Lets talk about footwear for a minute

[Dieter]

If you are thinking about getting into vulturing, I suggest a little experimentation with the sample game over at videopoker.com .

http://www.videopoker.com/playtest/?...te%20X%20Poker

[jimmtech]

To add a slightly different perspective: I used to race through casinos all day long, then I sustained an injury to my foot and got nerve damage. Having spent over 50 sessions in physical therapy. I became familiar with quite a few stretches and exercises.

Stretching out the calves can prevent and give relief for plantar fasciitis. (Also using a rolling pin on the calves)
Walking on different and uneven surfaces barefoot (like grass and then dirt) on a regular basis can do 2 things: toughen your feet on the outside and strengthen the myriad of muscles in your feet by forcing them to contract much differently. Orthothics and well-fitting shoes can help, but the toughening up of the foot's exterior shell, as well as strengthening the foot's musculature would go far in preventing issues caused by the same repetitive walking motion in the same conditions and posture. Just my 2 cents..

[Nyne]

Regarding non D width shoes, I've found that New Balance stores have a selection of at least a few pairs of shoes in each width. It may not be the exact style you want, but if you want to be able to try some on instead of doing the internet ordering thing, give them a shot. If they shoes they have don't suit your style, try them anyway, and make note of which shoes fit your foot the best. You can look up the "last" that the shoe is built around and shop online to find other styles made on the same last. The last determines the shape of the shoe, so two shoes that are the same size, but use a different last, will fit you differently. In theory, if they are the same size and last, they should fit similarly. More info here: http://newbalance.custhelp.com/app/a...fit-and-widths

[mcallister3200]

With vulturing, I've found that in Vegas it literally costs me money to check the machines due to so much competition and the opportunity cost. When I visit other locations, I often find it worthwhile, sometimes
several games on the same machine with multipliers. And seen serial multiplier droppers in action( get frustrated every 5 minutes and move to a different game/machine, leaving them behind.) What you want is machines that get a good amount of play and little competition.

[Three]

You're looking for active next hand multipliers. When you find them, play all hands, 5 coins per hand. Use the standard strategy for the base game.

Long discussion over at WoV: http://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambl...ng-ultimate-x/

The problem is that it takes checking every game and every denomination on every machine to find a very few leftover multipliers. On the flip side, every multiplier you find is +EV.

Good luck, hopefully you find a whole screen of 12x's on a $1 machine and get a dealt hand.

Thanks Dieter. I googled it and started playing a practice game and it didn't take long to figure out what the angle was. I did play a little before playing max lines at max bet but once I did that everything became obvious. It was a much more interesting game than my usual 9/6 JOB. My wife won a lot on it at Foxwoods. She usually doesn't win so that should have told me something.

[Exoter175]

You're looking for active next hand multipliers. When you find them, play all hands, 5 coins per hand. Use the standard strategy for the base game.

Long discussion over at WoV: http://wizardofvegas.com/forum/gambl...ng-ultimate-x/

The problem is that it takes checking every game and every denomination on every machine to find a very few leftover multipliers. On the flip side, every multiplier you find is +EV.

Good luck, hopefully you find a whole screen of 12x's on a $1 machine and get a dealt hand.

I found a triple play JoB $2 denom with three 11x's on it about a month ago. Dealt nothing, hit nothing. Even a simple pair of Jacks on that would have yielded something like a $330 hit. Needless to say, I was remarkably let down by the hand lol.

Ultimate X is a type of video poker. When betting maximum credits (typically 10/hand), winning hands provide payout multipliers for future hands.

The goal of vulturing Ultimate X is to find those multipliers that have been left behind by other players and play them off at 5 credits/hand for +EV.

It's time consuming, but there's good EV to be had.

Emphasis on reaaaaaaaaaally good +EV, the kind of +EV that basically trumps any level of card counting to the point where a dealer could run out of cards and its still not even close to the +EV of VUXing. Problem is finding enough hands in a day to really make it work.

Yesterday, as an example, first machine of the day ( three denoms, 26 games per machine, over a dozen machines) on my first game found a Five Play DW with 7x's on it, nickel denom dealt two ducks, made about $45.50 on that single play to start off the day. By the time I was on my 7th or 8th machine of the day (clearing out the previous nights action) I was up about $140 for a whopping 15 minutes of work. Most of that work is getting the machine to take a damned ticket since the barcode scanners are in dire need of replacement.

Thanks for that. And why is playing them @5 per hand better than @10 per hand?

@10 per hand you get the maximum pay table as well as generating a multiplier for the next hand based on the combination of any winning hand.
@5 per hand you get the maximum pay table. What's important to note, though, is that the "Royal Flush" payout is significantly higher on the 5 coin than the ratio of 1-4 coin, like on many machines, so betting 5x on a mult hand will give you the highest possible +EV.

Regarding non D width shoes, I've found that New Balance stores have a selection of at least a few pairs of shoes in each width. It may not be the exact style you want, but if you want to be able to try some on instead of doing the internet ordering thing, give them a shot. If they shoes they have don't suit your style, try them anyway, and make note of which shoes fit your foot the best. You can look up the "last" that the shoe is built around and shop online to find other styles made on the same last. The last determines the shape of the shoe, so two shoes that are the same size, but use a different last, will fit you differently. In theory, if they are the same size and last, they should fit similarly. More info here: http://newbalance.custhelp.com/app/a...fit-and-widths

Solid information here, though, I have to say that "style" is important to me :P

With vulturing, I've found that in Vegas it literally costs me money to check the machines due to so much competition and the opportunity cost. When I visit other locations, I often find it worthwhile, sometimes
several games on the same machine with multipliers. And seen serial multiplier droppers in action( get frustrated every 5 minutes and move to a different game/machine, leaving them behind.) What you want is machines that get a good amount of play and little competition.

