My Journey on Video Poker

[notes1]

I doubt many of those seniors I see as Walmart greeters, grocery baggers and flipping burgers are living the life they imagined. the stats show that many are working due to financial concerns. damage done by the great recession, too little savings, low interest rates and supporting younger children are among the reasons given by seniors. I have nothing against seniors, I am one.

[DAAnMAAn]

All previous comments are well said and all have kernels of truth in each one. Coming full circle back to video poker, the question (and answer) I put forward in a round about way is...how do casino's get the younger generation (21-40ish) in the casino's, excited and playing video poker again? And my answer, certainly not the only answer is....perceived value. If they believe video poker is not only a good game, but an advantage game, they will get interested, they will play. My proposal for casinos to be able to do this is without the pro's sucking them dry is good games with progressives. Granted many of the poker newbies wouldn't know fpdw from nsud from a hole in the head, but it doesn't matter. If they can play longer, that's a perceived value. Free drinks is a value. Comps a value. Casino's should keep in mind nobody hits a true ER of a high progressive except the one that hits it. the M resort and casino tried this a few years ago, put in awful video poker tables but with rapid ascending progressive meters. The problem was, the games were awful until the meter got sky high. Few people played them, they didn't get much drop, so dropped it saying it didn't work. Well, putting in 94% return paytables is not going to attract much interest! Duh. I heard some casino executives say video poker is becoming a dead game of the past, since there is a decline of people playing them. Well, duh! If you tighten them to the point of impossiblity to get any real enjoyment or play out of them, less people will play them. Anyway, another cent worth of thought. I want to play some deuces tonight but not sure if I'm going to be able to escape the house. If not tonight, soon...Cheers

[FloridaPhil]

I don't know about video poker becoming a dead game?  Where we play (mostly Florida) the games are very popular.  Most video poker players we talk to don't know the odds and certainly don't know anything about correct hand strategy.  All they seem to want to do is bang away at 8/5 DDB hoping for a quad or play some multiplier game with even worse odds. Occasionally I will find someone who understands what's going on, but it's rare.  Most of the players we see in the casino are seniors.  This may have something to do with the area, or it may be due to the times we play.  We hardly ever play in the evening and never on weekends.  Personally, I think young people will play video poker in the future.  The game manufacturers may have to add some flashy graphics, explosions or shoot 'm up features, but it will survive.We're heading for the Hollywood Hard Rock today for a couple of days of video poker relaxation.  I can hear that hand pay music playing in my head already.  

[FAA]

I can hear that hand pay music playing in my head already.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------I must either be tone deaf or a low roller.

[DAAnMAAn]

Finally had some time to play a little deuces after work, only an hour or less of time but didn't play more than 30 minutes. Bang, hit the quad-deuces pretty quick, less than 300 hands I'd say. Sometimes I wonder what the struggle was when I went almost 9k hands without the deuces. I'll post a pick just because it has that rare ace kicker, damn, where is bonus deuces when I need it. A nice extra $250 much needed. Hopefully more to come.Cheers

Ps enjoying the blog http://www.royalflushervegas.com very much. Good honest blogging on the highs and low of this thing that we do.

[DAAnMAAn]

June 7, 2016: No deuces...kind of think of it, not much of anything
Had about the same amount of time as yesterday to hit the full pay
deuces. Planned to play an hour...ended up playing almost 2 hours and
hitting one royal with deuce and not much else. Donated back $200 which
was the least I could do after hitting deuces so early last
time...speaking in jest, of course. On a brighter note, had a great
night at work since poker is in full swing with wsop and such. We keep
our own tips and had whopping $365 in tips in about 7.5 hours. That's
super solid and hopefully the numbers stay high throughout the week.
Normally the average is $180-220 in tips for 7.5 hours, at least in our
house. But the full pay deuces needs to be more kind to me. Enjoying the
royal flushers blog for the most part. So many interesting takes and
angles to vp playing for sure, this guy writes about everything on his
adventures and flies into vegas from canada talking about the flight,
hotel, machines, you name it. Well...at least I don't have to fly.Cheers

[DAAnMAAn]

