Professional Video Poker Player

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Video poker offers multiple advantages over other gambling games. You don't have to deal with pit. Everyone's video poker strategy is a little different, but most video poker players agree that maximum bets are always the best play. There's an entire type of online video poker real money machines, called a progressive payout machine, that only pays out the highest jackpots to maximum bets. Steve Bourie, interviews video poker expert Bob Dancer about How to Become a Professional Video Poker Player. Bob has won more than one million dollars playi. Professional Video Poker Players Need a Combination of Skills to be Successful. Of course, becoming a professional video poker player is a rather long way as well as a quite difficult one. So you will not only win, but lose as well. And in order to minimize the losses, meet several useful tips. Find out the RTP.

Video poker is a house-banked game that actually gives you a chance to win long-term profits. This is rare and different from any other casino game.

Card counters, shuffle trackers, and ace sequencers can also beat the house. But the casino doesn't willingly offer these players a chance to beat them.

Instead, players need to develop an advantage through techniques that the casino frowns upon. And if the casino identifies you as a card counter or shuffle tracker, they'll throw you out.

Other forms of gambling that can be beaten include daily fantasy sports, poker, and sports betting. The catch is that you're competing against humans or a sportsbook line, rather than a traditional house edge.

Video poker contrasts all of these because the casino voluntarily puts certain machines on the floor that can be beaten. These include the following games.

  • Full-pay Loose Deuces Poker = 100.97% payback
  • Downtown Deuces = 100.92%
  • Full-pay Deuces Wild = 100.76%
  • Full-pay Joker Poker = 100.64%
  • 10/7 Double Bonus = 100.17%
  • Super Bonus Deuces Wild = 100.13%
  • 10/6 Double Double Bonus = 100.07%

Loose Deuces, Downtown Deuces, Deuces Wild, and Joker Poker are the only games that offer a realistic chance to become a professional video poker player.

This is an attractive idea because the casino won't ban you like a card counter or other advantage player. Furthermore, you don't have to dedicate an endless amount of time to gaining an edge over other players or the sportsbook.

Many people think that any kind of professional gambling is a lucrative activity, including advantage video poker. But you'll be surprised to know certain aspects about video poker pros and their hourly earnings.

I'm going to discuss these surprising factors below, along with what goes into being a video poker pro.

1- Professional Video Poker Players Need a Combination of Skills to be Successful

The first thing that you may not realize about video poker pros is just how hard it is to become one.

You need to blend several traits to make money with video poker on a regular basis. I'll cover each one of these skills in depth below.

Fast Play Rate

One of the biggest things that people underestimate with regard to professional video poker players is how quickly they play.

You don't make much money per video poker hand when playing. If you bet $1.25 (five quarters) on a full-pay Loose Deuces machine, then you'll theoretically win back 1.2 cents with perfect strategy.

This obviously isn't very much money, which is why pros play so fast

Anything over 800 hands is considered a speedy play rate. This equals $9.60 in hourly profits on full-pay Loose Deuces with flawless strategy.

The best video poker players can play 1,000 hands per hour, which leads to $12.00 hourly profit on Loose Deuces.

Of course, it takes a tremendous amount of practice and experience to achieve this play rate. The pros also look for good comps to further increase their hourly profits.

Large Bankroll and Good Bankroll Management

Video poker machines feature pay tables with a wide range of payouts. This includes a 4,000-coin royal flush payout for players who bet 5 coins per turn.

The only catch is that video poker machines don't deliver these huge prizes often. In fact, you only have around 1 in 40,000 odds of getting a royal flush.

Considering that you need a royal to complete your payout cycle and win long-term money, you need a big bankroll to last this long. The bigger your bankroll, the more confident you can be in not losing everything when trying to become a pro.

I suggest that you have at least a $4,000 bankroll before embarking on a professional career with quarter machines. You need an even larger bankroll if you find a dollar machine with high payback.

Minimize Errors

Nobody who plays video poker for any considerable amount of time plays mistake-free. This is especially the case as you begin playing faster and going for a higher win rate.

But the goal is to minimize your errors as much as possible when playing. The key is to start slowly and build your way up to playing video poker at a quicker rate.

You should start with making the right play on each hand, no matter how long it takes. From here, you can reach for short-term goals of playing 50 more hands per hour.

If you continue meeting these goals again and again, you'll eventually reach 800+ hands an hour.

