Stinky Biloxi Trip Ends Well

[rascal]

My own Mississippi Coast experience is that Silver Slipper offers the best paytables for $1 and under. IP has some decent games but you have to look for them. For high limit games in the $2, $5, $10 and $25 denoms, the paytables seem to stink everywhere on the coast. In the past IP had decent high denom games but for my last visit there I saw that they had joined the crowd and reduced their paytables on $2 and up. If anyone knows of decent paytables on the Mississippi Coast for DW and DDB for $2, $5, $10 and $25, please post. (VP Free is not very current with its Mississippi Coast advice.)

[FloridaPhil]

We were able to do a lot of scouting on this last trip.  We also found the information on VPFree2.com to be outdated.   Harrah's and the Golden Nugget had dropped their quarter odds to the same 96% as the Beau Rivage.  Even the Palace was down and they were always better than the rest.  The IP was the only place in Biloxi that had decent DW in quarters.   We drove down to the Island View in Gulfport and found much better odds at the bar.  In fact, the odds on these few machines are as good as Blackhawk CO.  You could tell everyone knew about this as the bar was crowded even at 9 AM.  The Silver Slipper had the better deuces odds starting at .50 and up. Using the Cheap Strategy the odds don't matter all that much, it just tees us off to only get 100 coins for a wild royal.  Some Biloxi games keep the 125 coin wild royal and knock the full house down to 3 coins, which is worse.   The high limit slots were almost abandoned, wonder why!

[Rebus]

We were able to do a lot of scouting on this last trip.  We also found the information on VPFree2.com to be outdated.   Harrah's and the Golden Nugget had dropped their quarter odds to the same 96% as the Beau Rivage.
Apparently no one visiting these casinos wants to send updates to vpFREE2 which is how it gets updated. That's too bad since it would help us all.

BTW The only 25c games listed in vpFREE2 for Harrah's Gulf Coast are 9/6 JoB and 8/5 BP on the Quick Quads machines near the buffet. And the only ones at the GN are five 25c 9/6 DDB "in a row among a larger bank of short pay video poker near the table games". Those could be hard to find unless you check every machine.

http://www.vpfree2.com/casino/grand-bil ... -hotel-spa

http://www.vpfree2.com/casino/golden-nugget-biloxi

Anyone can send updates to vpFREE2 by first looking at the games pages like the ones above, then clicking on the Send-Us-an-Update tab and letting them know what to change. I contribute when I see something that should be changed as do others here.

[BillyJoe]

We were able to do a lot of scouting on this last trip.  We also found the information on VPFree2.com to be outdated.   Harrah's and the Golden Nugget had dropped their quarter odds to the same 96% as the Beau Rivage.  Even the Palace was down and they were always better than the rest.  The IP was the only place in Biloxi that had decent DW in quarters.   We drove down to the Island View in Gulfport and found much better odds at the bar.  In fact, the odds on these few machines are as good as Blackhawk CO.  You could tell everyone knew about this as the bar was crowded even at 9 AM.  The Silver Slipper had the better deuces odds starting at .50 and up. Using the Cheap Strategy the odds don't matter all that much, it just tees us off to only get 100 coins for a wild royal.  Some Biloxi games keep the 125 coin wild royal and knock the full house down to 3 coins, which is worse.   The high limit slots were almost abandoned, wonder why!

Harrahs Gulf Coast (formerly The Grand) has 9/6 TDB $5 single-line, if you are up for it.

[alpax]

[QUOTE=FloridaPhil]
We were able to do a lot of scouting on this last trip.  We also found the information on VPFree2.com to be outdated.   Harrah's and the Golden Nugget had dropped their quarter odds to the same 96% as the Beau Rivage.  Even the Palace was down and they were always better than the rest.  The IP was the only place in Biloxi that had decent DW in quarters.   We drove down to the Island View in Gulfport and found much better odds at the bar.  In fact, the odds on these few machines are as good as Blackhawk CO.  You could tell everyone knew about this as the bar was crowded even at 9 AM.  The Silver Slipper had the better deuces odds starting at .50 and up. Using the Cheap Strategy the odds don't matter all that much, it just tees us off to only get 100 coins for a wild royal.  Some Biloxi games keep the 125 coin wild royal and knock the full house down to 3 coins, which is worse.   The high limit slots were almost abandoned, wonder why!

Harrahs Gulf Coast (formerly The Grand) has 9/6 TDB $5 single-line, if you are up for it. [/QUOTE]

9/6 TDB would be better than most of the games mentioned at Biloxi aside from Airport Deuces.

The reason TDB will not fit into Phil's play style or system is:

1. Single coin play suffers from not only the Royal Flush payout, but the 4 Aces With Any 2,3,4 payout bonus as well 400 instead of 800.

2. Single coin switching to max coin play hits require at least a 3 credit win for non-deuces game, since 3 of a kind only pays 2 to 1, it would require a straight or better. It will not reimburse enough for the next hand to be a max bet, unless a bigger pot shot is taken.

[alpax]

[QUOTE=FloridaPhil]
  I say that with enough experience you have a better than even chance of guessing right.   Timing is the most important factor in video poker and if you get it right you can win even with bad odds

I guess I must be a slow learner. I've been playing video poker for more than 20 years, with probably a couple of million hands dealt, and I have absolutely no clue as to what is coming next.[/QUOTE]

Me neither, if I get off to a bad start it usually ends up in a bad session.

If Phil actually can predict when to bet high, he would not need to share with us how and keep the riches to himself .

