Deconstructing a VP Tournament
April 17th, 2017 at 7:30:14 PM
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Deconstructing a Video Poker Tournament
On 1 Feb 2017, I rec'd an invitation to a $15,000 Video Poker Tournament at the Cal. Normally, I throw these mailers in the garbage, but this invite was a result of our Oct 2016 trip to Las Vegas, and we stayed at the Cal!
I only thought about it for another moment, then let it slip my mind. The same afternoon, however, my wife saw the invite and said: "Hey! Why don't we go to Las Vegas for your birthday, then you can even join the tournament and we get free nights!"
Hmmm . . . I only like playing Deuces Wild. The word out was this would be a DDB Tournament. Shucks! Now I gotta "relearn" my strategy. . . What to do????
I tried to fake disinterest (as I really dying to play blackjack!), so I replied a joyous ok ("Great birthday gift, hon!") and let my wife make the travel arrangements (which she loves to do and insists on managing). Lucky me! I just provide the traveling cash and sign off on the airline arrangements. A 2nd mailer gave us 5 free nights. This trip we had an option of staying at the Cal, Fremont, or Mainstreet Station - we chose MSS for a change.
It was a 2-day VP Tournament, DDB variety, with 1,500 credits to be played in 20 min at each allocated time slot.
Day 1: Registration
I was the first to register (no, I wasn't that excited, but we just finished breakfast and . . . ) and received my pre-selected play time and instruction sheet. No one else was in the room except for 3 ladies lined up as "A-H", "I-O", and "P-Z". The tournament would take place on the 2nd floor of the Cal, in a cordoned-off area to the right of the escalators.
The original invitations went to 150 players, but only 101 signed up, so they reduced the pot from $15,000 to $10,000. I still had 100 crafty Hawaiian competitors to beat, since invitations were sent primarily to the Hawaiian market.
Day 2: 1st session
As explained on Day 1, the play session times are pre-determined. I thought the ideal seat faces the wall, offering minimal distractions from left or right. Corner seats are even better as there's only distractions possible from one side. Boy! Did I miss the boat on this one!
The cordoned-off machines:
Players ready to go!
There were 2 sets of machines (which I only realized AFTER the fact): a bank of new ones (where I was assigned on Day 1, towards the front of the entrance), and about 20 older ones along the wall. When I signed in, the Tournament folk had me choose a seat from a covered box of numbers. I was lucky to get one of the newest machines on the floor, close to the entrance. There was a total of about 40 machines to handle the 101 players in 3 sessions of 20 min each.
My first session
The Tournament Director called everyone's attention to check their machines, making sure it displayed 1500 credits and a clock at 20:00.
My physical play strategy was to start out slow-medium (maybe 700 HPH) to get the right feel of the keys and machine response time.
I was surprised to find myself parched after only 1-2 min play (severe concentration?), so I carefully took a swig of water from my fanny pack, applied Chapstick to my lips, and just stretched my legs to avoid any possible cramping.
After about 2 min, I ramped up my speed to about 900 HPH for the 20 min session. This was GREAT! The machine I played was one of the newer models - sleek, super fast response time, hair trigger finger buttons. At 1500 credits that was 300 HPH for 20 min, or 900 HPH for 60 min (machines were set for max bet play of 5 credits per deal), which matched my practice session HPH. This worked just right on my first session, and I used all my credits with 2:23 min to spare, scoring 1,755 points! (Thinking back, I could have ramped up to 1000 HPH, but only at the risk of making more mistakes. I think 900 HPH was a good zone for my experience, temperament, and capability).
I took a short break, used the rest room, stretched my legs, and played a few short games of VP with a $20 to kill time. No wins. Around 11:40 a, the Tournament folks were putting up the scores!
Unbelievable! What was even more surprising is that the Tournament Director said there were NO ROYAL FLUSHES, just a flurry of 4oaks.
I was ready for my 2nd session! With my score, unless a streak of Royal Flushes popped up, I couldn't do worse than 40th place for $50!
OMG! There I was in 6th place with 1775 points!
Day 3: 2nd session
When I signed in just before 10:00a, I again picked a seat number from a covered box. This time, I managed to pick the "ideal" (so I thought) "wall seat". No distractions, nice and quiet, plenty of elbow room . . . WRONG . . . !
