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    Video Poker: the Short Game
    Video Poker: the Short Game
    Video Poker: the Short Game
    Ebook168 pages2 hours

    Video Poker: the Short Game

    By Taylor Norton

    2.5/5

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    About this ebook

    What if everything you were taught about Video Poker was wrong?

    It is a scary thought. For the past twenty years all the reigning Video Poker experts have been selling books, strategy cards and personal lessons preaching a long term strategy based on playing mathematically correct video poker. It has become the gospel of video poker and anyone who proposes anything different is shouted down.

    The experts say that if you play mathematically correct video poker eventually you will win, perhaps not today or tomorrow but in the long run. It is called a long term strategy. But is that really true? Let's say you play Jacks or Better perfectly for 100,000 hands. The estimated return of the machine is 99.54% so if the machine plays exactly as it is supposed to, you will lose.

    The only way you will win is if you get lucky. This book suggests that the best strategy for Video Poker is not 100% rigid mathematical play but rather a short term strategy that allows a player to take an occasional shot at getting a big jackpot that they would not get if they played a 100% mathematically correct strategy.

    This book is not some Rob Singer fantasy strategy. Taylor Norton is a professional gambler with decades of experience. In this book you will learn not only this controversial short game strategy but also the long term strategy that the experts and advantage players use. The book also includes 21 free strategy cards formatted for ebook readers and a list of needed resources.

    This Book is for
    The beginner who has never played video poker – a better way to learn to play
    The occasional player looking for guidance – a needed resource to high level play
    The long term player who never wins – a new way of looking at the game

    Now includes 21 free ebook formatted strategy cards!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStone Circle Publishing
    Release dateDec 12, 2013
    ISBN9781311268723
    Video Poker: the Short Game
    Author

    Taylor Norton

    Taylor Norton is a professional gambler living in Las Vegas

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    Reviews for Video Poker

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    • 3/5
      Describes well the true nature of video poker. You can make money at it, but its like any career as an entrepreneur, you have to become skilled. It's very possible to make money at video poker but the fun isn't in the playing, because stopping is not fun, and stopping at predetermined points is what you must do. Most people just want to have fun gambling, and its more of an expense. If you want to become a professional, or even have a positive return, it's isn't the most desirable thing to do: everyone else around you is smoking and drinking, often the venues are fairly sad as far as the other clientele, and you have to have a plan and follow it. Nothing new under the sun here, but a good book that clearly and honestly describes the potentials with video poker. With the same principles you could become a successful financial trader, blackjack player, live poker player. The real reason why more people don't do it is that they don't love it enough to do the difficult work it takes to net profit. It's like every other profession. Good book but short on management strategies, which are the things that allow you to profit.

    Book preview

    Video Poker - Taylor Norton

    Introduction

    There are dozens of books about video poker. Some of them are excellent, some of them are not. The problem with most video poker books is they are little more than a series of mathematical formulas which, if followed, will allow you to play perfect video poker. Unfortunately, after a few pages of reading many potential players just get bored and never learn.

    Most of the modern video poker books correctly point out the only way to make money in the long run is to play absolutely perfect video poker, or as close to it as you can get. They also point out the advantage of using comps and casino bonuses to help turn the odds in your favor. All of that is 100% true.

    I am not discounting the work of any other video poker experts. They should be studied, learned from, and followed if your goal is to play the long game. But the majority of you are never going to play the long game.

    Most of you are going to come to Vegas or go to some other casino a few times a year. You probably don’t have a massive bankroll to withstand possible losing streaks. You probably won’t spend the hours and hours needed playing video poker to get the most out of your slot club.

    You're not likely to have studied the game intently enough to go from being a casual player to a perfect player. You are probably not going to be playing enough hours or days to make the video poker math work for you.

    No matter how well you play you are still most likely playing the short game. You have different needs and different goals than long game players. This book is for you.

    This book has some controversial theories and strategies that most of the video poker gurus out there will be quick to point out are mathematically incorrect. I don’t dispute that, in fact I know that it is true. But they are missing the point.

    The simple fact is that there is luck involved in video poker. If you are playing thousands of hours of video poker a year and have a huge bankroll, you can tweak some of that luck out of it by rigid optimal play. The longer you play, the more likely it becomes that the math will even out in your favor.

