A refresher course in discipline

[Alan Mendelson]

I almost blew it overnight at Rincon... and I almost blew it not once, not twice but three times in following the discipline of sticking to win goals. Here's what happened:

I showed up at Rincon to use $300 of free play. I went to a $1 9/6 Double Double Bonus game (maybe the last 9/6 DDB in the place) and hit two quads for payoffs of $250 each. At one point I had a max of $450 on the meter... but I never quit. Eventually I lost it all including the $300 of free play.

So I went to the ATM and took out $500 which is not a bad thing to do as it is well within my budget.

I went to an 8/5 Bonus game, put in the $500 and hit a couple of quads and quickly doubled and had a max on the meter of $1020. Did I quit after the 100% profit? No. I kept playing trying to win more (greed factor) and lost it all.

Back to the ATM for another $500. And this time to the high limit room for my favorite $5 8/5 Aces and Faces machine -- where I got very lucky.

The quads were with me! With my $500 in the machine the first quads I got were 8s for $625, then Kings for $1,000 and then Jacks for $1,000 and then Kings again. After about an hour I had a little more than $1,000 in credits on the machine and two $1,000 tickets that the machine spit out. In all, a profit of about $2,500. Did I quit then? No. I was a greedy son-of-a-bitch.

I kept playing till I only had $375 left, and I felt like an idiot putting back so much. And then I got lucky. Quad aces for $2,000. Did I quit? No.

I kept playing, and put back $1,200 and again I felt like a jerk. But again my lucky stars came through after I said a few prayers... and I got quad aces again.

After the second quad aces I was determined to go home with a nice profit, and I did. But I did play a bit more and luckily had quad queens to make up for some of the second quad aces I put back in the machine. And I am glad I had this "close call" with "lack of discipline" because I hope it will prevent bigger mistakes in the future.

[Perdition]

Wow too many close calls. Well at least you got some tier credits and hopefully some Gift Points out of it. But yeah I have a feeling you won't get that many chances next time. Grats on all the 4 of a kinds though.

[Alan Mendelson]

I added about 15,000 tier credits which mean nothing to me (I am in that "weird zone" where I can't get to any higher 7Stars benefit levels. I do get comp points from the play during the night, and my play during the night will lead to more free play in February (December play is used for February bounce-back). But the play will not go towards the 2014 Great Gift Wrap Up. The 2014 GGWU points start on Jan 1st.

[Perdition]

I saw the post about the person you met from Wizard of Vegas talking about his encounter with you. I don't know if you wanted it made public, but I thought it was a really cool gesture to offer to play on his card.

[Alan Mendelson]

I saw the post about the person you met from Wizard of Vegas talking about his encounter with you. I don't know if you wanted it made public, but I thought it was a really cool gesture to offer to play on his card.

Thank goodness he said nothing about the escort service.

[Dan Druff]

Pretty amazing story, Alan.

I have no problem being disciplined with free play. I run it then quit at the moment I can cash it out fully.

Tonight I was also rescued by quads after getting off to a bad start. I was dealt natural quads once, too.

I renewed my 7 Stars tonight with just 10 days left in the year.

Still can't get that royal.

[Alan Mendelson]

Still can't get that royal.

If you wanted a royal, you could "play for a royal." It is not the best way to play, and you could lose more money this way, but you could maximize your chances for getting a royal.

The strategy to "play for a royal" is simply to hold only royal flush cards. It's actually a strategy that is used in video poker tournaments, because getting a royal in a VP tournament will typically put you way ahead of the pack. But in a video poker tournament you are only concerned with finishing "in the money" and you are not concerned with the money lost on individual hands.

[redietz]

Most vp tournaments I've been in, the top two or three players have hit a royal, which makes sense as it's 30 minutes of play at top speed with a couple of hundred players.

[arcimede$]

So, you're saying that if you had quit when you hit your initial "goal", you would have ended up with less money. Does that make it a "loss goal"?

The fact is your trip is just more evidence that winning and losing is simply a variable based on your luck on any particular trip. Win/loss goals simply reduce your overall play (which could a good thing if you are on a negative play).

[Alan Mendelson]

So, you're saying that if you had quit when you hit your initial "goal", you would have ended up with less money. Does that make it a "loss goal"?

The fact is your trip is just more evidence that winning and losing is simply a variable based on your luck on any particular trip. Win/loss goals simply reduce your overall play (which could a good thing if you are on a negative play).

Can't argue with that... but what if I didn't get the second quad aces? Win goals are like "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

[Rob.Singer]

This is an important issue to me. Unable to stop playing when you finished with free play as planned, running back and forth to the ATM's, then....continually trying to teach the machines and the casino a lesson. Very poor discipline indeed.

Although it's great that you came back, this is more akin to what Bob Dancer has been doing in his columns of late. Seems like you wanted to expose a flaw you have and tell how you still made it thru this time. But, what of all the other times? Wherefor art thou?

Arci's rap wasn't much better. While he'll never admit it because he can't figure it out, a structured progression in denomination along with game volatility and an increase in the number of credits played at high volatility--along with special plays, of course--completely negate the issue of whether the game is 96%, 99%, or 104% for the very insignificant amount of time you are playing it. If these AP geniuses actually stopped to comprehend that no machine ever knows or cares about where "you" are in your play on it vs. where "it" is, they wouldn't keep the same illogical rants going.

