Surviving in the Real World of VP

[billryan]

What is this, the fortieth thread you've started on the same subject?
You've been playing for years, can't be bothered playing correct strategy and are a lifetime loser at it. We get it.
Other people aren't.
When you want to put down successful players, you talk about having to deal with smoking and drunks and how horrible it is. Yet just a few days ago you were talking about how you and your wife consider trips to casinos vacations and you enjoy that more than a cruise. Which is it?
I don't know any successful player who counts raffle winnings as part of their winnings. Certain Mr Dancer doesn't. Long term VP success calls for disciplines you don't have.
Don't feel bad, it's not for everyone. If it meant enough to you you'd relocate someplace that would make it possible.
This month I ate free twenty three times. I don't care if you want to call it $200 worth of comps or $500. I ate free, I got two sets of cookie sheets that I needed, saving me about $20 and got almost $150 in free play I used.Easily lost double or triple thatin unclaimed free play because it wasn't worth my while that particular day.Saw two concerts for free and got discount tickets to three movies. Lost 78 dollars for the month, to go with last month's $52 loss.
You remind me of the kid with no money staring into the ice cream parlor telling the world the ice cream stinks anyway.

[FloridaPhil]

Bill, you seem angry about something.   You'll live longer if you settle down and enjoy life instead of fighting it.  My wife and I play video poker strictly for entertainment.  Others may play for a host of different reasons.   When you play for entertainment you occasionally make different choices than someone who is playing for profit.  When I make a statement on this forum, it's from the viewpoint of an entertainment player.  I'm not teaching anything to anybody.  I'm just stating what works for us.Video poker is a kid's game that happens to be in a casino.  It's not life or death and no one cares how you or anyone else plays with their own money.  Unfortunately, drunks and smokers are something you have to put up with if you want to play this game.I realize Mr. Dancer is a big hero to many on this forum.    The only serious disagreement we have is his promotion of the idea that betting bigger is better.   By his own admission, very few people have what it takes to win at gambling long term.  Telling players he bets tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on VP hoping that math will make him a winner is outrageous in my opinion.  If he wants to do it quietly with his own money, fine.  If he causes one person serious financial harm trying to duplicate his reported results, that's a crime.  The only reason he does it publicly is to sell more of his products.  If he was really that successful at VP he wouldn't need to sell $50 software or teach rookies in the back of a casino, he would stay in the high limit room and keep his secrets to himself.   Everything else he says, I agree with.Bill, my bet is my wife and I are winning and this ticks you off.  We have never once seen one of your jackpots on this forum.  You never contribute anything, you just show up once a month with one of your rants.  Maybe you will post a picture of your free sandwiches so we can see you actually win something? 

[FAA]

Phil, baloney and tongue are likely menu fixtures! Meanwhile, you keep making the cheddar.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=billryan]I don't know any successful player who counts raffle winnings as part of
their winnings. Certain Mr Dancer doesn't. Long term VP success calls
for disciplines you don't have.[/quote]Wrong again.  Mr. Dancer does count raffle wins as VP winnings and has stated as much on this very forum.

[billryan]

You and your wife are winning. Got it.

[billryan]

I believe he counts raffle winnings as expected value, not as winnings. If there are a thousand tickets in a weekly drawing and he and his wife routinely hold more than a quarter of them, then there is long term expected value to that. It's not like he is buying a lottery ticket.

I don't post here much because I came here to learn and you personally chased away one of the few people I came for.
What can you teach me? I already knew how to lose, and know not to play ****ty games even if they are convenient. Instead of posting here, I'm actually networking with people who know what they are doing. It's a slow process, but I'm learning the bonus days, the premium prize days,the essentials of winning. Where and how to get free meals for an expected loss of under fifty cents,hidden bonuses like triple points after midnight that change a game into positive mode. Obtaining a $50 gift card for an expected loss of next to nothing.
All the little things you scoff at.
Have a wonderful life!

[FloridaPhil]

It doesn't matter what math or strategy you use, video poker is a long term loser for the vast majority of players.  I think we are all in agreement on that fact.   Notice I did not say no one can ever win long term, I said most don't.  If most players lose, how is advising them to play bigger good advice?Bob Dancer's video poker strategy and methodology works better than anything yet devised.  It is based on sound math and there is nothing better.  Unfortunately, it comes with no guarantees.  Our strategy is to treat video poker as a recreational activity like golf, fishing or going to the movies.  Video poker is a casino game where you can choose the price of admission.  I think playing for $1.25 a game is a bargain.  If someone else wants to pay $25, $50 or even $500 for the same game, I'm not trying to convince them not to.  Huge wins and mathematical equations are fun to talk about, but they won't save you from walking out broke much of the time. Our personal strategy is to treat every trip as a separate entity and manage our money to at least break even every time. If no one cares, so be it.  It works for us...

[FAA]

Break even each trip sounds like a pipe dream for impatient players like me. Time to dust off my old lock box! It's badly needed, I'm afraid.

[onemoretry]

If most players lose, how is advising them to play bigger good advice?
I'm not aware of seeing where anyone advised others to play for higher stakes. In any case, you should play at a level that is comfortable for you.

[alpax]

[QUOTE=FloridaPhil]
If most players lose, how is advising them to play bigger good advice?
I'm not aware of seeing where anyone advised others to play for higher stakes. In any case, you should play at a level that is comfortable for you.[/QUOTE]

I think there is somewhat of a misunderstanding with bigger stake wagers.

It varies casino and by region, sometimes the best pay schedules are on the higher denomination stakes and sometimes they are on the lowest denomination stakes. I keep track of at least 20 casinos even though I just step foot inside on 5 of them.

Higher wagers does not automatically mean bigger losses.

I will make it a personal preference to play on the best schedules so if higher denomination is required, I'll still play but I'll play much less quantity wise.

I have made wagers from 25 cents per hand (nickel VP) to $125 ($25 VP only a few dozen times) for just one hand.