t care.”

How can they not care? Somebody is going to raise a real stink, sooner or later.

As any technician knows, it is tough to analyze an occasional intermittent fault. How does a thing like this happen?

The drop seems to be simultaneous with hitting the draw button. I’ve done digital circuit design for years. I doesn’t “feel like” an electronic misfiring to me, flipping a one to a zero somewhere in the guts. It feels “mechanical.”

“Switch bounce” is a known problem with mechanical switches and buttons. Especially when a single device is used to toggle between two states. You think you hit it once, but the contacts bounce and toggles again (and possibly yet again).
The cure is routine: You catch the first action with a “latch”: an integrated chip that locks to the first switch action for an appropriate period of time, milliseconds or seconds.

The best guess I can offer is that hold button #5 is wearing out, and the vibration from hitting the “draw” button causes button 5 to actuate. It is the closest hold button to the draw button.

But how come this never happens in reverse? Has anyone ever seen a non-held card jump to “hold” when “draw” button is hit?

And I remain surprised that the machine wasn’t shut down for repair.

    • Norma
#3

So, what to do?

I’m there for the pool tournament. I play some deuces wild to pass the time between matches. I do not want to run around the town to do this elsewhere.

Time before, I got two Royal Flushes during my stay. What to do if I’m dealt four deuces, or four to the royal? The only thing I can think of is to call for a witness before hitting the draw button.

Avoid that specific machine of course. Maybe do the holds by touch instead of by buttons?

Anybody think of anything else?

    • Norma
#4

Having a witness is a good idea. You could also ask the witness to record the draw on your cell phone. (with the date stamp on!)

–Dunbar

—In vpF…@…com, <normagirl9@…> wrote :

So, what to do?

I’m there for the pool tournament. I play some deuces wild to pass the time between matches. I do not want to run around the town to do this elsewhere.

Time before, I got two Royal Flushes during my stay. What to do if I’m dealt four deuces, or four to the royal? The only thing I can think of is to call for a witness before hitting the draw button.

Avoid that specific machine of course. Maybe do the holds by touch instead of by buttons?

Anybody think of anything else?

    • Norma
#5

If you play video poker long enough you are going to see all sorts of machine oddities and playing conditions. The hold/unhold button malfunction is fairly common. I’ve seen it in machines for decades now. I’ve seen cards hold and unhold multiple times while I’m sitting there without me touching the machine. And I’ve seen the machine that unholds a card every 20/50/100 hands as you press deal. Obviously, incredibly aggravating and costs money.

C

#6

Didn’t casinos used to prohibit photography? I suppose with the advent of smart phones, such a policy became unworkable.

    • Norma
#7

I was recently told to not take a photo of the screen with my phone at a casino. In your case, I’d just go ahead and take a video. If someone comes up to you to say you can’t do it, ask them to witness the draw.

–Dunbar