Support at Home

Do you have a spouse or significant other? Do you have a family with children?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, then you also need to worry about having support at home before chasing a video poker career.

This is a highly underrated aspect that many people don't think about with regard to video poker pros. But professionals absolutely must have support from their family or significant other before beginning this journey.

First off, serious players spend countless hours in the casinos grinding out profits. Then there's the matter of inconsistent earnings in comparison to a normal job.

Your family/partner needs to be okay with the uncertainty in video poker and long hours spent away from home.

Tolerance for the Tedious

Many gamblers fantasize about making a good living through video poker or another game. But few realize just how boring it is to play hand after hand.

It's you against the machine for countless hours. You may occasionally talk to a nearby player, but video poker is a solitary activity for the most part.

Professional Video Poker Player

Sociable people won't enjoy being a pro player. But anybody who doesn't mind spending hours alone should be fine with this aspect.

Willingness to Improve

None of this means anything if a video poker player isn't willing to put the time in to improve their skills.

A great way for new video poker players to improve is by starting with Jacks or Better. Four reasons why I suggest a new player begins here include:

  1. 9/6 Jacks or Better (9 coins for full house/6 for flush) pays back 99.54%
  2. Jacks or Better has the simplest pay table
  3. All video poker games are derivatives of Jacks or Better
  4. You can practice strategy with free video poker trainers, which point out mistakes as you play

The only problem with developing your skills on Jacks or Better is that it doesn't offer over 100% payback. This is great in terms of all casino games, but it doesn't cut things for advantage players.

Once somebody becomes good at an easier non-advantage video poker machine, they should graduate towards one of the games I covered in the introduction.

Unfortunately, free video poker trainers don't cover positive expectation (+EV) games like Downtown Deuces, Deuces Wild, and Joker Poker. Instead, you need to purchase software like Video Poker for Winners (VideoPokerforWinners.com) or WinPoker (Amazon.com) to practice these games.

The reason why is because they have customizable pay tables that allow you to practice any video poker machine. Contrast this to free video poker trainers, which only cover a handful of variations.

Important:

Buying software is just a small part of the battle. You also have to practice for hours until you develop a machine-like ability to make the right decisions.

Even when you become a really good player, you should still go back and practice with your trainer. This keeps your skills sharp and ensures that you're not making small mistakes.

Volatility Proof

One more thing that people don't always think about with regard to professional video poker player is volatility, or how short-term results fluctuate from the statistical average.

This is exactly why you need a big bankroll to be successful in video poker. Royal flushes, straight flushes, and 4 of a kinds don't come around often.

This creates tremendous volatility in regard to your short-term winnings.

You could get lucky and hit a royal flush with 10,000 hands. But you could just as easily be waiting for 70,000 hands.

You need to properly prepare with a large bankroll and be willing to ride out the losing streaks until you hit the big payouts.

2- Finding the Right Video Poker Machines and Comps Is Hard

Most casinos don't have +EV video poker machines because they don't want to give advantage players an easier chance to beat them. The best that you'll do in many cases is a 9/6 Jacks or Better game or a Not So Ugly Ducks machine (99.73% payback).

Another problem is that online casinos don't offer +EV games. This means you have to live in a land-based casino area with the highest-paying video poker machines to be a pro.

The best way to find places with good video poker is vpFREE2.com. This website lets you search different areas of North America to see what video poker machines are offered.

Here's an example.

  • I visit the 'Casinos' tab at the top
  • I select the 'Las Vegas' option
  • The site displays a number of casinos and the different video poker games they have
  • I can see that several casinos offer full-pay Deuces Wild and Joker Poker
  • El Cortez features a game called Downtown Deuces, which has 100.92% payback

Looking at the other tabs on vpFREE2, I can't find a casino outside of Nevada that has +EV video poker. This means that any aspiring professional must live in the Silver State to be a full-time pro.

Many casual gamblers and/or people who don't play video poker may think that you can find the best games anywhere. But if vpFREE2 is completely accurate, then all of the top-paying games are located in Nevada.

Note:

Taking advantage of the best video poker machines is only part of it. You also need to find a solid comp rate to boost your winnings.

This has become tougher in today's casino climate because gambling establishments are stingier with rewards. The reason why is because gambling resorts have shifted their focus to all-around entertainment.

But Las Vegas again saves the day since they have some casinos that are primarily dedicated to gambling. Furthermore, the same casinos offer good rewards to video poker players.

