I’m probably the most famous video poker player of all time — not that there’s any real competition nor is there any prize. This “award” comes from me being a well-known writer and teacher for more than 20 years. That has made me “high profile” — which is a far different criterion than “best.”
So, what attributes would the best video poker player have? Presumably there would be some mix of the following:
- Knows several games at the professional level.
- Studies and practices enough to stay sharp on all games he is currently playing.
- Is successful at bringing home the money over the course of several years.
- Maintains sufficient on-hand bankroll so that when the opportunities present themselves, the money is available to exploit those opportunities.
- Is able to keep his welcome at casinos — especially in comparison with other players with more or less the same results.
- Is able to re-establish relationships with casinos whenever restrictions take place.
- Is good at figuring out how any particular promotion may be exploited. This requires some intelligence. I’m sure bright people do better at this than not-so-bright people, but I don’t think being a genius is necessary.
- Knows the slot clubs inside and out.
- Scouts enough to know the relevant games at all nearby casinos.
- Keeps up on the promotions so he knows when to play where.
- Maintains physical health and stamina, including maintaining reasonable diet and exercise, so that long hours may be put in when special opportunities come along.
- Has a network of players who share information about good plays.
- Has the mathematical skills to figure out new games when they come around. This is a key one, but there are actually several mathematical skills — including computer programming — which come into play. It is very possible you’re a better programmer than me and I’m better at other “mathy” kinds of things than you are.
- Can use the existing computer software (assuming you haven’t created your own which is better in all respects) to figure out various promotions easily.
- Can psychologically deal with inevitable losing streaks.
- Can avoid huge spending sprees after big wins.
- Likes Country Western music (okay, this probably shouldn’t be on the list. I was just checking to see if you were still paying attention.)
- LIKES to play and does so willingly. If it’s just a tedious way to earn money, you’re probably not going to be doing whatever is necessary to get and stay sharp.
There are probably things I’ve missed, but you get the idea. There are a LOT of things that make up being a strong player.
Which one is most important? I don’t have a clear-cut ranking of these attributes and even if I did, there would be room for others to disagree. If you’re not good at several of these things, you’re not a strong player. The “best” would consist of some composite score of all these things.
Whomever the best player is, I’m confident that I’m better than him in some of these categories. Likewise, all strong players are better than me in several of these categories and thousands of players are better than me in at least one category.
Being really strong in one or two of these areas can sometimes make up for a shortcoming elsewhere. There are a LOT of different formulas for success.
Finally, your score on this list is basically a secret. There are no published statistics ranking players in any of these categories.
If I’m leaving out important attributes necessary to be a good video poker player, please comment on this article. Some of these comments may well generate one or more articles in the future — and I’m always looking for more things to write about.
A few more things for the list: 1) A spouse that is at least tolerant and preferably supportive. 2) Knows how to protect and move large amounts of money 3) Is able to avoid the temptations of the casino environment
Great points made on this article. I wish I knew someone in person or online who even posses at least half of those qualities.
Not sure if these are a subset of the pointers on the list:
1. Avoid consuming alcoholic drinks while playing
2. Knows when to play not so good games (a rumor I’ve heard)
3. Knows when to play some slots to maintain his welcome
4. Believes Today’s Score is largely irrelevant
5. Keeps good records of daily play for tax reporting
6a. Not biased towards a game variant if it is fun (e.g. DDB) or boring (Jacks or Better)
6b. Does not have guilt trips during a session, quad Deuces on Jacks or Better or quad Aces on Deuces
Wild
7. Collects and utilizes coupons from this Las Vegas Advisor website
8. Lives a frugal lifestyle as much as possible
9. Has full understanding of Probability and Statistics (online courses available)
10. Utilize credit card benefits the way Jimmy Jazz does to mitigate travel costs.
I’m not sure what frugality has to do with it. Can you explain? Wouldn’t it be better stated to live with in your means or to not live outside of your means?
Thanks!
Beating “promotions” and beating “video poker the game” are completely different. How many of you are profiting from straight video poker without promos, comps, points, etc., being added in? My guess is very few.
