Video Poker Video Poker Bankroll

I'm beginning to enjoy VP more and more. I'm continuing to hone my VP skills and am planning to give VP more play on my next trip. ( I am a craps player)

If I gamble approximately 5 hrs. a day, how much would be a safe bankroll to have for:
Dollar VP?
50 cent VP?
25 cent VP?

I usually bring a thousand a day when I visit Vegas. Do you think this is enough for dollar VP?

Thanks, everyone!

 

Assuming 4-5 days of gambling, you're going to want to bring more than what a royal would pay out. Maybe double if you're playing machines with a poor payback percentage.

 

To give a more accurate estimate it would be good if you can estimate how many hands/hr you typically play. Also which game you like to play most. For example, $1000 will last a lot longer on JoB vs. DDB.

 

In addition to tringlomane's questions...what does "$1000/day" mean?

Does it mean that you will never lose more than $1000 in a day and won't ever carry over winnings (or money you don't lose) to subsequent gambling days?

Or does it mean that you bring $5000 for a five day trip and that $1000/day is just an average and you're willing to carry over a portion of winnings (or non-losses) to the following day(s)?

If it's the former, no more info is needed IMO...$1000/day is definitely not enough for dollar VP. If the latter, my GUESS is that you'll be okay at a dollar.

 

It also matters what game you are playing and what paytable. But I don't think $1000 is enough for 5 hours of 400 hand an hour dollar VP. Quarters almost for sure, 50 cents probably.

 

I play 9/6 & 9/5 DDB at the dollar level. It's very easy to go through a $1,000+ in a day. But, I do play for 10+ hours a day. If you are playing 9/6 JOB, $1,000 is probably fine. My problem is I get bored with JOB and like the bigger payouts on DDB.

 

I like to play DDB. I'll stick to quarters. Thanks!

 

Yes, I prefer DDB. I'll stick with Royal Flusher's advice and play quarters on DDB. Thanks!

 

I'm not sure if I'm ready to carry over what-ever left over from previous days bankroll to the next day, and am not quite brave enough to use next day's allotment if I happen to be on a down streak for the day.

I think I'll stick to quarters on DDB. Maybe the last couple of days I might get braver and not limit myself to a thousand a day. Depends how I do the first part of my trip.

Thanks for the help!

 

Your questions cannot be answered without you providing the following information:

1. Where do you expect to play and more importantly,
2. What machines are you considering?

VP 2.0 Free will list the best pay tables and denominations at each casino. Variance will greatly influence the required bankroll. A low variance game like 9/6 JOB (99.54%) has close to the same pay table as 9/6 Bonus Deluxe (99.64%). Your bankroll will typically last longer playing JOB due to the lower variance (mainly due to the fact you are paid 2 coins for 2 pair vs. 1 coin for 2 pair w/ Bonus Deluxe). You will win more over time playing perfect strategy Bonus Deluxe (you get near perfect strategy using JOB strategy for Bonus Deluxe), but you will face larger bankroll swings at the same time.

Since I am going to Vegas on relatively short trips, I value variance highly and I am most comfortable with the following three games, 9/6 JOB, 10/7 Double Bonus and Full Pay Deuces Wild (I bought strategy cards for each) plus other games with good pay tables using 9/6 JOB strategy.

Below is a list of games you can find in the three Vegas locations which I concentrate my play in Vegas:

Aces & Eights - Circus Circus ($0.50 100.21% w/ JOB Strategy)

Bonus Poker Deluxe (99.61% w/ JOB Strategy)
$1 Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, Fremont, Green Valley Ranch, Palace Station, Red Rock, Santa Fe, South Point, Sunset and Texas Station.
$0.25 - 1 line progressive Skyline Casino (at the Bar), 3 line @ South Point.

Double Bonus (100.17%)
$1 - Aliante Casino, Arizona Charlie's (On Decatur - Progressive!), Boulder Station, California, Fiesta Henderson, Green Valley Ranch, Main Street Station, Palace Station, Red Rock, Sante Fe, Sunset, Texas Station.
$0.25 - Four Queens (Progressive).

Full Pay Deuces Wild (100.76%)
$0.25 - Aliante Casino, Boulder Station, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, Green Valley Ranch, Red Rock, Sam's Town, Sante Fe, Sunset Station, Texas Station.

Jacks or Better 9/6 (99.54%) unless noted
$0.25 (90/9/6 100%) - Eastside Cannery
$0.25 (3-5 line Super Times Pay) - Gold Coast
$0.25 (1 line Progressive) - Sam's Town, Skyline (at the Bar!)
$1 (1 line Progressive) - Fiesta Rancho, Sam's Town (at the Bar!), Skyline.
$2 (3/5/10 play) - Bellagio
$1 (3/5/10 play) - Luxor (includes HL Bar!) & MGM Grand.
$0.25/$1 1 Play - Boulder Station, California, Ellis Island, Fiesta Henderson, Four Queens, Green Valley Ranch, Main Street Station (includes Boars Head Bar!), Palace Station, Rampart, Red Rock, Sam's Town, Sante Fe, Sunset, Texas Station.
$1/$2 - Gold Coast (includes Island Bar!), LVH, Palms, Rampart (10 line), Treasure Island.
$0.25 3/5 Play - Palms.
$0.25/$1 3 line play - Rainbow Club, South Point (also $2).

