Originally Posted by
Alan Mendelson
I don't see many people at $100 video poker machines but when I do I like to glance at how they are playing without being too obvious about it. Among the things I look for: the game they are playing, how quickly they play, do they have tickets for "coin in" or a brick of $100 bills, and are they smiling or not.
Well, over the weekend I had a special treat. I got to see a husband and wife, side by side, both playing $100 machines.
Except they weren't playing much. Most of the time they spent on their cell phones, or talking to casino staff -- even having long conversations with the guy who vacuums, and the gal who cleans the ashtrays and playing stations. They also had other "friends" drop in and engaged them in long conversations as well.
And when they did get around to playing "a hand" it wasn't with lightning speed either. No... they took their time and even discussed with each other the hand and the potential "play" of the hand. Here's an example:
Husband "Look honey, I have an ace. I'd like to get quad aces."
Wife "I have a pair of jacks. Am I missing something?"
Of course they got extra special service from the cocktail waitress and had nice conversations with her as well before they placed the actual order and after the drinks were delivered. (Wonder why you can't find a cocktail waitress?)
Obviously when you are playing five coins at $100/coin it doesn't take a big hand to generate a W2G win -- just three of a kind paying $1,500 stops the action. (I know what you're saying... it doesn't seem like there is much action!) And when they did have a "jackpot" they asked for $500 cash plus a ticket for the balance -- and I saw them do this as well for straights and flushes.
Watching them for almost an hour made me wonder if the key to "casino success" is to sit at one big denomination machine and make fewer bets than what you would play normally at a denomination you could actually afford to play? It might actually cost you less and you have an extension of your living room to chat with people and have someone else fetch you the drinks.