#ulog (86) The Low-end Gambling Life -- Sep. 8, 2018

This Steemit ulog is a series of posts based on my day-to-day gambling activities. Basically, I summarize my results and possibly add notes or observations based on what happened on a given day at casinos. You the reader, should feel free to ask any questions or provide any feedback in the comments.

Next-day delays in posting are common due to having no stable schedules in my line of work.

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Category Definitions

I split my results into categories based on the type of game and opportunity to make a profit. These categories are:

• Core video poker: These are video poker games/machines that either has a player edge built-in, or which flips the edge from the house's favor into the player's favor when a promotion is applied. If the game has a progressive on the royal flush and/or other hands, the edge is based on the jackpot(s) being at its reset value. In the absence of any other extraordinary opportunities to capitalize on, I expect to spend most of my gambling time on core video poker games.

• Other video poker: All other video poker games that are not part of my normal repertoire (e.g. progressive video poker games with excessively high jackpots).

• Slot opportunities: Slot machines where I know of or perceive an edge in the player's favor. This edge will always be a temporary one except under the most extraordinary of circumstances. Depending on the opportunity, a slot session could be over in just seconds or take several hours to complete.

• Other gambles: Everything else. It could be results from trying out a new slot machine, or playing other games such as video keno.

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Summary Of The Day's Results

I visited two casinos and have aggregated their results.

Core video poker: Played one single-line machine at $5/hand for about 45 minutes and finished at +$300.

Other video poker: none

Slot opportunities: none

Other gambles: Tried out a new video slot to see its game mechanics at work, and finished at -$20.

Total: +$280 for the day 👍

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Notes/Observations For The Day

I cut the video poker session short due to spending some time discussing recent changes in the gambling environment with a friend, and because I was running very poorly for the game that I was playing. Excluding the premium hands, I was expecting to drop 6% on the game that I played (i.e. 94% expected return). Instead, I dropped over 15% (i.e. less than 85% actual return on the session after removing premium hands).