Ralph,
Looking at it another way, your expected losses on 9/6 DDB are close to 2 1/4 times as much as 9/6 JOB. If you switched back to 9/6 JOB, you would easily be able to increase your play at 9/6 JOB from quarters to half-dollars and on average still lose less. I don't remember all the math (and probably didn't understand it while I was learning it), but with the lower volatility you might even be able to stretch your budget and play 9/6 JOB for dollars. You will lose more on average doing that if you play the same number of hands as 9/6 DDB on quarters, but because of the lower volatility your risk of ruin might not be any worse. I think the Wizard of Odds has risk of ruin calculators on his website. You won't have the excitement of the higher paying four of a kind hands, but you have the excitement of risking 4x as much money and winning 4x as much money when you win. Personally I find quarter play a little boring. Usually I only do it with free play so there is a better chance of getting back close to the amount of free play. Four of a kinds on 9/6 JOB at the $1 level pay more than than most 9/6 DDB four of a kinds at the quarter level.
I might be able to understand playing a higher volatility game with a better chance of a big payout and a lower EV for someone who gambles once or twice a year, who is just going out to have some fun and doesn't mind losing a few hundred dollars if things don't work out. That person has a chance of going home with a nice win in addition to having a good time. But for anyone playing on a regular basis, the lower EV is going to have a big effect on your chances of winning (or not losing too much) long term. Obviously I can't tell you what to do, and everyone has different levels of excitement for different things, so maybe for you the value of the added excitement of playing 9/6 DDB outweighs the lower EV. Everyone is different. Some people like the excitement of sky diving, for me it's scary, would bring me no enjoyment, and not worth the risk of dying even if it might only be 1 in a million. That's probably why I like gambling, I can have some excitement and if things go wrong I won't die (except possibly from the secondhand smoke, which is why I could never move to Vegas and gamble on a daily basis - I figure one weekend a month in AC is only a minor risk).
Alan
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