El Cortez has one of the best reputations for delivering comps to gamblers. Combine this with the fact that they offer Downtown Deuces, and El Cortez is a hot spot for serious video poker players.

You especially want to play at generous casinos when they're offering double and triple points. Commonly offered on holidays and other special occasions, increased points boost your winnings by a significant margin.

The first thing that you need to do before receiving rewards in a land-based casino is sign up for the slots club. This gives you a card that can be used on any video poker machine you play.

Important:

Most land-based casinos comp video poker players at a rate worth 0.1% of their total wagers. Many beginning players are surprised by how little comps they receive.

But the pros fully expect to earn low rewards with video poker due to the +EV aspect. Some casinos even offer 0.05% or 0.025% comp rates when players are on +EV machines.

The obvious reason why is because they don't want to comp advantage players too much. But you may not have to deal with this if you shop around casinos with +EV to find the best rate.

3- Hourly Video Poker Winnings Aren't Great

I've seen accounts from video poker players who claim to have made/make over $100,000 per year. Bob Dancer, who is the most famous video poker player, says that he earned $250,000 per year at one point, including VIP rewards.

Maybe this was possible at one point when there were +EV dollar coin denomination games, which I can't find anywhere on vpFREE. But the average video poker pro doesn't earn a high pay rate today.

Here's an example that assumes you play on a Downtown Deuces game and satisfy the following conditions.

  • Perfect 100.92% payback
  • 1,000 hands per hour
  • $1.25 bet size
  • 1,000 x 1.25 = $1,250 gambled per hour
  • 1,250 x 0.0092 edge = $11.50 in profits per hour
  • 0.001 comp rate
  • 1,250 hands x 0.001 = $1.25 in comps per hour
  • $11.50 + $1.25 = $12.75

Even with perfect play, a speedy hand rate, great machine, and 0.1% comp rate, you'd only be earning $12.75 per hour. This is barely above minimum wage in the US.

Is it really worth dedicating so much time and effort to making such a small amount of money? Especially for a solitary and thankless job?

I venture to say that few people will say yes. The only thing that truly makes becoming a video poker pro feasible is if you can find a dollar coin denomination game.

In this case, your earnings would skyrocket to $51 an hour. This is more in line with what people expect when they think of a professional video poker player.

But again, I can't find any good +EV games with a dollar denomination on vpFREE2.com. Perhaps they exist in some downtown Vegas casino, but this would require a lot of work and effort on your part to find.

Conclusion

The biggest misconception about professional video poker is that it's a lucrative opportunity, just like card counting, DFS, poker, or sports betting.

Pros in these games can make hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in a year

Video poker, on the other hand, doesn't pay much over $10 an hour for the average pro.

You can increase this amount by taking advantage of double and triple points promotions. And you'll earn far more with a dollar-denomination Downtown Deuces, Deuces Wild, or Joker Poker game.

But the problem is that it's rare if not impossible to find a dollar denomination game with these variations. Another drawback is that casinos only run double and triple points promotions on certain days.

Don't even get me started on how difficult it is to improve your speed rate and limit your mistakes. This challenge is worth dozens of dollars per hour, which video poker does doesn't pay.

I'm not saying this to discourage you from trying to become a professional video poker player. You're more than welcome to pursue this path if you love the game and casino environment.

But the main takeaway here is to be aware of how little the average video poker player earns. Casinos are stingier with comps and +EV video poker machines than ever before.

Recommended Reading:

I suggest that you stick with playing video poker for fun and the challenge. In this case, you can still have fun on any video poker machine with over 99% payback.

But if your goal is to become a successful advantage player who makes a good living through gambling, then dedicate your time to more lucrative pursuits like card counting, poker, and sports betting.

by Steve Bourie Learn more about the author read more »

Anyone who's played video poker for any length of time has probably heard stories of professional players who can consistently beat the casinos. But, is itreally true? Are there actually players out there who can do that? Well, yes there are and I was fortunate enough to track down one professional video poker player who agreed to an interview togive me some insight into his lifestyle and how it came about.

My inital meeting with Johnny Chung (not his real name) was at a restaurant in a 'locals' casino in Las Vegas in November 1998. I ransome general video poker questions past him and it was quickly obvious that he was an extremely knowledgeable player. He lives not far from Las Vegas with his wife and two daughters and reliessolely on his gambling winnings to make his living.

Keep in mind that I didn't ask to see his bank accounts to verify his income but I did check with other knowledgeable players and I am very confident that his story is true. Two monthsafter our first meeting I conducted the following interview by telephone from my home in Florida.

