Online Video Poker Machine

Rate of Slot Player

The reason these video poker machines paid out at the slot rate instead of the normal video poker rate is not completely known, though I think it had something to do with the fact that there used to be slot machines at these locations. When they switched to video Poker, someone neglected to convert the rate.
Whatever the reason, they were awarding points at the slot- player’s rate of one point per $5 coin-in, rather than the video poker rate of one point per $8 coin-in. The normal video poker player cashback rate was .39%, and now I was getting the slot- player rate of .625%. Better yet, the high-roller premium was also applied to the higher rate, taking it up to .875%. How much was this worth? We were getting .33% extra and we were putting about $30,000 per hour through these machines. So the error was worth an extra $100 per hour played.
As I’ve mentioned, up until September we were stuck for the year (including cashback), even though by then we’d logged more than 200 hours on the machines returning the extra $1 00-perhour cashback and several hundred hours on machines with the normal small advantage. Being stuck at this point was unlucky, but not unusually so. To play poker swings can be long and large, and I was experiencing one firsthand. Between February and September I’d lost more than $100,000, despite always playing machines where I had the advantage. Shirley was in full mumble mode. She’s a wonderful winner, but a lousy loser. You can’t make a living being even a little stuck for the year. Thanks to writing and teaching, I enjoy a larger non-gambling income than most full-time gamblers, though those things are time-consuming.

Cashback

We were also building our two additional “bank accounts”: the Holiday Gift Shoppe points and the American Airlines miles, which were being tacked on in addition to cashback. Holiday Gift Shoppe points accumulated all year long, but were cashable only in the week following Thanksgiving. American Airline miles were awarded at the rate of one mile per every two slot club points. Since both accounts were based on points, they also accumulated faster when you earned at the slot rate rather than the video poker rate. Considering the value of these accounts, we really weren’t stuck at all when we started our run. We were slightly ahead.
Part of the problem in 2000 was that we didn’t understand how much the Holiday Gift Shoppe points were worth. When we actually got to cash them, we found they were worth more than we thought. In 2001, we could better evaluate this promotion, so we devoted much more playing time in 2001 than we did in 2000.