I’ve been asked variations of this question more than one hundred times over the years. Sometimes phrased as, “If I lose $100 (or some other number), should I give up for the day?” My answer usually was some form of the following: Only play when you have the advantage. If the house has the edge, […]
Posts in category Advice for Players
Help Me Make Sense of This
I received the following email. It was originally intended for the Gambling with an Edge mailbag, but I felt it was too technical to be discussed over a podcast: I know video poker has a ton of variance, but I recently endured a hellish series of events on $5 NSU Deuces Wild at a tribal […]
When is a Wild Royal Flush not a Wild Royal Flu...
Using a W for wild card to indicate a deuce, assume you are dealt W W Q♦ J♦ T♦ on a Triple Play version of Deuces Wild. This is not a tough play. You hold all five cards for a wild royal flush. (Other terms for the same hand are royal flush with deuce and […]
How Would You Play This One?
I received an email from a player, “Sam,” discussing a promotion that has come and gone, in an unnamed casino in an unnamed state. He wanted to know how I would have analyzed whether or not to play it. The gist of the promotion was that for two consecutive days, four hours per day, each […]
An Interesting Hand in 8/5 ACE$ Bonus Poker
The cards in ACE$ Bonus Poker (ABP) are just like the ones in regular Bonus Poker (BP) except there are superimposed yellow letters on four cards: “A” on the ace of clubs, “C” on the ace of diamonds, “E” on the ace of hearts, and “$” on the ace of spades. The order of the […]
Why Aren’t You Still There?
I wrote recently in a two-parter about a trip I took where I ended up quite a bit ahead. Sometime after I got back, Bonnie and I were having dinner with her sister, Robin, and Robin’s husband. Robin asked about the trip. “Bonnie tells me you did pretty well there.” “Yes. A $200,000 trip is […]
I Don’t Want Him Looking Over My Shoulder
Last week I wrote that my son-in-law passed away recently. My wife Bonnie is very close to her daughter, Joyce, so we’ve spent more time than usual hanging out together. It probably had to happen. One of my gambling buddies, “Al,” lost his wife to a lengthy illness some time ago. Bonnie likes Al a […]
“Doing it Bob Dancer’s Way Can Lead to Bankrupt...
My son-in-law, or perhaps a more correct term is step-son-in-law, Michael, passed away recently after a long illness. Michael was married to Bonnie’s daughter Joyce. He was more than 20 years older than Joyce, and in fact was a few months older than me. After a somewhat rocky start, where Joyce and Michael were initially […]
Promotion at Molly’s — Part II of II
In last week’s blog I described a loss rebate promotion at Molly’s, a chain of local 15-machine pubs in Las Vegas. I know many of my readers aren’t Vegas locals. While the specifics of today’s enhancement concern Molly’s, I’m hoping to make the discussion general enough so that it might be useful elsewhere as well. […]
Promotion at Molly’s — Part I of II
I received the following email for the Gambling with an Edge mailbag show: Hi Bob, how do you calculate the edge on this video poker promotion? Molly’s in Vegas offers “lose $20, get $20” but I’m not sure how to calculate the advantage (if any). Also, if you have played this promotion before, do you […]