In any case the point here is that variance is brutal when you're talking about edges that come from rare events. But if you enjoy playing the games, then knowing you're doing so at an edge is even more enjoyable. And it's also a fun little thing to work out on your own for those that enjoy math.
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This is all an aside on "slot experts" and other mathematical games of chance. I've no idea about coin pushing stuff or advantage in those sort of games.
* Minimum bet size
* Maximum bet size
* Whether they'll let you change bet sizes during play
the mean time before ruin is also important
Three or four times I have spent an hour at a Sam's Town full pay deuces wild video poker machine, where you wager $0.50 per hand and your expected value is $100.76 per $100 wagered. This works out to like $5/hr with perfect play at a moderate pace. This earning rate is one of the least bad outcomes at the casino -- you'd be spending $10/hr on average at a cheap, slow craps table playing the pass-line bet.
Now, if you're gambling at the casino and the game is bound to earn you money, this should be maximum fun, right? Not only do you get the thrill of seeing whether the random number generator gave you money, but also there's no real downside because if you play long enough you'll come out ahead?
Strangely that's not how it works out. There's some kind of mindset shift between negative-EV-play and positive-EV play.
When I'm losing money at craps or blackjack it's like "oh, this is fun, we're rolling the dice, we're flipping the cards, some of us will probably win a bit and some of us will lose money but we had fun."
When I'm earning money very slowly at video poker it's like, "uhh, I guess the math is interesting here but I think I have fully understood the spreadsheet and, uh, am I seriously being paid $5/hr to perfectly implement a lookup table? Could I be earning more with Mechanical Turk?".
I somehow managed to hit that rare high-variance event once (a natural royal flush, expected every 45,000 hands or so?) and have very little interest in ever playing these slow-burn +EV games again. This in turn kind of makes all gambling boring -- if the +EV stuff isn't worth it, what is the point of any of it?.
Replace "casino" with office and "game" with computer and this starts to sound a lot like a cynical take on many people's jobs.
I think part of it is the allure that the money has been "won" instead of "earned". You are "beating the system", or "sticking it to the Man"... I can't think of why else you'd subject yourself to this un-ergonomic work environment.
For people who just want to earn a living and go home it doesn't sound too bad.
Second hand smokers need not apply, first hand is what it takes to succeed. He also gets the ability to walk away whenever he needs a break, for as long as he wants. He has a captive audience who has to listen to his latest feelings on Obama or Big Foot. And a surprisingly amount of random encounters that result in sex.
He used to drive taxi, then Uber for about the same take home. But what really makes him stay with video poker is the free gifts from the Casio (swag mostly), and the ~ 100 senior citizen ladies he romantically encounters each year.
But the major downside is the lack of creation. I enjoy construction as well as software development for the same reason. At the end of the day (or year perhaps...) you can see something, that did not exist before, that you have created. That just feels really good. In gaming, you can make plenty of money but you aren't really creating anything and so it ends up feeling quite empty - especially when variance is doing its thing.
FTFY.
In some ways its better, choose your own hours. In my country, tax free earnings. Where do I sign up?
Poker for example, is quite fun, more profitable and more social too. The strategy is deep but not yet perfected, so you are constantly learning. fun.
When there is a +EV game you have to follow an optimal strategy, which really kills the fun and a mistake costing you hours of work will make you miserable.
Gambling should really be for fun. Put some money on the roulette table and if you lose you lost and if you win it's enough to get some drinks or do something with the money. It's far more enjoyable to not be there expecting a positive result to begin with.
Regulars who try to make an income often seen miserable =(
Exactly. This is why I can't stand blackjack, but love craps. Craps is very little 'work' to have better odds than most other games. Plus it's social, and active (rolling dice, chatting, moving chips).
When I used to play a lot of poker I could usually do okay at a casino, but it was so boring.
https://www.youtube.com/user/MewtwoStruckBack/videos
Some of them show that it's not all timing and tricks, these guys do seem to have good hand-eye coordination needed on a lot of the games: