Dear
Mark: I read one of your columns online where you
wrote; "speed kills in a casino environment."
You were talking about the differences in blackjack
between a dealer hand shuffling and machines that
shuffle the cards. Here is where my question comes
in. I play a decent game of quarter video poker at
a pretty good clip whereas my wife plays quarter slots
at a leisurely pace. Although I'm playing faster,
at a game with a lower house edge, does my speed offset
that lower house edge compared to my wife, who thinks
she is actually playing smarter by playing quarter
slots, at a much slower pace? We argue over this every
time we play together. Frank R.
Yes,
Frank, speed kills in a casino, the zinger fact being:
the more hands or handle yanks either of you play
per hour, the more your gambling funds are subjected
to the razor-sharp edge of the house knife. With the
limited information in your question, Frank, I'll
have to make a few assumptions, like how fast is a
good clip and how good is decent? The fast-fingered
can be clocked at 750-800 hands an hour at video poker.
But for argument's sake, I'll assume that you employ
basic strategy and play at a pace of 500 hands/hour.
Also, without knowing which quarter machines your
wife enjoys or her pace, I am going to figure her
play at six spins a minute on a three-coin machine.
You first, Frank .
With canny machine selection and some video poker
prowess, you can reduce the house edge to one
half of one percent. So, risking the maximum coin
amount on a quarter machine of $1.25, at a steady
pace of 500 hands per hour, you will put into
play $625 during those 60 minutes, creating an
hourly loss of approximately $3.
Pretty sweet, Frank, but the minuscule 0.5% casino
advantage includes the likelihood of your hitting
a royal flush. If you don't, the house edge would
be considerably higher. Even with your keen eye
identifying machines with a decent payback and
employing perfect play, the house edge without
hitting a royal flush on a quarter Jacks-or-better
9/6 machine is 2.5%. So, Frank, while you hanker
for that royal, expect an hourly loss of $15 and
change
.
Now let's figure your wife's play.
Characteristically, a player pushes a button once
every ten seconds. On a 3-coin quarter machine,
wagering 75 cents per spin, that's $4.50 per minute,
or $270 per hour. Since the average quarter machine
returns approximately 92% to the player, over
the long run, your wife will lose around $22 for
every hour of play. So, Frank, minus a jackpot,
and neither of you playing Speedy-Gonzales-fast,
a four-hour session is going to cost you $60,
your wife, $88.
Now you could sweet-talk her into playing video
poker instead, but there is the fun factor of
playing slots for her, and possibly the lack of
desire to educate herself on video poker basic
strategy. Therefore, it's an argument you could
win mathematically, but only you will know if
you win or lose elsewhere in the household, if
you know what I mean.
.
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