For those who don't read long posts until the end --- next Wednesday's class at South Point will be Bonus Poker Quick Quads --- NOT Double Double Bonus Quick Quads. Now some background . . .
Yesterday, I was told by Michael Gaughan, owner of the South Point, that the Quick Quads machines would all be downgraded prior to the next double point day --- which will be on President's Day, Monday, February 15. He said they were losing too much on the bank of four machines on double point days, and that on Martin Luther King Day (the previous double point day), those four machines generated almost 40% of the W2Gs in a casino with 2600 machines.
He knew I played those machines a lot. On MLK Day itself, I was clever enough to be dealt aces-with-a-kicker for $20,000 (I'm such a good player I held all five cards!) I told him that if that particular hand was worrying him, I didn't think a 1-in-217K big hand should determine casino policy. On the day that one of those hits, it's no big surprise that the casino loses money --- but over time those don't hit very often. I was told the decision had been made and there was no use arguing about it. He didn't say who the decision-makers were, but I assumed they were the slot director Cliff Paige, general manager Ryan Growney, and Gaughan himself.
That makes next Wednesday interesting, as I'm scheduled to teach Double Double Bonus (DDB) Quick Quads in my free video poker class starting at noon in the Grand View Lounge --- a game that will basically exist nowhere. There are some students who have a theoretical interest in all things video poker, but most attend the class to obtain information they can actually use to their benefit.
So I wrote an email to Paige, Growney, and Gaughan suggesting they modify their decision. The game that most of the pros play was DDB QQ, which returns 99.65%. Because of the high variance, that game generates LOTS more W2Gs than Bonus Poker (BP) QQ (99.55%) even if they were played the same amount --- which they aren't. Double Bonus (DB) QQ (also 99.55%) doesn't get a lot of play. Triple Double Bonus (TDB) QQ is a joke because it pays more playing five coins per line than six, and it's by far the lowest-returning game on the bank of machines.
If they've decided that DDB QQ has to go, so be it. But why change the pay schedules on the other games? The two best remaining games return the same amount as 9/6 Jacks or Better (essentially) and the casino still has hundreds of those games. And for those players who enjoy the game of Quick Quads (there are a lot of us who consider it fun), there would still be some decent pay schedules.
I told them the difference between the games on double point days was big (100.25% for DDB versus 100.15% for BP and DB). Giving up 40% of your edge is pretty significant for a strong player. I also said that if they were worried about me in particular, I'd stay away from Quick Quads and play other machines.
Plus, I told them, it gets me off the hook next Wednesday. I can teach 8/5 BP QQ. I would still have the DDB QQ class notes with me in case people wanted information about a game that wasn't going to be found anywhere, but the BP QQ class would be useful information about a pretty decent game (99.55%).
Okay, I was told. For the next several months they'll just downgrade the DDB QQ and keep the other ones as is. And they'll monitor the situation. If they eventually think they have to downgrade the other games as well, they will deal with that at that time.
So, this Wednesday's class will be BP QQ, and not DDB QQ. I'm posting that information where I can, including mentioning it on the radio. The flyers already in the hands of people will continue to say DDB, but I can't do anything about that.
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