Penny Slots vs. Video Poker

[FAA]

$100-$200 an hour or more is a little steep in our opinion to watch numbers flashing by.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Five to ten times too much. I barely tolerate a $20 hourly loss on VP on a bad day. Would I tolerate a triple figure hourly loss for a fat jackpot opportunity? I would rather a lottery ticket and dream.

[olds442jetaway]

My friend plays strictly slots. 2 bucks a spin and his cost is 300- per an hour when they are not hitting. Waaaay too much for me too. I will say however, that when he hits, the jackpots are huge. Anywhere from 5k-20k in a session. In fact, for the last 2 years, he has lost way less than I have playing vp. He doesn't go as often, but I imagine his coin in for the year is similar to mine. His comps are way above my level too. Free play is 20 times mine, rooms are free 24/7...365, offers of trips and cruises, etc. His point balance is around 16k which are all valued at a dollar a point. On a bad day however, he will kiss 3-4k goodbye. His tax return must be a nightmare with all of the W-2Gs. Each to his own I guess. The vp players are really punished when it comes to comps or incentives to stay and play. I actually wish we had no comps and 99.9999 paytables. That will never happen though.

[Vman96]

Either your friend is terribly lucky, you're terribly unlucky, or someone is lying. You should have the better results, but it's not 100% guaranteed.

I know for a fact my g/f's dad lies about results to his wife a lot (in both directions), and I'm not sure he's the only one. Your friend could possibly be fudging results to make his/her gambling a better sounding proposition to others. Bad habit, imo, but people do do it occasionally to avoid criticism or invoke other responses. My last crappy loss, I think I shaved a few bucks off when talking to my g/f because I didn't want to hear about it in a negative manner. I RARELY do this though.

[FloridaPhil]

Went to Hard Rock Tampa yesterday.   Instead of playing video poker the whole time, I moved back and forth between VP and slots.  As usual I changed my $400 daily bankroll into $20s. Played VP some, switched to slots and back all day.  All my VP was played at max coin $.50 and $1s.  I hit quad 4s early playing DDB.  Had a couple of nice $.50 and $1 DW runs and cashed out the tickets.  Never did hit quad deuces for $500 or $1,000 which would have been nice.   I never hit any penny slot jackpot over $30 but I did have lots of fun without much cost.   I broke even for the day, had  a free lunch with my friend and had a good time.  I think I like mixing it up better than "grinding it out".  I'm not saying it's better, I'm saying I enjoyed it more.  If you can play all day and come home with a smile on your face, it's a good thing.

[olds442jetaway]

Either your friend is terribly lucky, you're terribly unlucky, or someone is lying. You should have the better results, but it's not 100% guaranteed.

I know for a fact my g/f's dad lies about results to his wife a lot (in both directions), and I'm not sure he's the only one. Your friend could possibly be fudging results to make his/her gambling a better sounding proposition to others. Bad habit, imo, but people do do it occasionally to avoid criticism or invoke other responses. My last crappy loss, I think I shaved a few bucks off when talking to my g/f because I didn't want to hear about it in a negative manner. I RARELY do this though.

     I think we have a little of number 1 and 2 here. I have definitely been terribly unlucky the last 2 years. Negative 50k in each as I have posted about. I have known this friend a long time. He is eccentric, but a wiz with math and honest as the day is long. I have seen the hits and his W-2Gs and he never hesitates to tell me when and how much he if off for the day. I have sat and watched him play so I know the average loss without jackpots is about 300 bucks an hour. He was definitely extremely lucky 2 years ago ending up close to being ahead and about even last year. This year, although it is early, he is down quite a bit and I am down, but relatively close to even. I have actually seen him hit 3 big jackpots on the slots just minutes apart a couple of years ago. You already know about my Royalless streaks. Bummer and that extra 2 percent is an understatement.

[notes1]

lying about one's age, income, net worth, infidelity, weight, etc, has become so common, i just do not believe most anything, unless i know the reputation of the person. lying about gambling losses, that is a given for many gamblers. the very people who write the laws the rest of us must abide, are probably the biggest liars of all. the best way to know people are doing more losing than winning, is to note the reduced number of players nationwide. this is the problem i have with those who state they win at casino games, just because there may be a small theorectical edge. there are plenty of smart folks in the world, plenty of math graduates and learning how to play VP and seek out deals, does not require being a member of mensa. why don't all these folks move to vegas, play VP and make a $100k/year, along with getting to stay in nice hotels and eat for free. one cannot just state something, expect others to believe them without offering proof.

[FloridaPhil]

Gamblers and fisherman are notorious liars.   I expect golfers are too, but it's a lot easier to find them out.   I can tell you from my own experience that it is possible to win playing VP for quite some time.What is winning VP anyway?  I think winning is playing for free.  This would be laughable to a Bob Dancer, but I'm pretty sure he would agree It's not that hard to do.  It doesn't take super human skill or intellect, it takes some skill, good money management and a lot of common sense.  Sitting in front of a negative expectation video poker machine and "grinding it out" has never worked for me.  My strategy is to fill my day making small time bets enjoying the game without the financial pressure.  I occasionally  take "limited" shots at larger denomination games where I walk away at the slightest win and keep the money.   I posted thousands of dollars of these lucky hits on my website, but it wasn't enough "proof" for some folks.  The hardest part of my strategy is strictly limiting the number of these bigger bets and holding firm on not giving the money back.Is this a strategy based on math?  No.  Can you make a living doing this? NO.  Does it work?  Often enough to make me happy.  Should others follow this strategy?  It's your money, play the way you want.   

[olds442jetaway]

     Hey Phil....that really was a 7lb plus Largemouth Bass that I caught and released in a pond in Ct (huge fish for Ct). I have the pic on my old deactivated phone.....I'll show you when you get up this way again... . Unfortunately, I don't have a pic of the nearly 20 foot Hammerhead that was gliding along the Nag's Head pier while I was fishing for Cobia about 25 years ago. That one was easy to measure. I just counted the posts he took up and measured the distance between them when he headed back out to open water. I have another one about the 8 foot Brown shark that came up to greet me while fishing just offshore in my little 9 foot aluminum boat. That will teach me to dump the trash fish to feed the crabs and Seagulls. Cut up hunks of them make great bait for Stripers and Blues, but I never gave a thought about shark bait when I dumped the remains at the end of the day.....edited to add at least something about vp. Getting close to level 3 again at Mohegan Sun. Double Status points tomorrow, so I may just give it another shot. Have to lick my wounds first and beg the Mrs. for a loan from the piggy bank.

[FloridaPhil]

I have seen some huge hammerheads myself.  When I lived in Miami I used to fish sailfish and marlin tournaments.  We normally fished live bait on a kite rig.  If you've never tried it, it's a lot of fun and very productive.  Anyway, one day I was fishing an extra big live bait on my kite. I think it was a jack about 5-6 pounds.  I looked up and saw a huge hammerhead shark coming at my bait with it's dorsal fin sticking about 4 feet out of the water. The shark ate my bait and I was off to the races.  I was fishing 50 pound tackle and never turned that shark.  I chased it with my boat for a while and it finally bite through a steel leader.  I have fished all over the world at one time or another and have a ton of fishing stories.  Maybe we should open up a "fishing and muscle car" forum? 

[olds442jetaway]

     That sounds good Phil. My friend won the Montauk LI shark tournament with a big Hammerhead back in the 1970's. I think first prize was 10k. Speaking of penny slots, have you ever tried the " Reel em In ". My dad now nearly 92 years young, got a kick out of that one some years back. I tried it a couple of times just for kicks and ended up catching a boot and a Guppy.