Tag: video poker
View All TagsThe D Hotel / Video Poker / Bars / Long Bar / Vue Bar / Drinking / Downtown / Downtown Vegas / → All Tags
Drinking Around the D
By design the D casino is a contrast in styles. The main floor of the casino is set up to draw customers enjoying the festivities on Fremont Street. The loud music, go-go dancers and bright TVs of Long Bar do a great job of setting the tone for people looking to keep the party going. Meanwhile, upstairs is a much more subdued vintage casino. The music is more mellow and there's no table games. The contrast is pretty great because it's the best of both worlds.
On a recent visit to the D, we played video poker and had drinks at both the Long Bar and the Vue Bar. Not only is the atmosphere different at both, but so is the video poker and comp drink policy. While people that want to keep the party rolling will stay at Long Bar, video poker players and booze snobs will probably head upstairs to Vue Bar.
Gambling / Craps / Roulette / Video Poker / → All Tags
Digging Into The Math Behind Gambling
To really love gambling is to know that the casino has the games all tilted to their favor. A couple weeks back we looked at how much of an advantage the casino has in each game. Games with a low house advantage offer us the best chance to play longer and possibly win. We're in the casino for a good time, not a long time. Math isn't our friend but in order to find the better games we have to understand be aware of it. After all, the casinos are studying the math to take our money so why not be on the same page?
When you know the math behind casino games, gambling becomes more about playing a game than taking a gamble. At the end of the day, there may be good runs and bad runs but based on the house advantage the casino should win money in every game. Let's look at some of the terms behind the math that explains how we win or lose our favorite casino games.
Gambling / Venetian / Palazzo / Station Casinos / Video Poker / WMS Gaming / Winning Streak Poker / → All Tags
Winning Streak Poker Is A Nice Change Of Pace
We tend to stick with the basic video poker games that have been around for a while, but every now and again something new hits the floor that peaks our interest. That recently happened when we finally decided to give Winning Streak Poker by WMS Gaming a shot. It has all the bright lights we love in a slot machine with the basics of playing video poker and looks like a nice compromise.
One of the best things about video poker is its simplicity. Traditional video poker games are one line where you'll use a little strategy to get the best hand. Multi-line games are similar as you're dealing with moves based on cards for one hand. Multiplier machines take the basic games and add random multipliers to the hand(s). Winning Streak Poker takes the basic game and amps it up a notch.
Video Poker / Royal Flush / Gambling / → All Tags
The Fascinating Probability Of Getting A Royal Flush
Ahhhh….The Royal Flush. Everyone that plays video poker wants it, but it's the most difficult hand to get.
The Royal Flush is also the hand that pays the most money -- by a lot. While every hand increases incrementally when you increase your play, the Royal Flush quadruples when you play max credits. The possibility of getting a Royal Flush is what makes video poker returns so good and it's why people chase it like Moby Dick chased the white whale.
One of the fun things about playing video poker is that there is an explanation for everything, whether we understand the math or not. The odds and probability of getting a Royal Flush are fascinating.
Gambling / Slot Machines / Video Poker / Vegas Observations / Which Would You Rather / → All Tags
Which Do You Rather: Slant Top or Upright?
Who ya got -- Slant Top video poker and slot machines or Upright?
This battle can be seen on casino floors throughout Las Vegas, but everyone has different opinions on which type of games they play. If casinos choose their video poker and slot machines based on player preference, we think we know who wins this battle but we really have no preference. Let's look at each type of machine.
Slant Top
A slant top machine is generally lower to the ground with seating that's at normal chair height. The display is below eye level and slanted between flat (like a bar top) and horizontal (like an upright) display. Drinks are placed on the console so you can easily alternate between drinking and hitting buttons. Since the games are below eye level, it's easy to see your surroundings.
Station Casinos / Red Rock Resort / Video Poker / Gambling / → All Tags
Station Casinos Downgrades Some Of Their Best Video Poker
The headline in Vegas Inc. is strong, "Station Casinos eliminates many of its highest-paying video poker machines." But, it's really just a spin-off of a press release by WMS Gaming on their new video poker games called My Poker Machines. The machines are pretty cool. They allow you to design the look and feel for each game to your specifications. But we digress, back to the headline.
Station Casinos has removed some of the best paying video poker machines for these new bright and shiny games. But, they haven't removed them all. Some of the 100%+ returning games, however, are gone.
Video Poker / Gambling / Vegas Observations / → All Tags
How Do You Like It? Slow, Medium or Fast?
Casinos are slick when it comes to video poker. Some video poker machines will have a button where you can choose your own speed of play while other machines don't. We've found that many of the video poker games with better pay tables (9/6 Jacks or Better, for example) at lower limits (.25 cents) won't have the option to choose speeds and you have to play fast. The games with the worst pay tables will let you choose your pace and this, unfortunately, makes sense.
