There's never been a video product made available in a real casino where an intelligent gambler WANTS to bet $100 and up and play over and over and over. No matter what the limits are (the operator can set them however they want, but I still would advise that they be set to $100 minimum) here are the percentages that might make sense if we were following traditional slot hold percentages necessary to support long game times at small bet amounts. Each game lasts a minute or so on average.

You could operate this on low bet denomination with cost-to-player per unit wall-clock time (EG: min bet $1 max bet $25) if you wanted to. But without an opportunity for lifetime wins, it wouldn't make any more money than Wonder Woman or Super Man.

The problem with high hold percentages has been beat to death, and most lack the vision to see a high denomination bet game as a non-niche product (niche in revenue terms). The goal is to have the cost in the noise coupled with as many lifetime winners as possible. If you can have that all figured out in your brain, maybe it wouldn't seem so niche any more? As soon as you open up these high percentage cost games, it has the potential to train people that the game can't be beat when in fact it can, and that's the danger in opening up that can of worms (giving people a lower minimum bet game) is that it damages the public perception of how "beatable" the game is because they don't understand how HE% reduces your chance for lifetime winnings no matter how skilled you are.

It's a single number in the product that defines the minimum bet. We could make it a fraction of a penny if it made good business sense. But if you give some people a gun, they will insist on shooting themselves in the foot. That's why we have said all along that this game was designed for $100 bets and up. It's different, that's all.

If you understand all of this, and the AP opportunities of up to +23% EV for the player on unlimited bet denominations, and you STILL think it's a niche product, I'm interested to hear more.

But I get this sort of thing all the time, and frankly, I just have to ignore most of what people think about how this business operates. Even people who are experienced! I apologize for being gruff, but I am holding my ground here for a reason.

