How to maximize fun
Pub Date: 1/1/2003
Gaming observers agree that video keno and poker are among the most popular casino games ever invented, not just in Montana, but in gaming venues throughout the world.
As of the fall of 2004, there were 8,410 keno machines permitted, 4,067 video poker devices were licensed and 4,675 were licensed to run both games.
But whichever game you choose, remember two things: First, It's entertainment and, second, gaming should be conducted within your budget, just like you allocate money for your household or business expenses.
The only way to, not necessarily win, but to enjoy the game to the maximum and be entertained for longer periods of time is to develop a goal-oriented strategy. You won't necessarily win a jackpot, but you will enjoy yourself for a longer period of time. And enjoying yourself is what It's all about.
Most people who play video gaming machines regularly will tell you to look at each game as a single event. Each individual poker hand or keno card is completely unrelated to those that came before and those that will follow, although many players enjoy fantasizing that it is otherwise.
In fact, when you push the start button, you reveal a hand or set of keno numbers that were selected at the end of the previous play. When the machine displays those results, it then picks the numbers or cards called "the stack" for the next game to be played.
That's right: the numbers or cards are already chosen randomly by the machine before you start the game. In this way, you can be sure your actions have no effect on the pure randomness of the machine's picks or cards dealt. Neither can "the house" change or alter odds on any combinations, picks or hands: those algorithms and codes are "burned" into an off-limits computer chip that is "resident" to a particular machine.
Whatever game you choose, however, generally has four play phases.
Nearly everyone who sits on a stool perched in front of a video keno or poker machine has his winning poker hand or keno card etched in his mind before he even inserts his wager in the receptacle. Once you visualize that poker hand or keno card, you're already feeling the excitement of potentially winning that $800 jackpot. That's the first phase.
The second phase of play usually ends your state of anticipation when you see that you've been dealt a pair of fours with the remaining cards unmatched, or that only two of the six keno numbers you've picked has been drawn. If you're a keno player, the jig's up. But, depending on the pay table, with a three of six, you'll at least get your wager back and live to play another game.
In poker, however, you have a decision to make. Just for discussion purposes, and to make this exercise a bit more interesting, let's say that you've been dealt a six, a queen of hearts, an ace of hearts and two fours.
The machine's computer, in all likelihood, will advise you to hold the two fours with the expectation that you'll discard the six, the queen and the ace. The machine assumes that you will then draw three new cards with which you will hope to embellish your pair of fours.
Your possibilities are two pair (fours and something else), three of a kind (you draw one more four), or a full house (you draw one more four and two other matching cards or you draw three matching cards to go with your fours) or four of a kind.
Under most pay tables, two pair will give you your initial bet back'; three fours will pay you 3-1'; a full house will pay 8-1 and four fours will pay you 50-1.
Any way you cut it, the computer's advice based on very precise odds calculations has been sound. If you choose to ignore the computer's recommendations and keep the ace and queen of hearts, you could draw against the odds a king, jack and 10 of hearts. Eureka! You cash in with an $800 jackpot if you've wagered $1.25 or more.
On the other hand, matching the ace or queen you already have will give you back your investment in a "jacks or better" game. You even could hit a straight flush that will pay you up to 100-1.
Are you better off by taking the computer's advice? The decision is up to you. But your chances of staying in the game are much more likely if you try to draw to the pair of fours, heeding the computer's calculations.
Either way, whether you are a keno or a poker player, the final hand has been dealt or the card has been played and you now have another decision to make.
That's phase three. Do you stop or do you continue? If you decide to continue, do you stay where you are or try your luck at another machine? That's the advantage of video gaming over live games.
The next poker hand or the next keno card will have no relationship whatsoever to your last game. Your options are to quit now, move to another machine or keep playing the same one.
Is your goal to win the big jackpot or is it to maximize your fun and entertainment, particularly if you're playing on the house's money?
Are you ahead if you won the big jackpot or do you consider yourself a winner if you've spent your allotted budget and have enjoyed two hours of solid entertainment?
Losers play far too long without any goals or purpose, including sticking to a budget. The only positive reward they receive is the good feeling they get when they first sit in front of the machine and imagine that fantasy poker hand or keno card.
Your most important goal in playing the machines is to stay within the budget you set for yourself before you began playing. Winning the big jackpot can be an exciting experience, but if you don't win it, you can still have fun.
Part of the art of successful gaming is knowing that you, not the machine, are in control of your expenditures.
It's kind of like the old Kenny Rogers song. "you've got to know when to hold them'; know when to fold them'; know when to walk, and know when to run."
Source: Gaming Player Magazine, published summer of 2002 by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.