LOL I was reading the text of your post via email first, didn't see the image, but immediately knew "he must have had 3 to a royal/4 flush". Only thing that would fit the description. I always draw at 3 to a royal vs 4 to a flush (except for 910jq suited, that would really be giving up EV).

When I first opened this the first thing I saw was the royal on a single line 25 cent and though dam Leon went broke somehow

Still alive- I've gotten in a few sessions in Dec; nothing terribly interesting either way. And I fully expect to go broke at some point- can't keep playing -EV games like VP indefinitely Note original title of this thread- we don't know how long this will last, we just know it can't last forever...

Attempting to revive Leon's thread, as this has become THE place to post Video Poker pron.

Anyone have any big hits over the holidays?

Not mine, but I'll start off with one poker pro Frank Kassela hit last month..

Jesus that is sexy. Unfortunately I don't have anything nearly that awesome to post from last month. December 2016 update coming soon, whenever I download the pics from my phone and get around to writing up the report.

Dec 2016 update, and an informal analysis of Ultimate X "Bonus Streak"

As some of you may recall, hitting royals defined my Nov, and made it a great month. I knew the run good couldn't continue indefinitely, but the hope is what keeps us coming back, right? I started the month with this, which kept that hope alive...



Unfortunately, pretty much this whole month I could not get multipliers to line up when it really mattered. The below hand is a perfect example- I was stuck this day (and still ended up stuck) when it popped up in front of me. So pretty, but ultimately this is just quarters and I basically didn't have any multipliers. It's essentially a waste of a pat hand.



Here's another example- I made 4 aces/kicker a decent amount of times this month (in contrast to last month where it seemed like I could pull a royal every other session but no 4awak), but most of them ultimately didn't matter.



Note here the 4th ace comes in TWICE, but both times on spots without multipliers! WTF- how about you not come in at all these times, but ONE TIME on a 12x?



Finally got a nice one... but no kicker, of course. Kicker comes in and this is a 5000$ hand.



Pretty, but sure could use these multipliers during premium quads...



Also nothing special. I snapped the pic at the absurdity of it all- dealt SF, but of course no multipliers. I think I lost 4K this day.

So, a brief aside about UX Bonus Streak. It's a new variant that showed up at my local casino in Dec. Basically, you bet double credits like regular UX. However, you don't get multipliers until at least trips or better. However, the multipliers carry over several hands in a row (for example, a FH gives you 2x, then 4x, then 8x, then 10x, then 12x for the following 5 hands!). The bigger the hand, the more multipliers- starting at a straight, they get pretty big.

On top of that, any time you make a qualifying hand in a spot that had preexisting multipliers, ALL the remaining ones turn into 12x. So for example, suppose you had a spot where you had 4x, 8x, 10x and 12x coming up for the next 4 hands. Then, you make trips on that spot. The 4,8,10 and 12x ALL become 12x. So when you're making hands, you can have 12x's all over the board, for several upcoming hands.

Basically the game gives you more opportunities to make hands on BIG multipliers, at the cost of NO MULTIPLIERS a lot of the time.

Intuitive sense- way more variance.

So I see this new version and pretty much immediately deduce this for myself. As the game is so new, there aren't established "best plays" out there yet. However, intuitively and from the little reading I've done, it does make sense to go for trips or better in spots you might not on "regular" UX or regular Jacks or better. For example, say you have JQxxx unsuited. The usual play is hold both J and Q. For UX Bonus streak, I've just been holding one high card, as that improves my chances of trips. Mind you, I have no idea if this is the right EV play but my gut tells me it is. Other things like 3 flushes and gutterballs become more powerful, etc. Anyways...

I have no intention of playing the game. Until, I look over one day and see "triple double bonus". Hmmm. The combo of my favorite variant and UX may be too great. Let's check the paytable- 9/6! That's not bad at all. OK, here we go...

I flush 2K in 10 min playing quarters, 12.50 a push. FML

Fast-forward a few days. I'm stuck and ready to leave. I decide to give it one more shot...



OK that is tasty. Note the stacked multipliers for the following hands. I was so happy at making a hand pay it didn't dawn on me until later that had I HAD THE KICKER, this is a 12K HAND!!!! F!

Anyways, now I'm a fan of the game. I play it several times at quarters over the month and never hit anything of consequence. The variance is insane and runbad kills me. I end up putting in a reasonable amount of play at 10c, 10 lines because I just can't stand the swings. 12x on a royal or 4awak at dimes is still 4800$, nothing to sneeze at.



Here's one... but only 1600$ instead of 4K.



And another. Also at 10c.

Overall, you can summarize Dec as-
- run bad
- booked loser obv
- never made 4awak when it really mattered, but made it plenty of times in smaller spots
- one royal for the whole month.

Here's a final one after I got so frustrated with UX in general I decided to go back to multiline regular 'ol TDB at quarters.



Of course. Of course I can get dealt quads, probably more than anyone. And of course they're not premium.

Month summary-
- -9K
- number of royals = 1
- number of 4awak = lost count, at least 6 but none were home runs
- elapsed time since last dealt 4awak = 1.5 years and counting...

Fortunately, I've started Jan 2017 off right, and am no longer playing UX bonus streak- f that game. To be continued...

Leon, I have a question for the resident VP tournament expert. I got an invite to one, but it says: "All prizes will be paid out in Casino Play". So if I win a $1000 prize, I have to run it through a game to get actual cash? For example, if I could make sufficiently small bets at craps I could hope to net $950 or so?

Best thing to do would either be video poker or video blackjack which has like a 98% return with very little variance.

Hey Gobbo, he was pretty clearly asking Leon. Don't ruin this thread too.

A lot of time payouts are in promo chips. Also, they are typically larger denomination chips (relative to payout amount) so the betting small strategy typically isn't an option.

It's all good man. This is a community forum and more participation is a good thing, plus there's nothing about this thread that is "uniquely mine". I just hope to be able to contribute by posting more massive hits!

Well, I certainly wouldn't consider myself an expert- I've played in precisely 1 VP tournament, a handful of slot/BJ tournies, and read a few articles on the subject. That's it. But...

the way your post reads, it sounds like they'll pay either in slot play or promo chips. IMO slot play is more likely as that's typical for a slot/"slot-type" tournament. In either case, those amounts are obv not the true amount you'll win- assuming you bet all the play which has no value on its own, you could win, lose, etc. The expectation should be the summation of all your bets x EV of each bet. As Gobbo suggested, just find the highest EV/payback machine you can to "wash" the play through. Generally you can't use slot play on table games like craps, or promo chips at machines, etc. But the principle is always the same- make only the highest EV bets to maximize your potential return.

I think another interesting question is- what does one get taxed on for winnings paid in free slot play? Eg, suppose you win 100K in free slot play- clearly, it's not fair to be taxed on the whole 100k, so what do they do? Track the entire play, report your net, and the net is what's taxed? That seems the fair way to do it but I don't know. The one VP tourney I played in May 2016 I binked 3K, but the buy in was 3K and the 3K was paid in cash. So the net result was zero, but even if it wasn't I didn't have to wash slot play.

Thanks, pretty much what I figured. If I have to play slot-slots I'm not going to be able to find out the payouts on each machine. I'd also hate to use VP because variance would be too high in such a short run.

The gubmint likes to keep earnings/expenses a zero sum game amongst all parties involved. As in, if you win 100k in slot play but only cash out 80k, you would pay tax on 80k. The casino could expense the original 100k in free slot play that you won, but then would have to book a 20k win on the results of your slot play. The net for the casino is 80k out, and for you, 80k in.

Some slotters try their hand at video poker - two handpays in less than three minutes (on the same machnine) ensue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sOE_CP9bMA

Leon - did they make any major mistakes, and how did the payouts look on this machine?

I couldn't see the pay table clearly so I can't say if it was a good or bad machine. I also didn't watch the entire video, but from what I saw no major mistakes were made. I'm certainly not the authority on correct holds- I'd check out something like wizard of odds for that. I can tell you I do not play 100% optimally in certain situations bc of my degen nature- for example, I always draw at 3 to a royal rather than 4 to a flush. -EV, +fun.

Love this thread. The varience and swings of video poker are crazy for what is a mostly 97%+ payback game

Is there an easy way to track coin in? There must be some great comps that you get to take advantage of

It looked like it was 9/6 DDB, which, for DDB, is about as good as you'll find in most casinos. And I didn't spot any errors, if there were any.

You should be able to track it reasonably with the slot club card as long as you know the rules for how base/tier points are accrued. It will vary by casino. Do remember to adjust for bonus points and what not.

