not preemptively. you can get stuff comped when you're checking out based on all the things comps are normally based on. but your bill will be based on what you reserved.

so which VP games are +ev with optimal play?

The VPFREE site still appears to be up for me.

It also seems to link to another VPFREE site that I haven't seen before that has a searchable but clunky index of games at the casinos. I don't know how up to date this is, but the listings for Paris are pretty damn sparse.

All of the Bob Dancer VP books are available from, or at, Gamblers Book Club, 5473 S. Eastern. A good place to start would be Video Poker for the Intelligent Beginner. Dancer also offers VP practice software for $50.

Different VP machines have different paytables, usually differentiated (in the case of Jacks or Better machines) by the payout for a full house and for a flush. JoB 9/5 (9 units for a FH and 5 for a flush) returns 99.54% while JoB 8/5 (that you might find on the Strip) returns 97.3%. Keep in mind that these EV figures include royal flushes that occur (on the average) every 80 hours of play, so don't expect to win with your last $20.

There are paytables that return over 100%, for example 10/7 Double Double Bonus (100.17%) and Full Pay Deuces Wild (100.76%), these machines can be found at Station and a few other locals casinos. Although Station clearly marks the >100% machines, not everyone plays them!! South Point advertises "hundreds of VP machines >99%" (and Dancer sometimes offers free lectures there).

The reason the house can offer VP with EV > 100% is that not everyone knows or studies their game well enough to play at +EV.

Dancer notes that a game that pays less than 100% can be +EV when comps, slot club points, etc. are added.

does anyone in this thread play VP seriously? Pretty awesome. New threadworthy imo, or does it exist already.

FYI, the 2+2er that is most visible with his VP play is Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler (doublejoker on 2+2). He answered a lot of questions about his play and strategy of making it +EV with comps in a Well he had in MTT Community. He doesn't participate in LVL, for which we should probably be grateful...

The most popular ones are 10/7 Double Bonus and full-pay Deuces Wild. You won't find them at any Harrah's or MGM-Mirage casinos, but quite a few locals casinos have them.

Outside of the Mirage and the Venetian, does anyone know which casinos run reliable 3/6 and 4/8 limit hold em games? What I mean by reliable is that if you stop by the room, at just about any time, there will be at least one of these games running. I would prefer the 4/8 games to not be 1/2 blinds or kill games.

Mirage? bwhahaha!

The obvious one is, Orleans, 24/7 no matter what, but I don't blame you for not wanting to go there.

But after that, Bellagio, then Wynn or Aria.

orleans if you wanna go off the strip. Caesars _usually_ usually has a limit game going as well. Ive never really looked into anything that low at the B but id be surprised if they didnt have it.

Every time I've ever gone to the Mirage in the last year, they have at least one 3/6 table going, and usually 2. As for the Orleans, I'm not really interested in playing there. Aria almost never has a 4/8 game going, any time I've tried on weekdays, and during the day on weekends. You can check in on the games at the Wynn online, so that's helpful. Haven't checked out the 4/8 at Bellagio, yet.

Try Bellagio. They've never not had 4/8. when I've been there, and I've been there a lot at all hours.

I've rarely seen 4/8 at Mirage. I just stopped going there. I gave up on them because they can't keep games going all night.

And now that I think about it, yeah, I don't see it at Aria either. Scratch that. Def Wynn has it a lot though.

I've gone over to Caesar's in many high traffic times (tournament series), and I have never seen a 3/6 game running, which is the only limit hold em I've seen with interest lists, when I've gone over there. The worst thing is driving from Henderson to find that the places who used to have "reliable" games, don't have any going. So, I've resorted to using the telephone more often. You sure don't have any problems finding a 2/4 game in this town, though...

Word of advice... stay out of Costco parking lot/store in Summerlin from Friday through Sunday... what a nightmare

Why would anyone go to Costco today? Life as we know it is ending tomorrow. Nobody needs that much gum and toilet paper for one day.

Excal had some kind of wierd low limit when I was last there?

Is somthing happening in Vegas Mon-Tues? I'm planning on going but there is an insane drop in price from Tues-Wed next week.

