I never thought that there was a way to cheat at video poker and I certainly never imagined that it would take a court of law to prove it. But recent developments have proven me wrong and I can now appreciate what happened to me and my wife several years ago in Laughlin Nevada.
That’s when, after getting ‘black balled’ from the River Palms Casino, we played our way into The Edgewater Casino. It was before they removed all of the full pay video poker machines so we generally did very well. Of course we are advantage players so once in a while the stars would align and we would have exceptionally good sessions. On one occasion we just couldn’t do any wrong while playing NSUD (Not So Ugly Deuces) at the 50 cent level.
We were hitting four deuces about every 30 minutes or so and I also hit two royal flushes within the same three hour period. We could do no wrong. I was collecting TITOS (ticket in/ticket out slips) for the Deuces like crazy and sticking them into my shirt pocket – that’s $500 on each ticket! By the time we were ready to cash out I had collected nine $500 TITOS and another for $1,000 from a Wheel Of Fortune win.
So at the cashier’s cage I ‘dealt’ the TITOS out one by one so there was no mistake. As an advantage player I knew not to act braggardly about it because I don’t like to call needless attention to myself. But still, the sheer volume of tickets must have raised a flag with the cashier. His eyes were squinting, his lips would purse a little and he would glance quickly, back and forth, between the tickets and me. I could tell that he was suspicious.
Then came the questions. “What machine were you playing ?”, he asked. He wasn’t smiling. I could tell by the way that he looked at me and his tone that this wasn’t a casual question.
“Deuces. Right over there”, I pointed to the bank of machines. My face might have turned a little red but I didn’t want him to think that I was defensive. After all, I am an advantage video poker player.
Then came the bomb. “Are you cheating?” Shit. I was so tired. I was already in a fog from playing so long and it was late. What the hell was going on here?
All I said was, “No. How do you cheat?”
He looked me in the eye for a second then he motioned for his boss. I was feeling a little nervous but at the same time I knew that I had done nothing wrong. They exchanged a few words, his boss initialed the payout, and we were on our way with our $5,500. But what the hell happened back there? We kept shaking our heads and asking ourselves, it’s video poker -how can you you cheat at video poker?
Years later – today as a matter of fact – while reading a story in Wired Magazine, I would find how to cheat at video poker – and have the charges brought by the casino dropped!
John Kane was on a hell of a winning streak. On July 3, 2009, he walked alone into the high-limit room at the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas and sat down at a video poker machine called the Game King. Six minutes later the purple light on the top of the machine flashed, signaling a $4,300 jackpot. Kane waited while the slot attendant verified the win and presented the IRS paperwork—a procedure required for any win of $1,200 or greater—then, 11 minutes later, ding ding ding!, a $2,800 win. A $4,150 jackpot rolled in a few minutes after that.
All the while, the casino’s director of surveillance, Charles Williams, was peering > READ MORE
Pretty sad that just winning g 5500 dollars makes them think you’re cheating. In other words the machines are basically set to make winning even a somewhat small amount so unlikely that someone working there thinks it’s impossible to do legally.
Although he shouldn’t have said that to me, it was a lot of tickets to cash in all at one time. Most were $500 from hitting multiple deuces on a somewhat rare 50 cent machine.
I would really like to know what my chances are at winning at video poker. That is my game?
Slim to none, unless you find rare pay tables and can play perfectly.
I really would like to win big if it true show me the magic
Please help me I need to win big