There are other denominations available for the above games - my list is based on my preferences. I can play anything from single line $0.25 to 3-5 line $1-$2. I prefer 3-5 line anything, mainly because I can decrease the variance. I don't like spin poker or coin play (prefer TITO) and results above exclude these options. Excalibur results are excluded because I prefer not to play there. $0.50 play is excluded besides Aces & Eights because I don't like $0.50 (rather play quarters or dollars).

As you can see, there are plenty of choices of quality poker on the Strip, Downtown, and throughout the Vegas valley. If you limit your play to 99.5% + pay tables, you will preserve your bankroll, earn decent comps, play longer and enjoy your vegas trips! Leave the 6/5 BJ and VP to the tourists. You are a VMB member and know better.

 

Unless you run into the day, or trip from hell, quarter DDB and a daily bankroll of $1,000 should be just fine.

 

Thanks! Yes, being a VMB member really helps, and I learned a lot here from all of you. The info you've posted is very helpful, I plan playing mostly Downtown and maybe at the Orleans. I'll be looking at the paytables before I play.

Thanks again for all the info!

 

VP Bankroll

Electroguy,

VP is our (wife and my) game of choice as well. We play at the 25 cent level, max coin ($1.25 per bet). Five hours a day would be about what we do. I looked all over awhile ago for bankroll info and found a bunch of stuff about "risk of ruin" but that wasn't any help regarding probability of various outcomes. I'm somewhat competent with statistics, so I compiled my own table using Monte Carlo simulation to analyze some of the common VP games. My assumption was $3200 of play, consisting of $300 in, 5 hours of play, and roughly 500 hands per hour.

The table is attached. Discussing it a bit, taking 9/6 JOB as an example, at our level of play a loss of $70 is the over/under for the five hour session. The risk of losing all $300 is only 4.3%. The likelihood of a profit is 29.1%. There's a 60% chance of losing at least $40, and a 13.8% chance of making $100 or more.

The volatility of some of the other games is apparent. At the extreme, 9/6 Dbl Dbl Bonus has a 41.6% chance of losing all $300 and a 26.6% chance of making more than $100. "Full pay" games meet their claimed payback percentages based on a very large number of hands (and of course perfect play). For instance, with only $300 in, 100.76% Dueces Wild has a 10.8% probability of busting and an over/under of $50 loss. But put $2500 in and play through $25,000 of hands and there is 0% probability of busting and an over/under of +$100.

This info has helped me select games and understand that it takes a lot to stand much chance of coming out ahead. I just try to drink my losses in floor drinks!

 

Better upload



Well, maybe not. Can't seem to get this to load as an attachment.

 

Yep, agree with this advice.

And a fine place to play that DDB is at the Four Queens bars, which have 9/6 plus a progressive on the quads.

 

ok need some help here.

I was at the Trop on the strip and the $5 JOB had the 9/6 so is that good to play with a $10k bankroll?

I'm going the first week in June and wanted something to take a break with from baccarat. I usually go to a $5 or $25 slot machine but that is getting old. Have been told that VP is the game with the better return.

Which is the best to learn to play JOB or DDB or Deuces Wild? I'll look for the ones with full pay odds from Wizards of Odds.

Thanks in advance

 

Thanks for the table, however I can't seem to make it bigger. But I get the gist of what you were trying to share. It looks like to have a chance to come out good at VP play, one must have the intestinal fortitude to lay it out on the line (with perfect play, and fingers crossed) !!

Gonna give it a try next trip!

 

Hi Electroguy

We are only quarter VP players and mostly play DDBP and TBP between 8/5 and 10/6 odds at CET properties. We have become pretty good players and play between 6-10 hours per day. On a loosing day ( by that I mean we did not cone out ahead) we lose on average 250 each. Most days we break even or close to it and some days we do really good. But it's been a really long time since we have done worst than that. Just keep practicing and you'll do really good.

 

Playing a similar amount to what you mentioned, 3-4 hours per day, which I consider "limited" video poker play compared to many of the focused video poker players, I feel safe with a daily bankroll equal to "half a royal".

So for dollar play (I play mixed bonus deluxe and DDB) I feel pretty good with $2,000. There are days where I'll lose that, but it would be a pretty bad day and it would take a while to lose that much.

 

Hi Bigcasino, thanks for sharing your experiences with .25 cent play. I'll keep practicing with the tutorials available on-line, so that I can maximize my play.