VIDEO POKER

Making Mistakes

A friend recently turned me on to the writings of Robert T. Kiyosaki, whose most famous book is "Rich Dad Poor Dad." He writes about lessons that he learned from the rich father of a friend that were opposite to those lessons taught by his own father, who was not rich. I found that many of the lessons in his writings have direct application to playing video poker successfully, so periodically I'll be sharing some of what I've learned.

I suggest that reading the original will be time well spent for you. Each of us will learn different, valuable, lessons from these books and me summarizing some of what I've learned will not provide you with the complete experience.

Today's lesson is about making mistakes. Much of the learning experience comes from making mistakes. One of the reasons my video poker results are better than that of most of my readers is that I've made more correctable mistakes than they have! And I've learned from those mistakes.

One place where I've made mistakes is while playing on "Video Poker for Winners," or, previously, on "WinPoker." I can't know this for sure, but I suspect that I've used these products to correct me more than 95% of video poker players. I've gotten thousands of "major error," "moderate error," and "minor error" messages over the years.

I do not view these errors as failures but rather as opportunities to learn. Sometimes the error message means I was careless. I already knew the strategy but wasn't paying enough attention. This reminds me to always to try to be at my best when I play. Sometimes the error message tells me something I used to have memorized but have forgotten. This "forgetting" is a normal part of life, but seeing the error message reminds me and helps get me up to speed again. It's a lot easier to refresh my skill in a partially-remembered strategy than it is to learn the strategy in the first place.

Sometimes, of course, I'm spending time learning a new game. I recently shared in this column my experiences with learning Bonus Poker Multi Strike. Errors when I'm learning a game help me know where my weaknesses are and where I should spend time studying.

When I get an error message, if I don't immediately know why it's a mistake, I check out the strategy to see how this particular hand fits in. Occasionally the error uncovers a mistake in the strategy! In this case, I examine enough similar hands until I'm able to rephrase the strategy so that it works. Without the error message I never would have known that the strategy I was trying to learn was imperfect.

I've made a lot of mistakes that had nothing to do with learning and memorizing a strategy. Every new promotion is something to study. In my "Million Dollar Video Poker" book I shared an example of how I misread a coupon at Casino Royale. That hardly has been the only mistake I've made of that nature. Every time I make such a mistake it gives me a level of experience that I didn't have before. Now when I read a coupon I tend not to make the same mistake over again.

In August 2009, for example, the Eastside Cannery monthly mailer contained a one-time-only 100-coin bonus for a 4-of-a-kind. The coupon had certain restrictions (including not on any point-multiplier days), but it neglected to say "natural" 4-of-a-kind or "no wild cards." I collected the $200 bonus playing $2 NSU in about five hands when I got two deuces and two sixes. These were the only hands I played that month on days without a point multiplier. The rest of the play done to earn future mailers was done on 2x or 3x days. Many players didn't realize the casino mistake. They just assumed that the coupon was "normal" and the 4-of-a-kind had to be natural. But I've missed out on so many opportunities through the years by not reading the coupons carefully and addressing "how do I best utilize this," that I caught it right away. (Once several players cashed in on this the casino realized its mistake and the similar coupon in the September mailer now specifies "natural.")

When it comes to casino drawings, I've learned which ones to avoid --- because I've been burned. One type I avoid is when everybody and his brother gets 25 free tickets a day. When this happens, no matter how much I play I can never earn enough tickets to have a reasonable chance of success. ("Reasonable" to me means that my expected win is $100 or higher. If I estimate it's lower than that I won't show up.) I've learned that some casinos have small drawings that few players attempt to win. This is an opportunity I like.

I've been 86'd from a number of casinos through the years. Often my "mistake" was only playing the best games on multiple-point days. Now I play some of the time on non-multiple days and some of the time I play not-the-best machines. I even have a small amount of play on slot machines on my record. Not because I like slot machines or think they are a good bet in and of themselves, but because I've learned the hard way that not having such machines on my record sometimes leads to me not being welcome --- or not receiving the mailers I would like. Playing a thousand dollars through a slot machine (with an expected loss of $50 or so --- although in actuality sometimes I win and sometimes I lose much more than that), is a good investment if it keeps me getting mailers or increases the ones I get by far more than $50.

Cataloging all of my mistakes would take a long time. The biggest benefit of these mistakes (as brought home to me by Kiyosaki's writings) is that I've learned from many of them. I don’t enjoy making mistakes and paying for them (who does?) but I've learned not to beat myself up too badly when they happen. They are a big reason for my success! Without so many mistakes I wouldn't be nearly as well off as I am.