More short coin feedback...

[FloridaPhil]

Comps have value only if you can use them.  Is it profitable to play 5-6 hours to get a free lunch or 3-4 days to get a free hotel room?  If your  play plus your comps brings you even or better, I would say Yes.  For me, it's better to play small, cut my losses to a minimum and pay for my own meals and rooms.  I do take advantage of opportunities when they come up.  Some days everything goes right, but most days it doesn't.

[spxChrome]

Why don't you play max bet nickels? Turn that $62.50 into $200? What I have a problem with is do you play 9/6 1 coin or 8/5 max. Usually the lower the denom the lower the paytable.

[FloridaPhil]

We don't have nickel VP in Florida yet. The only nickel DDB game I've played was 6/5. 8/5 single coin has better odds. If I could play 8/5 nickels, I definately would.

[Vman96]

We don't have nickel VP in Florida yet. The only nickel DDB game I've played was 6/5. 8/5 single coin has better odds. If I could play 8/5 nickels, I definately would.

Do they have super times pay there for nickels Phil? I have yet to see a STP machine worse than 7/5 DDB. Reading IGT media sheets I don't even think 6/5 DDB is an option. And you only have to play 1 line of stp and you can bet 5 or 6 credits.

[FloridaPhil]

I'm happy starting with 8/5 single coin for now. When playing negative expectation games, I think it's better to consider session trends rather single hands.   I've had weeks playing max coins where I got a Royal and still lost money.  Playing short coin reduces my losses on bad days and I can always increase my bet if things are going good. I know most of you know this already, but it's worth looking at again:
800 hands/hr. of 8/5 DDB (95.554%) @ .25 a hand = $8.92 loss per hour with perfect play.
 
800 hands/hr. of 8/5 DDB (96.786%) @ 1.25 a hand = $32.14 loss per hour with perfect play.
 
On a really bad day, these losses can be much greater. I have had days where I lost $50 an hour playing single coin quarters with no royal.  If I was playing max coin ($1.25), I would have lost well over $100 an hour.  Short coin play reduces my loss per hour and allows me to easily switch to max coins mid game.   Once you get over the $62 Royal thing, it does actually make it an even more exciting game. One good hit at max coins can make up for a whole day of short coin play.  I've done this over and over again and it works more times than the numbers show.  This is probably due to the high streakiness of DDB.
 
Again, my preferred way of play does not pretend to make you a long term winner.  It's designed to let you play longer with less money and still have an opportunity to win big once in a while. 
 
 
 

[olds442jetaway]

Wish you had Double Down Stud down there Phil. You could play 1 coin quarters and get 200 bucks back after you hit the double down button and come up with the 4 deuces. Even though the return is a little less than 98 percent, I have been playing the few reamining machines up north for years and holding my own on them with a couple of 5k hits. Lots of fun and you can play nearly twice as many hands in the same amount of time. If you get up this way, I will show you where all of the machines are at Mohegan.

[FloridaPhil]

The Northeast is definitely on our list of future VP road trips. Thinking about Cherokee-Atlantic City-Connecticut and return.  Anything else we should try along the way?

[onemoretry]

I'm happy starting with 8/5 single coin for now. When playing negative expectation games, I think it's better to consider session trends rather single hands.   I've had weeks playing max coins where I got a Royal and still lost money.  Playing short coin reduces my losses on bad days and I can always increase my bet if things are going good.
Despite my previous comment about increasing the casino's advantage by playing short coin, I agree that your approach makes sense given what you want from the game, and the constraints you face.

[Mikeinri]

No question about it.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of players don't have access to 100%+ games and/or can't play computer perfect 100% of the time.  I certainly can't...  Yes but EVERYBODY who goes to LV or Reno has access to over 100% games.  What is puzzling is that so many choose not to play them and then grumble that they're not there anymore!

[FloridaPhil]

That's because 95% of recreational video poker players don't have any idea what those numbers at the top of the machine are for and don't care.  It's amazing to me that casinos are so concerned about a few players gaining an advantage when they make so much money on the hordes of people who just wing it. I can understand a casino manager pulling the odds back on high limit machines, but why would you cut the odds on quarters?  No real professional  is going to play quarters, you can panhandle more money than that in a day.