Two-timing the casino
could get you tossed
10 August 2007
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark: On an online video poker forum, it
was recommended that just before you hit the
draw button, you pull your slot card out of the
machine to reduce your recorded winnings. Does
this system have any merit? Nate T.
Sounds to me, Nate, like Darth Vader is luring
you to the Dark Side.
What you are describing is called "card
pulling," where a player pulls the slot card
from the reader before hitting the Draw button
on a hand that has potential for a big payoff.
For instance, you're dealt three Jacks, you pull
your card, and that potential payoff of a
four-of-a-kind won't be recorded. Depending upon
the computer system used, this could reduce your
recorded wins, making you look less of a winner,
which gets you better goodies.
Does it work in some cases? Yes! Is it deceptive
play? Yes! Are eye-in-the-sky cameras watching
you when you do it? Yes! Can you lose all comp
points and privileges if they catch you? Yes!
Case in point. I recently sat next to a player
who was caught doing this; they confiscated his
card, and they told him to skedaddle.
Oh, and one more thing, Nate. Let's not forget
that some casinos award comp points on coins
going out (wins) rather than coins played
(action).
Dear Mark: I always delay hitting the deal
button a few seconds after a losing hand,
figuring the possibility of the following hand
being better. Does the timing between hands have
any effect on the outcome? Diana D.
The only thing that affects either the new hand
or subsequent hands is the shuffle, which begins
immediately after the previous hand is
completed. When the first coin is dropped or Bet
button pressed, the shuffling stops, and the
deck is unchanged until the hand is over.
Delaying the pressing the Bet button, inserting
your first coin, or hitting the Draw button, has
no effect on the hand or any future hands.
There is a school of thought that when you delay
time between hands, the future hand should be
more random because it allows the deck to be
shuffled oodles more, and this, some believe,
will break a cold streak.
But random is random, and as the video poker
machine is waiting for someone like Diana to
deposit a coin or push a play credit button, the
RNG algorithm is called into play hundreds of
times per second. And those billions and
billions of outcomes that map into any set of
cards, ensure that each hand and game outcome is
completely random, and not an exercise based on
synchronicity.
Dear Mark: It's always a pleasure to read your
column. You do a great service to us wastrels
who hang around casinos, racetracks and other
dens of sin.
I just read your excellent advice for Sandra
regarding documenting gambling losses to offset
winnings. Keeping a log/diary is vital as I
learned years ago when I hit a $5,233 Pick 6 at
the old Longacres Racetrack in Seattle late in
the meet. Up to that time, I had not maintained
any records of my wins vs. losses because my
winnings were relatively small as were my
losses. I realized that there was not time to
offset much of the five grand with legit losses
in the month left in the meet so I did what your
friend did and picked up discarded tickets to
boost my loss deduction. Fortunately, a wise old
pari-mutuel clerk noticed what I was doing and
said, "The IRS isn't dumb enough to not notice
the heel prints on those tickets." My point is
that gamblers should maintain a log of wins and
losses all year long. Don't wait until you hit a
large payout to begin keeping records. Mike H.
When you receive sound, intelligent advice from
a reader, you just let the reader do the
writing. I'm in really good hands with readers
like Mike.
Oh yeah, Mike, that word, "wastrel," I love it.
One description of a wastrel is an idler, a
loafer, which describes me perfectly. In
gambling literature though, Horace Liveright, a
book publisher of the 1920's, is usually
recalled in literary memoirs as "a charming
wastrel, a gambler who always saw a winning bet
as a chance to raise his stake in whatever game
he was losing at."
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Luck is for the
whimpering simp at the next table who plays to
break even." --John Vorhaus, Killer Poker
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