Been a while since I had any updates on this. But first, how to be a Professional Advantage Video Poker Player.
I've decided I don't want to be one. Maybe if I was retired and living in Vegas. But not for a week or two a few times a year.
http://www.royalflushervegas.com/2016/05/planning-1000-las-vegas-vacation-part-9.html
All excellent points. Especially:
There are other things besides the money it costs to play the game that are important to me.
That says it all. For over 99% of the gamblers out there (less those with a gambling addiction), it's recreational entertainment. What's the point if one is not enjoying the activity.
Why would I give up on a great positive play? Because it became work. It was stressing me out.
Also a great reason not to play.
In my case, this is, for now, my chosen retirement job. It is an activity I
really enjoy. It keeps me busy, keeps my mind active, gets me out of the house several times a week and ends up putting more money into my pocket than comes out. It beats the hell out of being a WalWort greeter. I don't chase every opportunity as aggressively as others I know because I don't need the money (I
like the extra money but I don't
need it.) and for exactly the same reason you gave. I won't sit at 9/6 Jacks for 10 hours grinding out an advantage. I leave that to others more deserving and needy than I.
I think for most, dare I use the word
, savvy gamblers, like many on these boards, the object of picking the best pay tables is to reduce the cost of their Vegas vacations as much as possible or to even eliminate the cost.
Well, I think it means that in the short term, anything can happen. In the long term, it does matter that you pick better paytables, to assure a better long term return.
But how long is the long term? As a vacation going to Vegas, I think it takes many years before I get to the mathematical long term.
I completely agree. It's the difference between gamblers hoping for luck and casinos not caring at all about it and waiting for the math to undo any good or back luck they may have against their customers.
Serious APs, myself included, are looking to make the casinos the customers and themselves, the casino. Hence the need for time on machine, sufficient bankroll and a consistent advantage against my "customers."
My take on all of this is that when a recreational gambler gets to the point where he or she lives for their gambling vacations, gambles multiple times a year for long periods of time and plans to continue for decades (like many regular posters on boards like these), then it becomes worthwhile to learn the best paying games and to try to stick to them as much as possible, but not to the point that they lose the entertainment value of the activity.
Even so, no one sees the difference between good and bad pay tables in a few dozen hours -- that's why casinos can get away with endlessly offering lousy paybacks to clueless customers -- but after twenty years of visiting Vegas multiple times a year, the difference in choices between person A, who only plays the best VP they can find at the better properties and person B, who plays whatever crap slot or VP the Strip is slinging that happens to be closest to the elevator or the bar, is going to be substantial.
