Atlantic City Casinos Blog

   At first, the news seemed great. At a time when many casinos are reducing their full-pay video-poker inventory, the Taj Mahal put in a bank of multi-denomination machines with 9/6 Jacks or Better and 8/5 Bonus Poker. A friend and I went to check them out, looked at the paytables, and there they were.

   We were playing for a bit, and then I hit a 4-of-a-kind playing Bonus Poker. My friend looked at the screen, and saw I got only 100 credits for the score, not the usual 125. I double-checked the top of the paytable, and sure enough, you got only 100 credits for 4-of-a-kind instead of 125, with a bonus for queens, kings and aces. Oops! I switched back to Jacks or Better, played along a while, and then saw that a 5-coin royal flush pays only 2,500 coins instead of 4,000. So if you’re lucky enought to hit the royal, you get ripped off.

   No, thank you. I decided to cut my losses, cash out and head to the real full-play machines next door.

   More of these puppies may be popping up in Atlantic City, so keep your eyes open. The Taj Mahal banked on players checking only the bottom part of the pay table before we put in our money, because that’s where most short-pay games short the player. My friend and I fell for the ruse and forgot to carefully check the top half of the paytable as well.

   So before you play a new video-poker machine - or even an old favorite - be sure check out the entire paytable before you push the “deal” button.

If you’re a video-poker player or looking to learn the game, here’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss.

Gambling writer Bob Dancer is having a meet-and-greet Saturday, July 11 in the Ego Lounge at the Trump Taj Mahal. It will take place from 2 to 4 p.m., and admission is free.

As a bonus, the first 100 people to sign up will get a free and autographed copy of Dancer’s book, “Video Poker for the Intelligent Beginner.”

Here’s your chance to get the book, meet Dancer and ask him your questions about video poker.

For those not in the know, Dancer is one of the most prominent writers and teachers of how to play skilled video poker and get the most bang for your gambling buck. If you have any interest in the game, you don’t want to miss this one.

The New Jersey Lottery’s Pick-6 jackpot is up to $20 million. So I decided to take part of my lunch hour to walk a half-mile or so to the store, get some exercise on a nice spring day and buy a ticket.

OK, I know the lottery isn’t the best bet. But with the jackpot at $20 million and the odds against hitting it about 9 million-to-1, I figured it’s a fair bet, even though the odds against hitting are astronomical. Besides, I get some enjoyment daydreaming about what I’d do with that kind of money. Throw my own farewell party for the job and not invite the bosses, switch from quarter to dollar video poker and get treated like royalty, help out some worthy causes. But I digress.

I went into the store, and the man in front of me in line was steaming up the lottery machine big time. He handed the clerk a big stack of old tickets to duplicate, and a couple of cards with his Pick 6 numbers on them. All told, he spent $89 on lottery tickets.

I exchanged glances with the man in line behind me.

“Oh well,” he said. “You can go to the casinos and lose $500 in one night, so why not do this?”

I said that New Jersey law requires the slot machines in Atlantic City to pay back 83 percent of the money wagered, and most pay about 90 percent. On the other hand, the lottery keeps a full 50 percent of its bets. I didn’t even get into the fact that a skilled blackjack or video-poker player can cut the house advantage to half a percent.

“Oh, you know all the numbers,” he said.

I bought my one ticket, picked up my lunch at another shop, and headed back to work.

On the walk back, I started thinking. This man in front of me must spend $89 on lottery tickets more than once a week. If he took that money to the casinos, he could play penny slots at 20-25 cents a spin and get several hours of entertainment out of it. On top of that, he would get all the free drinks he wanted. If he used a slot-club card, he might get a comped lunch out of the deal, and would certainly start getting offers in the mail. But he preferred to play the lottery.

But then, the same is true for casino patrons who play 6/5 Jacks or Better when there are 9/6 machines a few rows down. Or people who play blackjack games that pay 6-to-5 for a natural, when others pay 3-to-2.

At a seminar he gave a few years ago at the Borgata, Bob Dancer said it helps to be a math geek to be a winning video-poker player. I can see why. You don’t have to be a geek, but you do have to understand basic probability theory if you don’t want to get fleeced.

Fortunately for the casino industry and the state lottery, most Americans are math challenged. Otherwise, they’d never make money.

Now bone up on probability theory and don’t be one of their victims.

One thing I did New Year’s Day was to close out my 2008 gambling spreadsheet. I didn’t like what I saw.

I won’t go into the nitty-gritty details, but I had an unlucky year, playing mostly full-pay video poker in Atlantic City. But what hurt more was that my cashback and bounce-back cash went WAY down from previous years. My 2008 cashback and bounce-back money was was about one-third that for 2006. Not good at all.

So my 2009 resolution is to be a lot more particular about the promotions that will lure me into Atlantic City. I live a 15-minute drive from the casinos, and could find a promotion every day of the week if I didn’t have pesky things like a job, other hobbies and friends.

But this year, I will be a lot pickier before I jump in the car and head to the gaming halls. How much money are they offering me to walk in the door? Do I really want the gift they’re offering, or will I end up giving it to the Salvation Army? What is their cashback and comp rate? Do I really like the free food? Then I’ll decide if it’s worth the trip, or if I’m better off staying home.

I was playing a 9/6 Jacks or Better slant top at the Borgata one night last week. The casino was rather empty, as is typical of December in Atlantic City. Two women, apparently mother and daughter, took a machine near me, checked that it was indeed 9/6 Jacks, and started to play. They didn’t notice that that particular machine shorted the 5-coin straight flush by 11 coins, paying 239 instead of the standard 250. Two full-pay machines near them were unoccupied.

They didn’t know strategy either. The daughter played and the mother coached. “You want to hold the Jack, King and Ace,” the mom said. “That way you have a chance to match any one of them for a high pair.” Daughter followed directions. As any semi-competent video-poker player knows, the correct play is to hold the Jack and King alone. A few moments later, the daughter got Jack, Queen, King and Deuce of Hearts along with another card. Mom advised her to go for the flush as it was “better odds.” Wrong again. The proper play is to go for the royal.