Ask the Slot Expert: My bad luck at video poker can't last forever

My luck at NSU has been very bad the past few weeks. I rarely leave a machine with a profit or even a small loss. I've almost always had to quit because I’ve used up my session bankroll before reaching my point goal.

My first stop on a casino visit is to the cage to take out another marker -- at least it's my first stop when I don't have enough money from my last visit to fund this visit, and that's what's been happening just about every visit lately. You know you’ve been having a run of bad luck when the cashier not only recognizes you, but also asks if you need another marker AND knows the amount you want.

Bankroll replenished, I sat down at a machine to play NSU. My game plan was to use my free play offer first, then redeem points for more free play, and only then put cash into the machine. I’m trying to follow a new policy of redeeming points before putting more money in a machine.

I had gotten into the habit of always putting some money in a machine first because Station Casinos doesn’t really let you play your free play. After a play, their system credits you back with the amount you bet. So you need to have at least the amount you want to bet on your credit meter.

This casino lets you bet your free play, so I didn’t put any money in. I played my free play offer and, when that was gone, I redeemed my points. Then I disproved the rule that you never win anything on free play. I didn’t hit a royal or a set of deuces, but I did hit enough hands to get $1400 in action from $55 in free play. I thought I might finally break even on a session or -- Dare I dream? -- have a profit.

My luck reverted to bad once I started playing with my own money. I got only $400 in action from each of the two C-notes I put in the machine.

I put another hundy in the machine and it warmed up for me again. I hit five-of-a-kind back-to-back followed by a dirty royal. I hit a couple more dirty royals and plenty of other hands and was able to reach my point goal before I hit my loss limit for the first time in a while.

I had $600 on my credit meter. I thought about quitting if I went down to $300. That would cover the $300 I put in the machine and I would break even. I thought about quitting if I could reach $800 to cover the $300 I had put in plus $500 to fund another session. I also thought about shooting for my maximum point goal -- playing 2000 hands.

It's amazing how quickly your credit meter can go from $600 down to $300 on NSU. Do I quit now and take the break even? My choice was between walking away or making a bet on which I had the advantage (a very small advantage, admittedly). The mathematically better choice for the long run is to make the bet. I continued playing.

I smelled smoke little while later. A man playing a nearby Buffalo machine was smoking. I see so few smokers now in the casinos I play in that it really stands out when someone is smoking. The only action most ash trays see are players putting them on top of machines and slot custodians putting them back down.

I was going to bail, but I hoped that he might not be there long. Many slot players are hunters and not nesters. He might leave soon. I played slowly to preserve my credit meter. The man finished his cigarette and then left.

New plan. I’ll stick around and even feed the machine again if I have to. After all, I have a small advantage.

I didn’t have to put more money in the machine. I was dealt the ten of diamonds, two unrelated cards, and the ace and queen of diamonds. I held the three diamonds, pressed Draw and up popped the jack and king of diamonds.

I've ended up with so many 4-card royals after being dealt a 3-card royal the past few weeks that I was really surprised when I finally got both of the cards I needed.

I was also surprised when only one person did the handpay. I asked about that and he said that one person can handle a handpay now if it’s below a certain amount. Most handpays are solo handpays now.

This change could have happened months ago. The most recent taxable jackpot I had hit was at the end of last year on a machine that supported Instant Jackpot. (Instant Jackpot is Boyd's system for letting the system pay your credit meter and sending you an aggregate W-2G at the end of the year instead of hand-paying and giving you a W-2G for each taxable jackpot.)

If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.