"I didn't see a quad for well
over 5000 hands. Not a single one. "
We feel your pain! We would venture a guess that many who contribute to
this group and who love to play VP regularly have experienced such pain and
don't mention it because they just would rather not dwell on it. We were
formerly .25 players and with HET's "encouragement", we held our breath and
moved up to $1 9/6 JoB last year. We did not hit a royal for 4 months or
more and had similar quad experiences (and that was with two of us each
playing about 800 hands an hour ). We were SURE that we were over our heads ,
that we could not afford to play any more in Las Vegas or anywhere.... and it
was all VERY depressing to say the least. But we hung in for a little longer
because numbers and statistics have nothing to do with emotions. Then we
hit a series of royals which brought us back all of the money that we had lost
for that year and the previous year as well. NOW, we were SURE , we were on
the road to success! Then, from the middle of December to the middle of
February, we had a royal drought of almost 200,000 hands. We lost a BUNCH of
money! Then we hit two royals and lost none of it. Our next $4000 royal cost
us about $7000 . That's how it goes. When people say after we've won, "What
are you going to do with the money?", it is just a "slam-dunk" for us. We put
it right back into our gambling budget and use it for another trip to Las
Vegas. I think that many of us when we first play seriously, practice our
poker, hear tales of big wins, and have a few ourselves, feel that we will
always or often be "winners". As others have said, that is really not always the
case in the short term. But we try to keep in mind that statistics do not
lie, that if we can hang in long enough with the money we budget, and most
importantly, that we take advantage of comps and extra perks , and,
especially, if we enjoy ourselves generally even when we are on a "losing streak", we
WILL come out at least even and usually somewhat ahead. Playing well on the
best play you can find is not a guarantee of winning in the short term, it
just, as others have said much more eloquently , assures you the confidence
that you will be successful in the long term if you can hang in long enough.
You have to consider the whole activity as entertainment. When you play a
round of golf or eat an expensive meal or take a vacation, you do not get your
money back. You get the experience and you need to decide if VP is a good
value for you in this way and then just try to enjoy the experience and ride
through the frustration.
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