For Rob: Strategy to beat any Bonus Poker Game?

This question is for Rob but anyone who has a opinion or comment on it would be appreciated.
Rob in another thread you said that you could beat any BP game with any paytable anytime. I'm going to LV this afternoon and would like to play a new strategy so could you offer up a BP only strategy for someone to play? Staying at Palace Station so many 8/5 games to play there no problem. What would be a strategy, bankroll win goals loss limits etc.? I would have say a 1200 dollar bankroll to play with. Any help or comments would be appreciated.

I look forward to Rob's answer as well. But my guess is the answer will include the strategy of "quitting when ahead" and that nearly all players at some point while playing will be ahead. Therefore, if you quit with a gain -- even if it's a gain of $1.25 on a 25-cent single line machine, you have "technically" beaten the game.

My guess is that he won't deviate from the 200 credits per game while starting over with a $20 win goal. I would like to know when he leaves the machine after the win goal and when he continues to play on the same machine. If the win is quick, there is no way to know whether the machine is in a hot or cold cycle. Thanks

Thats a very good point Slingshot. I was thinking of playing that very strategy tonight. In practice on IGT computer games it has done very well.

First off, as one of the two games I'd be playing in SPS and with 25% of the overall credits, because I've had a better than 85% win rate with that strategy and although there were not a lot of the 6/5 BP games involved in those wins, some were, and I never lost a session where 6/5 BP was a part of it. The SPS strategy is clear cut.

On its own, it is very simple to beat any conventional 5/4/3/2/1 BP paytable regardless if the FH pays 8, 7, or 6. Why? Because when playing for a reasonable win goal based on your starting bankroll TODAY, it is generally not the FH payout that determines a win or a loss. Of course I always did try to play the best paytable I could find wherever I chose to play--and I still do. But if 6/5 is all that's available--which is usually the case as most Harrahs properties these days, I have never shyed away from them. In fact, at the two 7 level 25c thru $25 machines at the big bar back near the Ipanema tower at the Rio, I have never lost on either of those machines and for years they have had lousy paytables on every offered game, including 6/5 BP at all levels. Besides, I've hit four aces there twice on 7/5 TBP+ (once using one of those "incredibly stupid EV-reducing special plays", and what in the,world does that have to do with hitting silly FH's! Ask me how much I cared as they were paying me $30,000 each time. :)

There have been numerous times where I have done the RTT strategy solely on BP. Depending on the denomination(s) I would play, which always dictates the session bankroll, here are some examples of my approach:

I never try to win more than 10% of my session bankroll when playing only BP. That's in contrast to the 5% in SPS of course, for obvious reasons. So if I sit at a $1/$2/$5/$10 machine with $5400 (enough for three losses) and a win goal of $200, I would play 100 credits at each denomination. As soon as I get at least $200 ahead, I would quit. I could play another then another until I attained my daily win goal of at least $500, or I may lose a session or two and keep playing until I lost three sessions or hit the minimum $500 win goal. The math Lurkerposter would scoff at this, first because it was very successful--and we know how the math geeks just can't handle success in any other way than they would try to do it--and next, because they will never accept the fact that the large losses are easily overcome by the far more frequent larger-and at times, much larger, winners. All they'll say is "WAA WAA WAA, you can't beat a negative game over time". Well I did, and the reason I did is because I played this one session at a time, with special plays galore that reduce long term EV, and when you approach this games as each session being its own unique individual event, you get positive overall results IF you know how to stop playing at certain win points and IF you are able to not be affected by what the casinos want you to do and how they want you to do it.

Another BP method I've played was on a $1/$2/$5 machine I'd play 50 credits on $1, 100 credits on $2, then 200 credits on $5, all with a $25 win goal this time, because of lesser denominations and lesser credits being played.

A third method, which was quick, was to load a $100 machine with $2300 and play 1 credit, then 2, then 5 etc. until I got one simple credit ahead--or I lost it. I have never lost it in 6 tries.

How cool~ One of my favorite articles was "RTT Strategy Can Have Many Variations". That's why I like reading all the RTT "misadventures" and trying to pick a few out. I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Let us know how you do. My hardest part was stopping. The machine would just sometimes shoot up to 40 credits and I would say "Whoa, this baby's hot. And it was-hot to take back what it just gave! LOL.
(This was VP Guy's)

Thanks Rob for getting back with us on this.
My question is this: How about a short ARTT playing only BP- 25c-50c-1.00-2.00 with a win goal of 20 bucks and a session goal of 200? You had mentioned something like this in a post some time back. Have you ever tried playing it this way and what do you think about it as a game plan? Thanks.

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Originally Posted by vpguy

Thanks Rob for getting back with us on this.
My question is this: How about a short ARTT playing only BP- 25c-50c-1.00-2.00 with a win goal of 20 bucks and a session goal of 200? You had mentioned something like this in a post some time back. Have you ever tried playing it this way and what do you think about it as a game plan? Thanks.

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Yes I've played in and in fact, I do it more often these days since I won't play higher than $2 now that I retired from playing professionally. But it's the daily goal that's $200. The session win goal of twenty bucks is fine.

Here, I play 100 credits at quarters, 200 at 50c, 300 at $1 and 400 at $2. Get $20 up minimum and start again. To do it right would take an overall $3675 bankroll. Very safe though, and losses will be few and far between.

Thanks Rob! That is probably a little too high of bankroll for me. I was really thinking about putting in 200 bucks- playing 25c-50-1.00-2.00 of ARTT (light BP only) trying to win at least 20 bucks with mini goal of 1.25. I thought I read where you had been trying this out for a few weeks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vpguy

Thanks Rob! That is probably a little too high of bankroll for me. I was really thinking about putting in 200 bucks- playing 25c-50-1.00-2.00 of ARTT (light BP only) trying to win at least 20 bucks with mini goal of 1.25. I thought I read where you had been trying this out for a few weeks.

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Yes I have done that often also. It's less reliable but requires a lot less bankroll. But it's still an enjoyable way to play.