In my last play in Tunica, I played 3 sessions and put a $10,000 ticket in each time. And each time I hit my predetermined session win goal of at least a thousand dollars. What I didn't do is set a trip stop-win goal because I was playing with my wife and our two friends watching and cheering which made this whole thing fun/but also belly-aching because of the few decent winners and many pitiful three-of-a-kinds that haunt you in that game. The BP part of it is usually good, but it did nothing this time around. If it were a 20/10 game it wouldn't have mattered since BP produced no FH's or flushes.

[Alan Mendelson]

In my last play in Tunica, I played 3 sessions and put a $10,000 ticket in each time.

I don't know what's worse, Rob -- going to the ATM for $500 and having a loss limit of $1,500 or playing a session with a $10,000 ticket in the machine? I would be careful about criticizing others when you are putting ten thousand dollars into the machine, ready to play it and perhaps lose it all.

I think a player who puts in $500 or $1,000 at a time is being smarter -- because each new deposit or ATM "run" gives time for pause and reflection.

[redietz]

This is the first time I've heard that time, reflection, and trips to the ATM are helpful when playing video poker.

My Christmas wish has been granted; Rob has returned.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

[Alan Mendelson]

This is the first time I've heard that time, reflection, and trips to the ATM are helpful when playing video poker.

Trips to the ATM have nothing to do with playing video poker. They have everything to do with thinking about your losses.

Several years ago the casino industry asked the Nevada Gaming Commission for permission to install credit card devices on slot machines so that players could transfer money from their cards (debit and credit) directly to the machines without having to get up from the machines to walk to an ATM. The NGC would not allow it. The NGC noted that it was important to force a break, and a pause in the action, to allow players a moment to "think" about what they are doing. For the same reason you see at ATMs and at the cage windows signs for troubled gambling.

Of course you were just being your regular, sarcastic self, redietz. I am glad your Christmas wish has been granted. I like people who don't ask for much for Christmas gifts. And Merry Christmas to you too.

[a2a3dseddie]

Seems like you wanted to expose a flaw you have and tell how you still made it thru this time. But, what of all the other times? Wherefor art thou?

Indeed...

"The NGC noted that it was important to force a break, and a pause in the action, to allow players a moment to "think" about what they are doing. For the same reason you see at ATMs and at the cage windows signs for troubled gambling."

I agree with you on this 100% Alan. It doesn't have to be just VP.

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to you and yours.

[Rob.Singer]

I don't know what's worse, Rob -- going to the ATM for $500 and having a loss limit of $1,500 or playing a session with a $10,000 ticket in the machine? I would be careful about criticizing others when you are putting ten thousand dollars into the machine, ready to play it and perhaps lose it all.

I think a player who puts in $500 or $1,000 at a time is being smarter -- because each new deposit or ATM "run" gives time for pause and reflection.

Alan, my use of $10,000 tickets was exactly as planned, and I was prepared to lose all three of them. What you did was give extra, unplanned money a chance to be lost. Amounts don't matter in either case because if either of us lost it would be no big deal. If Lady Gaga showed up and put a $500,000 ticket in, it's all the same to me and it should be to you. Anyway, I hope you taught yourself something for future visits.

[Alan Mendelson]

Rob, you surprise me. You allowed yourself to get into a $10,000 hole and in order to get yourself out of it you had to give up on your own "special plays" which you have been trumpeting for years and years.

Perhaps if you hadn't loaded ten grand at a time into a video poker machine, you could have gotten up to cool off and stop chasing your losses. You lucked out. And what if you didn't?

If I hadn't lucked out the other night I would have been out only $1,000 which was well below my budget for a trip.

[Rob.Singer]

Rob, you surprise me. You allowed yourself to get into a $10,000 hole and in order to get yourself out of it you had to give up on your own "special plays" which you have been trumpeting for years and years.

Perhaps if you hadn't loaded ten grand at a time into a video poker machine, you could have gotten up to cool off and stop chasing your losses. You lucked out. And what if you didn't?

If I hadn't lucked out the other night I would have been out only $1,000 which was well below my budget for a trip.

More incomplete reading. We do what we can afford. Make sense yet?

[Alan Mendelson]

Sure it makes sense... and more reason for more than 98% of Americans to disregard your advice. Frankly, I can't afford to play your way.

[Rob.Singer]

Sure it makes sense... and more reason for more than 98% of Americans to disregard your advice. Frankly, I can't afford to play your way.

And how many of the nickel and quarter players here--or anywhere for that matter--can afford to play the way YOU do? But your 98% comment means you never comprehend things. Remember how many times I've written and said in person to you that any of my strategies can be played starting at pennies, nickels, quarters or whatever, and you can go as high as is comfortable? Or maybe you remember me practically begging Frank to watch me play SPS from pennies to dollars at exactly the same ratios I play it at my levels? Do you ever pay attention to what slingshot says when he tells of his play? I'd say you should reverse your point--that my strategies are for 98% of players.