CS strategy

[FloridaPhil]

When I played with CS strategy, I limited my bankroll to $250 a day.  CS is interesting as you often catch back up with one good hand.  You can see this for yourself if you play for free on this website.  You can lose 100-200 coins or so, then hit a max coin straight flush and be back where you started.   It is a rare occurrence to lose all 1000 quarters if you stick with quarter play.  For this reason, CS is neutral or slightly negative the majority of the time.  This means you can normally play for a long time and pocket any bigger max coin jackpots. Switching to $1 play is tricky.  I played CS $20 at a time and pocketed the white ticket any time the counter reaches $50.  I only considered moving to a higher denomination when I had stashed $250 in white tickets.  If that happens, I switch to $1 or even $5 CS.  During the two year period that I played CS, I hit a number of large $1 and $5 CS jackpots.  Even now, I still prefer CS for big machine potshots.  Some people ask me why I don't switch to max coin dollars instead of single coin $5 machines?  It's true that you are giving up the royal bonus, but you are also giving up the ability to switch to max coins without exiting the game.  After years of CS play, I can tell you exiting the game and reentering will kill any streak that is going on.  Experts will tell you all hands are independent, but I can only tell you what happens when I play.When playing $5 CS, a single coin quad deuce pays $1,000.  Those jackpots pay the same as a max coin quarter royal only they are 9 times more frequent.   I have hit a couple of $4,000 max coin royals playing $1 CS and numerous single coin $5 quad deuces.  So far I have not hit a max coin $5 quad deuce royal for $5,000 or a max coin $5 royal for $20,000, but I expect I will some day.The only real drawback to CS is the short coin royal and the comp issue I spoke about earlier.  If you can't handle that, don't do it.  After all these years of play I have hit so many royals it doesn't faze me anymore.  Actually, I enjoy hitting $5 single coin quad deuces more than max coin quarter royals and they pay the same.Over the two year period that I tested CS, I posted over $17,000 worth of jackpots to this very website.  The outrage was substantial.  I was even accused of taking pictures of other people's jackpots and posting them.  Others just couldn't fathom the idea that anyone could do that well playing single coin.   It got so bad that I agreed to ban myself from the Strategy Forum just so Bob Dancer would return.  I have nothing to gain from CS.  I don't care if anyone else likes it or not.  Like I said, try it for free and see what you think.I totally understand how some people feel about CS and that's fine with me.   They are entitled to their own opinions.  Video poker is a game of chance, not sending a rocket to the moon.   These games are random.  There are patterns to randomness.  CS attempts to capitalize on them.   Personally, I don't care what anyone thinks, I post on this website for entertainment and I don't care how anyone else plays VP. 

[billryan]

Billryan...You seem to be a strong disbeliever in Phil's system. Can you suggest a better one?

Yes. Don't play games with bad pay tables. Learn the game and learn the math behind the pay tables. Learn how to take advantage of casino clubs and promotions. No player in the world can beat a game with a pay table that pays out 96% . No one can. An intelligent player will avoid them entirely. A fool will justify playing them with a thousand excuses, usually something about not needing money anyway.
If you notice, Phil is banned from discussing his strategy in the strategy section. It's because it isn't a strategy, it's a half assed scheme with zero basis in reality. It's only proponent is a well known liar whose only "proof" is his word.
Find the game that offers the best pay table, and has the best players club, and play only when you have the best offerings.
Read and learn from published authors. Bob Dancer and Jean Scott are on opposite ends of the spectrum in the VP universe, but a casual player can learn from both.
Spend a couple hours reading threads here and see who are respected players and who are jokes. Any successful player I know has VP software and uses it almost daily.
If you are looking for a silver bullet that will instantly transform you into a winner, forget it.
VP is a long term grind. Hard way to make an easy living.
The path to success is steep and narrow. Don't be distracted by fools with shiny objects on the side of the road.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=billryan]No player in the world can beat a game with a pay table that pays out 96% . No one can.[/quote]Bill is right except he left out the words "long term".  Odds have nothing to do with short term results.  You can hit 4 royals in a day on a 96% game just as easily as a 100% game.  The difference is in time you will have more money left when you play 100% games. He keeps leaving out or ignoring the most important part of CS.  CS is for players who must play seriously negative games or not play at all.  Bill lives in Vegas.  I suspect he hangs out at South Point most of the time.  He has access to positive games and generous comps that are totally unknown to the average player.  If I was him I would play exactly as he described.  If you are like me and only have negative VP games available, you will need to pay more attention to your loses than your wins.  That is what CS is designed to do.Discussing positive games and generous comps is of little value to a small time VP player outside of Nevada.   "If you can't play positive games, don't play at all" is just as meaningless.  If you enjoy playing VP and you must play negative games, learn to enjoy the game as recreation and forget about making money.  Play small, limit your losses and beat the casino by paying less than full price for your ticket.  It's the same game....

[rsactuary]

[QUOTE=SHANEMC] Billryan...You seem to be a strong disbeliever in Phil's system. Can you suggest a better one?

Yes. Don't play games with bad pay tables. Learn the game and learn the math behind the pay tables. Learn how to take advantage of casino clubs and promotions. No player in the world can beat a game with a pay table that pays out 96% . No one can. An intelligent player will avoid them entirely. A fool will justify playing them with a thousand excuses, usually something about not needing money anyway.
If you notice, Phil is banned from discussing his strategy in the strategy section. It's because it isn't a strategy, it's a half assed scheme with zero basis in reality. It's only proponent is a well known liar whose only "proof" is his word.
Find the game that offers the best pay table, and has the best players club, and play only when you have the best offerings.
Read and learn from published authors. Bob Dancer and Jean Scott are on opposite ends of the spectrum in the VP universe, but a casual player can learn from both.
Spend a couple hours reading threads here and see who are respected players and who are jokes. Any successful player I know has VP software and uses it almost daily.
If you are looking for a silver bullet that will instantly transform you into a winner, forget it.
VP is a long term grind. Hard way to make an easy living.
The path to success is steep and narrow. Don't be distracted by fools with shiny objects on the side of the road.[/QUOTE]SHANEMC.. pay attention to ^^ this post.  Not the other drivel being fed to you here.  It will serve you better over time.

