Dear Mr. Dancer:
Last year I lived in Mississippi and played a lot of video poker. I won over $200,000 in jackpots --- but as you know the state takes 3% out of these, in addition to your regular Federal Income Tax. This seems so unfair because I’m pretty sure I lost close to $50,000 over all. I LOVE $2 Double Double Bonus Poker!
Now my husband and I moved to Las Vegas where they don’t have that 3% nonsense. It turns out that one of my neighbors plays a lot of video poker. You wouldn’t BELIEVE what they do out here.
She goes every week to pick up free play from Gold Coast, Orleans, South Point, Green Valley Ranch, Sam’s Town, Hard Rock, Palms, Ellis Island, Wynn, and Fiesta. Maybe I’ve forgotten about a couple. She says she used to play at Silverton but they took out all of the games she likes so she doesn’t play there anymore. She keeps track of how much she plays at each place so she gets mailers next month.
She also tracks when each place has double points, triple points (or MORE!) and does most of her play on those days. She goes to drawings almost every weekend. She tells me she plays Deuces Wild at some of these places, Jacks or Better at others, and Double Bonus at still others. It’s so complicated!
I don’t believe in this kind of stuff. I play when and where I want to play, for as long as I want to play. (I don’t even let my husband tell me we have to go home after two hours. I might not be done!) I don’t want to be bothered by all of this running around. I refuse to have any casino dictate to me what I can and can’t do.
Why do video poker players act so strange in Las Vegas?
Dear Lost:
Your neighbor sounds to me like a conscientious video poker player. The reason she plays that way is that she wants to win, and it appears she is going about it the right way.
The monthly mailers from casinos make up a large percentage of the net profit from playing. It’s not uncommon for these mailers to average a half-percent or more if you play the minimum amount required to get them. Once you play, say, $90,000 a month at Gold Coast, you’re getting the top mailer. Playing for $180,000 a month there doesn’t get you anything extra over what you got for $90,000, but playing that “extra” $90,000 at, say, Green Valley Ranch gives you a mailer from there too. The same amount of play, then, will get you more if you spread it out, assuming you take the time to learn the “cutoff points” for each casino’s mailer levels.
Each casino has multiple point days and most of them have some form of cash back. Assuming you play $100,000 a month at South Point, you’ll get $300 if you play on single point days or $600 if you play on double point days. It’s up to you when you play, but many players think that an extra $300 for the same amount of play is worth going for.
You have to go to these casinos to pick up your free play. Sometimes you have a day or two to pick up the free play. Sometimes you have all week. But at each of these casinos you’ll get numerous pick-up periods a month. That’s a lot of running around and driving all over town. I’m not sure what size mailers your neighbor is receiving, but many players collect $5,000 or more monthly from this driving around.
The reason your friend plays different games at different casinos is that each casino offers a different “best game.” And even the same casino offers a different best game for 25¢ players than $1 players than $5 players. If you ALWAYS want to play Double Double Bonus, for example, go right ahead (the casinos will love you!), but in Las Vegas it’s virtually never the best game to play. And sometimes it’s a LOT worse than the best game. It took your friend a long time to learn all of these games, and she had to master them one at a time, but now she knows them she has a very profitable hobby. Periodically she will need to learn another game as games are added to and removed from casinos fairly regularly.
If you want to avoid all of this “hassle,” that’s wonderful insofar as the casinos are concerned. They PREFER players playing on single point days. They PREFER players playing more than is necessary to get whatever benefits they offer. They PREFER players be too busy to pick up the free play. And they GREATLY PREFER Double Double Bonus players.
It’s clear from your letter that nobody can force you to do anything you don’t want to do. I’m not even going to try. But I will suggest that there’s a price for your independence. You paid it last year in Mississippi and you’re welcome to pay it this year in Las Vegas. But if you allow yourself “follow the money,” in Las Vegas, you’ll find yourself tens of thousands of dollars each year ahead of doing it “your way.”
Whether that’s worth it to you or not is for you to decide.
Bob Dancer is America's best-known video poker writer and teacher. He has a variety of "how to play better video poker" products, including the software "Video Poker for Winners," Winner's Guides, strategy cards, his autobiography Million Dollar Video Poker, and his two novels, including Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. Dancer's products may be ordered at www.bobdancer.com or by telephone at 1-800-244-2224 M-F 9-5 Pacific Time.