$ 1.00 bet costs $0.25 (25.00000% edge)
$ 2.00 bet costs $0.48 (24.12500% edge)
$ 3.00 bet costs $0.70 (23.25000% edge)
$ 4.00 bet costs $0.90 (22.37500% edge)
$ 5.00 bet costs $1.07 (21.50000% edge)
$ 6.00 bet costs $1.24 (20.62500% edge)
$ 7.00 bet costs $1.38 (19.75000% edge)
$ 8.00 bet costs $1.51 (18.87500% edge)
$ 9.00 bet costs $1.62 (18.00000% edge)
$ 10.00 bet costs $1.71 (17.12500% edge)
$ 11.00 bet costs $1.79 (16.25000% edge)
$ 12.00 bet costs $1.84 (15.37500% edge)
$ 13.00 bet costs $1.88 (14.50000% edge)
$ 14.00 bet costs $1.91 (13.62500% edge)
$ 15.00 bet costs $1.91 (12.75000% edge)
$ 16.00 bet costs $1.90 (11.87500% edge) (up to +1.25% EV)
$ 17.00 bet costs $1.87 (11.00000% edge) (up to +3.00% EV)
$ 18.00 bet costs $1.82 (10.12500% edge) (up to +4.75% EV)
$ 19.00 bet costs $1.76 ( 9.25000% edge) (up to +6.50% EV)
$ 20.00 bet costs $1.68 ( 8.37500% edge) (up to +8.25% EV)
$ 21.00 bet costs $1.57 ( 7.50000% edge) (up to +10.00% EV)
$ 22.00 bet costs $1.46 ( 6.62500% edge) (up to +11.75% EV)
$ 23.00 bet costs $1.32 ( 5.75000% edge) (up to +13.50% EV)
$ 24.00 bet costs $1.17 ( 4.87500% edge) (up to +15.25% EV)
$ 25.00 bet costs $1.00 ( 4.00000% edge) (up to +17.00% EV)
$ 26.00 bet costs $1.03 ( 3.96000% edge) (up to +17.08% EV)
$ 27.00 bet costs $1.06 ( 3.92000% edge) (up to +17.16% EV)
$ 28.00 bet costs $1.09 ( 3.88000% edge) (up to +17.24% EV)
$ 29.00 bet costs $1.11 ( 3.84000% edge) (up to +17.32% EV)
$ 30.00 bet costs $1.14 ( 3.80000% edge) (up to +17.40% EV)
$ 31.00 bet costs $1.17 ( 3.76000% edge) (up to +17.48% EV)
$ 32.00 bet costs $1.19 ( 3.72000% edge) (up to +17.56% EV)
$ 33.00 bet costs $1.21 ( 3.68000% edge) (up to +17.64% EV)
$ 34.00 bet costs $1.24 ( 3.64000% edge) (up to +17.72% EV)
$ 35.00 bet costs $1.26 ( 3.60000% edge) (up to +17.80% EV)
$ 36.00 bet costs $1.28 ( 3.56000% edge) (up to +17.88% EV)
$ 37.00 bet costs $1.30 ( 3.52000% edge) (up to +17.96% EV)
$ 38.00 bet costs $1.32 ( 3.48000% edge) (up to +18.04% EV)
$ 39.00 bet costs $1.34 ( 3.44000% edge) (up to +18.12% EV)
$ 40.00 bet costs $1.36 ( 3.40000% edge) (up to +18.20% EV)
$ 41.00 bet costs $1.38 ( 3.36000% edge) (up to +18.28% EV)
$ 42.00 bet costs $1.39 ( 3.32000% edge) (up to +18.36% EV)
$ 43.00 bet costs $1.41 ( 3.28000% edge) (up to +18.44% EV)
$ 44.00 bet costs $1.43 ( 3.24000% edge) (up to +18.52% EV)
$ 45.00 bet costs $1.44 ( 3.20000% edge) (up to +18.60% EV)
$ 46.00 bet costs $1.45 ( 3.16000% edge) (up to +18.68% EV)
$ 47.00 bet costs $1.47 ( 3.12000% edge) (up to +18.76% EV)
$ 48.00 bet costs $1.48 ( 3.08000% edge) (up to +18.84% EV)
$ 49.00 bet costs $1.49 ( 3.04000% edge) (up to +18.92% EV)
$ 50.00 bet costs $1.50 ( 3.00000% edge) (up to +19.00% EV)
$ 51.00 bet costs $1.51 ( 2.96000% edge) (up to +19.08% EV)
$ 52.00 bet costs $1.52 ( 2.92000% edge) (up to +19.16% EV)
$ 53.00 bet costs $1.53 ( 2.88000% edge) (up to +19.24% EV)
$ 54.00 bet costs $1.53 ( 2.84000% edge) (up to +19.32% EV)
$ 55.00 bet costs $1.54 ( 2.80000% edge) (up to +19.40% EV)
$ 56.00 bet costs $1.55 ( 2.76000% edge) (up to +19.48% EV)
$ 57.00 bet costs $1.55 ( 2.72000% edge) (up to +19.56% EV)
$ 58.00 bet costs $1.55 ( 2.68000% edge) (up to +19.64% EV)
$ 59.00 bet costs $1.56 ( 2.64000% edge) (up to +19.72% EV)
$ 60.00 bet costs $1.56 ( 2.60000% edge) (up to +19.80% EV)
$ 61.00 bet costs $1.56 ( 2.56000% edge) (up to +19.88% EV)
$ 62.00 bet costs $1.56 ( 2.52000% edge) (up to +19.96% EV)
$ 63.00 bet costs $1.56 ( 2.48000% edge) (up to +20.04% EV)
$ 64.00 bet costs $1.56 ( 2.44000% edge) (up to +20.12% EV)
$ 65.00 bet costs $1.56 ( 2.40000% edge) (up to +20.20% EV)
$ 66.00 bet costs $1.56 ( 2.36000% edge) (up to +20.28% EV)
$ 67.00 bet costs $1.55 ( 2.32000% edge) (up to +20.36% EV)
$ 68.00 bet costs $1.55 ( 2.28000% edge) (up to +20.44% EV)
$ 69.00 bet costs $1.55 ( 2.24000% edge) (up to +20.52% EV)
$ 70.00 bet costs $1.54 ( 2.20000% edge) (up to +20.60% EV)
$ 71.00 bet costs $1.53 ( 2.16000% edge) (up to +20.68% EV)
$ 72.00 bet costs $1.53 ( 2.12000% edge) (up to +20.76% EV)
$ 73.00 bet costs $1.52 ( 2.08000% edge) (up to +20.84% EV)
$ 74.00 bet costs $1.51 ( 2.04000% edge) (up to +20.92% EV)
$ 75.00 bet costs $1.50 ( 2.00000% edge) (up to +21.00% EV)
$ 76.00 bet costs $1.49 ( 1.96000% edge) (up to +21.08% EV)
$ 77.00 bet costs $1.48 ( 1.92000% edge) (up to +21.16% EV)
$ 78.00 bet costs $1.47 ( 1.88000% edge) (up to +21.24% EV)
$ 79.00 bet costs $1.45 ( 1.84000% edge) (up to +21.32% EV)
$ 80.00 bet costs $1.44 ( 1.80000% edge) (up to +21.40% EV)
$ 81.00 bet costs $1.43 ( 1.76000% edge) (up to +21.48% EV)
$ 82.00 bet costs $1.41 ( 1.72000% edge) (up to +21.56% EV)
$ 83.00 bet costs $1.39 ( 1.68000% edge) (up to +21.64% EV)
$ 84.00 bet costs $1.38 ( 1.64000% edge) (up to +21.72% EV)
$ 85.00 bet costs $1.36 ( 1.60000% edge) (up to +21.80% EV)
$ 86.00 bet costs $1.34 ( 1.56000% edge) (up to +21.88% EV)
$ 87.00 bet costs $1.32 ( 1.52000% edge) (up to +21.96% EV)
$ 88.00 bet costs $1.30 ( 1.48000% edge) (up to +22.04% EV)
$ 89.00 bet costs $1.28 ( 1.44000% edge) (up to +22.12% EV)
$ 90.00 bet costs $1.26 ( 1.40000% edge) (up to +22.20% EV)
$ 91.00 bet costs $1.24 ( 1.36000% edge) (up to +22.28% EV)
$ 92.00 bet costs $1.21 ( 1.32000% edge) (up to +22.36% EV)
$ 93.00 bet costs $1.19 ( 1.28000% edge) (up to +22.44% EV)
$ 94.00 bet costs $1.17 ( 1.24000% edge) (up to +22.52% EV)
$ 95.00 bet costs $1.14 ( 1.20000% edge) (up to +22.60% EV)
$ 96.00 bet costs $1.11 ( 1.16000% edge) (up to +22.68% EV)
$ 97.00 bet costs $1.09 ( 1.12000% edge) (up to +22.76% EV)
$ 98.00 bet costs $1.06 ( 1.08000% edge) (up to +22.84% EV)
$ 99.00 bet costs $1.03 ( 1.04000% edge) (up to +22.92% EV)
$ 100.00 bet costs $1.00 ( 1.00000% edge) (up to +23.00% EV)