Could also use a rule of thumb - average bet per hand times hands per hour by game. Most people could come up with an estimate for this based upon their past tracked play.

Came across this TDB video on Youtube.

Talk about running good!

Unless I am looking at this wrong, it is expected to hit the (4) 3's with the kicker approximately 2 times in 100 hands..it was hit 8!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4eMcqbh6rI

Sick variance!

..and one that will make you want to pull out your hair..lol..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcEtQ3bm0nM

So irritating when people waste that crap. Guys like us basically never get dealt good draws, and they blank all the time. Guaranteed he hits at least one royal if HE draws.

Jan recap, and the (sort of) TR that almost never was...

So as I mentioned, Jan started well. Here are some shots from my local casino-



Man, nice and big on the first line. Need it to show up like this on the deal!



That's some good variance- catch the 4th deuce three times. Can you believe I LOST this day?!?!



The ace makes me not regret hitting this hand on DWB rather than TDB (pays the same).



That's some good variance. Actually booked a win this day.



SO CLOSE (Actually I know it's not that close). It just looks pretty to see the words "royal flush" on a dealt hand...



One that I don't really care about.. and one that I do.



The hand that started Jan in the right way... unfortunately only 8 lines. Was trying to reduce exposure. Of course.



I think I was dealt the king of diamonds on this hand... my heart skipped a beat at first. Ugh.

So here's the thing... despite the good start, I spent most of Jan stuck. Knowing that we have some major house expenses to pay soon, I've been trying to preserve my bankroll and setting some money aside. So on days when I've won, I've set 1-2K aside. On losers, however, I've got nothing to set aside and obv my bankroll gets chopped down really fast when the wins aren't as big but the losses are just as bad as always.

The (almost) TR

I will apologize right off the bat for the quality of this TR. My parents came back into town and I went with my family to spend some time with them at the Wynn. It was always going to be a mostly family/kid oriented trip, so I didn't want to talk about it here ahead of time, but you know I had every intention of documenting all the meals, hits, etc. I was looking forward to this trip the minute we booked it, which made the outcome that much more disappointing... I started off taking a bunch of pics as usual but stopped a few days in for reasons you'll soon hear about. There is a silver lining at the end. Anyways, I'll try and do the recap justice.

We got in Wed night and were set to stay at the Wynn until Sun morning. Everyone is super-excited, including my nanny who came with us and is more a member of the family at this point than an employee. My mom and dad love him and he pretty much goes with us on all of our family trips (as a family member, we don't pay him beyond travel/lodging and he's not on the clock). My parents are staying in a suite with separate dining area, bar, massage room, etc- definitely one of the nicer ones. My family has a two bedroom suite, while the nanny has a regular room. We're all on the same floor which is awesome, and everything is being comped by the Wynn. So you can see why I was chomping at the bit for this trip.

I've arranged for the limo to pick us up and bring us to the Wynn. The kids are really excited to ride in the limo, and this will be the first time in his 50 yrs of life for our nanny. Thanks, Mr. Wynn (actually, thanks dad for your comps). Insert deleted pic of limo below...

We ended up not getting in until after 10pm- kids are up past their bedtime and everyone is hungry except me, which works out conveniently. Everyone else goes to the Chinese restaurant to eat then to bed, while I go to my favorite machine. Still there!

I have about 9k to play with for these few days, and my parents donate several k more. The first session is moderately cold- I play for several hours but don't hit anything. It's headed slightly South, then more so, then the first 2K bullet is gone. ****. I did hit 4 aces, but no kicker which any fan of TDB knows just is not enough. I go up to the room to grab another 1k which was a major mistake. That goes in about 5 min and just like that I'm stuck 3k on the first night!

Day 2

I wake up with my standard Vegas fever, head downstairs to grab coffee and more gamble before the kids wake up. I get stuck almost 2k pretty quick then hit 4 2's w/kicker from a pair- maybe things are looking up (insert now deleted pic here). I play a bit more and end that session down 500, but it could have been a lot worse.

We meet up at the buffet at 9am with my parents; standard Vegas debauchery- I got mostly protein but a fair amount of indulgent carbs as well like hash brown squares (those were good) and some mini-waffles (not worth it). The kids eat their required protein but also get to be hopped up on sugar (a rare treat for us) so now they're whacked out as one would expect. My wife offers to take the kids for the morning so I can keep my dad company and play, which of course I jump on.

