Yes, it’s true. Everyone’s an expert and has endless discipline when it comes to the machines as they sit at home and think about how they’re going to play on their next casino visit. It’s only natural. The pressure’s off, the mind travels freely, and most important of all – there’s no money being fed into those hungry machines.

Reaching into your gambling library you pull out several passages from the game’s gurus and math experts, and it all serves to boost your morale while cancelling out a good amount of your fear. These guys say to just play the best pay tables and let the math do the work for you! Could it be that you’ve FINALLY entered that sacred long-term they’re always talking about? And if so, this just may be the trip you finally see a win. It’s all so easy!

Moreover, the anticipation gets a big boost by surfing the Internet to find out what they’re saying on the video poker forums. Dozens of players have posted their wins, while no one seems to lose. It all adds up to one confidence-building panorama of excitement that only a nightmare could end. And guess what’s just around the corner for most...

But then someone comes along and sends you an e-mail that tells you not to pay any attention to any of that jibber-jabber, because they did years ago and all it’s meant since is one loser after another – unless that elusive royal flush is hit. In fact, even though following what the math people say about optimal play makes textbook sense, something tells you why the real optimal play is to throw away the book. The casino is NO classroom.

That e-mail also tells you to take the time to check out what Rob Singer has to say about playing consistently winning video poker. You do look his information over, and your eyes begin to open wider and wider with every paragraph. “Is it possible that there’s someone out there who approaches the game from a standpoint of common sense instead of trying to beat the casinos at their own game?” you ask yourself.

Folks, I get e-mails saying this or something very similar to this all the time, and it’s no secret why. There’s so much misleading information and misguided strategies out there for players to get confused by that it’s really not that hard for anger to become a part of the game. Remember, all players want to win every time they go into a casino, and no one wants to be preached to about the theoretical possibility of stepping into their graves with a .1% win under their belts after losing 73% of their sessions. That’s just not the video poker you expected.

So what’s the most important part of playing a winning game? Well, as simple as it sounds, if you get up and leave a machine when you’re ahead, you’re there! But we all know that’s not easy and we all understand what we’re up against trying to accomplish such a feat. However, we also know that at any one time, over 90% of a casino’s patrons have been ahead at one point or another during their visit that day, yet most of them will leave a loser regardless. It almost seems futile, doesn’t it?

Then just what does it take to be able to overcome those odds and take some casino money home with you on a regular basis? There is a way, and it has nothing to do with science. The casino has had that part figured out long before any of us walked through their front doors. No, you’re just going to have to learn how to play a much more intelligent game.

Learning how to just walk away from a machine with a profit – and indeed straight out those casino doors – is a unique art that few ever had or ever will possess. Sure, sitting there at home safely behind your computer where there’s no video poker machine demons to fight, you’re telling yourself how easy it sounds to do. But if that’s so, why are there so many losers leaving casinos every single day?

Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. Having played that way for the past 9+ years, I can tell you that it can be done – but the player must have a constitution made up of a rare form of discipline to go along with uncanny amounts of determination. There must also be the more mundane attributes of having the proper bankroll and playing only within a pre-determined plan.

But leaving a winning machine is always a challenge no matter when or where it’s at. Think about it. Almost every player enters that “video poker high” as a big winner is hit, and who feels like just getting up and leaving after that! Well, advantage players don’t – they just play right on through the thing as they would any losing hand. Makes little sense, I know, but players like me need players like them to “fill the machines up” for us.

The truly disciplined player understands that playing on after a jackpot sooner or later puts you at the ATM frantically punching in PIN’s. Yes, another big win is possible, but overwhelmingly that will not occur. That’s why setting goals before coming in to play is so important, and never wavering from your plan is absolutely essential to becoming a consistently winning – and overall happier – player.

There is nothing to buy in order to either understand these concepts or to learn more about them. I have no problem freely sharing my methods of success with anyone who wants to learn. Just be prepared for a lot of hard work and an equal amount of rewards. It’s certainly about time, isn’t it.