My son and I took a ride up to "Mighty M Gaming" at Monticello
Raceway last weekend, just to check out the racino there. As some of
you must already know, they have class II video lottery terminals, in
video slot and video poker formats.
Now, I'm a traditional video poker buff. (No, that doesn't mean that
I play VP in the buff!) I enjoy the mental aspect of the game, and
the fact that what I do has an effect on the outcome of the hand. I
knew going in that at Monticello, my decisions would be meaningless,
since on a VLT the outcome of the hand is determined by the central
computer as soon as the hand is initiated. Nevertheless, I wanted to
experience what it was like to play VP on a VLT, so I threw a twenty
into an IGT quarter DB machine, and played (GASP) one coin at a time.
I knew that if I were to be dealt a winning hand, I could discard it,
and I would get, at a minimum, the same type of winning hand on the
draw. But I wanted to experience that for myself, so the first time
I was dealt a pair of jacks, I threw them away. Sure enough, I got
another paying pair on the draw. Shortly thereafter, I was dealt
trips. Ditched 'em, got trips back. Same thing happened when I was
dealt straights, flushes, and full houses. It wasn't a surprise, but
there was something curiously humorous about it.
I had heard about the "match card" feature on VP VLTs, which allows
the machine to pay you what you're supposed to win even if your
discard decision makes it impossible for the machine to give you the
final hand that you were supposed to get. I don't know if anyone has
posted this before, but IGT has come up with an interesting variation
on that feature. A couple of times, I was dealt an open straight
draw, along with a low pair. Being the trained DB player, I kept the
straight draw. Apparently, I was supposed to get trips, but that
wasn't possible holding four cards to a straight. The one card draw
paired me up, and then a magic lamp appeared at the bottom of the
screen, a genie came out, walked across the cards, and changed one of
them to give me my trips. To the uneducated, this looks like a great
thing....sometimes a losing hand is turned into a winner!
A couple of machines to my left, a couple were playing a deuces wild
machine. On every hand, they were discussing what the best play
would be. For a while, I was just laughing to myself, because I knew
it didn't matter. Then, I had the urge to tell them....but I fought
it off. I didn't want to ruin their fun. However, when someone came
by and commented that the 9/7 DB pay table was better than what they
offer at Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods, I had to explain that the pay table
on these machines is absolutely meaningless when it comes to
determining the machine's payback percentage. It took about ten
minutes of explanation, along with discarding five winning hands and
getting the same winners back on the draw, to convince the guy.
I had fully expected that I would not enjoy playing the VLTs, since
my affinity for VP is based upon the mental aspect of the game. I
was right. Playing the VLTs is just putting in money and pushing
buttons. Not mentally stimulating at all. Not fun, except for
listening to neighbors who don't understand how the games work.
On the whole, Mighty M Gaming is an attractive place. It's a non-
smoking facility, very attractive and very clean, with comfortable
seating at the machines. The buffet isn't what Vegas players are
used to. The selections are very limited. I can't figure the logic
behind some of the prices at the food court. Plain bagel, $1. Bagel
with butter, $2. (How much butter do they put on???) Bagel with
cream cheese, $3. It ain't VP heaven. For slot players, though,
it's a nice place.
