Are you playing video poker at a real world, land based casino instead of an online casino? Okay, here’s the one big difference you want to make in your strategy — stretch out your playing time by going slower. What does this mean and why do you want to do it?
Well, land based casinos offer you bonuses based on the amount of time you spend playing your games, not just the amount of money that you play for. This time based evaluation actually tends to provide an edge to table games over slots or video poker, at least in the comps department. Table games generally take longer to play, even though the edge as far as odds may or may not be in the players favor. Take roulette for example, the odds for players are terrible. I don’t recommend playing roulette. I’ve tried it and it’s just a frustrating way to lose money. But think of the actual play of the game. Every player at the table has to take the time to place their bet. The croupier may have to bring in a new player or make change for chips. All of this has to happen before the wheel can spin. And spinning the wheel takes time and once the ball lands, the bets have to be collected or paid out. But while all this is happening, the roulette player is, according to the casino, playing roulette. Which means the person assigned to overseeing comps counts their time at the wheel towards their comps.
What does this mean to the video poker player? Well, the time you spend standing in front of your machine counts as play time. You aren’t evaluated on how fast you hit the button. Don’t play video poker like you’re in a slots tournament where the objective is to spin the reels as fast as possible. Play it like you’re at a table game. Slow down. Take time to consider each hand. Stretch out your playing time as much as you can. Because casino will give you comps based on the amount of time you play and comps are one of the fun advantages from playing at a real world casino.
