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Two or three times a week, Linda Baker drops by the Bowl Inn in her central Illinois hometown, hoping to strike it rich by plunking pennies and nickels into new video gaming machines.
Baker, the disabled Jacksonville woman in her 60s, has been lucky, figuring she’s $75 to $100 ahead. Exactly how cash-strapped Illinois’ fortunes shake out with the state’s long-awaited gambling expansion remain to be seen, though the first numbers appear to illustrate the wagering option’s popularity — at least for now.
A new Illinois Gaming Board report this week shows video gambling statewide brought in more than $346,000 last month, which is when the bulk of the machines went live. That’s more than three years after lawmakers approved them to help fund a $31 billion push to fix schools, roads and bridges, despite strong opposition from gambling critics.
October’s take came from nearly $18 million in wagers at 714 machines, placed in everywhere from truck stops to bowling alleys to veterans’ halls. Local governments received nearly $70,000, according to the report.
State officials have had high revenue hopes for the new gaming, estimating when lawmakers first signed off on broadened gambling in 2009 that the machines — in addition to existing casinos and horse tracks — would raise $375 million a year. Updated projections haven’t been released, and a message Tuesday with the state’s gaming regulators wasn’t returned.
As officials estimate that up to 75,000 machines could be installed statewide within a year, businesses such as Jacksonville’s 60-year-old Bowl Inn appear to be welcoming the draw.
“They’re performing real good,” said David White, who manages the 12-lane bowling alley where five video gaming terminals were installed a month and a half ago. “I’m seeing people come in here that I haven’t had here before.”
His establishment’s machines drew $484,000 in bets, the report showed, with the state getting some $7,200 and the municipality more than $1,400.
But what happens to that demand as the novelty of video gaming ebbs and more machines are fired up isn’t clear.
“It’s been pretty much an unknown, and it’s still an unknown,” shrugged White, who has tried to maintain his customers’ interest by treating video-gaming players like they were at casinos, “making sure they have everything they need — like tea, coffee and water” — all on the house.
Baker relishes that, no longer having to make a 90-minute drive to St. Louis to find the nearest casino.
“I can stay here in town and play them now,” putting in $5 worth of coins at a time, she said. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve won more than I’ve paid in. And if a machine’s not playing very good, I just move to another.”
In the Mississippi River city of Alton, Ill., Terry Strader’s Riverbend Billiards may have a disadvantage in offering video gaming. Tucked squarely in the St. Louis-area casino market, Alton long has had a riverboat casino — the Alton Belle — virtually in the pool hall’s backyard.
Yet the business’ five machines still drew $205,000 in activity last month.
“We’re pleased with the way it’s been going, but we have no idea what to expect. It’s just too early to tell,” said Strader. He believes part of video gambling’s allure at his pool hall is that players don’t have to do it at the local casino, where they might have to deal with crowds and park far away.
“No one knows where it’s going — if (demand now) is high or low. With anything new, you don’t know in what part of the spectrum you’ll be when the dust settles.

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I always want to play the games at a casino that offer the best returns but there are times when that’s not the case.
Casinos are often built in clusters so when you’re in the mood to visit, there is often a variety to choose from in the immediate area. That’s great because there’s not one perfect casino anywhere. Some casinos may have a great selection of restaurants, bars, activities or gambling but few have everything. Some of the best dining at a casino may come with the worst gambling returns in the area.
If you’re a destination traveler, meaning you prefer to do everything at one property rather than move around, then you may have to forgo the best meal or gambling returns in a given evening.
Sometimes the goal for visiting a certain casino may be more to have a great dinner than it is to gamble with the best returns. Does it make sense to get up and head over to a new casino? It depends.
The quest for knowing where to find the best returns for your gambling dollar is always a smart search, but depending on your bankroll it may be a poor use of time and/or money. Let me explain.
In Las Vegas you may be a slot machine player looking to splurge on a fabulous steak dinner somewhere on the Las Vegas Strip. The smart gambler knows the best paying slot machines are located off the Strip.
Now what? If the player has a $100 bankroll for the night (outside of the steak dinner) it may behoove them to stay and play on the Strip at the casino where they are having dinner. Generally, slot machine returns off the Strip will be about 3% to 5% better. In the case of the $100 bankroll there is about a $3 to $5 difference.
If you have a car and drive to another casino you’ll spend a few minutes travelling and a dollar or two for gas, valet, etc. This will eat into that, theoretical, $3 to $5 advantage gained by playing the better machine. If you are sharing a cab with some friends you’ll probably eat away all of the advantage you’re gaining from playing the off-Strip slot machine with the better return.
