What else can I vulture?
Quote: FinsRuleSo I'm back from Vegas.
I don't know if I have time to post a full trip report. But, I will share my vulturing Ultimate X story.
I went to a bunch of Ultimate X machines on the strip, but didn't find anything great. Just a couple of 2X hands. Lost a little on them, no big deal.
Finally I was sick of it, so I played a 10 hand .25 machine. (Which is a lot for my bankroll) I was dealt two pair on my 2nd hand! Then I had a dealt three of a kind on the next hand! (I didn't hit any 4 of a kinds with it) So that put me up about $150 in three hands. (Which i a lot for my bankroll again). So I did a hand to get rid of my multipliers and cashed out.
Anyway, I walk over and cash the ticket in the machine, and walk back over to the Caesars sportsbook, and there are two guys going through my machine vulturing! I heard them say something like "He was playing this one"
I couldn't believe it! Trying to vulture a vulturer. Apparently there are people doing this sort of thing, although it seems like a bunch of work and not worth it.
to be fair you weren't really vulturing them. You actually gave it play but where smart enough to play off the multipliers. I know it is tempting to play after the vulture but if you want to really do well with it then you need to stop after you clear the machine.
Quote: FinsRuleBy "worth it" I mean making a trip specifically for vulturing. If you're walking around and you see one, you might as well give it a shot.
I agree. If you're there already, might as well. At worst, you help subsidize whatever other gaming you decide to do.
Quote: FinsRulethere are two guys going through my machine vulturing! I heard them say something like "He was playing this one"
Almost certain that those two guys are also WoV members!
off strip is more multipliers, but low denom (penny to nickels).
I personally prefer option one but it's easier to get frustrated.
Quote: AxelWolfYes Vegas sucks for Bonus sniping. You better have more tricks up your sleeve to make it in Vegas off machines.
I spoke to a guy who said he plays poker 7 days a week at different rooms to get all of the various bonuses and freerolls. That sounds awful also.
Sounds smart to me. If he has a edge playing poker and he is taking advantage of all the free rolls and bonuses around town, he is probably doing well. This is how a low limit poker player should be working.Quote: FinsRuleI spoke to a guy who said he plays poker 7 days a week at different rooms to get all of the various bonuses and freerolls. That sounds awful also.
Quote: AxelWolfSounds smart to me. If he has a edge playing poker and he is taking advantage of all the free rolls and bonuses around town, he is probably doing well. This is how a low limit poker player should be working.
I agree it's smart. It just seems like working at a regular job is an easier way to make a living.
This all depends on how much one enjoys their regular job. I would say gambling for a living would beat doing 75% of jobs. If I could go fly fishing for a living, then I would agree Fk gambling or I would find a way to do both at the same time.Quote: FinsRuleI agree it's smart. It just seems like working at a regular job is an easier way to make a living.
The one good thing about a gamblers job if you don't want to go to work then don't. No one will fire you. You choose do do what you want or have to do.
this guy your talking about may enjoy every minute of poker. When I was playing poker often, I couldn't wait to wake up and go play and I hated leaving.
Eventually I am going to hit something while doing this...
Quote: outofacesDon't bother vulturing at GVR, Sunset, or Fiesta. There is a black guy doing it who drives to each casino every single day many times a day in a rotation. There is a shaking old lady at GVR vulturing all day long too. That's in addition to the other vultures that I don't see as often. If you get anything, it's only because they took 1 day off.
Sounds like fun snapping them off. Are they getting the quarters and above?
With a low bankroll.. nothing beats UX vulturing imo. I haven't stopped at a single casino, strip or off-strip, that I haven't found at least a couple plays. Don't forget that a lot of the VP machines that aren't listed specificially as UXP will still have UXP as one of the games they include. Five Star Poker comes to mind.
