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Dancer's Answers We publish a brand-new video poker article from Bob Dancer every Thursday in this section. These columns are called "Dancer's Answers". Click on any of the links below for more Dancer's Answers: Bob Dancer Articles - Main Page Vicksburg Video Poker - May 8, 2008 Vicksburg, MS Video Poker - Part 2 - May 15, 2008 Vicksburg Casino Video Poker - Part 3 - May 22, 2008 Common Deuces Wild Mistakes – Juan or the Other – May 29, 2008 Figuring Out Quick Quads - June 5, 2008 Breaking Full Houses in Quick Quads - June 12, 2008 A Quick Quads Puzzler - June 19, 2008 Let’s Go Scouting - June 26, 2008 When You're Not Sure of the Game - July 3, 2008 Can it be Right to Play Hunches - July 10, 2008 Good Hearted Woman in Love With a Good Timin’ Man - July 17, 2008 One-Way Versus Two-Way Straight Penalties - July 24, 2008 Effectual versus Ineffectual Straight Penalties - July 31, 2008 Unusual Dealt Royals - August 7, 2008 Learning from a Horse Handicapper - August 14, 2008 When Bad Is Good - August 21, 2008 I Live For These Moments - August 28, 2008 Las Vegas Do It Different - September 4, 2008 Figuring the worth when there are Multiple Progressives - September 11, 2008 Which is the Better Play? - September 18, 2008 How Much is Too Much? - September 25, 2008 Evaluating a Promotion - October 2, 2008 Sometimes the Jack, Sometimes Ace-Jack, Never the Ace by Itself - October 9, 2008 Why I Don't Play Poker - October 16, 2008 What is a Royal Flush Cycle? - October 23, 2008 A Logical Puzzler - October 30, 2008 Another Look at Changing Machines - November 6, 2008 Testing Matters - November 13, 2008 An Easy Yet Important Quick Quad Puzzler - November 20, 2008 Some Quick Quad Mathematics - November 27, 2008 Barona Improves its Video Poker - December 4, 2008 An Interesting Quick Quads Puzzle - December 11, 2008 Shirley Plays Suduku - December 18, 2008 How Often Does One Time in 360 Occur? - December 25, 2008 Earning a Free Cruise - January 1, 2008 Next Dancer's Answers column coming on January 8, 2009! |
Which is the Better Video Poker Play?In July of this year two different Station Casinos had a “play today and pick up free play tomorrow” type of promotion. Although there were several options for how much you could earn depending on how much you played, but for simplicity we’ll limit our choice to two possibilities:
The loosest video poker games were excluded from this promotion, so let’s assume we’re going to be playing 8/5 Bonus Poker (99.17%) and that today you have a 5x multiplier (worth a total of 0.50% in free play). Assume further that you are comfortable playing $1 Triple Play, so it will take less than an hour to qualify for the first bonus and about three hours to qualify for the bonus. Which is the better play? The first step for many people is to convert the bonuses into percentages. $40 / $5,000 = 0.80% and $100 / $20,000 = 0.50%, so in terms of percentages, the first option is better than the second. Since our game returns 99.67% including the slot club, either promotion will put us into “over-100%” range --- which is a necessity for players looking to be a long term winner at this game. What else is there to consider? Let’s assume we play everything out. If we stop at $5,000 coin-in, our expected loss (0.33%) on the game (including the free play earned) is $15. We could collect the $40 for a net profit of $25. If we keep going until we get to $20,000 coin-in, our expected loss is $67, for a net profit of $33. Playing an additional two+ hours for $8 expected profit isn’t very appealing. So far it’s looking like the first option is the better choice. Another factor, however, is when are we going to get our monthly play in? To keep getting the mailers you need to average a certain amount of play each month. Chairman level requires $250,000 worth of play each month, but that’s an impossible amount for $1 Triple Play players. President level requires $75,000 a month and Platinum level requires $25,000 a month. These are reasonable goals for dollar Triple Play players. Although there are numerous benefits to each level, the primary one of concern here is the monthly mailer. Depending on your level, the monthly mailer adds about 0.25% if you play the minimum amount to qualify. If we add in the extra 0.25% to the additional $15,000 we would play for the second