Ask the Slot Expert: Playing with scared money

I've written in the past about an aspect of playing NSU that I don't like: There are a number of instances in which you sacrifice a paying hand to take a chance that you will get a better-paying hand. Every paytable has them, but NSU has more of them than other paytable strategies I've learned.

For example, say you are dealt 2 ♣ 5 ♣ 5 ♠ 7 ♠ 9 ♠. You have three-of-a-kind with the deuce and the pair of 5s. It seems like a good bet to hold those cards and see if you can improve them on the draw.

You can also hold the deuce and the spades for a 4-card double-inside straight flush and hope that you complete the straight flush or at least get a straight or at worst a three-of-a-kind. Well, three-of-a-kind isn't really the worst come. You could end up with nothing.

The proper play (according to EV) is to hold the 4-card straight flush and keep your fingers crossed. The EV of holding the three-of-a-kind is 1.888067 and the EV of holding the 4-card double-inside straight flush is 1.936170.

A casino at which I used to have elite status recently sent me some free play offers that were too good to refuse. As an added bonus, some of the offers were available on point multiplier days. It doesn't get any better than that.

I used some of my free play on slots before I eventually switched to playing a Triple Play quarter Illinois Deuces progressive. I liked being able to play Triple Play and getting a little boost if I happened to get a royal. (I haven't yet, but a lady playing next to me did.)

If I wasn't ahead, I planned to play until my expected loss equaled my free play offer or I reached my loss limit.

I did really well at the start of one session. I hit hands, high-paying hands, frequently. Alas, my good fortune did not last and I had to feed the machine a few times. With just a few dollars left of my final buy-in and still short of the number of hands I had planned to play, I received the hand above.

Should I take the sure thing and know that I'll be able to fund at least one more play or should I take a chance on the straight flush and risk possibly not winning anything on the play?

The situation reminded me of articles I've read about playing with scared money. You're playing with scared money when you're so nervous about losing that you make bad decisions. You might be playing with scared money because you're betting more than you're comfortable with or, as in my case, you're running out of money but you want to keep playing.

I ended up making the correct play for NSU and held the partial straight flush. I don't remember whether I got it or anything at all on the three hands.

There's something that makes this whole conundrum moot. Do you know what it is? There's a hint in the prior paragraph.

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

Update: I haven't pursued getting more non-smoking areas in the current Nevada state legislative session for a few reasons. First, there is so much uncertainty about what is going to come out of Washington, Nevada's state legislators are concerned with dealing with that fallout. Second, though it changes day to day, the trend seems to be that it is getting more likely that there will be some sort of economic slowdown ahead. The last thing we need is for casinos to create more non-smoking areas and then have casino revenues fall and then have them blame the non-smoking areas for the downturn. The possibility of economic troubles may also make them reluctant to change regulations at this time. Third, I don't know whether the current governor would support the legislation.

Let's continue collecting signatures for when the Nevada State Legislature meets again in two years, when I hope the climate will be more favorable for getting the measure introduced and passed.

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