And of course $100 and up continues on at 1% edge. So if you mind the cost, and you want to bet $25 per game, you might as well bet $200 if you're counting the extra pennies on the cost and turning off skill before you play to get the best pure-chance no-skill opportunity to win. AP possible games in this chart would start at $16 and would offer up to +23% player EV at $100 with roughly a best-case positive EV starting @ < +1% at $16 and gradually climbing to +23% at $100. IE: The positive EV at $16 to $25 is expensive and small. But if casinos want to go this route (opening up the smaller bet denominations in an attempt to make more money) we may consider it if the game doesn't earn at $100 and up. The problem is that with high hold percentages, in my view, is that it will reduce the percentage of players with lifetime winnings without improving the casinos revenues. We want to go further than status quo to help the casinos boost revenue with a new player demographic that is intelligent and wealthy. Bigger bets are more fun when you know what you're doing.

I can explain more about this if there is interest (why $100 is the best minimum bet) but the true test is going to be when we get a game out on test. We are currently doing everything that we can to get a machine out there on test. So that's where we are focusing right now. But I did want to give a bit of an explanation on a forum where folks might have a chance to understand that we are selling the opportunity for low-cost positive EV and a fun game. We are NOT making a high-HE% "penny slot."

I have no doubt that you will attract a bunch of advantage players. But how will you attract the non-advantage players? The machine can only pay out +EV after it has built up a reserve of -EV, right? So where are the fishes going to come from to build up that reserve?

I believe that this is our OP discussing this game on KNPR radio:
http://knpr.org/sites/default/files/...331_gaming.mp3

This game will actually appeal to a lot of low-limit and mid-limit poker players that I regularly play with in Philadelphia.

Imagine a typical 2 5 player that brings $1,000 to play with. At the end of the day, the player is down to 643 when the 2 5 game breaks at 4am. To a guy like that, it is more natural to bet 643 to win 357 than to count out 357 and bet it on black in roulette. Also, some slot players after a losing session might enjoy the opportunity to give them a chance to make all their losses back in 1 bet. Finally, MTT poker players might use a machine like that to try to "satellite" into a big event!