How did you originally get involved in gambling?

Chung: The first time I came to Las Vegas was to play blackjack during the early ‘70s. I would come on the weekends and I was strictly a card counter back then.

Were you successful at it?

Chung: Not as much as I could have been, if I had really concentrated on it.

So, you were just doing this for fun and trying to make a little extra money?

Chung: Yes, and I only played single deck. I didn't try to count multiple decks. Then, when the video poker machines started coming out in the early ‘80s, I thought it was a lot easier to makemoney off those than it was from the blackjack games. I started studying them and I began playing them on weekends too.

Did you stop playing blackjack then?

Chung: Pretty much so. It was too hard and the main hassle was that they always shuffled up on you or they kicked you out. I didn't like that.

Did you ever try to disguise yourself at the blackjack tables?

Chung: No. It seemed to be too much trouble for me and the return didn't seem to be enough.

When those first machines came out, was it generally known that there were some machines that you could make money from?

Chung: Not really. You kind of had to hand-calculate the returns and I just made estimates. That was really before they had computers and the software that could analyze the games.

What kind of machines were you playing back then?

Chung: Jacks or better progressives.

8/5 (8 coins for a full house/5 coins for a flush) progressives?

Chung: 8/5 and 9/6 progressives.

Were you just playing if the jackpot was above a certain amount that made it a positive expectation machine?

Chung: Yes.

So, you discovered that if you only played progressive machines when the jackpot was above a certain amount, you had a theoretical advantage?

Chung: Yes. Actually, it was Stanford Wong who first started publishing books about the progressives and what levels the jackpots had to be at in order to win.

That was Professional Video Poker? His book that's still out now?

Chung: Yes, I think it's been revised since then, but originally he was the first one who published anything about it. Then in the late ‘80s some other books started coming out along withcomputer software that really let you analyze every game, so you could see exactly what the payback was and also what the strategy was for every game.

But you still weren't trying to make a living fromvideo poker at this point?

Chung: No, up until 1994, I was just playing on weekends and I would drive there from my home in California.

What happened in 1994?

Chung: Basically, the aerospace industry fell apart and my company laid off everybody.

Then you had the option of going out and finding another job?

Chung: Well, I saw it coming and I knew I was just going to play video poker full time as soon as I was laid off.

When the big change came, what happened? Did you pack up and move to Las Vegas?

Chung: Yes. The whole family: my wife and two daughters. When I first moved here I lived right next to the Santa Fe Hotel in North Las Vegas. We only moved out here to our new home about a yearago.

Were you successful right away?

Chung: Yes, the first year I made about $80,000 and the next two years about the same. Last year was the best: about $135,000.

What's the worst year you ever had?

Chung: Well, full time $80,000.

Did you ever have a year when you lost money?

Chung: No, never even had a month.

Is this a full-time a job for you? How much time do you put in?

Chung: 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

So it's like a regular job?

Chung: Well, I can vary that however I want, depending on the conditions. If I find an especially good machine I will play more.

Do you work on the weekends?

Chung: If there's a special promotion that gets me an added return, I might.

How do you find out about these special promotions?

Chung: Newspaper ads, or friends of mine. We have a message beeper network where we leave messages for each other about what the best plays are and everything.

So there are other people who do this besides yourself?

Chung: Yes, I would say, in Nevada, maybe 25 people do this full-time for a living and maybe another couple hundred part-time.

Are there professional video poker players in other states?

Chung: Well, I haven't seen anyone outside Nevada I would consider a full time professional.

Besides Las Vegas are there other places to play professionally? How about Reno?

Chung: If there are professionals who live there, I don't know who they are. I've been up there and I don't think there are enough machines there to sustain them full time.

So, as far as you know, the only people doing this are the ones around Las Vegas?

Chung: Yes, but there are also some who do it by traveling to a few other good spots around the country.

What is a typical day like for you? Where do you go to play?

Chung: Right now I have three places that I go to where the best machines are. I really don't want to say what they are, but it's the same game in three different places and I just split up theaction among the three places.

These are machines that return more than 100%?

Chung: Yes, 103.2%, plus cash back too.

That's it? Those are the only machines you play?

Chung: Right. Generally, what I do now is play until I get a royal flush in one place then I go to one of the other two places because I don't want to get too many royals at the same place.

You don't spend all your time going to those three places every single day, do you?