My 2nd machine must have been part of the original 1975 inventory when the Cal first opened. How bad was it? Keys were sticky. You needed either a sledge hammer or Mr Miyagi-caliber finger strength to select cards you wanted to hold (Edit: I did avoid using the touch screen; maybe I should have tried it with this &#(@I@KJL machine!).
I scored an awful 760 points, and still had 235 UNUSED credits or about 47 deals! Aaaaaaaaaargh! Shoot me now, and get it over with!
<a calmer me> In the ideal scenario, all machines are as similar as possible. In the case of the Cal, the machines are physically different, and it's the reason why seat selection is randomly chosen from a box of seat numbers - it evens out the field a little. I voiced a comment to the Tournament Director, and then she sheepishly just pointed to "the wall" where there were 20 other players suffering the pain I just completed. End of story. Good experience. Need to remember to bring my BANGER next time! Good fun!
Scores would not be announced until the banquet that afternoon, which opened at 4:00 p (Yay! Time to hit some BJ tables after dinner!).
The Awards Banquet
At 4:00p the doors opened for a simple but adequate buffet in the Ohana Room, very well organized and laid out.
There were 20 tables of 10 for the 101 participants - each one was allowed 1 guest. Buffet service was smooth and fast, since they had 2 identical islands, each with 2 serving sides. 2 opposite corners of the room hosted very generous dessert selections: chocolate or coconut cream pies, apple or cherry pies, luscious fresh cut nicely ripened fruit of cantaloupe, melon, raspberries, pineapple, seedless red grapes. Regular and decaf coffee were offered along with Lipton's tea packets or Japanese green tea.
Everywhere I looked, it seemed like regular folk I'd see at the supermarket or shopping mall back home in Hawaii. It was like a family reunion with no one really related to anyone else. Everyone had a smile, a greeting, a "did you win?" look on their face, and were very easy to "talk story" (exchange greetings).
The banter going back and forth told me at least 80% of the players were repeat players - some came back EVERY MONTH! Where else could they get an easy $4,000 to $5,000 in such a leisurely manner? Fun group of folks, older or not (the youngest couldn't have been under 50 years old?).
One friendly looking fellow stood in line with us, and asked if he could tag along because he had short-term memory. We of course invited him with open arms, and made lots of "talk story". I wondered about that short-term memory and how he got around on his own. Anyway, after we stood in line together at the buffet, he looked at me and said: "I'm so sorry to bother you, and I forgot your name, but I know we were sitting together. Where's our table? I'm lost!" My heart reached out to him and I watched him carefully the rest of the night, making sure he got his hot tea, dessert, didn't forget his jacket, etc. I felt good and warm inside to help a new friend. I won!
Highlight of the buffet was the Prime Rib Roast:
The final results (session 1 + session 2) showed 1st place came in at 4,870 points. The surprise announcement? THERE WERE NO ROYAL FLUSHES AT ALL IN THIS TOURNAMENT. Lots of murmuring: "A first!" "Wow! Dat ne ah hapen' befo'!"
40th place was only 2,760. If I repeated my 1,755 points from Day 1 with a similar machine, I would have easily scored 3,510 points, squeezing me into about 10th place! Oh well, no worries, no regrets. I went primarily for the experience and fun. I will be much better prepared for future tournaments! I didn't win any cash, but I sure the heck won the experience and fun!
On 1 Feb 2017, I rec'd an invitation to a $15,000 Video Poker Tournament at the Cal. Normally, I throw these mailers in the garbage, but this invite was a result of our Oct 2016 trip to Las Vegas, and we stayed at the Cal!
I only thought about it for another moment, then let it slip my mind. The same afternoon, however, my wife saw the invite and said: "Hey! Why don't we go to Las Vegas for your birthday, then you can even join the tournament and we get free nights!"
Hmmm . . . I only like playing Deuces Wild. The word out was this would be a DDB Tournament. Shucks! Now I gotta "relearn" my strategy. . . What to do????
I tried to fake disinterest (as I really dying to play blackjack!), so I replied a joyous ok ("Great birthday gift, hon!") and let my wife make the travel arrangements (which she loves to do and insists on managing). Lucky me! I just provide the traveling cash and sign off on the airline arrangements. A 2nd mailer gave us 5 free nights. This trip we had an option of staying at the Cal, Fremont, or Mainstreet Station - we chose MSS for a change.
