In January of this year, I was preparing to teach a video poker class at the South Point. As is my custom, once I got set up, I went around to chat with the students before the class began.
One lady I had never seen before seemed to be a friend of a frequent student. She told me her name and proclaimed, “I hate Stations!”
I asked her why she felt that way.
“They removed Full Pay Deuces Wild!” was the answer.
“Yes,” I said, “that game has been in and out of Las Vegas casinos for decades. It may rise again before too long. I just don’t know.”
The game returns 100.76% with proper play and has a fairly simple strategy. In recent years it has only been available for single-line quarters or nickels. Often, casinos punish players for playing it by requiring more coin-in to earn a slot club point, excluding the machines from certain multipliers, or, if players continue to play the game, giving those players no mailer at all.
Still, fast players can make $10 or so an hour with no jackpot larger than $1,000 and it’s a relatively easy way to be a gambling winner. This particular lady was dressed nicely. There was no way she was surviving on $10 an hour. But she liked the supplemental income and liked to think of herself as a winning player.
I asked her if any other video poker game caught her eye and she said that FPDW was the only game she knew. That was why she was in the class for NSU Deuces Wild to see if she could make the transition.
I wished her good luck and went to talk to somebody else.
This same kind of thing has happened to me in excess of 500 times in my video poker career. Casinos change the pay schedule, the slot club, and/or one or more promotions to make a game not so attractive. And sometimes they restrict me in one way or another.
While I’m not pleased by these things, these are just “welcome to my world” events. I expect it to happen at least 10 times in 2021. I won’t know exactly how many until they actually happen, and I don’t know at which casinos.
So, when this does happen, my next step is to evaluate what I feel is my next-best option. Proclaiming my hatred for something is not a productive use of time. Sometimes there are more decent plays than I have time to play. In that situation, I just play my other regular games a bit more.
I also use this as an incentive to go scouting. Including small bars, there are lots of places I haven’t been in recently. It’s time to take another look. I’ve found gold mines in small places in the past. Maybe I can again.
Until a few years ago, I avoided playing progressives. But as pickings grew slim among non-progressive games, I took a second look. I’ve written about this previously.
I only know so many games, but I can find out on videopoker.com or wizardofodds.com the return on most games I find. If it returns enough, and the game can be learned with existing software, I’ll take the time to learn it. On occasion, I’ve even hired a computer programmer to create a strategy for me.
To be sure, I can learn a new video poker game faster than most others can. I’ve done it more than one hundred times in the past and have a better overall grasp of the concepts than most others do. Still, even if you’re starting out from scratch, you can do it too. It may take you a week or three longer, but it’s doable with study.
I talk to some of my player friends to find new games. Some are willing to share with me because they know I’ll share with them. Some believe they owe me from things I’ve shared with them in the past. It doesn’t always work, but this way, I often find a lead I probably wouldn’t find by myself.
It’s another reason to build a network of friends who play games similar to what you play. There is strength in numbers. The group knows more than the individual members do. You need to keep your group limited to people who’ll contribute what they learn. You don’t need somebody who’s only a taker and never a giver.
Finally, the day may come when you can no longer find acceptable games. For me, that’s the day I give up video poker gambling. Others may still want to play because of the enjoyment factor, but not me.
I’ve already started my retirement, so to speak. I’m into Improv and storytelling. This is more of a reaction to COVID than the lack of games, but the net result is similar.