I received the following email today from a knowledgeable friend. I am posting it with permission --- however my friend wishes to remain unnamed.
Hello Bob,
FYI - Using electronic strategy Apps.
Several properties in Colorado will stop your play, and give you one warning.
They cite that Colorado statutes mirror Nevada's.
It is a misdemeanor in Colorado , and a felony in Nevada (they quote).
Bellagio, MGM, Golden Nugget, Palms, and some Station Properties will stop your play at once!
Just not worth the time, expense, and risk of getting trespassed for life, just to test it in court, and be branded a cheat.
(Sounds like an entire show for GWAE with the legal beagle guy!)
Just do it the old fashioned way, practice, practice, practice, and master the game(s),
Or just pull out a Bob Dancer strategy card for those extra difficult hands!
Bob Dancer comments: This is the first I've heard of this. Of the properties my friend listed I only play at the Palms and have never heard of or seen it happen there.
I trust my friend as a knowledgeable reporter. At the same time, if it actually happens at so many different places it strikes me as very strange that I've never heard of it before. I'm not quite sure how to balance these two things.
If anybody else has had personal experience with this I would certainly like to hear about it.
Although I've never used an iPhone video poker APP in a casino, I have used the wizard's video poker strategy calculator --- which will tell you how to play each hand if you know how to read it. I'm not sure how big of a distinction that is.
Using a strategy card you need to accurately distinguish between the following combinations, as an example: QJ9, QJ8, QT9, QT8, Q98. Some are worth considerably more than some of the others. With an iPhone APP, you don't need to know what the differences are. You just need to input the hand correctly.
Although most participants on vpFREE have the ability to correctly read a strategy card, it's not a trivial accomplishment. In my classes I get lots and lots of students who make all sorts of mistakes in identifying card combinations.
You actually have to be quite good to have a strategy card and an iPhone APP be equivalent. And if a casino wanted to press the law literally, using a strategy card is against the law.
I'm not surprised casinos give you warnings first. Were I to get such a warning, I would instantly heed it. (And would recommend others heed warnings as well.)
Bob
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