Top 10 Video Poker Mistakes - part two
Hi I'm Mike Shackleford and this is part two of the Top Ten Mistakes Made by Video Poker Players
#6 Over Tipping On Jackpots
By law, if you hit a jackpot of $1,200 or more you have to get a w-2 G form and the jackpot will be paid in cash. So, how much should you tip when this happens? Opinions on this very all over the place and I'm sure many people are going write in their comments below that they disagree with me no matter what I say but my personal opinion is that the range for tipping on jackpots should be 0.5% up to 2%. 2% for the smaller jackpots around 1,200 and 0.5% for say $10,000 or more. I think that's a good rule of thumb but just don't over tip. I mean, I've heard of people tipping up to 20%. That's absolutely ridiculous. The casino should be thanking you for playing, not you thanking the casino. So an argument could be made for not tipping at all because you're not asking to be hand paid. Nevertheless, I think it looks cheap and tipping is what it is so just don't over tip on jackpots.
#7 Not Paying Attention to Promotions
In many jurisdictions, casinos are very competitive with each other and are always offering promotions to try to get you to come in on certain days or for certain events. So no matter what game you play, make sure you use a player card so you can be rewarded for your play. And then come at those times when they are going to have some sort of a promotion running. Common examples are multiple point days. For example, two times points three times points or maybe if you play a certain amount on a particular day they'll give you a steak dinner or something. Or maybe they invite you to a tournament. No matter what game you play, it's always good to double dip, meaning play when you're getting some kind of a reward. And the play itself will help you get invited to come back.
#8 Leaving a Game in a High State
And what I mean by that, is some games reward you not just immediately, but they'll give you a multiplier on a future hand or they will add some money to some kind of a bank. Now, Ultimate X is the perfect example. In that game, when you hit a certain hands not only are you paid immediately, but you'll win a multiplier on the next hand. So, an absolutely terrible mistake would be to play, you get a nice hand, you collect your winnings, but then you don't collect your multiplier on the next hand. So what should you do in a game like Ultimate X? Keep playing it and only walk away from the machine when there is no multipliers on it. And you can also do the opposite. What some Advantage players do, they'll roam around the casino all day long looking for machines where players did abandon a multiplier on it. Just if you're going to play a game that offers multipliers or anything like that, only leave it the machine when it's in its lowest possible state.
#9 Leaving Credits on the Machine
Whether you play slots, video poker video, keno; always collect your money when you leave. Never forget to hit that cash out button and it can be easy to do if you just hit a nice win and you think to yourself, I'm gonna quit and run. You know before you do that, make sure you hit that cash out button and then cash out that ticket. Don't take it home with you and then let it expire.
#10 Playing Defective Machines
And in what ways can a machine be defective you might ask? A common problem in video poker is games that have sticky keys. That means that you press the button and it doesn't register that you want to hold that card. If so, if you play a game where the buttons are not functioning correctly all the time, always make sure that it registered that you want to keep all the cards that you indicated. Or better yet, just don't play that machine at all and switch to one that is functioning properly.
A place where you're likely to encounter a machine with sticky keys is at the bar, because people are sitting there drinking and smoking and eating at them and all those ashes and grease and beer can drip down onto the keys and it can cause the keys to either be sticky or perhaps even malfunction. So be especially aware of the problem of sticky keys on a bar top machine.
Another commonly seen malfunction is that the player card reader isn't reading the card right. So when you put your player card in, don't just assume that the Machine knows that you put it in. They often can be pretty sensitive and not read the card correctly. So always sit there and wait for it to say hi Steve before you start playing. And then it's a good idea to check on it periodically to make sure that it continues to read properly. It's happened to me multiple times where I put a machine a card in and it read just fine at the beginning, but sometime when I never even touched it, it lost the connection and it wasn't reading anymore. And I kept sitting there playing and I wasn't earning points for that play. So you always, always, always want to earn credit for your play in any kind of machine. So always make sure that that card reader is functioning properly.
So, that concludes the top 10 Mistakes Video Poker Players make. If you missed part one, please watch that and for a whole host of information about video poker, please see my website wizardofodds.com.