vpFREE2 Forums

Randomness on New Machines

#1

I'm not ready to throw in the towel on the new machines, but after
my weekend experience, I plan to pay closer attention.

Flew into Laughlin Sat night (staying at Harrah's) and decided to
make an attempt at getting 1800 pts before mignight to get Diamond
again. Settled into the $1/$2 10/7DB. I play this game well and have
a strategy card for those few hands I have a difficult time
remembering. The machine was hungry and ate benjis quickly. Went
through $1100 in 45 minutes (playing $1) without ever pulling a
flush when dealt 4 or even one full house. It was ugly. My 12th
benji lasted for the next 3 hours and I did finally pull several fh,
4oak's, and the occassional inside straight. By bumping up to $2
half way through, I was able to get Diamond... although I paid for
it dearly. Down $1200.

Sunday was spent on the very old $1 10/7DB at the CB. $200 lasted
me 8 hours here. Aces are a hand pay and the bonus 4oak's required
hopper fills. The machine plays slow, but I was willing to accept
that as it was as I used to enjoy... pulling many inside straights,
loads of flushes and fh's. Lost count on the 4oak's. Walked away
+$1040.

Monday (last day) I decided to give Harrah's another try. Maybe the
carma was bad or the stars had been out of alignment (I'm joking...
kinda). Settled (briefly) into the $1 10/7DB once again. 30
minutes and 6 benji's later I walked. I love this game, but I cannot
mentally handle losing $1700 in 75 minutes (the combo of my first 45
mins Fri nite and 30 mins Mon morning). Played down the river the
rest of the day.

I know there is nothing scientific about this, but I do "feel" like
my money lasts longer and I get those hands that allow me to
continue my play without feeding the machine waaaayyyy more often on
the old machines. I love tito, but agree the new machines aren't as
ergonomically comfortable as the old ones. The glare can be much
worse as well (due to poorly placed lighting).

I don't know if it's Harrah's, the new machines, or I was just plain
unlucky. I do know it wasn't fun.

#2

I'm not ready to throw in the towel on the new machines, but after
my weekend experience, I plan to pay closer attention.

snip

I don't know if it's Harrah's, the new machines, or I was just plain
unlucky. I do know it wasn't fun.

All this talk of 9/11 and new machines reminds me of a recent BD
column about good/bad randomness. We all are very happy to accept
good randomness, such as recently on a 9-5 prgrsv DDB bank of new TITO
machines I personally saw a friend hit 4 sets of A's + kicker, this is
about 90-100 hours of play according to my calculations, and she did
it in less than 4 hours. This was great, but when we have bad
randomness, then we all start talking/thinking about the casinos
cheating/chips arent correct... and whatever. In the column it said
people can accept the extreme good very easily but the extreme bad is
unacceptable. But we cant have one without the other, or the chip
wouldnt be random, each occurance good/bad should come up about the
same frequency/quantity. I am just as guilty as most anyone with
these thoughts and I just try to remember that I have had very good
spells, so I just have to weather the bad ones or dont play. It seems
to work out in the end, just hard to deal with as it is happening.

Royals to all
Jim

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--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "correna2" <correna2@y...> wrote:

#3

You weren't particularly unlucky. Those of us who play 10/7 regularly see
these short-term fluctuations very regularly. If you can't take the variance...

I don't know if it's Harrah's, the new machines, or I was just plain
unlucky. I do know it wasn't fun.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

#4

I'm not ready to throw in the towel on the new machines, but after
my weekend experience, I plan to pay closer attention.

             <snip>

I know there is nothing scientific about this, but I do "feel"

like

my money lasts longer and I get those hands that allow me to
continue my play without feeding the machine waaaayyyy more often

on

the old machines. I love tito, but agree the new machines aren't

as

ergonomically comfortable as the old ones. The glare can be much
worse as well (due to poorly placed lighting).

I don't know if it's Harrah's, the new machines, or I was just

plain

unlucky. I do know it wasn't fun.

Hi Correna,

I know exactly what you mean about losing more often/quickly on
the "new" TITO upright machines. However, I never thought (and
still don't) that the reason for that had any thing to do with
randomness. I attribute the new vp's rapid consumption of Ben
Franklins to other factors such as:

   1. Players tend to feed 100 dollar bills, rather than twenties,
into the machines. Then, even when doing poorly, continue to sit
there until the entire bill has been lost rather than limiting the
loss to a couple of twenties.
   2. Most of the new machines play lightning fast. Most players
do not know that floor personnel can adjust the speed for them (or
do not bother to ask to have this done). Therefore, if you are
having a poor session, you will lose more quickly.

I also think lots of players dislike them because most of them seem
to be set higher from the ground than the traditional machines, if
you are a "short person" (like me) it's very much of a strain to the
neck and shoulders, to sit there for long periods of time.

The other objection to them that I've heard frequently, is
that "they like to hear the coins drop in tray". I guess I can
relate to that since I've been playing vp for more than 20 years,
and sometimes like the nostalgic aspect of the old machines,
however, I much more appreciate the "clean hands/no hopper
fill/handpay waiting" of TITO, particularly when combined with FP
schedules.

It seems to me, from personal observation, that most local vp
players avoid the new TITO machines. For example, at the El Cortez,
row upon row of the new upright TITO with FPJW, among other
advantage games, remain unplayed, even as players wait in line to
play the old coin droppers. Again, I don't believe this has anything
to do with the "randomness" of the machines, though some of the
locals may feel very differently.

Anyway, it's interesting to contemplate and discuss.

May the VP Queen Of Randomness shine on you next time!

Best of luck, Babe

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--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "correna2" <correna2@y...> wrote: