What it means
Scouting is an under-appreciated habit of successful gamblers. It may refer to taking a trip to a gambling destination, solely for the purpose of finding opportunities. Depending on how many casinos one visits and how thoroughly they look, such an activity could take at least a few hours.
Thanks to scouting, a player may encounter some new exciting variations of a particular video poker game or may learn about promotions that are publicized only inside the casino. There have even been cases when casinos contract with a particular player having vast experience and proven skills so that they can ”shop” their offers as well as those of competition.
Scouting in the past
At present, scouting a casino takes much more time compared to in the past. For instance, decades ago video poker machines had fixed denominations and game versions (25-cent Double Bonus Poker, 1-dollar Deuces Wild). The candles on top of each machine provided a player with an idea which machines they should examine, while after that a look at the game type and the pay table would seem to be sufficient for them to understand what they needed to know.
For example, a yellow candle signaled 25-cent denomination, an orange candle – 50 cent, a blue candle – 1 dollar, a green candle – 2-dollar denomination, while a purple candle – 5-dollar denomination. Nowadays, however, machines offer an array of denominations and video poker games dealt. In order to check every combination of a game and a denomination on one machine, a player may need at least five minutes or more. The majority of players have interest in only one or two denominations, while within those denominations there may be a few games, which players are very well acquainted with.
Hints for scouting
One way to save time is to presume that adjacent video poker machines may have the same pay table. According to experts, this may usually be helpful, but, of course, there have been a number of cases when it did not work. Some experts recommend, that even when one is playing if there is downtime while waiting for a jackpot to be paid, they should look around to see whether a better offer is available on machines nearby.
Best Online Video Poker Bonuses
HarrahsCasino.com
100% up to
$100
+ 100 Spins
Sloto'Cash Casino
100% up to
$500
Uptown Aces
150% up to
$750
Vegas Casino Online
No Deposit Bonus
$ 20
Las Vegas USA Casino
No Deposit Bonus
$ 20
Slots Plus
No Deposit Bonus
$ 20
Frequent visitors to a particular casino usually have a better opportunity to scout it than those who seldom visit the establishment. It is typically a case of ”locals” against ”out-of-towners”, but not always. Frequent visitors are able to scout more easily, as they will detect what has changed right away, knowing what ”normal” is.
There is a tendency that better games may be placed at one location within the casino premises. Players, who pay a visit to that casino regularly, will certainly be aware of that, while infrequent visitors will not. What’s more, if one does not know the casino’s layout, they may check out the same machines a couple of times and may not pay attention to others at all.
Scouting is valuable, but also time consuming. In case one has 12 hours to play on their visit to a particular gambling destination, they will probably avoid scouting for 9 hours before starting to play. In case, however, they have 2 500 hours per year to play, scouting for 10 hours each month would be quite reasonable.
There are websites that will do the scouting for a player.
One such site, which experts recommend, is vpFREE. It is run by volunteers with various abilities and diligence. The information featured on the site is, in general, is correct. Thus, it is a proper place to begin. What we should note, however, is that, at times, the best plays are not reported deliberately, as whoever is monitoring the industry believes that presenting such a game in front of the public will simply ruin it. Such websites are appropriate for players who do not have the time, or who simply despise scouting because they may encounter at least ”okay” games reported there.
Lastly, some seasoned gamblers are ready to share their knowledge of the best plays within their region for a particular fee, regardless of how selfish or mean-spirited that may seem to be.
Video Poker Tournaments
The Habit of Scouting
Selecting Video Poker Game and Casino
Full Pay Deuces Wild
Expected Return and Value