Chung: Well, right now, yes. That's the way conditions are now, but it's not always that way.

But, if there's a special promotion somewhere, would you go there instead?

Chung: Yes.

And you find out about those specials by either reading the newspaper or from your friends?

Chung: Yes, and sometimes the casino will also send you monthly newsletters that tell you about these specials.

When do you decide that it's best to leave Las Vegas and go around the country to try other places?

Chung: Mainly when there is nothing in Nevada that's over about 102%. That's what I try to play as a minimum return - 102%. That will give me about $35 to $40 an hour.

On quarters or dollars?

Chung: On quarters.

Do you ever play $1 or $5 machines?

Chung: Not really, because fluctuations are a lot higher on those machines, plus you won't find nearly as many games offering the higher payback percentages.

So you would prefer to play quarter machines?

Chung: Yes. Unless you find an exceptional play on a dollar machine, which is very unlikely. About the only thing I've played on dollars is Williams Blackjack.

If you found a quarter machine with a 102% payback, and you also found that same machine at the dollar level, would youstill prefer to play the quarter machine?

Chung: It depends what the game was and what kind of fluctuations you could expect in that game, but generally speaking that's probably true. But, you also have the additional problem with thedollar machines that you get tax forms on the royal flushes and you have to report that to the IRS.

One thing I've always heard about professional video poker players is that they would rather play a $5 machine, than a quarter machine, assuming they had the same paytable, because theprofit per hour is much higher.

Chung: Yes. Except, it's something you get frequent tax forms on and you have to wait about a half-hour hour for each one. Plus, you need a lot larger bankroll to play the higher machine.

Have your ever played $5 machines?

Chung: No, I've never played a $5 machine. You hardly ever find one that's above 100% to begin with, and if it is, it usually doesn't last for very long.

The machines you're playing now are 103%, but if they take those machines out and the video poker inventory become bad, you would then decide to go somewhere else in thecountry?

Chung: Yes, I would.

But do you know ahead of time when you are going to these places that there is good video poker there?

Chung: Yes, I pretty much know ahead of time before I go.

And how do you find that out?

Chung: I know a couple of people back there that keep me posted on what's happening. Right now Bettendorf, Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri are the only places that have enough to make it worthtraveling to. One has blackjack machines and the other has video poker. You could probably make about $40 to $50 an hour, but you could do the same thing here, so there's no reason to travelright now.

How often do you leave Las Vegas to travel around the country?

Chung: Well, last year I did it a lot because there was very little in Las Vegas, but now there's quite a bit, so I probably won't be going anywhere for a while.

Is there a certain kind of machine that opened up in Las Vegas that made it better?

Chung: Well, yes. There are certain types of games now.

You don't want to mention the game?

Chung: There are two games actually. I can mention one because everybody knows about it. It isn't the one I'm playing, but it's the one I would play if something happens to the other one. It'sthe quadruple deal Odyssey machine.

There are three or four places here that have them with full-pay jokers. It's a 101% game and 101% on that is the same as playing about 103% on a regular machine because you can get three timesas many hands.

You don't like full-pay deuces on those machines?

Chung: Well the joker's a higher pay back. It's 101% and the deuces is 100.7%.

How much time did you spend outside of Las Vegas last year?

Chung: Last year was virtually 11 months out of 12.

It was that bad?

Chung: Yes.

What do you play when you go to these other places?

Chung: In Kansas City I played All American video poker. That was a 103% game. Then in Illinois and Iowa I played $1 Williams blackjack.

Are those machines still around?

Chung: There are a few of the Williams blackjack games still around, but on the All American video poker they changed the payoffs, so they're only 100.7% now instead of 103%.

What was the big advantage on those Williams blackjack machines? They allowed early surrender?

Chung: Yes, it was a single-deck game with early surrender and doubling only allowed on 10 or 11. That makes it a 100.35% game (against perfect basic strategy), plus the cash back.

Could you double after a split?

Chung: No. In fact, you couldn't re-split. Dealer stood on soft 17. And if you got six cards it was an automatic winner. The early surrender was the big difference. You could surrender on yourfirst two cards against a 10 or an ace. So, even if the dealer had a blackjack, you still got half your bet back.

That's the game they used to have in Atlantic City when they first opened the casinos?

Professional Poker Players List

Chung: Yes. It's about a break even game at six decks. With single deck it's about a .35% edge for the player, plus many of those casinos had a lot of cash back along with it too.