[olds442jetaway]

Great question and fun to discuss...  Keep in mind that I am playing video poker for peanuts, so it doesn't cost me much to have crazy ideas...  I believe it's possible that today's video poker machines deal the hands differently than what we saw 10 years ago.  I don't think these RNGs are 100% random.  The chips are designed to test good to the regulators and to keep the odds the same, but they pay out differently.  The casinos think that anyone with a computer can become an expert player, so the game makers had to come up with something to protect their customer's bottom line.  Ask any serious video poker player if their results are the same as they were 10 years ago and see what they say.   Traditional strategy was created in a world where 100% plus machines were common place.  Unless you're Bob Dancer living in Vegas, I don't believe that works anymore. So what are we left with?  We can only rely on facts.  Two facts that I am sure about are; most of the good hands come up in a small percentage of the overall hands and wild card games run in streaks.  I say forget the Royals and bet small most of the time, then bet bigger when the trend says it's time.  If you don't agree, that's fine.  Just think about it with an open mind.   Real or BS?  You decide...

     I have posted several times about there being something different in vp results for the last 5 years or so. Recently, I have discovered someting else that plays a lot like the stock market. If this is not coincidence, than there is no way these machines have a completely random program. Most of you know that I play about a million hands a year and sometimes more. Let's say you put 300 bucks into a quarter machine at the beginning of a session. That gives you twelve hundred credits. For most of the day that will go up a little, down some, back and forth etc. but usually stay in the 600-1400 range for the most part on a job 99 percent game with no Royal hit. Every single time my total drops to 500 or so credits, in short order that machine will go to 0. I mean one hundred percent of the time. I have seen this happen to me at least 50 times if not more in the last year. Other machines usually have wilder swings with higher variance games. You would think that once in awhile when the credit total got to that lower level, you would have some sort of mini run to bring it back up. Nope. I also noticed that if you do get a mini run at some point that brings you close to what you started with, but not quite there the machine will go back and forth for a little while then straight down fast.

[FloridaPhil]

"If Phil actually can predict when to bet high, he would not need to share with us how and keep the riches to himself."Here goes...  No one can predict 100% of the time when a jackpot will occur, but I believe you can make observations that will help you make better decisions.  This all assumes you are going to play a negative expectation machine.  If you have an edge on the house, by all means go for it. The problem I had for years was that I played completely level.  In that I mean I always played max coins at a denomination that I couldn't afford, hardly ever moved down in denomination and never really observed what was happening until I lost all my money (normally) or hit a jackpot big enough to make me walk out of the casino (almost never).  I always concentrated on my next big win without considering what I lost on an annual basis.  I also drank the Bob Dancer cool aid big time, but I ignored his first rule "Never play negative expectation games". After about 10 years, I was about to quit altogether when I started to look at the game differently.  I do not claim to have the "Theory of Everything" in video poker and I do not claim to be an expert of any kind. That said, here are some of the things that work for me.  I only play single line Deuces Wild video poker.  It's the most predictable and it's simple and easy to track.  Quirky games like Ultimate X and Super Times Pay are much more unpredictable and tough to beat.  I don't play multiple line games because the losses can get out of control quick.  Never play DDB, it's a disaster waiting to happen...I don't think much of Royals.  I realize you are giving up 2%, but they are completely unpredictable.  This is the bait in the trap of video poker that causes you to build up or give back huge loses just for the thrill of seeing one.   They happen when they happen and there's nothing you can do to time it right.  Single coin Royals are still profitable even if they pay 250 coins.  Quad deuces are much more common and predictable.I break down my play into very small sessions so I can better gauge what's happening with the cards. I'm a quarter player so I never put more than $20 in the machine at a time.  If I start with $100 I can't see a small run, I only see the machine bringing me back to zero.   Also, it makes me think about what's happening before I put in another $20.I always start out betting small and play max coins for the first few mini-sessions, then stop and review my results.  If I'm winning or hovering, I'll stay with max coins. If not, I drop back to the Cheap Strategy.If in any one mini-session ($20) I stay ahead or even with the game for an extended period of time, I stay with max coins and consider moving up in denomination.  We've all seen this.  Sometimes the machine sucks up my $20 in 3 minutes and sometimes I can play $20 for an hour or more.  These are the sessions you want to take advantage of.  Hold on because something good is probably going to happen.Always put some of your winnings away so you go home with money in your pocket.  This keeps you from having "Empty Pocket Syndrome" (very depressing).  I always pocket all $1,000 or more jackpots and go back to betting small so I don't put it back.  You can grow your bankroll this way if you have enough discipline.About once an hour, I go to a $5 machine and put in a $20 for a pot shot at single coin deuces.  I play single coin until I lose my $20 or the counter goes over $100. At $125, I start going to max coins on 4 coin or more wins.  I started doing this about 6 months ago and  it's amazing how many times this has bailed me out.  Two of my $1,000 hits  in the last 30 days happened when taking one of these potshots. If you read through these tips you you may find something useful.  If you think it's total BS, I'm OK with that too.  I'll just keep posting my little pictures.  

[wildman49]

 Quirky games like Ultimate X and Super Times Pay are much more unpredictable and tough to beat.  I don't play multiple line games because the losses can get out of control quick.  Never play DDB, it's a disaster waiting to happen...Agree 100% Phil them games for whatever reason clean you out fast. There is a big group of people who will only play DDB and nothing else they hate wild cards. To me DW keeps you in the money till the deuces hit. They most always hit every trip. The 4 Aces in DDB come very rare.

[FloridaPhil]

I'm sure DDB is a huge cash cow for Casinos. Players are drawn to the game because of the big jackpots, but they are few and far between.  I hate it!   I recommend keeping accurate records of your "real" cash in and cash out for one full year.  When you have that number, ask yourself if you are getting your money's worth.  If the answer is no, change what you are doing until you do.Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.   Albert Einstein ...