I agree with you. Alpax regularly comments here and he’s usually spot on. This time, however, his 10th comment is off the mark.
Using Jimmy Jazz’s techniques will probably put some extra money in your pocket — but that has nothing to do with being a good video poker player.
You’re right that few people beat video poker straight up — simply because games returning more than 100% are very rare and for low stakes only. Players who are ahead some years on games playing less than 100% are enjoying positive variance. Other years they will have negative variance and will lose more than the odds say.
With slot clubs and promotions, however, it is possible to obtain an advantage — and sometimes a significant advantage. If you’re going to be making a living at video poker, that’s how you do it. You may be a purist and exclude this extra revenue from your calculations, but I include it. I believe it’s a very key part of success at this game. I believe getting good at slot clubs and promotions is every bit as important and every bit as challenging as the actual playing of the machines.
If we disagree with each other — so be it.
I’m going to agree that having a tolerant and supportive spouse is advantageous — and definitely better than having an intolerant and unsupportive spouse — but I don’t think being married is a requirement. I know several unmarried players who are quite proficient at this game.
Dave,
It was an honest mistake on my part. I was just thinking of various concepts to add without thinking straight. For the frugal lifestyle, I was thinking about the recent article with regards to Sal (who was considering relocating his significant other after some early wins on Full Pay Deuces Wild). I do agree that if a player has a large source of disposable income, he can easily cover any extravagant living expenses and have something left over to grow the bankroll. As long as the player has something left over to grow his bankroll to survive the negative variance swings of the game is what I should have stated.
Mr. Dancer.,
I was not thinking straight with this one either. One of my all time favorite Gambling With An Edge episodes was how Jimmy Jazz went about playing in Vegas as an out of state resident. The ulterior motive was to mention that cost of travelling can deduct from a player’s bankroll or overall winnings, but ultimately that has nothing to do with being a good or the best video poker player. Hopefully Anthony can remove that 10th comment.
LC Larry,
The people who were aware of the strategies to games like Full Pay Deuces Wild, 40-8 All American, and 20/7 Joker Poker (King Pair or Better) in the 90s likely had the best chance at beating video poker the game straight up. Most of those games are virtually extinct today.
I’ll add one attribute that is downright blasphemous–being lucky. By this I mean not being unlucky to the extent that one’s skills and bankroll are negated by negative variance. EVERY SINGLE successful long0term VP player (pro or otherwise) I know was catapulted to that success by a long winning streak, or at least a series of wins that wasn’t interrupted by a horrific losing streak. In contrast, I know several very talented players who were basically taken out of the VP game by being under-royaled for too long, That happened to me as well over 15 years ago–over 600,000 hands without a royal, and my $10,000 bankroll was gone. Even though that SHOULD have been enough for 101.5% .25 play (those were the days!), for me, and for those others, it wasn’t. Of course, I can’t be certain they or I were playing perfectly optimally, but we all studied the games, compared notes, and had good software.
Alpax:
No need to remove the 10th item on your list. It generated several civil comments and that’s one of the purposes of this forum.
Keep posting!
Agreed, comps, points and promotions are the name of the game. Occasionally you can find progressive machines at high enough stakes to be significantly positive EV.
The four basics. Discipline, Bankroll, Knowledge of the game, and Time.
I am a small time Player from overseas. I have been playing videopoker regularly over 10 years now and I think that the interesting Thing is to Play videopoker during some sort of slot promotions offered by the casinos. The days when there were 5 dollar denom FPDW Banks are gone long time ago so there’s no point in chasing the 100% games at Station Casinos for the miserable 4-6 Dollar/Hour net profit, that’s for sure. I think the real value comes with the promotions/fliers/drawings. But of course, videopoker is the best game in the casino, that’s why it’s necessary to Play that one and not some nickle slotmachine….:)
Two of the most costly problems I experience ( that a top player has to avoid ) are losing focus due to chaos and/or conversations around me and continuing to play a machine with mechanical key problems.
I will add a few:
1) An understanding of the law, including an understanding and willingness to accept the potential consequences should you decide to push the limits or grey areas of the law.