promo amount rather than the first, it adds an additional $37.50 worth of benefits. Not a huge amount, to be sure, but this amount is enough to change the mind of certain players about which is the better play. One factor to keep in mind is that at this casino, 5x multipliers don’t grow on trees. The number you get each month varies. Sometimes it’s three or four days. Sometimes it’s one or two. That’s it. Getting your monthly play in during these multiplier days is smart. Playing the normal 1x days is VERY expensive. So part of the answer to which is the better play is have you completed your monthly “nut” yet? If the answer is “yes,” then the first choice is probably better. If your answer is “no,” the second choice becomes a lot more attractive. Actually, it’s not so much whether you’ve already played your monthly nut but rather what are your plans for doing so? You get your monthly calendar in advance and can see when other point multiplier days are coming. Strong players make their own calendar for when they plan to play at each casino over the month. Other casinos have their own monthly nut and managing your time among several casinos is part of the game. The answer to the title question becomes, “It depends.” Some months you’ll find one more attractive and some months the other will be. What I’m trying to teach today are some of the things you need to think about before making your decision. Even though the answer won’t always be clear cut, if you learn to ask the right questions, you’ll end up ahead in the long run. This article presumed the best game was 8/5 Bonus. There are progressives at these casinos which could be high enough at any given point and would be a better play. If the progressive is high enough that you’d be playing it even without these bonuses, then for sure the second deal is better as that adds $100 to a game you’d play anyway rather than $40. 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.
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Classic Dancer We republish a classic Bob Dancer article every Sunday - often these articles are updated with new insights from Bob Dancer, the master of video poker writing. Video Poker Questions and Answers - May 4, 2008 More Answers to Questions About Video Poker Machines - May 11, 2008 Losing is a Major Part of Winning at Video Poker - May 18, 2008 Video Poker VS Blackjack - May 25, 2008 The Art of Tipping Slot Personnel - Part 1 - June 1, 2008 The Art of Tipping Slot Personnel - Part 2 - June 8, 2008 Putting Your Ducks In a Row - June 15, 2008 Luck and Skill in Video Poker - June 22, 2008 Strategy Adjustments in Video Poker - June 29, 2008 One Coin vs Five Coin - July 6, 2008 Video Poker Progressives - July 13, 2008 High Pairs versus Three Cards to a Rolal in Kings or Better Joker Wild - July 20, 2008 The Double Up Feature - Does It Ever Make Sense? - Part 1 - July 27, 2008 Doubling Up - Does it Ever Make Sense? - Part 2 - August 3, 2008 Did I Quit at the Right Time? - August 10, 2008 Money Management: What Does and Doesn't Work - August 17, 2008 "I'm Playing The Wrong Game" and Other Video Poker Fallacies - August 24, 2008 You Use To Be Such a Cheapskate - August 31, 2008 Is This a Good Promotion? Part 1 - September 7, 2008 Is This a Good Video Poker Promotion? Part 2 - September 14, 2008 More Video Poker Fallacies - September 21, 2008 Not All Proposals Should be Accepted - September 28, 2008 An Opportunity Too Good to Pass Up Part 1 of 2 - October 5, 2008 An Opportunity Too Good to Pass Up Part 2 - October 12, 2008 Predicting Your Future Results at Video Poker - Part 1 of 2 - October 19, 2008 Predicting Future Video Poker Reulsts - Part 2 of 2 - October 26, 2008 Moving Up in Denomination - Part 1 of 2 - November 2, 2008 Moving Up in Video Poker Denomination - Part 2 of 2 - November 9, 2008 A Letter from a Non-Believer - Part 1 of 2 - November 16, 2008 A Letter Froma VP Non-Believer - Part 2 of 2 - November 23, 2008 If You're Going to Steal From Me... - November 30, 2008 A General Look at Progressives - Part 1 of 2 - December 7, 2008 A General Look at Progressives - Part 2 of 2 - December 14, 2008 Would You Rather Be Lucky or Good? - Part 1 of 2 - December 21, 2008 Would You Rather Be Lucky or Good? - Part 2 of 2 - December 28, 2008 Shirley Wins a Cruise - January 4, 2009 More Classic Dancer coming Sunday January 11, 2009. |
