I given up on this project. I am big play on playing video poker
with multiple progressives. I might occassionally chase a RF
progressive, but given the locals and professional teams that
frequent Reno, it would be a fool's errand.
This is a tough project because you have to play when no one else is
playing so you capture the meter movement. A word of caution, since
I designed video poker games, I know for a FACT the meter movement
is NOT fixed, it can be variable. The meter movement is a term used
to discribe the relationship between the coin-in and the rate of
change in the progressive jackpot(s) -- it gets difficult with
multiple jackpots if the meters are variable, respectively.
Peppermill has a 8/6 JOB where the RF, STFL, QUADs and Full House
each has its own have progressive meter. Since they can't give you
fractional credit, the game rounds up the jackpot to the nearest
unit (but you weren't supposed to know that, which means you have to
add 1 credit to the jackpot). Even though the game short-pays the
Full House, it nonetheless gets high enough for me sit down and
chase it since it takes about 100 hands to take down a full house
for full. I made my money in the past play $1 9/6 JOB taking down
quads (typically once in 425 hands) worth as much at $220 --
typically in the $170 range. I have taken down some STFL at $1,000,
but typically in the $660 to $700 range.
I have to say knowing the meter movement is one of the most profit
areas of video poker in RENO / Sparks because there is so little
competition and its a form of conditional rebate? For example, in
Boomtown, they have a $1 8/5 BP with RF, STFL and Quad aces as
progressives. I seen the game with STFL at over $500 (still not
high enough for me to play it) and Quad Aces at over $500 (nice, but
not interested), but if the STFL was at least $500 and Quad Aces
were at least $600, I would jump on that machine because I am not
interested in chasing the RF.
In Reno, I have found meter movements to be 0.10% to 0.25% on games
with good pay tables. I did not map out the game with poor pay
tables. I stopped the project because meter movement of 0.10%
doesn't excite me. I typically play games with at least 1.00% meter
movement, with 0.50% being the lowest I would play. I have played
in some places with 2.00% and know some places that have 5%
(yikes!!).
Why is a meter movement a conditional rebate? Let's take the case
of 5% meter movement and you are the only player. If you place $X
on each wager and never hit the jackpot, then you don't qualify for
the rebate despite all money you put through. When you hit the
jackpot, one way of looking at it is freezing the jackpot when you
first sat down and getting back 5% of each $X subsequently wagered
as a rebate. It's high risk, but with the right meter movement, it
can be a great opportuity if you have the bankroll. Jazbo has a
great seminal article on whether you should add the meter movement
as part of your return or ev.