4c. Re: One Coin versus Five Bob Dancer View
Date: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:15 am ((PST))You're comparing apples to oranges. Obviously, for fair comparison
purposes, the number of hands should remain constant. So, after 500
hands at dollar five coins, you would have lost "on average" $12.50.
The best game by a long shot is machine penny keno, which usually
returns 95%, so after 500 hands, you would have lost "on average"
$0.25 . Plus with keno you can drink all you want without having to
worry about making mistakes and you'll likely get much better casino
offers because casinos love keno players, they'll send you all sorts
of offers to try to get you to bet more. More and more, casinos are
turning against video poker players and against using coin-in as a way
to measure customer value.
I certainly understand all the principles involved here, and of course, what it
comes down to is a recall of the initial proposition, which is that you're
playing a negative expectation game, and therefore (presumably) are playing ONLY
for the entertainment value (and perhaps comps, if you dont figure them into
your return when saying negative EV). In such a situation, one plays at a level
that provides the entertainment. The original proposal of one coin play instead
of five presumes that one will enjoy the game the same no matter how much you
are wagering, in which case one coin is indeed better than five in a negative EV
game.
For most of us, there's a level below which we'd just as soon not play, as the
opportunity for winning something that would be "entertaining" becomes so low
that we might as well just play VP on our computer and stay home.
Again, if the game is negative EV for the player, the best strategy is not to
play it at all, but that's not usually very much fun.
Certainly, as has been discussed before, it's better to reduce the casino edge
by playing five coins instead of one, and if the same pay table is available and
your bankroll doesn't support five coin play, move down in denomination to
permit five coin play - e.g., instead of single coin at a $1 machine, play five
coins at a quarter machine, etc.
Had never considered the penny keno option -- but a friend and I, when we were
younger and went to Vegas often AND really relished the free drinks and comps,
when we wanted to get drunk, would go to a $10 bacarrat game, and with an
agreement that we'd pool our wins and losses after we left the game, one of us
would play the house and the other the player, giving the casino it's edge, I
think about 0.5%. It's a relatively slow game, and at a nickel a hand, we'd
easily get our drinks and our drunk for pretty much the cost of tips to the
waitress. Not to mention the entertainment value of how much we disturbed the
tuxedo'ed casino personnel and serious gamblers 
--BG
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