Ever play the "double up?" feature on a video poker game?

When you win certain hands on a video poker machine, some machines will have a "double up?" feature activate.

You either press "no" or "double up" and then you are dealt one card and have to draw a higher card to double up your win. You could also push or draw a lower card and lose your original win.

It is not a popular feature and on most video poker machines it is turned "off" or disabled, though on some machines it is "on" but you can ask the casino floorperson to disable it when you play -- it just needs a turn of a key.

Do you play the double up feature? I did once with just a two pair win-- and doubled. And doubled again. And doubled one more time... and then lost it all. Never again.

But I vividly remember when a new player was at a VP machine next to me at Caesars about two years ago... he hit quad Aces for $4,000 on a $5 double double bonus machine. The double up? screen came on and he pushed the "double up" button thinking it would give him more info.

He didn't realize that he had activated the double up option. We called a floor person hoping that they could "undo" the error -- he didn't want to gamble away the four thousand dollars.

Luckily, and I mean very luckily, he was dealt a 9, drew a face card and his $4k win doubled to $8,000.

I've heard stories that casinos were able to "undo" the error when brought to their attention, but I did not get involved in his discussion.

Very few machines at Caesars have the double up feature activated. I know it doesn't show after a royal.

I've only done it a few times despite there being no house advantage. I don't recall if I doubled up more than twice on the same win. I guess the lack of this feature on probably 99% of the machines I've played have something to do with not really having this decision making confrontation in front of me more regularly and not really giving it much thought.

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Originally Posted by Vegas Vic

I've only done it a few times despite there being no house advantage.

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Don't forget... there's no player advantage either.

Same thing with the odds bet at craps... no house advantage, but no player advantage.

Somehow the lack of a player advantage seems to be forgotten in these discussions.

Some people, if they are playing slightly negative vp, will use the double up all the time. It's no house advantage, they say, so it helps your overall percentage. I don't know much about it -- do you get extra player points if you do it? That would have to enter into the discussion certainly. Why risk oodles of money if you don't get comp points for doing so?

You don't get slot club points when playing the double-up option.

I've tried it on quarters years ago, but have since never used it because it's a sucker bet. It plays on a vp player's compulsion. If you do it and lose, you feel like an idiot; do it and win, then you only want to do it again & again until you lose it all.

I wrote about my big experience with it in Gaming Today, where prior to being banned at Harrah's in LV, I was in there playing my strategy at the $2 level. There was no double-up option capability on any hand until I was dealt a RF. Then it appeared out of nowhere, and in my excitement & confusion somehow my finger pushed YES instead of no! I think it was an 8 that came out. I was disgusted with myself and spent the next hour arguing with staff about my "mistake" but of course I lost. By now, there was maybe two dozen people gathered around to see what the commotion was all about. Eventually I HAD to pick a card while still sunk in my chair. But here comes a 10. $16k and I was out of there on my way home as soon as the cash came to me--of course I didn't leave a tip of any kind, not because of the misadventure, but because I never tip handpays.

I used to see it on the quarter VP at The Pioneer in Laughlin in the '90's. Only did it a few times on wins of a straight or less. Max ever was twice on a hand.

Rob,

Just a couple of questions, since I don't remember that article. Was the article itself the main reason for Ha$$ah's banning you? Or did it have to do with showing a profit or what? Did the particular property ban you or was it system-wide?

I have had some small misadventures regarding cashing futures tickets at Harrah's. I've also gotten in debates/arguments regarding amounts they'd take on straight bets. The amounts they'll take on futures and games are tied to no precise formula. Instead, they're affected by some nebulous judgement they make regarding your rating and how much of a fish you are. So I'm curious as to what got you banned.

This happened in the early part of the 2000's--prior to Harrahs being the giant it is today. I didn't get banned specifically for that incident. A few weeks later I returned to play again and won around $2800 playing up to the $5 machine, then about a month later I came back & hit several large winners on $25 DDBP, again for a profit over $4000. It was at a time when players like me were brought in RFB, and I ALWAYS made sure I had a fabulous dinner prior to playing. And of course, once I won my goal I immediately left. They said they didn't appreciate how I hit them for winners and ran. They wanted me to stay the 3 days and play after winning, which fits advantage play but not my strategy.

It really didn't make sense because how would they have any chance of getting their money back if they wouldn't let me play? Plus they knew I was a big player and I really hadn't put THAT much of a hurt on them. When I brought that up and suggested they simply not bring me in RFB any more, they made the stupid mistake of ignoring it and walking me out--telling me not to trespass. I've only been in there twice since, and both times was to get some sort of free slot club gift that I could have picked up at any Harrahs LV property. Once the conglomeration started up I began playing at Caesar's and the Rio, and never had an issue.

Rob, what you wrote about -- the old RFB days -- were all based on hours of play for prescribed number of days. You played the system to your advantage.

Here's a story about the flip side of that old system:

A good friend of mine had a $25,000 weekend budget for playing craps. Usually, $25,000 lasted his three day stay and sometimes he got lucky and won some money with his $25K bankroll while enjoying full RFB.

Well, on one particular weekend he had a very bad run at craps and on the first day of his trip lost his entire $25,000 bankroll in less than four hours. So, according to the system he did not meet the requirement of 4 hours of play per day for 3 days for his full RFB stay.

When he checked out they gave him a bill for the weekend -- NO comps whatsoever. It was insane, the guy was a regular, dropped a full $25K and they wouldn't comp him because he hadn't played the required number of hours and number of days.

Ironically had he bet less but played 4 hours per day for three days there would have been "no problem" with the system.

Crazy, huh?

I've always found and I'm sure you have too, that vp players get the best bang for their buck when it comes to comps--at least when not in the whale territory. I used to be able to work the RFB system to my maximum advantage whenever I used a slot card, and I do not like the systems that are straight pay-with-your-points because I can't manipulate that.

Your friend has every right to be angry with what happened, but I'm sure he was more disappointed with losing the $25k. It happens.