Where I live, there's a ton of UX machines. From what I gather from some of the VP forums, my location has about 6-10 times the "normal" amount of UX games per casino than most other places around the nation, so I'm blessed to be near half a dozen casinos with dozens of UX games within them, all within an hour round trip commute from home.

There are a looooooot of VUXers here, though, and you start to get an idea on who plays where, when they play, and you kind of have to beat them to the punch or "sweat" the machine to get the action. Its something I keep my eye on when I'm playing table games, and will often clear a few out in between wongs or breaks.

[mcallister3200]

Ex, don't take this the wrong way, I mean it to be helpful, but you talk way too much in specifics for your own good. Probably won't be harmful, but there's no upside to it. I usually only read about two sentences of your post and I know exactly where you play, at what level, and the VUX, clocks, and explosions you play when you're not at the tables. It likely would not be difficult to identify you spending a week there. Not everyone in the AP world or reading the forums is a saint. At worst that makes you a robbery target.

[Nyne]

So if I understand right, you're making something like $200-250/day on machines while putting in 13 hrs/day. Presumably you also use a card for those plays and get a little more back from that. Not bad compared to what a lot of people here could grind out in a day of red chipping on the BJ tables, and with much lower variance too. And not much heat. But man that's a tough way to make money. I think when you say it has a high EV, you really mean a high edge. The EV is still small, and it's a play that is not really scalable (you can't just bet more like you can on BJ). I'll still check machines when I have time to kill, which happens often, or I'll clear off the machines if I haven't already seen any obvious hustlers (they are not hard to pick out). But I don't envy you doing it hour after hour, day after day lol. But, when you understand the mechanisms that allow for these edges, sometimes you'll spot something especially good. Always best to scout every game in a place, if possible. Sounds like you've got the willingness to work hard, which means you'll always be able to scrape out a living out there.

[Dieter]

Presumably you also use a card for those plays and get a little more back from that.

In my experience, the card is useful if you have freeplay, or if you're likely to lose. At least one place I've encountered sends out mailers based on actual losses, so putting the card in for a +EV play cuts the mailers - counterproductive, if you aren't sure.

[Exoter175]

Ex, don't take this the wrong way, I mean it to be helpful, but you talk way too much in specifics for your own good. Probably won't be harmful, but there's no upside to it. I usually only read about two sentences of your post and I know exactly where you play, at what level, and the VUX, clocks, and explosions you play when you're not at the tables. It likely would not be difficult to identify you spending a week there. Not everyone in the AP world or reading the forums is a saint. At worst that makes you a robbery target.

I doubt you know exaaaaaactly where I play (name the 6th letter of the town it is located in if you're sure though) but I'm honestly not concerned. Most thieves target "easy" marks, I'd be far too difficult of a mark to hit. If not for my size, my car being parked 15 feet from the door under surveillance with security a step away, or the loaded surprise waiting for them should they be so foolish, but your only "option" is to attempt something "on the road" on my way home. Even "on the road" you'd have to have a faster car (they don't), be a better driver (extremely unlikely), and be ballsy enough to do it under surveillance the entire way home thanks to our highway camera systems.

The notion isn't lost on me, however, there was a guy who used to "run the place" that was robbed not long ago. To his defense, he was about 75 years old and frail, lived in his car, and hung around prostitutes all the time. In fact, a prostitute lead him to the trap lol.

So if I understand right, you're making something like $200-250/day on machines while putting in 13 hrs/day. Presumably you also use a card for those plays and get a little more back from that. Not bad compared to what a lot of people here could grind out in a day of red chipping on the BJ tables, and with much lower variance too. And not much heat. But man that's a tough way to make money. I think when you say it has a high EV, you really mean a high edge. The EV is still small, and it's a play that is not really scalable (you can't just bet more like you can on BJ). I'll still check machines when I have time to kill, which happens often, or I'll clear off the machines if I haven't already seen any obvious hustlers (they are not hard to pick out). But I don't envy you doing it hour after hour, day after day lol. But, when you understand the mechanisms that allow for these edges, sometimes you'll spot something especially good. Always best to scout every game in a place, if possible. Sounds like you've got the willingness to work hard, which means you'll always be able to scrape out a living out there.

Edge and EV are very similar to a degree, however I'm speaking directly to +EV here. For the absolute worst game I could play, something like Nickel TPDW with a single 2x mult, I look to make about $.29 per dollar wagered. There's a million scenarios with these games, denoms and mult's though, so there's games that are just over a quarter per dollar wagered EV, and some games that get near 7 or 8 dollars per dollar wagered in EV, just have to hunt them down.

I know guys make a living from this, and they tell me all about it and its extremely tight at times, which is why I focus on the Blackjack first, and these other "plays" second. That being said, this week I earned more from Slot/Vux plays than APBJ by a landslide. Did about 50 hours of tables over 5 days, earned $875. Did another 30 hours of slot/Vux play between those table hours, earned ~$1840. Got really lucky getting a 3x Mult on a "top" on a specific game for a taxable.

In my experience, the card is useful if you have freeplay, or if you're likely to lose. At least one place I've encountered sends out mailers based on actual losses, so putting the card in for a +EV play cuts the mailers - counterproductive, if you aren't sure.

I do use my card, but I'm very well covered on the issue of winning too much and using the card for +EV situations.