When all is said and done, making the trip to play the slot machine with the better return is negligible at best for the low roller. The case is different if you’re playing with a bankroll of several hundred or thousands of dollars. That is where the small percentage of returns can really be felt.
All of this is not to say you shouldn’t know where to find the best games. However, it’s not always the best idea to play only the games with the best returns. It may not matter financially, depending on the reason for your trip to a casino and goals for the night.

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This week, I received a question from a reader who wanted to know how high a progressive jackpot must go before playing a suited Ace-10 over a single Ace in Jacks or Better. It is such a simple question, yet it helps to illustrate so many critical points in learning how to play Expert Strategy for video poker.
The first point is for a basic Jacks or Better machine, a suited Ace-10 is not playable. While a 2-card Royal is hardly the most powerful hand, it is a fairly frequently occurring one. When a player has 3 High Cards, with 2 of them of the same suit, he discards the third High Card and plays the two suited ones.
While hitting the Royal is very rare, the hefty payout of 800 makes it worth dropping the third High Card. The one exception to this is the suited Ace-10. Because the 10 is not a High Card and hitting a Straight from a 2-Card Triple Inside Straight is so rare, holding the single Ace actually produces a slightly higher expected value.
In a full-pay Jacks or Better, the difference is quite minimal. The single Ace has an expected value of 0.4640 while the suited A-10 has an expected value of 0.4606.
If we move this to a Progressive at initial reset, then the Royal is still at 800, but the Full House goes down to 8 and the Flush to 5. This makes the expected value of the single A equal to 0.4606. The suited Ace-10 has an expected value of 0.4493.
The gap has widened a bit but, as the Progressive meter increases, only the suited Ace-10 will benefit. Yes, it is possible to draw a Royal from a single Ace, but not if you’ve discarded the 10 of the same suit. So, if you hold both the Ace and 10, you have one chance in 16,215 of getting the Royal Flush. At 800 units, the Royal will contribute nearly 0.05 of the 0.4493 expected value.
As the meter goes up, the expected value of the suited Ace-10 will increase as well. At 900 units it will be 0.4555. Much closer to the single Ace, but still below it. At 1,000 units, it will be 0.4617 which now makes it the play of choice.
In fact, at 983 is where the expected value of the suited Ace-10 exceeds that of the single Ace. So, on a quarter machine, the meter would have to hit $1,228.75 to make it worth going for the Royal.
This number is not actually an exact amount, but a close approximation. The expected value of these hands is not absolute, as it depends slightly on the other 3 cards. I would say it is fair enough to use that amount mentioned as a good place to change your strategy.
This brings to light the second critical point. Strategy changes as the pay table changes. It does not matter if it is the Royal Flush or the Flush that changes its payout. Every change in the pay table makes changes to the expected values of numerous hands which can cause a shift in the order of the strategy table. This shift can impact how we play hands.
These changes in expected value will not usually be very big. As you can see in the example above, we start with two hands whose expected values differ by only about 0.01. But, as the Royal goes from 800 to about 1000 units, the expected value of the suited A-10 moves up by a mere 0.01+ which is just enough to push it to be higher than that of the single Ace.
Frequently, a payout change will make a difference to many hands so the impact may be even smaller. But, in this case, the change to the Royal payout impacts only 1 of the 2 possible ways to play the hand.
It should be no surprise changes in payouts to Two Pair, Trips, Full House and Quads will most heavily impact a hand like a Low Pair, where as a change in payout to a Straight or Flush will impact non-Pair hands such as partial Straights and Flushes.
This is why we see so many changes in the strategy as we move to Bonus Poker and further into Double Double Bonus Poker. In that case, the huge payout for Aces can make us even discard a Two Pair (Aces + something else) in order to retain a chance to get Quad Aces.
The overall lesson is that you can’t assume that the strategy for one pay table will inherently carry over to another. While you may not destroy your bankroll by playing Jacks or Better strategy on a Progressive (not matter the size of the jackpot), you will still be reducing your real payback below that of the theoretical one, which is not something I recommend.

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One of the most frustrating parts of playing Double Double Bonus Poker is getting paid only 1 on a Two Pair.
Anyone who has played this game has gone through a session where the seemingly get an overabundance of Two Pairs which doesn’t do much to increase your bankroll. Inevitably, this leads you to wish you were playing a version of video poker that pays 2 for the Two Pair.
