My Journey on Video Poker

[DAAnMAAn]

***Month in Review***No doubt December was all struggle. I expected some losses to come up due to the variance of very positive last three months, but didn't expect it to last through the month. But it did... -$818 for the month...For some of you vp players, may seem alot... for others it may seem a little. But for me playing single line quarter positive games, playing as a part-time semi-pro, it's terrible. That's where I'm at...I have to give it an F+ grade for the month of December. The reason for the plus was two royals that kept the month from a complete disaster...without those royals this month may of been one of the worse ever for me, perhaps surpassing a negative balance of $3,000 or more. For playing positive single line quarter denomination games, that is a massive negative variance.At any rate, fortunately, that didn't happen. But the loss was kicking the horse while it is down, for December is the month that needs the most wins, and of course Murphy's Law kicks in.Nevertheless, I don't have the yearly total on me at the moment. If I find some time this weekend, I'll try to sort that out. It's positive, but this month wiped out last months gains for about a wash. Maybe up $100 bucks for the last two months...which is not good enough for me. My baseline goal has basically been to average about $600 a month or so on these positive quarter single line games. Certainly didn't happen this month as the vp gods exacted revenge on me. But like the sun coming out tomorrow, so is the next session and a next start. Cheers and onward to a new year and a new start, 2017.Happy New Year Peeps! Let's stuff some pluses in our stockings this time around.

[onemoretry]

What would your total coin-in for the month have been?

[DAAnMAAn]

What would your total coin-in for the month have been?
Tough one to answer accurately for I don't keep track of coin-in...but I do keep track of hours played and know roughly how many hands in average I play per hour...for DDB about 1-1200k, for fpdw about 1k-1400k per hour. So...saying $100,000 coin in for December would be a good average number, might be a bit higher or lower but not by much.
So with fpdw with card and the little bit of free play, expect a theoretical +$900...for the 10/6 DDB with prog royal (two games I mostly play on, single line quarters), theoritcal a bit less, about +$600 a month.
Statistical average notwithstanding, negative variance took over this month. Sep, oct, nov? Very different story.
Cheers

[DAAnMAAn]

***January no VP challenge***
This month is going to be different than prior ones. It's work related, not VP related, so those not interested can skip this column. I'll keep it only to this post. I'll still be playing on my software to keep accurate, but no casino VP. Instead, I get the question a lot, how much does one make as a full time poker dealer? (For those who didn't know, that's what I do in Vegas). Well, I'm going to tell you by working this month with no EO's(early outs; meaning not putting myself on the list to leave if there are too many dealers). I really want to be accurate in the tally and it will be actual and accurate and correct. I think it may surprise some people.
So, no vp for January, will tally tips and hourly wage. And the number will be gross, not net income. I already have a rough idea what it will be in my head, so will be interesting for me too to see how accurate I am. I've been dealing a long time, over 10 years, so I'm expecting to be pretty accurate.
January is also a good month to estimate because it's usually a middle of the road month: not too busy, not too slow, so will be a decent average. Summer would be too busy, off months too slow.
Keep in mind, working in different casinos will estimate different tip amounts, certain shifts, and certain rare events like dealing a high hand jackpot or bad beat jackpot can greatly influence the monthly total (we have high hand, no bad beat). Regardless, every dollar counts and we will see how it develops.
So there it is, let the January challenge begin, tonight is the first night of the challenge. Let's go!
Jan. 2=$261.56     Jan. 9=$200.14
Jan. 3=$357.28.    Jan.10=$197.14
Jan. 4=$142.92.    Jan. 11=$209.46
Jan. 5=$247.12.    Jan. 12=$194.14
Jan. 6=$249.14.    Jan. 13=$203.48
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So the first two weeks were surprisingly slower weeks when it came to tips and business. Felt more like the slower months like February or November. At any rate, made a total gross of $2,262.38. Did not work a full 40 hr week but more like a 33 hour week due to many force outs. So the gross hourly average so far is $34.27. About $6 dollars lower hourly average gross than I predicted, but then again, a slower start of the month than expected. Let's see what the last two weeks will bring and conclude the January work challenge.
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Jan. 16=$233.96.          Jan. 23=$188.10
Jan. 17=$125.63.          Jan. 24=$198.93
Jan. 18=$285.48.          Jan. 25=$188.10
Jan. 19=$186.94.          Jan. 26=$180.18
Jan. 20=$13.00 (EO, decided to treat myself).
Jan.27=$236.72
Jan. 30=$298.84
Jan. 31=$252.93
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Second two weeks, Jan. 16-31 was a gross total of $2,388.81...with once again about a working average of 30-35 hours a week. January added two extra days of work, but that is just as well due to a slow month overall and one EO day that was taken.
Conclusion=Adding up the whole month came out with a gross income of $4,651.19. Assuming about 130 hours of work for the month, it comes out to $35.77 an hour. Of course, it's gross not net, and it's about 4 dollars less than I thought it would be probably due to a slower than average January. I was expecting $5k gross, so came out less than the number in my head.
That's it. Thanks for your interest in this profession. Any other questions, feel free to ask me. As you can see, the money made can be quite good, just got to stay away from the house edge games
Cheers

[onemoretry]

So...saying $100,000 coin in for December would be a good average number, might be a bit higher or lower but not by much.
Wow! That's a lot for single line quarters. I guess, though, since you're playing a couple of hours a day almost every day, it's not too hard to do.

Having two royals in the month, which would be about average for the amount of play, and still losing 0.8% or so on two positive games is tough. It just emphasizes how unpredictable the game can be.

It'll be interesting to see how your entire year went, once you get it all compiled. With somewhere in the neighbourhood of a million hands played, one would hope you finished up reasonably close to the expected theoretical result.

[rascal]

DAAnMAAn, two questions:
Do the dealers in your casino share tips equally?
Does your casino allow you to play VP there if you are not in wardrobe?

[DAAnMAAn]

DAAnMAAn, two questions:
Do the dealers in your casino share tips equally?
Does your casino allow you to play VP there if you are not in wardrobe?
We keep our own tips...which is typical for poker dealers in Nevada and Vegas.
We can gamble on the property I work in out of uniform. The progressives could be questionable as an employee so would stay away from those...i.e., megamillions, wheel of fortune, etc.
I wouldn't play VP at my property anyway...pay tables no good and generally not the best idea to gamble where one works.
Cheers

[DAAnMAAn]

So tried to review the entire year and unfortunately did not keep accurate records for significant periods of time. I did keep good records from August till now and the bias is it covers two very good months, one above average month, two losing months for a total of +5,497. It's a very positive number, but I do know I had some losing months before August...but also some winners too. So it's difficult for me to say. In the future will keep my end of the month tallys in one place so an end of year total will be easy and quick.
I will say my goal is to average $600 a month for a total of $7,200 for the year. Did I get there? I can't say. But from August to now it's $5497.
This year I'll make it a point to keep better track. But taking a month off and won't be playing until February.
Cheers

[FAA]

You probably made it. So bored with my low rolling. Trips are mighty uneventful after nine months without a RF. I must bring $200 per trip, a massive amount, to create some memories for myself. But I may really get burned now that we are in the dead season and machines take forever to cycle, though. Any thoughts?

[Tedlark]

FAA my thought would be for you to not make so many $200.00 trips and instead save for $600.00 or even $800.00 trips so that you could possibly ride out the down cycles.