Last night I made my way through the Rio and saw a Vietnamese guy checking two of the UXP machines at once... it was like he was playing the drums. He found a 12x abandoned multiplier on a Double Double Bonus machine... played it for five credits, dealt an AK with rags, and held both instead of just the Ace. It was frustrating on so many levels.
Quote: vonnegutI tried GVR this weekend and found a bunch of multipliers. I think people saying it isn't worth it are overestimating the ratio of vultures to ploppy.
No, I think that they are just looking at the hourly rate. You find so few plays worth so little, and you can only play one hand.
If you can make more money working at McDonald's, then I think that you are better off working at McDonald's to build a bankroll -- it will be faster. Now, if you are in the casino anyway, you may as well look, because it costs you nothing, but it's not worth going out of your way.
I don't bother checking the low-denom machines any more. You find a bunch of multipliers on a nickel machine, and it's worth under a dollar. This is pretty much the definition of "not worth it". If tipping the cocktail waitress for bringing you a drink eats up the bulk of your EV, it's really not worth it. I will take a look at dollar denoms or higher, but it's not the reason that I'm there.
Damn blame it on a black guy. If he can manage them, so can someone else. You might want to follow him to see what else he is looking at.Quote: outofacesDon't bother vulturing at GVR, Sunset, or Fiesta. There is a black guy doing it who drives to each casino every single day many times a day in a rotation. There is a shaking old lady at GVR vulturing all day long too. That's in addition to the other vultures that I don't see as often. If you get anything, it's only because they took 1 day off.
Quote: IbeatyouracesI look at them all no matter the denomination. Why let the competition get anything. The less they find, the more likely they'll give up that location.
Because I really can't be bothered to play off a 2x multiplier on a 5c machine for 24c in EV.
I think that it doesn't look great to be constantly going through the different games on machines and never playing anything. It looks strange. Ploppies don't do that. It's not worth the exposure for the 24c in EV.
Quote: vonnegut
Last night I made my way through the Rio and saw a Vietnamese guy checking two of the UXP machines at once... it was like he was playing the drums. He found a 12x abandoned multiplier on a Double Double Bonus machine... played it for five credits, dealt an AK with rags, and held both instead of just the Ace. It was frustrating on so many levels.
I feel like such a tool. I have been playing DDB for about a year and I have always held A with JQK. I never realized that it was ok to hold JQ, QK, JK unsuited but if there is an A-JQK unsuited it is proper to hold just the A. I wonder how much EV I was giving back.
Quote: GWAEI feel like such a tool. I have been playing DDB for about a year and I have always held A with JQK. I never realized that it was ok to hold JQ, QK, JK unsuited but if there is an A-JQK unsuited it is proper to hold just the A. I wonder how much EV I was giving back.
I highly recommend using software. Bob Dancer said on a recent show, until you have software telling you all your mistakes, you don't know what a bad player you are.
The trainer on WoO is good. If you pay for a gold membership on videopoker.com, they have a training mode that is also pretty good.
I will not play a game in a casino without playing it on a trainer to the point where I make less than 1 mistake every 100 hands. If I know that I will be playing a game that I haven't played in a while, I'll play it on a trainer for a few hundred hands first to make sure that I haven't forgotten anything important.
Quote: AxiomOfChoiceI highly recommend using software. Bob Dancer said on a recent show, until you have software telling you all your mistakes, you don't know what a bad player you are.
The trainer on WoO is good. If you pay for a gold membership on videopoker.com, they have a training mode that is also pretty good.
I will not play a game in a casino without playing it on a trainer to the point where I make less than 1 mistake every 100 hands. If I know that I will be playing a game that I haven't played in a while, I'll play it on a trainer for a few hundred hands first to make sure that I haven't forgotten anything important.
I just played 500 hands and made 6 mistakes after correcting the A holding thing. I think all of them were holding 3 to str flush.
Quote: GWAEI just played 500 hands and made 6 mistakes after correcting the A holding thing. I think all of them were holding 3 to str flush.
