vpFREE2 Forums

There's a reason...

#1

vpanimal wrote:

Share information about hotel rooms, good restaurants, pretty casinos
with nice atmosphere. But keep information about profitable plays
(best paytables, cashback, cash promotions) close to the vest,
assuming you want those plays to last longer.

From vpFREE Policy:

"Every vpFREE member, as a requirement for continuing membership, is
expected to vote in all applicable vpFREE polls and elections. Members
are also expected to report DataBase inventory changes in casinos they
visit, unless they consider a particular report to be detrimental to
their best interests."

The primary concern of the vpFREE DataBase is to accurately identify a
casino's best video poker games. Promotional incentives are a secondary
consideration and temporary promotions, which are often aimed at
locals, normally aren't even included. Temporary promotions in LV are
detailed regularly in the local media, and other areas of the country
probably have similar coverage.

As far as I know, most exceptionally profitable plays are more
a function of outstanding casino promotional incentives than of the
underlying EV of the video poker games. Here in LV, $40 per hour
and higher EV plays are readily available to locals on games listed
in the DataBase. But, the profit from all of these plays comes mostly
from casino promotional incentives, and in many cases negative games
offer the best overall EV.

So, by all means, keep the exceptional promotions and any games in the
$5 17/10 loose deuces paytable category to yourself, if you like. But,
after excluding these, most members won't be compromising their best
interests by sharing the better paytables with their video poker
community. I suggest as a general guideline that if a game,
denomination and paytable is available in Las Vegas, there's no reason
to be secretive about it.

If I ever conclude that members aren't willing to share paytable
information or that vpFREE is detrimental, on balance, to the
preservation and expansion of good video poker, I will terminate
vpFREE.

vpFREE Administrator

#2

I want to thank Tom for allowing my posts in this thread. I know the
opinions I've expressed are counter to the purpose of this service and
others like it. I appreciate the opportunity to provide an opposing
point of view. I know many people don't agree with it, and that's
fine. But my true belief is that all of the websites and books and
newsletters that instruct and assist more people to be advantage
players will continue to beget more expert play, thus lower machine
holds, thus the removal of good plays.

Realize that I don't make these posts without a some feeling of regret
and hypocricy. In my early years as a player I learned a lot from
these resources, and they helped me get to where I am today. For a
few years I was even a significant contributor to the bulletin boards,
"giving back" so to speak. Then I started seeing the results of more
and more experts hitting the handful of good machines. I was
litterally watching the machine hold percentages on many of my
favorite machines shrink, and inevitably those machines had to be
changed unless fewer experts were pounding them (which of course was
not going to reverse).

It's very much in my nature to be helpful to people, and for years I
was offering advice about video poker. But after getting burned too
many times by seeing my best plays disappear from too much expert
play, I had to force myself to stop "spreadin' the news".

So again, thank you Tom for allowing my opposing view to be heard.

ยทยทยท

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

... I suggest as a general guideline that if a game,
denomination and paytable is available in Las Vegas, there's no reason
to be secretive about it.

If I ever conclude that members aren't willing to share paytable
information or that vpFREE is detrimental, on balance, to the
preservation and expansion of good video poker, I will terminate
vpFREE.

vpFREE Administrator