Losing Days and When to Quit in Video Poker

Losing Streaks

It happens to everybody who is a gambler: those dry spells when you just keep on losing. Which game you play makes no difference. It may be a human-versus-human game like Omaha Holdem, a game of chance like roulette, or a game of skill like blackjack. You will still have losing days. Video poker is no exception and you must accept that fact if you intend to play this game for a living.

Not many understand that losing streaks are a normal part of gambling. A lot of people would suspect "bad luck," rigging or fixing, or even divine intervention. Yet the reality is consecutive losses are as much a fact of life as bad weather and hiccups. A game can turn out one way or the other. There is no telling what will happen next, no karma or divine machination is involved and no way to avoid it. It is chance, and if there is one thing certain about chance, it's that the result is unpredictable.

When to Quit?

If you're a smart player, you no doubt have asked the question, "When is the right time to quit?" There is no sure answer to this. If gamblers could only tell when the next losing streak was coming, we would know when to quit. But no one knows the answer.

A good rule of thumb is to quit when you have either met your target winnings or lost too much without winning. This means defining a specific loss-limit like 25% of your trip bankroll, or a win-limit like 100% of the same bankroll. As said earlier, we all have dry spells. If you are on a losing streak, a loss-limit can make the difference between going home broke and surviving for another day. And if you're winning, a win-limit can protect you from the greed.

Dry Spells and Strategy

On average, a full house is hit approximately every 90 hands or so. If you don't hit a full house or a flush for much longer than this, you may be in a dry spell or losing streak. What do you do then? The worst thing you can do is to abandon your strategy for that game and pay table. This is when strategy matters most in video poker as correct strategy minimizes your losses. If you stick to your strategy, the flush or full house will pay bigger when you finally hit it.

What's more, a dry spell is no reason to quit a video poker machine hoping to find a "looser" one. A video poker machine isn't tight just because you aren't winning; the odds are the same for each hand no matter what happens and the next deal is as likely to hit a four of a kind as any other. Besides, there are no loose or tight video poker consoles unlike slots. The only thing that changes is the pay table.

So the next time you have a losing streak, don't let it bother you. It's part of the game, get used to it and ride it out until a big win occurs.