Dear Expert,

Can the slot card track your play in VP to determine how skilled a player you really are? Are skilled players then barred?

Thanks, Randy

Dear Randy,

In many casinos, the slot card account now keeps track of your wins and losses, but it doesn't watch how you play each hand. Even if it did, the computer is not sophisticated enough to determine whether you are a skilled player or just lucky. Heck, even most pit bosses can't tell whether a winning blackjack player is ahead because of skill or just plain luck. In the short run, it's mostly luck anyway. Skill affects your outcome only in the long run, and in VP the long run is very long.

While it's conceivable that some casino might bar a VP player because he/she is winning, I haven't heard of that happening because of slot card tracking. I have heard of some casinos, especially in Atlantic City, withholding promised comps because the player was winning, and because of that some players pull their slot card before drawing to a potential big hand. You should be cautious about this, however, because it could be considered fraud.

Dan