There you go. Correct the str flush thing and you will be in business :)
Quote: IbeatyouracesThree card straight flush draws suck! I swear my hit rate to make any winning hand with them is about 1%
Don't play 9/7 TDB; you will be pulling your hair out, between the 3-card flush draws and the broken up full houses.
Quote: IbeatyouracesDon't have it here. I believe 9/6 TDB is the best here. I do bad enough on JoB with the three card flush draws. In fact, I haven't hit a four card straight flush draw, open ended or inside, in about the last 100+ draws, seriously!
Nothing quite like having a dealt full house (playing multiple hands), having to break it up, and bricking everything, in a game where trips pays 2.
Last time I was dealt 6 full houses, had to break up 5 of them, and bricked every single one.
Quote: vonnegut
Last night I made my way through the Rio and saw a Vietnamese guy checking two of the UXP machines at once... it was like he was playing the drums. He found a 12x abandoned multiplier on a Double Double Bonus machine... played it for five credits, dealt an AK with rags, and held both instead of just the Ace. It was frustrating on so many levels.
He still gets a way higher EV than I do, I'm not good enough to check two at once. The error holding AK off vs. Ace only is pretty small though. If I had a tiny bankroll compared to the stakes of the hand, I might hold AK off.
Quote: GWAEI feel like such a tool. I have been playing DDB for about a year and I have always held A with JQK. I never realized that it was ok to hold JQ, QK, JK unsuited but if there is an A-JQK unsuited it is proper to hold just the A. I wonder how much EV I was giving back.
What? You should hold all 4 of them in that case. You should be holding things like AKJT offsuit too.
As for not holding KJ, KQ, or QJ over Ace, it isn't too bad except QJ and that's not the worst thing. Not holding AKQJ offsuit is definitely the worst of them all.
Found a triple play quarter machine today where someone had left all three "Next Hand 8x" on there. Best I've seen in awhile... lost all three hands, obv.
Sounds pretty smart if the cash out amount is permanently displayed. I tend to believe even with no play after a while, the machines eventually stop reporting the last cash out.Quote: vonnegutSo recently I was thinking about a method for being able to tell when a machine has been used since you checked it. If you slide in a weird denomination into the UxP machine... like $263.25 for example. Then cycle through it all and cashout. The next time you pass by the machine, you can just look at the amount it paid out... if it still says $263.25 paid out, then you know that nobody has sat at the machine since you cycled it. This also serves as a signal to other bonus vultures that the machine has already been checked.
Found a triple play quarter machine today where someone had left all three "Next Hand 8x" on there. Best I've seen in awhile... lost all three hands, obv.
Guys have been doing this forever. Better yet, to slow down and confuse the competition you use multiple smaller tickets only you can remember.Quote: vonnegutSo recently I was thinking about a method for being able to tell when a machine has been used since you checked it. If you slide in a weird denomination into the UxP machine... like $263.25 for example. Then cycle through it all and cashout. The next time you pass by the machine, you can just look at the amount it paid out... if it still says $263.25 paid out, then you know that nobody has sat at the machine since you cycled it. This also serves as a signal to other bonus vultures that the machine has already been checked.
Found a triple play quarter machine today where someone had left all three "Next Hand 8x" on there. Best I've seen in awhile... lost all three hands, obv.
Quote: tringlomaneHe still gets a way higher EV than I do, I'm not good enough to check two at once. The error holding AK off vs. Ace only is pretty small though. If I had a tiny bankroll compared to the stakes of the hand, I might hold AK off.
What? You should hold all 4 of them in that case. You should be holding things like AKJT offsuit too.
As for not holding KJ, KQ, or QJ over Ace, it isn't too bad except QJ and that's not the worst thing. Not holding AKQJ offsuit is definitely the worst of them all.
I wrote that poorly. I know that I would hold JQKA but I was trying to convey that I didn't know it was wrong to hold AJ, AQ, and AK unsuited.
