Video Poker Forum

We just returned from an overnight birthday trip to the Tampa Hard Rock. Until recently, Tampa had a small hotel. We could never get comped rooms there, so we had to make the four hour trip down to Hollywood where rooms were plentiful. Both casinos have been completely renovated. Now we have a better option only an hour and a half away.

The amount of work that has been done to these two casinos is astounding. Both are now among the nicest casinos we have ever been to. All the rooms in the old hotel have been redone and the new hotel is huge. They added a number of new restaurants too. The County Fair is currently being held next to the casino, so the place was packed.

We got to the Tampa casino yesterday about 10:30 AM. Our plan was to play quarter deuces wild the entire time. My wife has been on a roll lately with two royals in one day a few weeks ago. I have been in a slump for about 3 months and can't seem to do anything but lose. Yesterday, my wife hit three quad deuce sets for $250 each. That figures. I fed quarters into the machine all day with nothing to show for it. I was down about $300 by dinner time. I had $35 left in the machine. As I have been doing lately, I switched to dollar play. The machine took off and I won all but $50 of my losses back.

Today, I got down to the casino about 7:00 AM. I played all morning and couldn't do a thing. My wife came down about 9 AM and promptly hit another quad deuce. I walked around and tried a few slots and a bunch of different video poker machines. As usual, I kept losing. I walked back to where my wife was playing and sat down at the machine that gave her the quads yesterday. I put in a twenty and selected dollar play. Like clock work, the machine started spitting out five of a kinds and straight flushes. I wasn't gaining on the machine, just hovering. That's when I hit my third $1,000 quad deuce in 6 months. Here's the pic. At the end of the trip, my wife made about $400 and I made $300. We ate dinner free and stayed at the hotel for free. They didn't even charge us sales tax or a resort fee. Happy Birthday to me!

Nice trip FP, and Happy Birthday.
For last few month i have had similar problem keeping up with my wife.She has amazing discipline and i do not.

Your $20 pot-shot paid off, this time.

Nice hit Phil...Happy Birthday!!!

tech58 wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 12, 2020 12:47 pm

For last few month i have had similar problem keeping up with my wife.She has amazing discipline and i do not.

My wife has the discipline of a monk. She sticks with max coin quarter deuces wild no matter what. She modifies the computer strategy slightly to increase her chances of hitting a royal flush and she does. She knows it costs her about 4 cents each time she does this and she's OK with the cost. I used to think her strategy reduced the chance of hitting a quad deuce. Evidentially, it doesn't.

I used to switch games and bets while I played. I tried all kinds of schemes in an attempt to document a fixed switching strategy, but I always seemed to switch at the wrong time. I think it was Ted who said, "You don't know you are in a streak until it's over". How true.

It is utter futility to attempt to out guess what the RNG is going to do before it does it. I don't even try any more. My justification for switching at the end of a losing day is simple. What can be worse than what has already happened? I'll lose a little more? If I hit something in the process, I walk out with it.

I've been lucky lately more than I deserve. It's good to be lucky once in a while.

Truth is, lucky is not only better than good, It is WAY better.

Again, happy birthday Phil. Glad you had a successful trip.

Happy birthday again Phil. It’s amazing how much luck has to do with this game. I play almost exclusively 99% machines on quarters and dollars. My wife plays 95 to 97% machines on Nickels and clobbers me almost every trip. Sometines, she wins several thousand nickels at one time. I’m glad you guys had a great time and came out ahead at the end. It is very difficult for both partners to come out ahead on any trip.

I know it's not popular to say around here, but I believe luck is 90% of today's video poker. The more hands you play, the less this is true. One big advantage of the new Tampa hotel is we won't be taking any three day gambling trips. Those "free" gambling junkets are bankroll killers. An over night trip to Tampa is manageable. If we aren't doing well, we can pack up and go home. When you are stuck in Biloxi, Vegas or Reno for three days, you can take a real beating.

I believe the best way to play today's negative VP games is to play less or bet less. If you get lucky, get out of Dodge.

Congrats Phil. Last year I was down in Tampa for St Patricks Day weekend to see some Yankee spring training games with my daughters. We went to Hard Rock one night and had a nice dinner at the Council Oak steakhouse. I then played one of the better deuces games at 50 cents and threw away 5 cards and was dealt a royal on the redraw for 2K. May get down again this spring.

Carcounter wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:17 am

Congrats Phil. Last year I was down in Tampa for St Patricks Day weekend to see some Yankee spring training games with my daughters. We went to Hard Rock one night and had a nice dinner at the Council Oak steakhouse. I then played one of the better deuces games at 50 cents and threw away 5 cards and was dealt a royal on the redraw for 2K. May get down again this spring.

My wife has taken about $3K of their money in the past few months. Sounds like you found the better games in the old casino. Hopefully they will still be there when you return. Let me know when you will be back. We may be there at the same time.