Now you tell me about the zombies...

if I didn't know better theZombies were all shopping at costco today...

Maybe it was just people shopping for plants just in case.

+1 I play a bunch in these games and its a complete mind f**k everyday

venetian has 4/8 all the time i think.

I'm from the UK and plan to fly to Vegas this year for a solo poker trip. Unfortunately, the only time I can really make it is from mid to late August. I intend to stay in the central part of the strip and explore the area from MGM up to Wynn. I'm thinking of staying at Bill's, Bally's, Bellagio, Flamingo or Imperial Palace but I'm still undecided. I just have a few questions:

1) Will the heat be bearable? I plan to visit as many poker rooms as I can, which will involve a lot of outdoor walking, but I'm really worried about the heat. Is Bellagio the most central?

2) Is Imperial Palace really as bad as the reviews? For one person on a solo trip, who's just there for the poker, will it be ok?

3) What is the general security like? I hear the rooms at Bill's don't even have a safe but isn't this essential?

4) I don't want to walk miles only to find the poker room is dead. Are there any poker rooms along the central strip (from MGM to Wynn) that are DEFINITELY to be avoided.

5) Are there any decent places, along the strip, that sell a wide variety of poker chip sets and/or a good selection of poker books?
------------

I know this is a lot of questions but any help with ANY question would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

1) Will the heat be bearable?

No. Take cabs. The distances are not walkable in the heat, at least in the daytime.

2) Is Imperial Palace really as bad as the reviews?

Yes.

3) What is the general security like? I hear the rooms at Bill's don't even have a safe but isn't this essential?

Public areas of the Strip are very well policed as are the interiors of all casinos. I would not worry at all. If you really need a safe deposit box, inquire at the cashier's cage of your hotel.

4) I don't want to walk miles only to find the poker room is dead. Are there any poker rooms along the central strip (from MGM to Wynn) that are DEFINITELY to be avoided.

The Brick & Mortar forum of 2+2, and its search feature, is your friend.

5) Are there any decent places, along the strip, that sell a wide variety of poker chip sets and/or a good selection of poker books?

Many hotel gift shops sell chip sets. For a good selection of poker books in a B&M store you would have to go off-strip, suggest you order online before you depart. You're not going to have time to read poker books except maybe on the airplane.

They are all pretty central. Their poker rooms will be fairly steady. Nix the IP for your first trip. And as said, don't do long walks during the day.

Thanks for the speedy replies. It definitely looks like it'll be the nocturnal lifestyle for the trip but I guess with the help of jet-lag this'll be easy to get into. I have another question:

As I say, my main aim is to get around to seeing as many poker rooms as possible and to enjoy lots of variety so a central "base" is essential for me. Would something like Bill's or Bally's be a LOT better for this purpose than, say, The Bellagio or are the distances between casinos so small and equal that this doesn't really matter? (As I say, I'm now realising that my walking will have to be done at night.)

Once again, thanks in advance.

Take a look at a map of the Strip. Bellagio is directly opposite Bill's/Ballys and accessible over a bridge/walkway, so distance is negligible, but OTOH the hotels are massively different. If you can afford the Bellagio, you don't want to even think about Bills/Ballys in the same sentence.

It's hot and I wouldn't recommend walking from MGM to Wynn in the midday heat. But central strip, it is pretty easy to enter a hotel through the South entrance, stay inside, exit via the Northern-most exit and into the South entrance to the next one. With a bit of orientation, you can keep large chunks of that walk to being inside.

When it is too hot for you/you are feeling lazy, the Bellagio poker room will have whatever game you want to play. But as you want to experience lots of different rooms, one of the easiest ways is to walk into them and see what's happening. It isn't that much of a walk, and if you use the shade of interim casinos, it is perfectly manageable. The low limit games are so variable, if you really want to drop into the best game, you are going to have to go and look for it. It might be in the Flamingo one day with some bachelor party guys moving all in blind on one day, the next day there is no game there, or it is a rock garden, average age 80 with everyone wearing Sams Town jackets. Hey-ho, 5 minutes later you will be in the next cardroom.