Casinos try to keep it cloak-and-dagger
March 13, 2009
Casinos try to keep it
cloak-and-dagger
Dear Mark: For years I have been a heavy gambler
on video poker here in Reno. I used to break
close to even on specific machines at a certain
casino. I became suspicious when I started
losing real bad over several months. I asked a
Slot manager if they reset the machines and he
said yes. He stated all they did was lower the
paytable from 97.9 % to 95%. I have not been
back since. IS THESE LEGAL? I can't believe they
did that much less admit it? Les L.
Given the competitive nature of the gambling
business, casinos usually don’t divulge much to
patrons about their casino hold. Macy’s never
told Gimbel what they were up to; only in the
1947 movie, Miracle on 34th Street, did they
swap a trade secret.
What’s happening is that the casino where you
play made a seasonal wholesale change to their
video poker machines, hoping to improve their
theoretical hold. They changed out the paytables
and a chip telling the machine when Les hits
specific hands, like a full house and a flush,
to pay him significantly less.
What baffles me a bit is, why now ???,
especially when casinos need to keep gamblers
playing during these tough times. Good paying
machines should keep Les coming back for more;
hard to see Les scooting right back for less, as
he’s writing me, and leaving him wondering, what
the hell is going on.
It appears that your casino’s recessionary
cost-cutting plan was to tauten the video poker
machines. Since casino revenues are generally
down across the country, they are looking at any
way they can cut costs. And ah!... yes, Les,
it’s LEGAL.
Cash-short casinos may think this makes common
sense in the short term, but long-term, uh-uh.
This recession won’t last forever, and they
could lose the loyalty of plenty of players,
like you, Les.
Odd thing, Les. When I made mention a few weeks
back that finding 9/6 video poker machines was a
tiger hunt forever on you, Mike Dini, the public
relations manager at the Soaring Eagle Casino
and Resort in Mt. Pleasant, MI, reached out and
told me that their casino offers 360 9/6 Jacks
or Better video poker games. AND, get
this: Soaring Eagle is a stand-alone property
with zero competition, whereas Reno, where you
play, is far more dog-eat-dog.
The games that give you the best chance of
winning are the ones that carry the smallest
house edge, like video poker, with the best
paytables, assuming you use the proper strategy
on said machines.
The best thing about video poker machines is
that you don’t need to be an insider to know
which are the best machines to play, because
video poker paytables tell you exactly what your
theoretical return is on any machine. It’s not
like a slots where you see a pretty machine and
put in a quarter.
For example, for Jacks or Better, if the game is
a 9-6 Jacks or Better (meaning full houses pay
9-for-1 and flushes pay 6-for-1), the machines
will return 99.5% over the long run with optimal
play. If the machine pays 8-for-1 on full houses
and 5-for-1 on flushes, it returns 97.3 %, a 7-5
machine, returns only 96.2 percent.
Knowing how to identify the best paytables
offers you the opportunity to compare and shop
around for the best value. Now it’s up to the
casino where you used to play to somehow/someway
try to bring you back in.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "The boring thing
about video poker is that once you learn the
correct strategy, unlike real poker, there's
nothing left to learn." --VP Pappy
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