Everything else remaining a constant, half the plays will be what you refer to as "the fishes."

With bet amounts and skill amounts varying (contributing to the weight associated with each score from previous play), it's more complex, but hopefully this answers your question!

Regulators shifting focus to deal with high-tech gaming

It did pass, and we are very happy about many important concepts that are reflected in the bill about transparency and fairness.

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/7...lls/SB/SB9.pdf

I do appreciate very much everyone's continued interest in the steps being made towards bringing our unique models to market for variable payback and advantage play with skill.

As part of final patent submission on the math model, we broke out the math model to an interpreted language for isolated testing and simulation.

The Wizard has offered to review after we go out on test, so the script is an easy thing to hand off to a math guy. I am very hopeful we can get to a casino quickly to try this thing out.

I suggest hiring a person that can explain the concept to your standard philly 2/5 player who would rather risk his last $643 to win $357 on a pinball game than count out $357 to bet on black in roulette in less than say, 2,000 words.

actually, you should just print the EV chart you posted in March and stand next to the machine offering to explain it all yourself to the first few drunks that wander past it wondering wtf it is.

I'd pay $100 to see that for an hour or two at (-100% edge).

generally if you find yourself posting "no you don't understand" in every response on a forum full of people who are most likely to be your largest demographic, something ain't right.

I just hope they don't use the term "advantage play" when hawking this game to casinos. It would probably be as effective as taking a crap on the floor during the presentation.

Sorry I didn't read these posts earlier. I just wanted to say thanks for the feedback. I'll try to keep up with the responses a little bit better and get back to the guys who have given some thought to what we're doing.

SB9 passed, folks. I want to thank everyone who has supported us this far and our team at NanoTech Gaming Labs and the board of directors for giving us the opportunity to follow up on our vision for variable payback AP gaming. A very special thank to ProfessionalPoker and Wade Andrews and others in the poker community who have supported us this far.

It passed unanimously, by the way, and everyone involved in the process is ecstatic. There should be more buzz about it tomorrow after press releases and what not go out.

At least with regards to the AGEM's presentation to the world, your wish was granted. Marcus Prater stopped at 98% when describing in the press release an example of how skill can affect the payout.

It is still something that few understand why offering AP with unlimited bet denominations has such power to transform the games on the floor. And not all casinos are as clueless about how gamblers justify playing a game where the house enjoys a mathematical advantage over them. But there's no precedent for our game, and so the thought process of the players will be different from purely negative mathematical expectations that any informed player should have.

The ability for skill to increase revenues for the casinos nationwide hinges on the effectiveness of real, actual, professional play at high denominations can change the public's perception that nobody wins while playing gambling machines in the casinos any longer. IE: "play long enough and you lose" is something that people, increasingly, understand applies to them when they are resolving so many wagers per unit time that high edge plus low volatility equals certain loss.

And as long as we are just dreaming (RE: your hope we don't use "AP" in the marketing), I hope people get smarter in the casino as games are made to be worth their time, not just for entertainment, but for being able to actually turn skill into a very real expected value.

Without swiping their card to start a game can the following be ascertained by the player (without having to wait and watch another player who starts a game) ?

1. House setting for minimum bet size to get the 1% house edge (I realize the default setting is $100)

2. House setting for maximum skill level setting that the player is allowed to choose

3. House setting for minimum payback (EV starting point)

4. House setting for maximum achievable EV by player

5. Medium score to date , High score to date, low score to date

As the player passes the median score during a game, by how much are the losing spots on the wheel decremented per scoring unit (say per 10 points scored by the player) ?

Is there a scoring guide available for the player so that the player knows how much each drop target scores, how much the jet bumpers score, how much clearing an entire target bank scores (I realize clearing the 5-bank, the 4-bank and the 3-bank will award different bonuses to the player), how much completing the upper or lower rollovers score, what exactly needs to completed to get an add-a-ball ( realize when the ball exits the jets the players gets ball, I am interested in the other ways to achieve this), what exactly needs to be completed to go from level X to level X+1 and so on ?

Physics Engine questions:

1. Can the player do alley passes (shooting the ball when it gets to the end of the flipper to send the ball to the other flipper) ?