When you play Two Pair on a Double Double game, you have two possible outcomes. You either wind up with the Full House or you don’t. One leads to a nice-sized win and the other is just a push. Yes, it might feel like you won a unit when you get paid 1, but the reality is that it is just a push.
This means when you play Jacks or Better, roughly half of your wins are really nothing more than a push. In Double Double, this percent skyrockets to nearly 75% of all wins are just pushes. This is what makes the volatility of Double Double so high.
So, with a 4 in 47 chance of hitting a Full House and the remainder resulting in a push, it becomes very tempting to consider breaking up the Two Pair and play only a single Pair, hoping to land the big fish - a Quad or maybe even catching Quads with a kicker for a super payout. In the meantime, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to catch some Trips, re-catch Two Pair or even the occasional Full House.
Let’s take a closer look at this potential strategy. Because not all Pairs and Quads are created equal, we need to break down the Two Pairs by the type of pairs it consists of. The first possibility is that you have two Low Pairs. The problem with keeping only one of these pairs is that you are throwing away a guaranteed winner.
If both pairs are between 5’s and 10’s, then you’re not even chasing any of the big Quads. You’d be throwing away a hand with an expected value of 1.7 and keeping one with an expected value of just over 0.7. This would not be a good move.
What if one of the Pairs is 2’s - 4’s while the other is 5’s - 10’s? Well, the situation is a little better because at least you’ll be chasing a Four of a Kind that can pay off big. The problem is that hitting the Quads is still a relatively rare event and you’ll still be throwing away a sure winner.
The Pair of 2’s - 4’s has an expected value of about 0.9, which is still well below the 1.7 of the Two Pair. Again, it’s a bad deal to throw away one of the pairs.
The next possibility is that you have two High Pairs (but not Aces). In this case you would not be throwing away a sure winner. The bad news is that neither of the pairs is one of the Bonus Quads. As a result, the High Pair has an expected value of about 1.4. This is getting closer to the Two Pair’s 1.7, but still not quite there. Keep the Two Pair.
Next up is a High Pair (not Aces) and a Low Pair. Based on what is already presented, it should be fairly obvious that the right play continues to be to play the Two Pair. Clearly, no High Pair or Low Pair is worth throwing a Two Pair.
That brings us to a Pair of Aces. Again, there are three possibilities. We can have a Pair of Aces with another High Pair, with a Low Pair (5’s - 10’s) or a Low Pair (2’s - 4’s). When we look at the details, we find that there is essentially no difference between the situations where the other pair is 5’s - 10’s or another High Pair.
None of the other cards that would be discarded could be used as a kicker and in any case it leaves you with a Pair of Aces. If the other pair is 2’s - 4’s then at least two cards that you’d love to have as a kicker in case you pick up the other two Aces will have been discarded.
In the end, however, we find that the extra payout for any Quad Aces is enough to tip the scale in favor of playing the Pair of Aces in any of these cases. A Pair of Aces has an expected value of 1.9 which tops the 1.7 of the Two Pair.
Two Pair is a relatively frequent hand in video poker. Proper play is essential in any version. Double Double is one of the few versions where the proper play can get more complex!

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Happy New Year! May 2013 be your best ever and take home some giant jackpots along the way!
Will you keep it or risk it? During January, Rampart Casino drawing winners will have to decide if they’ll pocket the guaranteed $400 cash or trade it away for a shot at up to $10,000 cash. It’s all part of the $50,000 Keep It or Risk It promotion with drawings Saturday nights at 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. 30 winners will be drawn every weekend. Earn entries by playing your favorite video reels and video poker games in the casino, and earn double entries every Monday through Thursday. Swipe your player’s card at a kiosk to redeem and activate your entries. Visit the Resort Rewards Club for complete details.
At South Point, earn 1500 points on reel machines or 3500 on video poker machines during the month and get a free South Point logo jacket---and you keep the earned points. Take as long as you like to earn the points over the course of the month but jackets are limited to one per guest while supplies last. Plus, every Saturday, Sunday and Monday in January, earn 500 points on any penny machines to play “Spin 2 Win” and win up to $10,000 points. See details at the club booth.
