Harry:
I believe the speed issue is overrated for several reasons--and is why I'm very happy to play at 600 hph max. these days. First, as you all elude to, everyone understands that mistakes will be made. Using the word 'costly' isn't really relevant, however. Let's look at your type of player for instance. You don't play every day. You strive to be computer-perfect but you know you are not. Mistakes are made....but are they 'costly'? That depends on what you missed vs. what came up on the draw. Theory does not enter into the equation when presented with absolutes. You will not consistently make the same error because you are always in a varying state of attention and awareness. When my wife is along, we play the same machine for enjoyment. She makes the holds, is not extremely accurate, and regardless of her holds I will never tell her what I see until I hit the draw button. There has NEVER been a catastrophic occurrence because of what I let pass that I was able to catch, but over the years there has been one SF and one RF that popped up because of what she 'mistakenly' did. Because it is a game and we understand that, we have a tremendous amount of fun if we quit when we do not let ourselves get into that zombie zone any longer - while sticking to a pre-set plan.
For those who chase points and comps at promotions--as many do, and which I believe is a weakness flaw in video poker players--I can't really blame them. It's tempting, I've done it myself in the past, and it's there because the most allow the casinos to dictate play policy to them. Naturally we want to play as fast and accurately as possible is such cases. I expect that the term 'Speed Kills' applies more to those who play every day more than it does to the others, but it is not the end-all. I also have found home results on WP to be a bit more accurate than casino play--based on many self-tests my wife has taken. Everybody's different, I know. But robots we are not.
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Roland Langley wrote:
> It would depend on the severity of the errors, and how much speed can
> be gained by not sweating the small errors, but I suspect that
> emphasizing speed will result in a higher EV for most advantage
> players.
>
> Personally, I hate making errors, and I'm willing to sacrifice speed
> in order to minimize the mistakes.
The speed vs. accuracy question is a bit interesting. I'd be hesitant
to broadly generalize as Roland has. Pushing play speed is warranted
only for those who strive for very accurate play (satisfied with an
error cost of no greater than .05% in any computer practice session).
In any case, I don't think it's ever a question of "sweating the small
errors". It's the occasional major slips that'll kill you. The
player who has a strong grasp of strategy, but is willing to tolerate
considerably less accuracy, is going to be much more susceptible to
the occasional brief lapses in attention that give rise to costly errors.
For most players the adage "Speed Kills" is very applicable.
The fact is that most players can avoid many unnecessary errors
through a very modest reduction in play speed. A quick double check
of a hold (requiring no more than a fraction of a second) will catch
many inadvertent mistakes.
- Harry
So I'm very willing to accept that the theoretical cost