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In the solitary world of video poker, Stephen Paddock knew how to win. Until he didn't
LA Times ^ | 09 Oct 2017 | David Montero, Richard Winton and Ruben Vives

Posted on 10/09/2017 8:48:39 PM PDT by Drew68

Stephen Paddock wanted to win and, like any savvy video poker player, knew which machine to lock down at Mandalay Bay.

There was only one in the casino — a Jacks-or-better 9-6 machine, meaning it paid 9-to-1 credits on the full house and 6-1 on the flush and offered the casino only a slim advantage. Mandalay Bay was having a contest for a $100,000 drawing and players, based on the amount of their play the next day, would get tickets to enter.

He got ready to work.

David Walton, a video poker playing pro, headed down to the casino floor early to nab the good machine.

There sat Paddock. Not playing it. Just sitting there. Waiting.

Walton settled into the machine next to him — not one with as generous a payout schedule — and waited for midnight. When it struck, Paddock hit the machine lightning quick, going at a rate of $120,000 per hour. He barely spoke.

Walton said Paddock played 24 hours straight that day in 2007. Before the drawing, Walton wandered over to look at the 4-foot-by-4-foot drum holding all the tickets to the drawing to size up his chances at the $100,000.

Those hopes were diminishing quickly.

“Every ticket on there I saw through the mesh said ‘Stephen Paddock. Stephen Paddock. Stephen Paddock,’” Walton said.

“He won.”

A decade later, Paddock, 64, would ride the elevator up to the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, smash out two windows in his suite with a hammer, and aim a 10-minute, rapid-fire volley of gunfire at the 22,000 people gathered below for a country music festival. He hit hundreds, and killed 58.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: stephenpaddock
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Long article with a lot of info about video poker, a game that has been called “the crack cocaine of gambling,” and the changes it had gone through over the years, changes that removed the advantages players like Paddock used to enjoy. A lot of stuff here that contradicts some of the other articles about Paddock. For instance, here he had a reputation for heavy drinking, often seen with a drink in his hand and often smelling like alcohol the mornings after his all-night gambling sessions.
1 posted on 10/09/2017 8:48:39 PM PDT by Drew68
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To: Drew68

Very interesting indeed.


2 posted on 10/09/2017 8:54:09 PM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: Drew68
"A decade later, Paddock, 64, would ride the elevator up to the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, smash out two windows in his suite with a hammer, and aim a 10-minute, rapid-fire volley of gunfire at the 22,000 people gathered below for a country music festival. He hit hundreds, and killed 58."

Assumes facts not in evidence, your honor.

3 posted on 10/09/2017 8:59:32 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: Drew68

A little puffed up consideration of Video poker being the crack of gambling. It’s not. I’ll reserve that for craps.

Used to be a great website, all text up until a year or so ago that gave you the correct strategy for every type of video poker. Now it seems to be all graphical with adverts and pop-ups and hosted on a really slow server.

wizardofodds.com (slow loading, may have to go to cached page) Not all machines are beatable, The only ones I find beatable are deuces wild with parimutuel jackpots with the jackpot being over $1500 for a quarter player like me. As you go higher in denominations the payouts scale better and you might find some of the 5 card draw 8/6’s that I think have a small 1% profit if played perfectly.

Not worth grinding $120k per hour because you can take some really big swings. It’s nice to put in a few bucks though knowing that you’re playing +EV, but not enough to try and make a living out of it (some do).


4 posted on 10/09/2017 9:01:21 PM PDT by Fhios (Down with your fascism, up with our fascism.)
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To: Fhios

Check out http://www.vpfree2.com/video-poker/search.


5 posted on 10/09/2017 9:09:31 PM PDT by The people have spoken (Proud member of Hillary's basket of deplorables)
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To: Drew68

Just like Trayvon, the msm is intent on shoving years old photos in our faces. To what purpose?

Ok, so either he's a heavy drinker or he barely touches the stuff. Either he's a laid back goofball or he's an old grumpus. Either he's a big tipper or he's not. Can't have it all these different ways. The feds and the msm need to pick a story they can all agree upon and feed it to the restless sheeple.

6 posted on 10/09/2017 9:14:05 PM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: Drew68

Spends $120,000 an HOUR to win $100,000 for the whole day.

Yeah.... that’s how he got rich.


7 posted on 10/09/2017 9:19:30 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Drew68

Odd. Steve Wynn said none of his employees ever saw Paddock or his woman drink alcohol.