The post-breakfast session is just ice cold. No hands, blank every draw. I believe I was dealt 3 aces in some form about 3-4 times and of course blanked every single one. The last one was on the last push of the last 100$ bill- you know, one of those ones where it feels like the machine is fated to hit and get you back from the brink? Yeah, except it blanked in standard fashion.

My wife had texted me at some point- the Encore pool is heated, the kids got their swim trunks on and are loving life. So we're meeting for lunch at Jardin which is close to that pool. I head over there stuck 5k, tired and pissed off.

Lunch at Jardin is unremarkable- I try and eat relatively healthy and get a steak salad. Everything was ok, nothing was great. After that we head back to the room to put the kids down for a nap. My wife has brought a fair amount of work with her, so she's totally cool with trying to get some done while the kids nap, which means I can play more.

Afternoon session = just as ****ing cold as all the rest. Again, I get a few nice draws but nothing comes in. I'm getting really worried now- stuck 7k and it hasn't even been 24hrs.

The afternoon plan is to go to NYNY and let the kids hit the arcade. I'm really tilted, but try and make the best of it. We have a few hrs worth of fun (mostly collecting tickets which the kids plan on turning in for junk prizes at the end). My eldest son runs good- first, a random stranger gives him 400 tickets just to be nice (they were leaving and didn't want them), then he hits the top prize on a random game which honestly is prob 20% skill, 80% luck, but hey, the kid pulls it off! He's all smiles and of course I'm really happy for him. You run way better than me kid, maybe I should let you push some VP buttons. Between that and all the other games, we have enough tickets to get a decent prize, or a ton of junk. Of course the kids want a ton of junk. Fine. We tie up the prize counter for 15 min while they decide on their junk. Oh, to be a kid again.

(Insert a bunch of deleted pics from NYNY).

On the way out, the parking garage exit is totally packed. As in, there must have been a big group or convention that just finished and is leaving packed. I finally get in to the exit lane, then see another lane with only a few cars in it. I zip over there, only to figure out it is NOT MOVING AT ALL. We sit in that lane for probably 10 real min while everyone else who prepaid (which I did as well) gets to leave. Probably 100 cars pass us while I'm not moving at all, all bc I stupidly got into whatever this lane is- must be the "I'm a dumb**** and didn't prepay" line, coupled with the "oh, I don't have any way to pay and this employee won't let me out" line. Me and the car in front of me are so tilted but there is literally nowhere to go. After what seems like an eternity, we are finally released.

Dinner is at Lakeside- much good food was had, including 4lbs of stone crab claws which are just ridiculously good. You actually can't order them from the Lakeside menu, but if you know who to ask they can get some from the steakhouse next door. Insert a bunch of deleted pics from dinner...

After dinner we put the kids to bed, and I fire a night time bullet. Yep, still icy. I am tilted and stuck 10k in basically 24hrs. I think at this point I decided to just stop taking pics- I assumed the trip would never turn around, and I'd have nothing good to tell you guys, so why ****ing bother? I deleted all the pics I'd taken for the TR, threw myself disgusted into bed, and tried to get some rest that just wouldn't come... this is going to be a long 2 (remaining) days...

To be continued...

The very worst part of that one is that he could have gotten the SF too. SMH

This is gonna get good....

Day 3

I wake up in standard fashion, grab some coffee and hit the machines again. They remain icy- I lost track of the number of dealt premium trips that blanked out. I believe I was dealt quad 6s at some point, which was good for a minimal hand pay and only added to the frustration- clearly I can get dealt quads (a tough proposition, I know), but OF COURSE they're not premium. I finish that session stuck yet again.

Everyone meets up in my parents' room for room service. Afterwards, my wife goes to the spa and I take the kids to the pool. It was enjoyable and nice to be able to be away from the machines for a bit; the gambler in me, of course, was unable to completely settle down and I had the thought in the back of my mind that I was missing jackpots. I know the reality is I likely saved myself some money.