2) When finding a play, having a good sense of whether “milking it” or “burning it” will make you the most money in the long run.
3) Resists the urge to collect free play on the game played to generate the free play offer, thus worsening the hold on the game, and possibly accelerating the process of having the casino countermeasure the game.
4) Finding the best game to play in any given casino, recognizing that the pay table with the highest return is not necessarily the game that makes you the most money after taking slot club benefits into account. (This would be a component of understanding how slot clubs work).
5) Identifying heat, and knowing when to get out before things get ugly, but not leaving money on the table by being overly paranoid.
Most of these points would be applicable to advantage play in general, and are not necessarily specific to video poker.
Dizzy Dean once said: Its not bragging if you can do it. Thanks Bob for your insights and teaching us how to gamble without losing your entire bankroll after playing on a slot machine for 15 minutes. Some of posters complain that the only good paying VP machines are the lower denomination machines from which you will only make 4-6 dollars an hour. Well, I would rather that happen then get blown out for 100 to 200 dollars any day. I am a recreational player and I play were my meager bankroll makes sense. I think you once said you want a bankroll of 4 to 6 times the amount of the royal flush. This way I can teach myself under casino conditions without a great loss of funds. See you in class in March. Thanks for all you do.
19. Does not use his real name
20. Ignores people who think they can win at non-100% games
21. Also ignores people who think the casino always wins
22. Is very friendly with slot hosts
23. Always tips for hand-pays
24. Pays taxes on winnings
25. Keeps good records
So much of Jerry Moore’s post is about style and not about how good you are.
Using a pseudonym is done by very few people. Most players, good and bad, use their real name because you have to show ID when you get a taxable jackpot.
“Ignoring” is a matter of friendliness to some degree. I personally talk to a lot of people — even the ones I disagree with.
Slot hosts are useful — but not for everybody.
Nothing Jerry said here is “wrong,” but there are a lot of ways to play this game well and you certainly don’t have to do what he suggests here to be “the best.”
I witnessed a good example of the importance of luck two weeks ago: a player at the machine next to me was playing 5-cent 100-play DDB when I heard a slight gasp from her and l looked over just in time to see the fourth ace and a four dealt. “Should I hold the four?”, she asked. “yes” says I, wondering if she was just messing with me, but I do think she really was serious. “How much do I win?”, she asked, when the WIN 200,000 notation appeared, but the machine soon answered that question for her, faster than I could say $10,000.
Patience and confidence go a long way towards being a VP top player. I may be biased but my son James (you’ve run into him and his long brown locks several times, Bob) is without a doubt, one of the best VP players in town. After 2 National Guard deployments (Bosnia and Iraq) in which he sent every dime of his military pay back home, and then graduating with a BS in finance back east, he settled out here and has never earned a W2 paycheck since, tho his W2G’s pile up every year since taking Bob’s classes when he got here in ’07 and studying/practicing with Mr Dancer’s Video Poker for Winners DVD.
He plays single line games at a rate of close to 1800 hands/hr as mistake-free as other top players who don’t play half that fast (not a bad talent to have as a VP player), he has meticulously calculated and mastered even some of the most complicated strategies even as they change on progressive banks, does his homework so as to take advantage of the best promotions, mailers, and drawings (he’s won 4 cars), takes big losses and losing streaks with a grain of salt, knowing the inevitability of the long-term mathematical outcome, and since starting his VP career, has grown his bankroll over 600%.
Thank you, Mr D for providing the path and inspiration.
The discipline to not play when there isnt anything positive ev.
Once, in Vegas, at the Orleans, I was sitting next to an Asian woman, who was dealt 3 deuces and a 4. I watched her hold all four of those cards and throw away whatever the last card was. The next card to come in was the 4th deuce. I did not believe it was luck. I thought she was either ignorant or wise to the machine’s idiosyncrasies. So, I asked her why she held the 4. Her answer was, “I go for four of a kind.” Woman, if you read this column, and if you remember that, I think you must be the luckiest or savviest video poker player in Vegas.