Silverton Rewards Club members can play and earn entries for the “$95 K Win Free Slot Play for a Year” promotion running in January. Players will be entered to win free slot play for an entire year on Fridays in January. For every 50 points earned players will gain one entry, up to 150 entries max entries each day. Earn double entries on Wednesdays and Thursdays. 15 winners will be called at 8 p.m. at the aquarium each Friday. Guests will have three minutes to claim their prize. Winners are awarded as follows:
1st place - $1,000 Free Slot Play each month for one year
2nd place - $500 Free Slot Play each month for one year
3rd place - $250 Free Slot Play each month for one year
4th – 5th place - $500 cash each
6th – 10th place - $250 cash each
Enjoy $5 buffets every Wednesdays in January at Arizona Charlie’s Decatur and Boulder. Simply show your ace | PLAY card and receive a lunch or dinner buffet for only $5. Hours for lunch are 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and dinner is 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Also, from January 7 through January 13 for every 2,000 base slot points earned receive a free sweatshirt. Simply print a voucher from the kiosk after earning 2,000 points and redeem for your sweatshirt at the ace | PLAY Center. There is a limit five free sweatshirts per person, while supplies last. This is a “Points Free Premium” which means you keep your points too. Point multipliers are excluded. Visit the ace | PLAY Center for more information.
Until next week…good gaming and good luck!

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One of the reasons that people play slots is the very large paybacks that some of them offer. It is not uncommon for a slot machine to offer 10,000 or 100,000 or sometimes even millions in a single spin of the reels.
The fact that the odds of hitting the exact combination required could be hundreds of millions to one does not factor in much to the decision making process. This has always been the theory behind the Lotteries played in many states. The higher the single win potential, the lower the payback the player is willing to accept.
As long as the outcome has the most remote chance to forever change one’s life, the player throws the concept of Expected Value right out the window.
On a slightly lower level, this can explain why some players will trade in some amount of overall payback for the opportunity to hit a Royal Flush in video poker. The Royal offers a nice payback of 4,000 at max-coin, but this is not exactly life altering. But, it does make a good photo-op and some good story telling.
If you follow expert strategy for a Jacks or Better machine, you’ll be rewarded with a Royal about once in every 40,400 hands. The key phrase is if you follow Expert Strategy.
When my father developed the strategy for Jacks or Better, there were some surprises. One of the first and biggest was that you do not hold 3 high cards over 2 suited. If you have Jack and King of Diamonds and the Queen of Clubs, you discard the Queen of Clubs. This is due to the powerful payout of the Royal.
It is quite a long shot to hit one needing 3 cards, but the over-sized payout helps to make this the right decision. In the meantime, you’ll lower your chances to hit a Straight, but increase the likelihood of many other hands (like a Flush!).
At the other end of the spectrum, it was discovered that the player should never hold a suited 10-Ace in Jacks or Better. The 10 is just too weak of a card relative to one that is a jack or better. The odds of a Royal is the same as any other 2-card one, but it is harder to fill a Straight of 10-A than a 10-J or 10-Q. This is just enough damage to make holding the single Ace the proper play, even though it eliminates completely the chance for a Royal.
If your goal is only to hit a Royal, you could simply discard just about any hand in favor of a partial one. If dealt a suited J-A along with another jack, just discard the off-suit jack and keep the 2-Card Royal.
Play like this and you can make a Royal appear nearly twice as often as it is supposed to, but at great peril to your bankroll. If money is no object and you just want a picture of the Royal you hit, I guess this would be the plan for you.
If, however, you are like the rest of us and might be willing to give up a little payback (say 0.5%) for increasing the frequency of a Royal by around 20-25%, then I have a different suggestion. By making 4 changes to expert strategy to jacks or better, you can achieve what I just described. These changes are as follows:
Never hold more than one low face card if you are dealt more than one face card and they are not suited. So, if dealt an unsuited J-Q-K, just hold one of them (the lowest of them would be ideal as it increase the probability of a Straight).
Play the suited A-10 (obviously, not over Low Pairs, etc...)
If you are dealt a 3-card Inside Straight Flush with a single face card, play only the face card. If no face card, play as a 3-Card Inside Straight Flush.
If dealt a 4-Card Inside Straight with high cards, keep only the suited face cards. Keep in mind, this might mean keeping only one high card.
To be clear, this is not to be considered an alternative to Expert Strategy on any sort of regular basis. You will be doubling the house advantage for the game. But, if you just need to have a Royal, this will increase your chances without destroying your bankroll.
While this will push the Royal Frequency to about 1 in 30,000, keep in mind that it will not be uncommon to still go 40,000 or even 60,000 hands before you hit one.
Also, the above strategy assumes that you otherwise are playing Expert Strategy properly, in order to achieve the results described.

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