It was a 2-day VP Tournament, DDB variety, with 1,500 credits to be played in 20 min at each allocated time slot.
Day 1: Registration
I was the first to register (no, I wasn't that excited, but we just finished breakfast and . . . ) and received my pre-selected play time and instruction sheet. No one else was in the room except for 3 ladies lined up as "A-H", "I-O", and "P-Z". The tournament would take place on the 2nd floor of the Cal, in a cordoned-off area to the right of the escalators.
The original invitations went to 150 players, but only 101 signed up, so they reduced the pot from $15,000 to $10,000. I still had 100 crafty Hawaiian competitors to beat, since invitations were sent primarily to the Hawaiian market.
Day 2: 1st session
As explained on Day 1, the play session times are pre-determined. I thought the ideal seat faces the wall, offering minimal distractions from left or right. Corner seats are even better as there's only distractions possible from one side. Boy! Did I miss the boat on this one!
The cordoned-off machines:
Players ready to go!
There were 2 sets of machines (which I only realized AFTER the fact): a bank of new ones (where I was assigned on Day 1, towards the front of the entrance), and about 20 older ones along the wall. When I signed in, the Tournament folk had me choose a seat from a covered box of numbers. I was lucky to get one of the newest machines on the floor, close to the entrance. There was a total of about 40 machines to handle the 101 players in 3 sessions of 20 min each.
My first session
The Tournament Director called everyone's attention to check their machines, making sure it displayed 1500 credits and a clock at 20:00.
My physical play strategy was to start out slow-medium (maybe 700 HPH) to get the right feel of the keys and machine response time.
I was surprised to find myself parched after only 1-2 min play (severe concentration?), so I carefully took a swig of water from my fanny pack, applied Chapstick to my lips, and just stretched my legs to avoid any possible cramping.
After about 2 min, I ramped up my speed to about 900 HPH for the 20 min session. This was GREAT! The machine I played was one of the newer models - sleek, super fast response time, hair trigger finger buttons. At 1500 credits that was 300 HPH for 20 min, or 900 HPH for 60 min (machines were set for max bet play of 5 credits per deal), which matched my practice session HPH. This worked just right on my first session, and I used all my credits with 2:23 min to spare, scoring 1,755 points! (Thinking back, I could have ramped up to 1000 HPH, but only at the risk of making more mistakes. I think 900 HPH was a good zone for my experience, temperament, and capability).
I took a short break, used the rest room, stretched my legs, and played a few short games of VP with a $20 to kill time. No wins. Around 11:40 a, the Tournament folks were putting up the scores!
Unbelievable! What was even more surprising is that the Tournament Director said there were NO ROYAL FLUSHES, just a flurry of 4oaks.
I was ready for my 2nd session! With my score, unless a streak of Royal Flushes popped up, I couldn't do worse than 40th place for $50!
OMG! There I was in 6th place with 1775 points!
Day 3: 2nd session
When I signed in just before 10:00a, I again picked a seat number from a covered box. This time, I managed to pick the "ideal" (so I thought) "wall seat". No distractions, nice and quiet, plenty of elbow room . . . WRONG . . . !
My 2nd machine must have been part of the original 1975 inventory when the Cal first opened. How bad was it? Keys were sticky. You needed either a sledge hammer or Mr Miyagi-caliber finger strength to select cards you wanted to hold (Edit: I did avoid using the touch screen; maybe I should have tried it with this &#(@I@KJL machine!).
I scored an awful 760 points, and still had 235 UNUSED credits or about 47 deals! Aaaaaaaaaargh! Shoot me now, and get it over with!
<a calmer me> In the ideal scenario, all machines are as similar as possible. In the case of the Cal, the machines are physically different, and it's the reason why seat selection is randomly chosen from a box of seat numbers - it evens out the field a little. I voiced a comment to the Tournament Director, and then she sheepishly just pointed to "the wall" where there were 20 other players suffering the pain I just completed. End of story. Good experience. Need to remember to bring my BANGER next time! Good fun!
Scores would not be announced until the banquet that afternoon, which opened at 4:00 p (Yay! Time to hit some BJ tables after dinner!).
The Awards Banquet
At 4:00p the doors opened for a simple but adequate buffet in the Ohana Room, very well organized and laid out.