2. Post Transfers (hitting the sling post closest to the ball to send it to the opposite flipper)

3. Dead passes (the ball hits the flipper in its rest position and bounces over to the other flipper)

4. Live Catches (the flipper meets the ball exactly when the flipper reaches its apex and the ball stops dead on the flipper)

5. Drop Catches (the flipper is in an upraised but unpowered position when the ball hits it causing the ball to stop dead on the flipper)

What's to stop a player from devulturizing (pest control) the high roller room by cradling the ball while reading his or her favorite novel until the other vultures go away ?

can you match ? -- Just kidding
Thank you.

Wow, there are a lot of great question in there.

In Nevada, paybacks start at 75% (minimum payback) for smallest score and go up to 123% for 1% edge and is calculated as follows:

maximum_payback_percent = (100% - minimumpaybackpercent - average_house_advantage_percent ) * 2 + minimum_payback_percent

The operator sets the house advantage percent to anything they want for each of three different bet denominations, and the percent is interpolated in between. (IE: there are three different house edge percents set in the game that change the edge based on the bet amount).

On the physics questions, yes to all, and we are very proud of it.

Here's a video explaining the details of how to achieve the best score. The game is actually extremely simple compared to most pinball games, but when you're good, the multiball is something that might even top Kaminkow's Apollo 13.

Recorded in HD and 60Hz and can play at 60Hz on you tube. Game visuals are at 120Hz. Physics at 1000Hz. Input at 3Ghz (sub-nanosecond timing precision).

Got it - so there's no way to tell if the house has set the machine so that the player can change the skill factor, what the house edge is set at for each denomination, or more generally, what the settings are (and what the weighted scoring histogram looks like, eg. median,low and high scores to date), unless they put their non-refundable money in the game.

thanks.

Thanks for the thoughtful questions, here are some equally thoughtful answers!

No. As the prototype game currently stands, none of this information is available without first swiping a player card. Points 1-4 are displayed in the game, and each variable is operator-adjustable. It is a simple addition to make these settings available to the player through a help menu accessed without having to swipe a player card.

As for point 5, the player may deduce the 'medium' score to date by approaching/achieving/exceeding that score while playing, paying attention to the 'BEAT%' in the lower right corner of the DMD. It is necessary to hide the best/worst scores to the player (but these can be deduced/guessed) since having such information could dissuade a player from playing a certain machine.

Depends. If the player has deactivated the effect of skill on the probability of winning, then the score has no effect on the wheel whatsoever. All of the factors in points 1-5 above, as well as the player's Bet, Win, and Skill Effect settings chosen before the game contribute to the change in size (and/or number) of the 'losing spots' on the wheel.

If you watch our latest video, you can see that I made a large Bet ($1000) for a small Win ($100) and was able to COMPLETELY ELIMINATE my chance of losing the bet by earning a 117.18% EV

Not entirely. We have a lot of information about gameplay mechanics in our 14-page brochure:
http://ntekgl.com/vegas2047/Vegas2047.pdf

As for the details of scoring, we will release an update to our Facebook page that contains that information.

Theoretically, yes to all. In practice I've been able to pull off 1-3, and maybe 5. The way the flippers were implemented was modeled after real flippers, with solenoid warm-up, angular acceleration, stop position, hold solenoid strength, decay, flipper bat mass, and band bounciness.

We took a high-speed recording of a real flipper bat and matched that to our debug slow-motion to fully understand the forces at work in the flipper action.

Even though I'm not an expert pinball player, I consider myself above average. When we finally got the flipper physics to a point where we were satisfied, after months of playing Stern's new Star Trek machine, I felt like I had magically improved my playing skills by transitioning to "Vegas 2047". My opinion is that our simulation is the most accurate test of skill of ANY video pinball product to-date, and even a better gauge of skill than a REAL pinball at measuring pure skill!

One small thought is that since we want "Vegas 2047" to operate as a table game, we can encourage the attendant, as well as the community, to encourage players to keep the action going. How long can a dice shooter hold the dice without shooting before the dealers and other players say something?

The second, more obvious reality is that "Vegas 2047" operates on a self-balancing system (the NanoTech Advantage) that effectively eliminates 'vulturing'. While it is true that the NanoTech Advantage rewards skilled play (above average score) with +EV only if enough has been collected by non-skilled play (below average score), and this is influenced by the size of the Bet, in practice, even an expert player who could earn an above average score game after game is not guaranteed to win every Bet.