The casino house edge on better pay tables is less than 1% so, at smaller limits, they want us to play quicker so they can make room for the next gambler and more money. At the same time, casinos are okay with us taking our time on the 6/5 Bonus Poker game with a house edge greater than 3%. With triple the house edge (and profit margin), casinos feel more comfortable letting us go with the slower pace.
Video Poker / Gambling / Survival Strategies / → All Tags
Where To Find The Best Video Poker In Las Vegas
We're always looking for the best gambling options at the casino and lately we've been in the mood to play video poker.
This writer's favorite video poker game is 9/6 Jacks or Better where a Full House is paid 9 and a Flush is paid 6 on a win. This game pays back 99.54 percent of what's put into the machine. It's the easiest game to learn to play with perfect (or play close to perfect) strategy. We're not the smartest beer in the six pack so we're always in search of this game. The alternative game we like to play is 8/5 Bonus Poker. Good paying Bonus Poker seems to be more available than Jacks or Better in Las Vegas so we often end up playing some variation of that game.
While not perfect, vpFREE is a great resource in finding what the best video poker games are at each casino and where. Our recent research found the following to be the best video poker on The Strip for games under $5:
Vegas Dilemmas / Gambling / Suncoast / Penny Slots / Video Poker / Promotions / → All Tags
What Are We Gonna Do With All This Funny Money?
We were sitting at a video poker machine while sipping on a beer at Suncoast when we were tapped on the shoulder by someone resembling a security guard. "Uh, oh." As it turns out, Suncoast staff just had similar colored shirts to security. They were merely getting our attention for a promotion where they chose people to receive random amounts of slot dollars as a prize. BOOM! We won $150 in machine play! The only caveat was that the money had to be used by midnight or it would go away. Yay! Now what?
This trip to the casino was designed to last a couple beers which would take about an hour or so. Now, we were flummoxed. What to do with this newfound play money? The money would turn into real cash if we'd won anything but, for the time being, it was just funny money. There were way more options to spend the money then we were prepared for.
Downtown / Downtown Vegas / Las Vegas Club / Plaza / The D Hotel / Four Queens / Fremont Street / El Cortez / Gambling / Video Poker / Slots / → All Tags
How To Get Something For Nothing In Downtown Vegas
We would like to welcome our brand new VegasChatter contributer, Nick Holliday. A recent transplant from Chicago, Nick is firmly settled on the east side of Las Vegas. Nick spends most of his time and dollars as far from The Strip as he can since he works there all day. That means you can expect coverage of both off Strip and downtown finds. Nick loves punk rock, craft beer, decent whiskey, casinos, dive bars, and being comped which is fitting because, for his first post, he shows us how to turn nothing into something at the casinos of downtown Vegas.
There are so many possibilities when it comes to how a Vegas vacation will turn out. Maybe you win big and take some of the casinos’ cash with you. Maybe you “break even.” Like the majority of thrillseekers, you will probably party and gamble nonstop until your vacation bankroll is spent. There is always something going on in this town, so what’s a visitor with hardly any cash in their pocket do when they want to have a little fun in Las Vegas?
Fremont Street offers a ton of opportunity for the average small-time gambler. The great promotions, cheap food, and cheesy neon reminds us of a Las Vegas that we have only read about. Where the Strip is full of luxury resorts and high-end shopping malls, Fremont is all about the gambler. That sits right with this low roller.
Strip Clubs / Video Poker / Gambling / → All Tags
When Your Royal Flush Comes With A Royal Flash
Gambling in Las Vegas isn't confined to your favorite casino. You can play video poker just about anywhere. It's kind of surreal the first time you walk into a gas station and see a line of people playing video poker.
At first, it seems cool, but then you wonder if these people just cashed their check at the gas station (because you can do that, too) and went straight to the video poker machine. At that point, a feeling of sadness creeps in as you see them jump for joy when they get a royal flush. At least that's how it was for this writer.
We're not too proud to admit that we enjoy the occasional trip to a strip club. Recently, we found it interesting that there are only two strip clubs in tourist areas of Las Vegas that offer video poker and naked ladies.
The Plaza / Video Poker / Low Rolling / Gambling / → All Tags
Lose A Hundred, Get It Back At The Plaza (Asterisk)
The Plaza is bringing one of our favorite gambling promotions on The Strip to downtown. The hotel-casino is offering a $100 rebate for $100 in gaming losses at the machines. Last year, the Tropicana and The Cosmopolitan offered this promotion and many of us took them up on the opportunity. This offer is even better for the player than those Strip promotions.
Generally, your gambling dollar stretches farther downtown because there are usually better odds than offered at most Strip casinos. Well, that's the case with this promotion. According to vpFREE, there are numerous video poker selections available with at least 99% payback at The Plaza. These games are available in denominations as low as a quarter which allows you to play $1.25 per game. This should allow you to endure any cold streaks a machine may hit to extend your playing time.