[FloridaPhil]

The decision you make about which VP strategy to use depends upon the goal you are trying to accomplish.  If your desire is to obtain the highest financial return, play the games with the best odds and learn to play them well.  You most likely will not make a long term profit, but you will wring every last dime out of your investment.  Very few people in this world make any real money playing VP.  That is a fact that no one can dispute.  Should you try?  Go for it, just understand the odds are overwhelmingly against you.If you go to the casino to be entertained, you do not need to risk thousands of dollars to do so.  The casino is selling a dream.  The dream is you can walk in and leave rich or at least with a pocket full of money.   I have had the experience of walking into the casino with $300 and walking out with $14,000 in hundreds.  Later, I found $1,000 in my pocket that I didn't remember winning.  I've also had casino managers move us to an end suite without asking.  Those are the good days I remember.Over the 15 years or so since I have been going to casinos, I have lost an average of $10,000 a year.  I won some years and I lost some, but over all that's about it.  I consider $10,000 a year a good value for the entertainment I received.  We also stayed free in some very nice casino resorts and ate a lot of free casino food.   I am in a high tax bracket and could have easily lost $50,000 to $100,000 a year if I had bought into the casino's dream.  Thankfully, God gave me a brain so I played small so that wouldn't happen. CS is cheap entertainment. That was the reason I created it.  I grew tired of losing $1,500 to $2,000 a week on gambling junkets, so I found a way to play cheaper.   The two years I played CS was one of the few extended periods of time I ever made money playing VP.   CS works because you are limiting the money you run through the machine, not because there is any magic to streaks or single coin play itself.I hope I answered your questions about CS.  As you can see there are many different opinions of how to play VP.  In the end, it's your money.   Play the way that makes you happy, not someone else.

[WVRadar]

[QUOTE=SHANEMC] Billryan...You seem to be a strong disbeliever in Phil's system. Can you suggest a better one?

Yes. Don't play games with bad pay tables. Learn the game and learn the math behind the pay tables. Learn how to take advantage of casino clubs and promotions. No player in the world can beat a game with a pay table that pays out 96% . No one can. An intelligent player will avoid them entirely. A fool will justify playing them with a thousand excuses, usually something about not needing money anyway.
If you notice, Phil is banned from discussing his strategy in the strategy section. It's because it isn't a strategy, it's a half assed scheme with zero basis in reality. It's only proponent is a well known liar whose only "proof" is his word.
Find the game that offers the best pay table, and has the best players club, and play only when you have the best offerings.
Read and learn from published authors. Bob Dancer and Jean Scott are on opposite ends of the spectrum in the VP universe, but a casual player can learn from both.
Spend a couple hours reading threads here and see who are respected players and who are jokes. Any successful player I know has VP software and uses it almost daily.
If you are looking for a silver bullet that will instantly transform you into a winner, forget it.
VP is a long term grind. Hard way to make an easy living.
The path to success is steep and narrow. Don't be distracted by fools with shiny objects on the side of the road.[/QUOTE]

Might I remind you that this is the Recreational Play Forum. If I adhered to billyran's advice regarding Video Poker I would never play, I don't live in Las Vegas and the machines available to me almost never have the best paytables.

That doesn't mean I don't search the casino for the best paytables available. I also try to play the correct strategy for the game I am playing.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=WVRadar]Might I remind you that this is the Recreational Play Forum. If I
adhered to billyran's advice regarding Video Poker I would never play, I
don't live in Las Vegas and the machines available to me almost never
have the best paytables.
That doesn't mean I don't search the casino for the best paytables
available. I also try to play the correct strategy for the game I am
playing.[/quote]We are the players I had in mind when I asked for a separate Recreational Play Forum.  Most of us don't live in Vegas.  Telling players to never play negative VP games does nothing to address this issue. There was a time when 9/6 quarter jacks was common.  Those days are gone forever, at least at the casinos where I play.  Ever decreasing odds, eventually gets to a point where no number of royals can make a profit.   The most popular game in our casinos is 8/5 DDB.  That game is a 96.79% game at max coins.  If you play 800 max coin quarter 8/5 DDB hands an hour computer perfectly, you are losing an average of $30 an hour.  Dropping to single coin quarters cuts that down to less than $9 an hour.   What possible strategy can make either game profitable?  None...In my opinion, the best way to approach today's video poker is to treat it like Candy Crush and play it for entertainment.  The days of positive VP games and generous comps are almost gone and those that exist are leaving fast.  For most players VP is a different game now than it was back when Mr. & Mrs. Dancer made their million.  I appreciate their accomplishment, but I live and play in today's world not the past.

[billryan]

The OP asked the question in the Strategy section, indicating he thought CS was an actual VP strategy, not some half baked theorem on how you can insure being a long term loser.
People here who continue to say that they don't have access to full pay games so they have to resort to this are either irrational or dishonest.

[FloridaPhil]

CS is not a strategy, it is a way to extend play while retaining the excitement of a possible max coin jackpot.  It also has the added benefit of reducing the hourly cost to play seriously negative video poker games.   If you just want to argue, find something else to argue about.  You're boring us.

[Tedlark]

Actually according to Merriam-Webster, CS would fit the definition of strategy: "a careful plan or method." So, formulating a plan or method to extend play while retaining the excitement of a possible max coin jackpot, would be considered a strategy.