June 8, 2016: Time to break up the monotony
Came into my local casino to play my full pay deuces wild game and
was surprised to actually see somebody actually playing the machine I
usually always play. There were two more optimum machines next to him
that were open, but decided it was a sign to mix things up a bit. All
deuces and nothing else makes Jack a dull boy. So of course while mixing
it up, hit two quad deuces, one on .25c 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe, and one
on .50c 9/6 Jacks or Better, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I had once again about one, maybe two hours to play after work.
Decided to start with .25c 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe. Fairly quickly I hit
quad 10's for 400 coins or $100 bucks. I was up $70. So...I decided to
cash out and play something I haven't played before. Went on a terrible
pay table of .25c Super Deuces, the one where if you get a 5 of a kind
with one deuce it pays you 800 coins or $200...well, lost the $70 in
short order and was back to my original session roll of $200.
So...decided to go back to .25c bonus poker deluxe where it was a fairly
lengthy battle, was up and down and actually hit two straight flushes
on the thing. Very rare for me to hit two straight flushes in a session,
but it happened. One drawn with three card holds and one that was
flopped. But without much else, inevitably, it went down almost a $100
when I hit 4 deuces and was about $17 up. Decided to finish the night
with some .50c 9/6 Jacks or Better...another fairly lengthy battle, at
one point down about a $100 again when I hit a quad deuce again...damn,
why does it always happen on jacks or better, u know? Hit a few full
houses, ended it with a quad K's and overall up $30 for the entire
session. Kind of weird to be up so little hitting so many good hands,
but that's how it goes sometimes. I fairly enjoyed getting off the
deuces for a bit, I might play some more job and bonus poker deluxe on
my next session, but who knows.
Cheers peeps.

[pokerpokerpoker]

...hitting so many good hands but being up so little

Sounds like my last session. Was playing .50 9/6 DDB with a $200 budget. Early on, dealt quad 5s. After giving the quad back, hit another. Down, down, down, then dealt a K high straight flush. Tempting to go for it, but didn't. Down, down, down again then got 4 aces. Now I have $500 in credits. Said to myself I will play down to $400 and leave. Well, $400 became $300 then $200. At $200 I switched to dollars. Nearly broke when 4 2s came up. Was back to $500, this time I actually was able to pull myself away at $400.

2 cheap quads, one SF, aces, and 4s - for a $200 profit in 80 minutes of play. Seems like straights, flushes, and FH were running cold for me.

[FAA]

Most people lack the nerve to switch to dollars at your ebb. You basically went Martingdale. Congratulations on doubling your money.

[DAAnMAAn]

June 9th, 2016 . Sometimes Tilt works...Don't try this at home kids
So I'm at top level slot card club at the moment at my usual local
casino called Headliner. But I need to obtain a certain level of points
every 6 months. This one expires June 30th and I have about 18,000
points to go to keep the level. No problem...except...I've been playing
pretty much exclusively machines that offer only 1 point per $4 coin-in
with no multipliers and no bonuses. I've paid the price for that. Don't
get much mailers anymore, don't get any freeplay anymore, not much of
anything. I have been "flagged" as a vp advantage player mostly due to
my own fault. (This is where you need to pay attention people)...
Lesson learned...don't use your card in optimum play games! It's too
late for me, I've been flagged and I've been flagged for a long time
now. But for those new to the game, don't make the mistakes I have made
in the past. Anyway...I still get some goodies like VIP parking, 4x
points on sub-optimum games like bonus poker, 8/6 bonus poker deluxe, or
ugly deuces, and such. But the mailers and free play? Haven't seen
those for quite some time. So take that as you will.
Moving on, I decided to play the best game they have that will give
me full bonus points, $1 in equals 1 point plus multipliers (4x)...that
game is 8/5 bonus poker. Played .50c single line and got crushed. Lost
my $200+$40 faster than you can say yepper-doddle.
I was mad, very mad. Bonus has not been kind to me in the past and if
you read back some on my blog thread my journey in video poker, you can
find plenty of donating on the 8/5 bonus poker. So did I quit? No. Did I
walk away and fight another day like I should of? No. I marched right
to that ATM and pulled out $400 and marched right back to play $1 single
line determined to get my money back plus interest on that damn 8/5
bonus poker. This time, I was lucky and stubbornness won for me this
battle. About 4-5 quads and a straight flush later, cashed out $850
after an initial loss of $240 and another buy in of $400...total profit
$210. Thanked the appropriate vp gods, cashed out, and called it a day.
Moral of the story is: Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a
while. Cheers.