We hit Red8 again for lunch- I'm down to my last bullet (2K) and figure it's now or never. If I don't play and save it to the last minute, I'll regret not having played regardless. If I lose now, same difference- I can't play anymore. If I win... well, then I'll be able to play more. No brainer. After lunch we put the kids down for a nap and the nanny watches them. My wife and I play some Walking Dead which I had set some money aside for. Scratch that- we ATTEMPT to play Walking Dead, but there are donks occupying the machines. You know the type- min bet every time and yet they hit every bonus in creation. So tilting. Anyways, Sons of Anarchy is directly across from Walking Dead and we like that show as well- we don't like the game as much as WD but it'll have to do.

We play for quite a while- it's never good and we lose a few hundred. WD never does end up opening up, so my wife goes upstairs to get some work done and I fire my last bullet.

Gone. Nothing. Busto.

I head back up to the room, utterly defeated. We're meeting for dinner at 7pm at the Japanese restaurant (Mizumi), we haven't been here 48 hrs and I'm busto. Honestly it has never been so cold for such a sustained period of time. On top of that my mom got ill so she can't join us for dinner. I decide I'm just going to make the best of it. We crush a huge comped meal and I make sure to order obscene quantities of the most expensive stuff on the menu (I believe I got 12 ounces of snow beef at about 500$) just to hit the Wynn back any way I can.

Later that night, I keep my dad company and watch him gamble. The machines abuse him as well and I think he loses 10K in about 2 hrs. Great.

Day 4

Room service breakfast with my parents, again. My mom desperately wants to get out of the casino for a bit, and get a break from taking care of my dad. She doesn't say as much, but I can tell. So we had planned on taking the kids to some kids' park, but I offer to stay with my dad and my mom can hang out with my kids/family. She jumps at the chance so I know I made the right decision.

The turnaround?

My dad goes to play 1$ triple double bonus, UX. The Wynn is interesting- they offer TDB only at 1$ for UX, EXCEPT in the high limit room where the smallest denom is 5$!!!! So either it's a little small for my dad, or way too big. I convinced him to play 1$ rather than 5$ credits bc if he hits a hand at TDB with any reasonable multiplier, it's still going to be a mid-4 figure to 5 figure score which he'll be plenty happy with. No need to go so big (5$ credits) and almost certainly go busto in 10 min.

We pump 2k into the machine over an hr or so- it's not bad, but we don't hit anything great. Then, on the last 100$ bill, he makes 4 2's w/kicker which puts us even again for the session. With renewed blood, we head to the high limit room and my dad plays Extra Draw Frenzy, 2$ credits, 10 lines (120$/push). For those who don't know, the gist of EDF is you bet an extra credit per line, then if you're dealt trips you get basically double the number of draws. So playing 3 lines, you'll get about 6 draws (it varies each time), and 10 lines you get 20+ draws.

Very early on, he gets trip 4s. They only offer DDB so aces, 2s, 3s, 4s still matter but less so. Anyways, with 25 draws 3 turn into quads, and a 4th turns into quads with a kicker! That's good for almost 5K right there. Things are looking up! He bleeds money back into the machine and I advise him to step down to 1$ credits. A few hands later, he hits this-



I have to admit, I got jealous but I'm super-happy for him. **** I run bad, and honestly he doesn't run that good, but of the two of us, I definitely need something like this more.

That's a 20k score right there. He changes machines- he wants to play spin poker, TDB. He starts to move to a machine that I know has a worse paytable (9/6) and I tell him to move to another one that is full pay. Third hand in, he gets dealt 3 aces. 4th one comes in twice, once with a kicker! So at 2$ that is about 9k! A few hands after that...

10h. Jh. Qh. Ah. RED KING... of diamonds!

Oh man. So close to the dealt big one. If that were the king of H, we're looking at 4000 x 9 x 2$ = 72k. ****. Anyways, obv we hold the good ones and draw...

Blank. Flush. And THERE IT IS, the third and last card in the corner- K of H!

So with spin poker, that completes THREE LINES. Three royals at 8k a pop- anyone would take that. Another 24k score.

We move machines again- now to the 25 play machine that dealt my dad 200K in May 2016. The VERY FIRST HAND, he gets dealt 3 aces... and the 4th comes in again. With a kicker. Another 8k.

That was honestly the sickest morning I've seen. Obv my dad is pumped and so am I. The few hours we played he ended up up 55K and they went by in a blink. Another awesome part is my dad gives me 2K, so I've got one more bullet in me. Time to stop for lunch and meet my family.

To be continued...