1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Which VP? Downtown.

Discussion in 'Downtown Hotels' started by maineguy, Mar 7, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. maineguy

    maineguy Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2011
    Messages:
    151
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    I've never been a video poker player, but from what I have read here, I'm missing something. I want to try it. I've read here, that there is good VP at Boarshead, cal, 4 Queens, and EC to name a few. Exactly which "good" VP game would be the best to learn and practice (as far as good odds, availability, and ease of learning basic play)....and practice where?...wizard of odds? Thanks!!:nworthy:
     
  2. Scot

    Scot Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2013
    Messages:
    234
    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    The 4 Queens has 99.54% Jacks or Better at the nickel level. Jacks or Better is the best game to start with, and you can't beat 25 cents a hand.
     
  3. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,301
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Yeah, start with JoB and look for 9/6 full house/flush paytables. The next best games to learn to play downtown (which pay better, but are more tricky) would be 10/7 Double Bonus, and 25/16/10/4/4/3 Wild Royal/Quints/SF/Quads/Boat/Flush "Not So Ugly Ducks".

    Strategies can be found on the "Wizard of Odds":

    http://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/strategy/jacks-or-better/9-6/optimal/

    http://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/strategy/double-bonus/10-7/

    http://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/strategy/deuces-wild/not-so-ugly-ducks/

    And you can practice many poker games, and adjust the paytables as you like there as well.

    http://wizardofodds.com/play/video-poker/

    And he has a strategy calculator as well for any given paytable.
    http://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/strategy/calculator/
     
  4. atom

    atom High-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2008
    Messages:
    999
    Location:
    Taxachusetts
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    I recommend learning the strategy for 9/6 Jacks or Better first. If you print out a strategy card and use it while you play you will start to learn the strategy. The more you play with the card the less you need it to know the best play. You can practice before you go, either on the wizard of odds site above, or on a video poker simulator like winpoker or wizard video poker on a phone or tablet. You can also use your strategy card in the casino.

    9/6 Jacks or Better strategy is good enough for a return of over 99% over the long term (millions of hands averaged) when playing 9/6 Jacks, 8/5 bonus poker or 8/5 ACE$ Bonus Poker. All of these games can be found downtown, but you'll need to check the machine to make sure the paytable is a good one. Vpfree2.com has listings that will help you find the best machines.

    For a more in depth guide, see my article at http://LasVegasOffStrip.com/video-poker-strategy-five-lessons-to-win-more-or-lose-less-at-video-poker/
     
  5. Reston

    Reston VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2006
    Messages:
    2,011
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    108
    I second that!

    To the OP, in case missed the point that Scot is making, if you're going to play VP with a normal (large) payout for a royal flush, you'll want to play 5 coins. So a nickel machine is actually 25 cents a hand.

    If you want to play a quarter machine (or $1.25 per hand for 5 coins), the bar at MSS is hard to beat. Especially if you like beer.
     
  6. maineguy

    maineguy Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2011
    Messages:
    151
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    ohhh...I do like beer...THANKS for all the helpful info including the links and article... I am practicing....seems hard to beat the JOB, but plays for quite a while.
     
  7. atom

    atom High-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2008
    Messages:
    999
    Location:
    Taxachusetts
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    The Boar's Head bar in MSS is a great place to play and all the machines there offer 9/6 Jacks. They are multi-game machines, though, so you need to pick Jack or Better from the menu. I believe you will find some nickel 9/6 Jacks near the Keno in the Four Queens.
     
  8. Buddha

    Buddha VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2012
    Messages:
    1,470
    Location:
    Chicago 'burbs
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    60
    If you can learn the correct stategy for "Double Bonus", the best game is the quarter full-pay 10/7 Double Bonus machines (with a progessive Royal jackpot) at the Four Queens. There is a full row of machines along the right-side wall in front of Magnolia's diner. This game has a long-term EV over 100%.
     
  9. wulftrobe

    wulftrobe Tourist

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2012
    Messages:
    10
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    I was looking into printing of a nice "cheat card" for JOB. Where would there be something nice that I could print off and laminate? vpfree?

    thanks
     
  10. eksantirik

    eksantirik High-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2011
    Messages:
    843
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    19
    I used this as a trainer for video poker:

    http://www.freeslots.com/poker.htm

    If you select "trainer" on, it gives you the outcome of each different "hold" decision before you play. If you select "warn" on, then it warns you only if you played wrong, and hints you the correct way.

    Don't forget to adjust 2x pay to 1x pay as it won't reflect the real life scenario then :)

    It's the best VP trainer I've seen so far.
     
  11. maineguy

    maineguy Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2011
    Messages:
    151
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    Great trainer!! and now..............."I'm an excellent card player....there's definitely underwear on the highway" :confused2:
     
  12. atom

    atom High-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2008
    Messages:
    999
    Location:
    Taxachusetts
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    I haven't found any that were perfect, ready to print, but the Wizard of Odds site has the strategies and you can cut and paste them into a document to edit and print.
     
  13. maineguy

    maineguy Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2011
    Messages:
    151
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    So...if I was to go to Boarshead and bet 5 (1.25) per hand....what would be a fair stake?? I'm thinking you are going to tell me a c note.
     
  14. atom

    atom High-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2008
    Messages:
    999
    Location:
    Taxachusetts
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    That depends on how long you wish to play, how quick you play, and how lucky you are that session. You'll need to put in 20 to get the drinks flowing. I usually have per day budgets rather than per session, but I would say that a C note should keep you playing for quite a while, even if you don't get any big hits.
     
  15. Morpheus7272

    Morpheus7272 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    May 27, 2003
    Messages:
    414
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    34
    A Franklin is good *most* of the time. I've played quarters for 6 years, and there have only been a few times that a hundy has failed to last me an hour. It does happen though, and that's why I set my budget (loss limit) at $300 per day -- then I can play as long as I want.

    Dave
     
  16. jvferg72

    jvferg72 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 20, 2011
    Messages:
    128
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    18
    Downtown deuces at the El Cortez pays back 100.9% with perfect play. I like it because it pays $500 for 4 deuces and $1175 for the royal.

    It can be very swingy though. The strategy has you ditching wild royal draws like Ad Kd 2c xx and Ad Jd 2c xx in favor of just keeping the deuce so you hit those a lot less frequently than other deuces wild games. This causes your money to go quickly.
     
  17. maineguy

    maineguy Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2011
    Messages:
    151
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    excuse my ignorance....but are you talking about 5 quarters bet in quarter machine?
     
  18. atom

    atom High-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2008
    Messages:
    999
    Location:
    Taxachusetts
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    Sounds like, yes. Those payouts are based on max coin (5) at the quarter level. The downtown dueces has a nice long term EV, but it's a lot more volatile on the way to the long term. This means you will need a larger session bankroll (and overall bankroll) to help absorb the losses in between wins.
     
  19. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,301
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Yeah, in terms of swing "Downtown Deuces" is way more severe than 10/7 DB or 9/6 JoB. For "Downtown Deuces" I would probably be recommending $500 a day at least to cover the bad stretches. But if one dares to play the highest paying quarter game downtown here is the strategy:

    http://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/strategy/a-1-b-55-c-1-d-0-d-1-d-2-d-2-d-3-d-4-d-13-d-16-d-25-d-400-d-940/

    Fwiw, I play FPDW before this unless I have to play downtown.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.