Smaller Bankroll Needed for Video Poker
November 28, 2008
Dear Mark: Taking your advice, any time I’m given
the choice, I play video poker over slots. My
question is, do you still need the same sized
session bankroll for video poker as you would
for slots? Dana S.
Your bankroll, Dana, the money you will need to
set aside specifically for playing video poker,
would be less than you’d set aside for slots,
because poker
machines tend to have higher hit frequencies
than do slot machines.
A session bankroll for video poker would be the
amount for 75 hands, which should be enough to
keep you playing for a couple hours. For slots,
100-plus hands would be the minimum, although
both sums, Dana, could fall far short when
you’re having one of those “takin’ a lickin’”
days.
Dear Mark: My husband left a cold video poker
machine and within two minutes someone else sat
down on the machine he was playing and instantly
hit a four-of-a-kind, followed a few minutes
later by a royal flush. Would another $10 in
that machine have gotten him the same hands?
Sherry F.
I share your disappointment, Sherry, in giving
up on a cold machine, only to see someone else
plop down in front of it and good fortune
suddenly blesses the newcomer.
Yet, the chill comfort I can provide you is in
letting you know that all machines
cycle through thousands and thousands of
outcomes each and every second. Your husband
would have had to hit the deal button at the
exact same instant that the following player did
in order to have had that four-of-a-kind, let
alone the royal. A millisecond difference,
earlier or later, would have produced a less
juicy outcome.
Dear Mark: Unless you tell the dealer otherwise,
place bets are always “off” on the come-out
roll. Why is that? Isn’t one roll of the dice be
as good as any other roll of the dice? Mike P.
You’re correct, Mike, in that the house edge on
place bets is exactly the same as if you have
them working on the come-out, or any other roll.
The reason most players who have a wager on the
pass line as well as a place number and want the
place numbers off is that they’re not interested
in being a winner on the pass line, and
simultaneously a loser on the place bets if a 7
were to roll. They prefer leaving their place
bets in an indeterminate state for a roll; that
way, if the shooter rolls a 7 on the come-out,
they win on the pass line, and their place bets
are still alive. If a point number appears (4, 5
,6, 8, 9, 10), they can then root against the 7
on both the pass and place bets alike.
Dear Mark: The Indian casino where I play
replaced all of their remaining two- deck
handheld and shoe games with automatic shuffling
machines. Is there any basic strategy
differences from a multi-deck game versus an
automatic shuffler? Will J.
Even though there are no basic strategy differences
required to play on automatic shuffle machines,
if it’s not the only game in town, my first bit
of advice, Will, is to shuffle your feet out of
the casino and find yourself a hand-dealt game.
Sure, there are some studies that show that
continuous automatic shufflers actually reduce
the house edge against basic strategy players,
but such reduction is not enough to offset the
approximately 20 percent increase in the number
of hands you’ll see per hour.
Increasing hands-per-hour generally multiplies
the benefits-per-hour for the entity with the
built-in edge, and even though you’re
playing basic strategy, continuous
shuffling machines and non-continuous shufflers
alike will take more of a bite out of your
bankroll than will a hand-shuffled game, giving
the house more of an opportunity for the casino
advantage to peck away at your bankroll.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "The attraction of gambling is the possibility of
wealth without work." --San Braids, The
Intelligent Guide To Texas Hold'em Poker
