Originally Posted by
Alan Mendelson
So is my four hours of play on a $5 video poker machine worth more than someone who plays $100 video poker for fifteen minutes? I think not.
If I ran a casino, I'd probably prefer the $5 player to the $100 player. I'd rather the guy who plays for a longer period of time because he's going to be more likely to get sucked in and may likely have difficulty quitting. The $100 player may more likely be able to get up and quit when he feels like it, or when he's tapped out. Best case scenario, the player becomes addicted to gambling and gives all his money to the casino -- who's more likely to do that, the $5 player who plays 4 hours or the $100 player who plays 15 minutes?
All things being equal, the $100 player would have a 25% higher theo than the $5 player, which is great. But there's also the benefit of the $5 player who plays 16x as long, which would decrease the variance of the play, thus increasing the probability the casino wins off that player....especially if there aren't many $100 players (and there aren't).