This Steemit ulog is a series of posts based on my day-to-day gambling activities. Basically, I summarize my results and possibly add notes or observations based on what happened on a given day at casinos. You the reader, should feel free to ask any questions or provide any feedback in the comments.

Next-day delays in posting are common due to having no stable schedules in my line of work.

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Category Definitions

I split my results into categories based on the type of game and opportunity to make a profit. These categories are:

• Core video poker: These are video poker games/machines that either has a player edge built-in, or which flips the edge from the house's favor into the player's favor when a promotion is applied. If the game has a progressive on the royal flush and/or other hands, the edge is based on the jackpot(s) being at its reset value. In the absence of any other extraordinary opportunities to capitalize on, I expect to spend most of my gambling time on core video poker games.

• Other video poker: All other video poker games that are not part of my normal repertoire (e.g. progressive video poker games with excessively high jackpots).

• Slot opportunities: Slot machines where I know of or perceive an edge in the player's favor. This edge will always be a temporary one except under the most extraordinary of circumstances. Depending on the opportunity, a slot session could be over in just seconds or take several hours to complete.

• Other gambles: Everything else. It could be results from trying out a new slot machine, or playing other games such as video keno.

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Summary Of The Day's Results

I visited two casinos and have aggregated their results.

Core video poker: none

Other video poker: none

Slot opportunities: 2 opportunities, went 2 for 2. Spent about 15 minutes total and finished at +$84.39.

Other gambles: Spent too much time and money on a new slot machine trying to get a feel for the gameplay and mechanics. I finished at -$100 on this particular machine.

Total: -$15.61 for the day

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Notes/Observations For The Day

The new game that I was trying out is the sequel to a certain slot machine that sometimes presents advantageous opportunities and is currently widely available at casinos. So I was playing it to try and figure out what would be the situations in which there might the edge might favor the player instead of the casino, and I came to the conclusion that there would be much fewer opportunities on this sequel.

This sequel game is very deceptive. It uses the same wagers and the same symbols as the original with the exception of a new type of wild symbol that doesn't affect the main reels. The playfield is also larger, which at first glance might suggest more chances/ways to win on each spin. However, the number of paylines has been reduced, so the chance of a winning spin has also dropped. Most symbols in this sequel also took a pay cut when compared against the original game. The end result is a game that "looks bigger and better," but is in fact much stingier than the original.

The reason I ended up blowing through $100 on the machine was because I was trying to reach the free spin bonus, something which I had never been able to do on the original game. A little over 200 spins later, I decided that it would be an exercise in futility to continue and chose to stop.