8 posted on 10/09/2017 9:23:44 PM PDT by Tucker39 (Read: Psalm 145. The whole psalm.....aloud; as praise to our God.)
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To: UCANSEE2

Three authors and not one spotted that?


9 posted on 10/09/2017 9:30:51 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: UCANSEE2
"Spends $120,000 an HOUR to win $100,000 for the whole day."

I don't think he spent $120,000/hour. I think he gambled $120,000/hour on a machine with good, published odds.

Example: If the machine gave a 3% advantage to the house, he might expect -- on average -- to keep 97% of the input and lose 3% of the input.

3% of $120,000 is $3600.

So he would probably spend about $3600 to earn $100,000.

10 posted on 10/09/2017 10:18:48 PM PDT by UnwashedPeasant (I told you so)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom; Drew68
That's not how much he spent. That's how much money he fed into the machine.

And since his odds were very close to 50/50 he probably didn't lose all that much, and may have even won some money over that time period.

11 posted on 10/09/2017 10:19:21 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Let me get this straight: An ugly mofo that has no problem getting laid. Blue pills and money will set you up. Why couldn’t he just continue what he was doing? Stay out of the casinos. Buy a Hooters instead. I’m sure you know WHAT I would be doing with all those women. There’s even a Hooters hotel/casino there. Wouldn’t even have to leave the building!


12 posted on 10/09/2017 10:20:54 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: UnwashedPeasant
I forgot to multiply by 24. 24 hours multiplied by $3600 is $86,400. So he would spend about $86,400 to earn $100,000.

If the house had only a 2% advantage, then he would spend about $57,600 to earn the $100,000.

Also, my math could be completely wrong.

13 posted on 10/09/2017 10:24:44 PM PDT by UnwashedPeasant (I told you so)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Well, suppose he started losing ... seems possible.


14 posted on 10/09/2017 10:32:33 PM PDT by dr_lew (I)
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To: UnwashedPeasant

I forgot to multiply by 24. 24 hours multiplied by $3600 is $86,400. So he would spend about $86,400 to earn $100,000.

Also, my math could be completely wrong.


Your math looks good, but he didn't spend about $86,400 to earn $100,000. He "spent" $86,400 for a chance at $100,000.


15 posted on 10/09/2017 10:41:10 PM PDT by 867V309 (Lock Her Up)
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To: Drew68

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/09/us/las-vegas-stephen-paddock-deposition/index.html
Some of the testimony centered on his gambling.
He described himself as being, at one point, the “biggest video poker player in the world.”
“How do I know that?” Paddock asked rhetorically. “Because I know some of the video poker players that play big. Nobody played as much and as long as I did.”
At the height of his play in 2006, he testified, “I averaged 14 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
“I’ll gamble all night,” he said. “I sleep during the day.”


If he was indeed doing this 14 hours a day, 365 days a year, I don’t think we need another explanation for why he went insane.


16 posted on 10/09/2017 10:44:27 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: bgill
Can't have it all these different ways.

Sure you can. It always depends on whom you ask - they will see different facets of him. Hitler was a pitiless mass murderer. But he doted on his mother and Eva Braun.

17 posted on 10/09/2017 10:49:31 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Tucker39

Odd. Steve Wynn said none of his employees ever saw Paddock or his woman drink alcohol.


My guess is that he drank after gambling. As the article points out, even conducting a casual conversation while gambling can result in serious losses, given the increased likelihood of missteps and the amounts being bet. Drinks are an obvious no-no, except after gambling.


18 posted on 10/09/2017 10:52:05 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: Drew68
A decade later, Paddock, 64, would ride the elevator up to the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, smash out two windows in his suite with a hammer, and aim a 10-minute, rapid-fire volley of gunfire at the 22,000 people gathered below for a country music festival. He hit hundreds, and killed 58.
It sounds like the tech changed a circuit board in Paddock's favorite machine when he wasn't looking.

Pro poker players (machine or not) are some of the sleaziest chiselers in the casino.

19 posted on 10/09/2017 11:35:29 PM PDT by lewislynn ( Transgender: A person who thinks s/he's wrong side out.)
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To: dr_lew

I was skeptical that Paddock could make millions from video poker. Casinos don’t let you win in the long run. But what if Paddock had discovered a glitch in the software for a particular machine that allowed him to win consistently. Suppose this glitch made Paddock and his family millionaires, but then — unknown to Paddock — the game supplier fixed the glitch and Paddock started losing consistently, causing him to get mad at the casino.

I’m still skeptical.


20 posted on 10/10/2017 1:35:17 AM PDT by AZLiberty (The logical endpoint of "zero-tolerance history" is zero history.)
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