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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
May 1, 2008

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!

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Is This a Good Promotion? --- Part I of II

This column, along with the one next week, ran as one article in December 1999 Casino Player. When Jeffrey Compton first read what I wrote about his column (which is still true for the Compton-Dancer “Player’s Edge” column that runs in the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Fridays) he was irritated, but I still believe it true. The promotions that are the most valuable to the players are frequently the ones that do NOT get wide publicity.

Recently a Las Vegas local casino had a month-long promotion. Every night they had a drawing at 7:00. They gave away ten prizes worth $5,000. You got tickets with every $25 or larger jackpot. You could only win once per night. Was this a good deal?

For me the answer was yes. Far more important than the answer, however, were the questions I asked myself before I reached that decision. The next promotion will be different, but the questions will be similar. For example:

How am I going to get tickets? For me this was an easy one. I was going to play dollar 10-7 double bonus. Assuming 500 hands per hour (because the machines at this casino spill coins at $400 --- which makes for a lot of fills at this game) I could expect to earn about 20 tickets per hour, because straights, flushes, full houses, quads and straight flushes all earn a ticket. Since 10-7 is a game where the knowledgeable player has the advantage and this casino has a cash slot club, all of these things added together nicely.

But other games for dollar players would not be so smart. Playing 8/5 bonus poker (the second best game in this casino), I would only receive 12 tickets per hour because straights return only $20 and hence do not earn a ticket. Also, since 8/5 bonus returns a full percent less than 10/7 double bonus, it would cost me between $25 and $30 extra per hour to play this game. 9/5 double double bonus is also popular at this casino, and that would cost an additional $50 per hour or so for the same 12 tickets.

If I were a quarter player, however, I well might have reached the conclusion that this promotion is a yawn. Quarter players earn about one ticket per hour --- compared to a dollar double bonus player's twenty per hour. You may have heard that you only need one ticket to win. And it is technically true. But if I were going to play five hours, I like my chances better if I have 100 tickets than if I have just 5.

Of course slot players get tickets too. The average price for these tickets for a slot player is a lot higher than it is for video poker players.
How many tickets are in the drum? This is something you don't know until you get there. This promotion averaged, according to my estimate, about 2,500 tickets per night. So each ticket was worth about $2 apiece. (That is $5,000 / 2,500 = $2). But not exactly because you can only win once. I've been at other $5,000 drawings where there were 50,000 tickets in the drum. In that case, each ticket was worth 10¢.
Am I going to be there anyway? It turned out that I was scheduled to play in a slot invitational tournament one weekend during the month. To keep my status as an invited player at these tournaments, I was planning to play ten hours or so over the weekend. (This casino had no $5 machines worth playing, or I would be playing them. I would rather get my "invitation obligation" out of the way in two hours than ten).

It doesn't take it being a tournament for this to be a similar situation for you. If you are staying in a room at a casino, you need to play a certain amount in order to get "casino rate", "free room", "free room, food and beverage", "free suite" or whatever other amenity-level you desire. So if you are going to be playing anyway, any promotion is pure gravy.
What else is going on? Every other casino in Las Vegas also had a promotion or three going. Three other casinos (at least) had drawings at 7:00 every night. You cannot be everywhere at once. There are periods of time where this promotion might well be the best thing going. There are other periods of time where this promotion might be in tenth place because nine other casinos are offering something better.

How do you find out what is going on? One of the best places is Jeffrey Compton's column in Strictly Slots. He lists promotions from over 100 different casinos all over the country every month. As it happened, he didn't mention this one. Why? Because the casino didn't notify him that it was taking place. Had the casino notified Jeffrey in time, it would have been a better promotion FOR THE CASINO. Obviously, if they are giving out $5,000 per day, they want that to generate as much play as possible.

It may well be that this not being in Jeffrey's column HELPED make it a good promotion FOR THE PLAYER. Several more people would have come to get their share of the loot if they had known about it. If there were, say 5,000 tickets in the drum each night rather than 2,500, the value of the tickets would have been half as much.

It's funny the way this works. People want to know about good games and promotions but they would rather not have very many other people know because that will ruin the good deal. Similarly, the casinos would like to get the word out to the average players (who they can beat) but keep the information from getting to the expert players (who can beat them.)

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