There were 20 tables of 10 for the 101 participants - each one was allowed 1 guest. Buffet service was smooth and fast, since they had 2 identical islands, each with 2 serving sides. 2 opposite corners of the room hosted very generous dessert selections: chocolate or coconut cream pies, apple or cherry pies, luscious fresh cut nicely ripened fruit of cantaloupe, melon, raspberries, pineapple, seedless red grapes. Regular and decaf coffee were offered along with Lipton's tea packets or Japanese green tea.
Everywhere I looked, it seemed like regular folk I'd see at the supermarket or shopping mall back home in Hawaii. It was like a family reunion with no one really related to anyone else. Everyone had a smile, a greeting, a "did you win?" look on their face, and were very easy to "talk story" (exchange greetings).
The banter going back and forth told me at least 80% of the players were repeat players - some came back EVERY MONTH! Where else could they get an easy $4,000 to $5,000 in such a leisurely manner? Fun group of folks, older or not (the youngest couldn't have been under 50 years old?).
One friendly looking fellow stood in line with us, and asked if he could tag along because he had short-term memory. We of course invited him with open arms, and made lots of "talk story". I wondered about that short-term memory and how he got around on his own. Anyway, after we stood in line together at the buffet, he looked at me and said: "I'm so sorry to bother you, and I forgot your name, but I know we were sitting together. Where's our table? I'm lost!" My heart reached out to him and I watched him carefully the rest of the night, making sure he got his hot tea, dessert, didn't forget his jacket, etc. I felt good and warm inside to help a new friend. I won!
Highlight of the buffet was the Prime Rib Roast:
The final results (session 1 + session 2) showed 1st place came in at 4,870 points. The surprise announcement? THERE WERE NO ROYAL FLUSHES AT ALL IN THIS TOURNAMENT. Lots of murmuring: "A first!" "Wow! Dat ne ah hapen' befo'!"
40th place was only 2,760. If I repeated my 1,755 points from Day 1 with a similar machine, I would have easily scored 3,510 points, squeezing me into about 10th place! Oh well, no worries, no regrets. I went primarily for the experience and fun. I will be much better prepared for future tournaments! I didn't win any cash, but I sure the heck won the experience and fun!
Last edited by: beachbumbabs on Apr 30, 2017
Eat real food . . . and you won't need medicine (or a lot less!)
April 17th, 2017 at 7:42:57 PM
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About halfway through reading. So far so good and interesting.
Should edit out pictures with people's faces or names.
Anyway, looks like you had fun, which is the second most important thing to winning. Hah. You never said (I don't think?) how you did at the BJ tables.
Should edit out pictures with people's faces or names.
Anyway, looks like you had fun, which is the second most important thing to winning. Hah. You never said (I don't think?) how you did at the BJ tables.
April 17th, 2017 at 7:58:44 PM
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Ouch! My bad! I remembered to cross-out my own name, but not faces and other names.Quote: RSAbout halfway through reading. So far so good and interesting.
Should edit out pictures with people's faces or names.
Anyway, looks like you had fun, which is the second most important thing to winning. Hah. You never said (I don't think?) how you did at the BJ tables.
Should I delete and re-post? Thanks for catching my protocol-break. Highly unintentional, less experience posting, and mostly just excited to write and share my experiences.
WRT BJ: I only got to play 2x, here's the results.
Tue: BR of $100, left with $5 in my pocket, and BIG sigh of relief to get away from the 300 lb gorilla on my right and the unwanted comments from other players. Not ready or social interaction. But it was worth a good experience to help me find my "comfort" zone.
Thu: BR of $100, left with $137.50, a white chip (for souvenir), left a $2.50 tip for dealer, and came back later for a $20 meal coupon from the PB - he was very happy to "award" it to me as a newbie.
My goals are very modest, and I had ONE specific mission: will I be able to card-count an ENTIRE shuffle, or just a few hands? Tue - just a few hands. Thu - all 3 shuffles. Met my goal. Left on all positive points, and spouse happy to go shopping. Can't beat that.
Eat real food . . . and you won't need medicine (or a lot less!)
April 30th, 2017 at 9:47:52 AM
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Took some editing time, but with BBB's guidance, I edited out pictures with people's faces or names. Thanks again for noticing and letting me know. I'l sleep better tonight!Quote: RSShould edit out pictures with people's faces or names.
Eat real food . . . and you won't need medicine (or a lot less!)
