Free Play Trip Report. Holding ACE question,

Even though this happened today at a California casino, I think it applies to all casinos.

At the start of each month I get one day where I can combine multiple free play offers at a casino including bounce back, weekly free play, and a daily bonus that comes along. Today was that day.

My offers totaled $660, plus I had a $100 dining credit. So... let's go to the casino for lunch.

First stop was lunch and the dining credit covered the entire lunch. Tip was out of pocket.

Second stop -- 8/5 Bonus Poker with an expected return of 99.17%.

I loaded the $660 of free play into the machine and instructed my lunch companion to let me know when ten hands are played... so I would cash out after each group of ten hands. That was to make "counting" easy so I wouldn't "over play" the $660 at $1 Bonus which was 132 hands.

The way it worked at this casino, when I hit the cash out button only the money "won" would pay out and not the remaining free play dollars. The player next to me didn't know this so as I was hitting the cash out and credits remained on the machine he asked me why credits remained.

I cashed out $605, which was 91.67% of the $660 of free play. Not too shabby.

I did not make any "mistakes" during the play, however, three times when I was dealt a small, non-paying pair and there was an ACE on the original deal, another ace came up on the draw. This always make you stop and think if perhaps instead of holding small pairs it is better to hold a single ace? I don't do that... but the thought persists.

Just for fun... I figured that if I had held the single ace instead of the small pair (the small pairs didn't improve in these three cases) and did in fact draw an ace all three hands for an extra $15 of pays, then my return on the session would have been 93.94%.

I don't know how significant 93.94% return vs 91.67% return is when only an original "bankroll" of $660 is involved? Anyone care to comment.

This has already been discussed in the past, but most likely you wouldn't have drawn the second Ace had you gone for it instead of the small pair. This is simply because of the DEAL/DRAW button timing. You would have pressed the DRAW button perhaps a full quarter of a second sooner by holding one card rather than two (millions of digital card symbols may have processed through the RNG during that split second).

I would only furrow my brow for a single moment over a missed draw and then forget about it since the timing makes it a very convincing illusion. It just looks bad, nothing more.

I disagree. But first, while I would never hold a lone Ace over any pair, there's always the chance that you will get 3 Aces on the draw. It's happened to me too many times to count. Alan, while those percentages you mentioned may have some subliminal meaning to some people, the only thing that matters is if you walked with your profit.

Not all machines have continuous shuffle. I don't know about machines released since 2008, but the one I had did not continuous shuffle, and there remains a lot of those type machines in service.

First let me say that correct strategy was to hold the small pairs which is what I did.

Second, I was told that all of the machines at this casino have continuous shuffle, however, this was an older model Game King and I can't tell you when it was made.

I don't think any player can know or tell if a machine has continuous shuffle or sequential replacement deals.

Third, there were times when I did hold a small pair and dropped a single ace and drew trips and quads-- but that didn't happen yesterday.

Huge mistake to hold an ace instead of a low pair.

An ace is one of the worst "keep" hands at 8/5 bonus. A low pair is one of the better "keep" hands -- even better than a hand like 5678x!

The main reason for this is the fact that a low pair can hit quads at a reasonable frequency, and will get two pair and trips fairly often. A lone ace can do very little other than break even.

You get quads about once every 423 hands on average at 8/5 bonus. It's important not to rob yourself the chance to get these, as quads often make or break your session.

The fact that you're running freeplay should have nothing to do with your strategy.