The other fascinating fact about the NanoTech Advantage is that the outcome of the Bet is irrelevant to the system! The only factors used in balancing are Bet and Win amount, House Edge, and relative Score. In simulations and in practice, the House always gets their Edge, and players will never know how much +EV a given game has collected.

No, you can't 'match' and get a free game.

STV

Stephen, thank you for your very clear, excellent, and thoughtful responses to my questions. I would like to wish you and your colleagues every success with Vegas 2047.

In that game show in video player eliminated chance of loosing and won
$100 on a $1000 bet

what is the most the player could have won without risk based on that score.

$820 to win $180 or so?


On the same note was his score so good that he missed some ev dollars by not going for a greater win amount.

Sorry if this has already been covered, but I haven't read through all the pages of this thread: I saw in the game he played that he was betting $1000 to win $100? What is the minimum amount you can bet? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to risk $1000 to play a pinball game.....

To those last couple of questions, those are merely operator settings and we're still working towards getting the game on test, so there are no machines in the wild just yet.

To the previous poster asking about the physics, STV and I decided to make a detailed response in video.

We were pretty stoked to actually have some good questions come in!

We hope everybody has a great weekend, and help us spread the word about VEGAS!

Thanks for posting this. What is referred to in the video as a "flipper pass" is actually most commonly known as a "tap pass" (I did not list this as a move that I was wondering was allowable by the physics engine, but I am glad you included it). On real tables, these are typically easiest on Bally pinball machines from the late 1970's and early 1980's such as Mata Hari, Eight Ball Deluxe and Centaur. By using flipper control techniques on Vegas 2047, the player can get close to a zero house edge/EV (minimize negative EV) if the EV pot is depleted by previous good play (or lucky end-of-game spins) and positive EV if the EV pot has not been depleted or has wandered back into positive territory as a result of losses in previous play (i.e. when the pot has been built up as in progressive slots or video poker).

I want to go to the Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas with you.

The game has actual exposure (the casino can in fact lose) but in every instance it is variance that causes exposure (just like a slot machine) and that exposure is purely short term and not the result of what is known as a 'pricing error.'

Whether you win or lose a bet has absolutely no effect on subsequent play (just like a slot machine). The only thing that affects subsequent play is the combination of three things:

1) Your score
2) Your bet amount
3) The degree to which you enabled skill to affect your payback

Whether you won or lost just isn't in that list, and makes no difference to a player who just walked up. Anecdotally the win amount or probability of winning is not in the above list either.

For example, if you practiced and practiced bet $1,000,000 to win $100,000 and you have the worst game ever on that machine, and with a 75% payback you have 90.909% chance of winning less a 25% edge or 75% payback is 90.90909 * .7500 = .6818175 or 68.18% chance of winning $100,000 from $1,000,000 risked, and you WIN, that will put more money into the EV pool for other players than the player will win (IE: the bigger winners will be the players who play AFTER this guy who get a quarter million in spoils with the condition that they must beat the worst score ever as the only condition to benefit from that).

The positive EV available to reward to other players will go up by a quarter million less the house edge for the bet, and the player's bankroll will go up by $100,000. The casino has $100,000 in actual losses and $250,000 in theoretical losses (scheduled in the future). For the casino, the $100,000 loss is instant and only helps one guy. But the $250,000 loss in theoretical will play out for the remainder of the machine's installed life. And it absolutely will deplete eventually. But it was luck that cost the casino that money ($350,000 lost from a hope for a player to get a positive EV from a million dollar bet), not anything as a result of skill.

Some players who think that they are smart by pumping up the jackpot of EV will find out the hard way that trying to put EV in the machine with a bad score to recollect later with a good score is a pretty damn stupid move. The casino should be delighted to let folks perform experiments on how to do things besides have a good game of pinball to get ahead. Some less than intelligent players will do big bets with terrible games, too. Guaranteed. And there is no doubt folks will get away with these strategies in the short run just like any other game. The only difference is that the strategies that they are trying can, in the short run, make everyone come out ahead, which creates a whole new dynamic. It might help you understand how the game works to contemplate this edge case (biggest better is the worst player). This is a scenario that other players should want (rather than just the casino) -- some wealthy player betting way too big on bets that have a terrible RTP for that particular player.

Part of what makes gambling fun is when someone does something REALLY stupid and wins and people's beliefs start changing. Things that just recently happened sometimes seem more probable to folks who just experienced it.

Sounds good. I haven't been there since it was located at 3300 Tropicana.