32Red : Expert mode for Video Poker disabled

[Casinomeister]

Yes, I wrote Pat Harrison about it.
He wrote me that MG were planning to remove the expert mode for all VP games at 18th August.
He is waiting for an answer from MG

Thanks! I'll email MGS on Monday as well to see if there is any specific reason behind this. Maybe they figure there are so many experts out there, no one needs it

[Jasminebed]

Today I played a little VP at 32Red. No expert mode for Bonus Deuces Wild 10 play, but expert mode was available for Deuces Wild 10 play.

While I don't use the autoplay part of expert mode, I do like the analyze feature.

Also noticed no autoplay mode on the 9 line slot Carnival. It's not one of my usuals, but I thought it worth mentioning.

[retlaw]

Today I played a little VP at 32Red. No expert mode for Bonus Deuces Wild 10 play, but expert mode was available for Deuces Wild 10 play.

While I don't use the autoplay part of expert mode, I do like the analyze feature.

Also noticed no autoplay mode on the 9 line slot Carnival. It's not one of my usuals, but I thought it worth mentioning.

As I play VP most of the time, I used the autoplay often
In my case I don't have the expert mode on both games you mentioned.
Carnival however still has the autoplay mode

[vinylweatherman]

Yes, I wrote Pat Harrison about it.
He wrote me that MG were planning to remove the expert mode for all VP games at 18th August.
He is waiting for an answer from MG

It happened after an update was triggered. These changes often involve a pilot trial at one or two casinos before being rolled out, and it is different casinos that are used every time.

32Red got this update early, but the rest will probably get it around mid August. Thise who still have it have not received the update yet.

The true "expert mode" often got it wrong, and generated complaints. Unlike Blackjack, you could not edit the strategy for one of your own.

I see that "autohold" is still there.

What is really of concern is that players who see autohold still working will think that this is still strategy driven from the "analyze" feature, and may lose money before they realise that it simply holds winning combinations, with no regards to best strategy.

I use the strategy driven autohold, but only very rarely the autoplay.

With slots, it is nothing more than automated spinning, so it is very odd that they are starting to remove it from some of the slots.

Since there was no announcement about this "improvement" to our gaming, one can only wonder what "improvements" have been introduced in all these other oddly timed lobby updates that happen between new game releases. Many players will feel that this autoplay change is to benefit the CASINOS at the expense of the players, they will think that the other unannounced changes were to increase the casinos' hold in some way, but that it was felt "best not tell players about this".

This is a bad decision, because it will damage the one thing that MGS has over the likes of RTG and Rival, which is that once developed, the RTP and rules of a game are set in stone for life, and ALL operators offering the game are offering the SAME set of rules and RTP to the player.

[wobble33]

god this is not good. i play a lot of v/p. no autohold for me here dont use the autoplay but i like my cards to autohold .. surely microgaming not taking this off and this is a mistake?

[vinylweatherman]

god this is not good. i play a lot of v/p. no autohold for me here dont use the autoplay but i like my cards to autohold .. surely microgaming not taking this off and this is a mistake?

It may only be the autoplay and hints generator/analyzer that have been removed.

I can't see that there has been a great demand from players for this move, and those players who don't like the MGS strategy have always had the option to turn it off.

I use autohold, but have often seen some glaring mistakes, and have wondered whether it is ME being stupid, or a mistake in the analyzer.

Autoplay only serves to make one lose faster, but it DOES come in handy for those "wager challenge" events

It seems this is going to be rolled out to all MGS casinos, just that a few have made the change earlier than the official date.

I only hope it slims down the software, which now occupies well over 10Gig in common files alone, let alone the files for each specific casino.

I would have preferred the VP expert mode to have been expanded to allow players to edit the strategy as you can in Blackjack if you don't like the default version.

Most other softwares only have an autospin for the slots, so Microgaming is LOSING one of the features that made it unique, which could be a dangerous business move.

Microgaming was the first to introduce this feature when Viper replaced Thumper as the download client, and other softwares then developed their own autospin functions for the slots in order to keep up.

This could be the start of a complete removal of "expert mode" altogether, with Blackjack variants being removed next.

Given that none of these moves are ever announced, we can only speculate, and then find out after the fact when a lobby update removes it from a particular casino - the same way THIS change was discovered last week.

[GrandMaster]

The true "expert mode" often got it wrong, and generated complaints. Unlike Blackjack, you could not edit the strategy for one of your own.

To the best of my recollection, expert mode worked by considering all the possibilities and chose the one with the highest expected value. The only error I remember when it implemented a strategy for 6s or better in a 10s or better game (or something along these lines).

It is not quite clear how you would edit a strategy, you would have to specify that you want to hold cards of type X in preference to cards of type Y.

[vinylweatherman]

To the best of my recollection, expert mode worked by considering all the possibilities and chose the one with the highest expected value. The only error I remember when it implemented a strategy for 6s or better in a 10s or better game (or something along these lines).

It is not quite clear how you would edit a strategy, you would have to specify that you want to hold cards of type X in preference to cards of type Y.

That would be the FUN bit. There are players who would rather try for the RF, even if this lowered their return. This would be the case in one of the progressive VP games, where strategy could be changed if the jackpot grew large.

Given that MGS are so overloaded with work that many ERRORS take months, if not years, to get addressed, it seems odd that they are finding more work for themselves that isn't even necessary.

Players can always turn autoplay and VP "hints" off if they don't like it, and operators can remove the autoplay locally in their back-end configurations.

I can't figure out what the overall plan is with this change, but one thing is for sure, MGS kept this a secret from players, giving them no chance to express a view until the decision was done and dusted, and the changes made.

MGS have plenty of work to be getting on with in order to make the tournaments playable, rather than an experience as interesting as watching paint dry, and as frustrating as driving behind a tractor.