Not a bad week so far.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=FAA]That shall occur on its own accord.[/quote]Great answer and so true.  

[FAA]

Of its own accord!
Greatness never rests.

[olds442jetaway]

This week so far so good too. Funny, I have found over the last several years that 99.54% means nothing if you are not connecting with the Royals on job. I have lost more money on job than any other other game over the years. Like Phil mentioned he is holding his own playing a 97 percent game. These days, I only play games that give me a shot at being ahead when I hit something other than the Royal. In Bonus deuces wild, I can hit a Royal, quad deuces, quad deuces with an Ace, or 5 Aces and still be ahead for the session if I quit playing. These opportunities don't exist on job and I have had more quadless sessions on job than I can count. Likewise on DDS which is less than a 98% game, I can hit a Royal, 4 deuces, 4 deuces with an Ace, a wild royal, or even 5 of a kind and also be ahead for the session and stay ahead as well if I quit. Do I always quit, no like most of us don't, but the opportunity to do so is there.
     Earlier this week, I hit 5 Aces on Bonus Deuces Wild on a pot shot which I am now limiting to one or two per hour. Since for the most part I am playing 3 lines giving me a better shot as well at hitting something, I also in say an 8 hour session have a better chance at hitting something good on one of the 3 lines than just a single line. That 5 Aces was good for a 1300 buck hand pay even on a quarter game.Of course there are bad streaks in any game and they happen to me all of the time. The bottom line it is rare for me to not hit one of the semi premium   or premium hands in any given session. My new motto is no matter when in a session you are ahead a decent amount quit. Sticking to is is the tough part.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=olds442jetaway]Like Phil mentioned he is holding his own playing a 97 percent game[/quote]Good odds give you more chances at a jackpot, they don't guarantee they will happen.  Playing the 97% quarter game holds down my loses because I run less money through the machines per hour.   My quad deuces still pay 1000 coins and my royals still pay 4000, but my bad hands cost me less money.  If you are going to play negative games, why would you want to lose bigger?

[FAA]

I have found over the last several years that 99.54% means nothing if
you are not connecting with the Royals on job. I have lost more money on
job than any other other game over the years. Phil is holding his own playing a 97% game. These
days, I only play games that give me a shot at being ahead when I hit
something other than the Royal. In Bonus DW, I can hit a Royal,
quad deuces, quad deuces with an Ace, or 5 Aces and still be ahead if I quit playing. These opportunities don't exist on JOB
and I have had more quadless sessions on JOB than I can count.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Thank you for the sobering post. A quad will not mean break even if you have already lost $60 at the quarter level. You just cut the loss in half. I usually wind up migrating to the dollar JOB in hope of a $75 quad on a $3 bet. I rely on one quad per year to keep it playable. FP JOB is murder on tight sessions when the casino has turned off the spigot. JOB is all too apt an acronym. I must switch to a half and half mix of JOB/DW.

[FAA]

97% quarter game holds down my loses because I run less money through
the machines per hour.  My quad deuces still pay 1000 and my
royals still pay 4000, but my bad hands cost me less money.  If you play negative games, why would you want to lose bigger?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------75% less playing quarters than dollars is your operating premise, correct? I play mostly quarters, but after 1-1.5 hours the temptation to a) pump my meager profit or b) recoup my losses has me wandering over to the dollar banks. I routinely see people running through $100 in an eye blink. But I'm bound to stumble onto the hot machine in my mind. 

[asteroid]

I agree Olds442 - how the variance of a casino game is structured is an often overlooked part of the game and is extremely important.Imagine a hypothetical card game called pick-a-card-any-card. There are a googleplex number of unique cards in the deck. The player bets a unit and picks a card; and if it is the "correct" card (the one chosen by an RNG before the player picks the card), the player wins a googleplex^googleplex units. This game has a nearly infinite +EV, but the player will not pick the correct card during the lifetime of the universe.This week so far so good too. Funny, I have found over the last several years that 99.54% means nothing if you are not connecting with the Royals on job. I have lost more money on job than any other other game over the years. Like Phil mentioned he is holding his own playing a 97 percent game. These days, I only play games that give me a shot at being ahead when I hit something other than the Royal. In Bonus deuces wild, I can hit a Royal, quad deuces, quad deuces with an Ace, or 5 Aces and still be ahead for the session if I quit playing. These opportunities don't exist on job and I have had more quadless sessions on job than I can count. Likewise on DDS which is less than a 98% game, I can hit a Royal, 4 deuces, 4 deuces with an Ace, a wild royal, or even 5 of a kind and also be ahead for the session and stay ahead as well if I quit. Do I always quit, no like most of us don't, but the opportunity to do so is there.
     Earlier this week, I hit 5 Aces on Bonus Deuces Wild on a pot shot which I am now limiting to one or two per hour. Since for the most part I am playing 3 lines giving me a better shot as well at hitting something, I also in say an 8 hour session have a better chance at hitting something good on one of the 3 lines than just a single line. That 5 Aces was good for a 1300 buck hand pay even on a quarter game.Of course there are bad streaks in any game and they happen to me all of the time. The bottom line it is rare for me to not hit one of the semi premium   or premium hands in any given session. My new motto is no matter when in a session you are ahead a decent amount quit. Sticking to is is the tough part.

[FloridaPhil]

[quote=FAA]75% less playing quarters than dollars is your operating premise,
correct? I play mostly quarters, but after 1-1.5 hours the temptation to
a) pump my meager profit or b) recoup my losses has me wandering over
to the dollar banks.[/quote]Mathematicians don't understand this because it's not math that's the problem with VP... It's people.  Busting is the biggest obstacle that a recreational player must overcome.  You walk into the casino with X number of dollars and you came to play, not walk out in 10 minutes. When you're down and out, you start hitting the dollar machine hoping for a miracle.  Most of the time it doesn't happen and you walk out broke again.  If you had just stuck with quarters the whole time, the jackpots would have come in time without your help.  But Nooooo, you have to take a pot shot to make that happen.  I've been fighting this my whole VP life.  To a recreational player, game variance is a much bigger factor than the odds.  Odds are important, but playing above your bankroll to gain them sabotages the thing that you are trying to accomplish.Slow, low and steady is where I'm at these days.  Give me a quarter machine and I can play all day for peanuts and walk out satisfied.  I'm not letting the casino suck me into betting bigger again unless I'm waaaay ahead.  If someone else wants to do this, fine with me.  Let me off that the next light.

[FAA]

You walk into the casino with X number of dollars and you came to play,
not walk out in 10 minutes. Down and out, you start hitting
the dollar machine hoping for a miracle. It doesn't
happen and you walk out broke again. If you had just stuck with
quarters the whole time, the jackpots would have come in time without
your help. To a recreational
player, game variance is a much bigger factor than the odds.  Odds are
important, but playing above your bankroll to gain them is
counterproductive.Slow, low and steady is where I'm at these
days. Give me a quarter machine and I can play all day for peanuts and
walk out satisfied. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Great advice. I've only done the migration less than ten times. So I want to excise it now before it becomes habitual! It is fun to suddenly break even with a $75 quad and leave town. And there's always a shot at $4,000. But you are the fly much more often on that windshield. If you happen to be playing during a cold cycle where all the machines on the bank are reverse ATMs, just stop playing for a while. But that migration to dollars will be the downfall most of the time.

[FloridaPhil]

Playing bigger to gain more is garbage if you are not willing to pay the price of sticking with it.  Like I said before on this forum, a $5 royal is $20K.  Do you want to take the chance that you will miss one or more just so you can eat free steak or get a few percent back in free play?  I'll pass.