    But what about the rest of you? Those of you with jobs and lives outside of the casinos-those of you who come to Vegas once or twice a year or even one day a month. What about those of you who play at the 25 cent level or lower and don’t get much in the way of comps, or those of you who play in some of the Indian casinos where full-pay machines don’t exist?

    What about those of you who enjoy casinos and play video poker for fun and relaxation and hope to make a little money as well? Is playing a rigid optimal play long term strategy really how you should be playing video poker?

    The reigning experts will say yes, it is the only way to play. But I believe that for most players-the short game players- it isn’t. You should know how to play optimal video poker, and this book will teach you that. But there is also another way to play.

    Don’t you think it was time someone told you that way as well?

    Have you followed the advice of the video poker gurus for years and still not come out ahead? Are you an advantage player and still don’t make money playing video poker? You are not alone. Playing absolutely perfect mathematically correct video poker may be the only viable solution for a long term player. But it may not be for you.

    I will present both ways to play video poker-my way and their way. You can decide for yourself which method is best for you. There is more to this book than just controversial theories and strategies. Most of the content presented is very conventional because in order for you to decide if you want to deviate from expected norms, you have to first understand those norms. So I will explain the long game to you.

    In the first part of the book I will outline some of the same strategies and techniques that the reigning experts have explained. My goal is to provide this information with a minimum of math, a whole lot of practical advice, and an easier way to learn to play effective video poker.

    Playing mathematically correct video poker is not as hard as it sounds. Unlike normal poker, with video poker right and wrong is clearly defined. There is one right way to play every hand. Once you know the right way there is no thinking involved, no hunches to follow, no should I do this or do that. There is one right way and everything else is wrong.

    To figure out what the correct play is, there is math involved. But you would need a fast computer with a brute force analyzer to run all the combinations to find that correct play, and you would have to do it every hand. But don’t worry! That work has already been done for you and is broken down into a couple of simple rules you can follow. Learn those simple rules and you will know the right play.

    This is an important concept so I will repeat it. When you sit down to play regular poker

    you have to know the math. In every hand you play, you have to make a decision and knowing the math helps you make that decision. Video poker is completely different.

    There is NO decision to be made. There is a right way to play every hand. It’s as simple as that. In order to play mathematically correct video poker, all you need to know is what that right play is and make it.

    Once you learn that one right play, I will go a step further and show you where and why it sometimes may be to your advantage to not make that right play.

    This is a stand-alone book. I am not selling anything else besides this book. There are no advertisements for any companion products. If you want strategy cards, I have provided them in this book for free. If you want a video poker trainer, so you can study the game at home, I will provide you information on where you can download one for free.

    There are no affiliate links to online sites where you can play. (In fact, unless you live in a state where playing online video poker is legal, I do not recommend you play online.)

    This book does not contain directions to casinos or recommendations on where to play for the best odds because the best places to play change from month to month and year to year.

    If you never played before, this book will teach you all you need to know to play competent video poker. You won’t be intimidated even the first time you sit down at a machine to play. If you are a more serious player, this book will offer you some tips and techniques that will help you in your goal to perfect your play in video poker.

    If you’re an occasional player who just goes to the casino a few times a year, this is your book.

    Most of that you can learn from any good video poker book and there are many of them on the market. What you won’t get in those other books is an alternate way of thinking and playing video poker that I will present here.

    I will provide you with a brief the history of the game, information about how the machines work, and how the casino operates. I will present some basic techniques for money management.

    Video poker is the one of the few games offered in a casino where an informed player has a fair chance to make money with limited risk. Playing a full-pay machine with a generous player’s card bonus can sometimes result in sessions with over a 100% payout. How can the casinos make money that way? Clearly they couldn’t if everyone knew how to play correctly.

    Casino management understands that the vast majority of video poker players are purely recreational players. They do not bother to learn the techniques in this book (or similar techniques in other video poker books) so even on a machine with a 100% payout, most players make so many mistakes they are actually playing at a lower rate than optimal.

    At that lower rate, the casino makes plenty of money.

    I do not consider myself a professional video poker player. I am a professional gambler but I make most of my income playing regular poker. The more skill involved in any casino game, the better chance a skilled player has of winning. For me, regular poker gives me the best chance of winning with less chance of losing.

    But I do play video poker about twenty hours a week, and have done so for more than a decade. During the first two years I played video poker, I lost a small amount of money. That still bothers me because, in those days, the casino promotions were sweeter and there were lots of full-pay machines around. If I knew then what I know now, I would have made good money

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