Ed,
I'll take your argument a step further. I go to Vegas once a year and I play a lot of Video Poker and I also watch a lot of others play. If you would take 10 identically programmed machines and let 10 people play 100 hands each - each person would have a different amount of money afterwards. Whereas, if you would do the same thing with slot machines each person would have the same amount after 100 pulls. I don't know how much you could argue this is attributable to skill but there again how much would you have to prove. As you said, its all in what you keep or elect to discard.
A good personal example - when traveling this summer, we stopped at Casino Niagra on the Canadian side of the Falls. I was playing a $ poker machine that dealt me a heart flush (ace,king,queen,jack,three). I think most would have taken the $25 pay-off and moved on to the next hand, but I discarded the 3 and drew the 10 of hearts for the Royal Flush and $4000. Everyone plays just a little different.
I always like to ask people in Vegas how they are doing and the typical response is "oh , about even". I can honestly say that with a couple more Royal Flushes I will be "oh about even" for all my trips.(ggg)
BTW, an interesting point - when the machine deals you a hand it deals you 10 cards - the 5 you see and 5 more right underneath those. So in some respect your hand is predetermined, but then again, which are you going to keep?
Gary |
