Ask The Wizard #392

Good question. Many properties got rid of them during the pandemic closure. Here is a list of those that survived. Please be advised many have limited days and hours of operation.

• Bellagio
• Caesars Palace
• Circus Circus
• Cosmopolitan
• Excalibur
• Main Street Station
• MGM Grand
• Palms
• Rampart
• South Point
• Westgate
• Wynn

This question is asked and discussed in my forum at Wizard of Vegas.

The return from the fixed pays in 8/5 Bonus Poker is 0.971776. Let's assume the player uses strategy for a royal that pays 800. The probability of a royal is thus 0.0000248551. Let j be the breakeven jackpot to have an immediate 100% return on the game. Then:

1 = 0.971776 + j × 0.0000248551
j = (1-0.971776)/0.0000248551 = 1135.56.

So, player A would need at jackpot of at least 1136 full 5-credit bets (rounding up) to play. Player A does not need to care about the meter rise.

Player B is in it for the long term. He will eventually get back whatever the 0.5% meter rise. His calculation is similar, except he values that meter rise. His breakeven value of j can be defined as:

1 = 0.971776 + 0.005 + j × 0.0000248551
j = (1-0.971776-0.005)/0.0000248551 = 934.39.

Rounding up, player B would need a jackpot of 935 full 5-credit bets.

This question is asked and discussed in my forum at Wizard of Vegas.

Here is a link to my solution (PDF).

Here is my solution (PDF).

Source of this question: Presh Talwalkar of the YouTube channel Mind Your Decisions.