So you did well on those machines?

Chung: Yes, I made about $50,000 on those by themselves.

Don't the casinos find out that these machines are beatable?

Chung: Well, eventually, just by the amount of money they lose. I guess if the company that makes the game tells them the payback is less than 100% they believe them for a long time, even ifthey're losing money on them. Finally, they have to come to the conclusion, after they lose a couple of hundred thousand dollars, that the company was wrong.

Don't you think that most people don't pay properly and they can't achieve those paybacks and the casinos probably still make money on those machines?

Chung: With the quarter machines you might be right and that's why a lot of the quarter ones are still there. But the dollar ones attract the pro's.

Professional Video Poker Players Advice

When you go out to play do you think you're going to win money every day? You must have bad days.

Chung: Last year there were 262 winning days and 58 losing days.

So you keep a log every day?

Chung: Yes.

What's the worst losing streak you have ever had?

Chung: About $3,500.

That's in quarters?

Chung: That's in dollars too. But, remember it's only blackjack I play in dollars and there are a lot less fluctuations in blackjack because you don't have to wait for any rare hands to win.

How long did it take you to lose $3,500?

Chung: Oh, probably 3, 4 or 5 days. If you lose that much it's usually over a period of time. Any longer than that and it's going to come back up.

That doesn't seem like that much money to lose in 4 or 5 days.

Chung: Well, all I can say is that I‘m a lot more conservative when I play than most of the pros and by playing video blackjack I've had a lot fewer bad days than I would have with video pokeralone.

Do you put a limit on your losses? Say if you lose $1,000 you stop for the day?

Chung: No, I just play for as many hours as I want to play.

So, when you start your eight hour day, if it's 9 o'clock in the morning, you decide you're going to play video poker and you're not going to stop until 5 o'clock no matter whathappens?

Chung: Yes. There's no sense in stopping. I try to play my game so the expected win is about $300 a day. Total money times percentage makes about $300.

But you don't stop when you hit the $300? You keep playing?

Chung: Yes, for 8 hours or so. I try and look for a game that would have an expected return of at least $300 for eight hours of play.

So, if it's a 103% game and you're putting . . .

Chung: Eight hours and 1,000 hands would be 8,000 hands x $1.25 a hand. So, it's $10,000 x 3% which is $300.

So, if you started playing at 9 a.m. and at 10:30 you hit a royal you wouldn't stop? You just say it's part of your overall win and keep going?

Chung: Yes, and I've hit seven in one day.

Seven in one day? That's pretty good!

Chung: Yes, that was unusual. I've had quite a few where I've hit three in a day but seven was unusual.

What's the longest you've gone when you haven't hit a royal?

Chung: Well, not counting all the time I was playing the blackjack machines, probably about two weeks.

How many hands do you play an hour?

Chung: On one machine about 1,000; two machines about 1,400.

1,000 hands an hour? That's pretty fast!

Chung: Yes. You have to hit the keys immediately. You can't have any time to think about what you're going to do. It has to be automatic.

Does your wife have any problems with your gambling for a living?

Chung: No, actually she plays with me sometimes.

Free 10 Play Video Poker

Does she want to become a professional?

Chung: No, she just plays for fun, but she's been making money on it too.

How old are your kids?

Chung: One is 20 and the other is 17.

Do either of them have an inclination to gamble?

Chung: I'm sure the older one wants to try it when she's old enough.

Do you think she might want to become a professional player?

How Much Do Professional Video Poker Players Make

Chung: Of all the pros I know it's almost exclusively men and I'd say only one or two are women. But, I know she has enough of a mathematical inclination, so she might.

Professional Video Poker Player

As noted previously, this interview was originally done by telephone in January 1999. I followed up with Chung again in late August and he was back in the Midwest. He said he had left inApril to play $1 blackjack machines but he 'found something much better.'

Of course, he wouldn't say exactly what it was, but he did say 'it involved a programming error on certain video poker machines and it was very, very profitable.' Chung was spending all ofhis time traveling throughout the country searching for these particular machines (he found them at 25 different casinos) and he only returned home for about three days each month.

Professional Video Poker Players

I lost track of him after that last conversation but I later read some stories about a malfunction with certain video poker machines at casinos in the midwest and,evidently, the casinos had lost millions of dollars to customers who were able to 'milk' these particular machines. Was he one of those people? I don't know for sure, but I'd be willing tobet on it!





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