Cosmopolitan Video Poker: There's Nothing To See Here

I stopped off at Cosmopolitan for the first time since the summer to upgrade my Identity status and to see if my Identity Play was still there from a promotion I did in July. It was. The money was there – it stays on the account for 1 year. Since I had money on my card to use on a machine I went right to the vpFREE2 mobile site on my phone to see what video poker games were available to me.

I knew that the games were downgraded, but I found only one game under $5 to play.

98.01%
BP (Bonus Poker) 1-2-3-4-5-7-25-40-80-50-800
25¢ – 1 Slant-top – 50 Play – just to the left of the high limit room
$1, $2 – 1 Play – scattered throughout casino

I know the Las Vegas strip doesn’t have the best video poker pay tables in town and this is what I expected after reading that the video poker machines were recently downgraded. Playing $1 machines that pay out 98% isn’t great. The quarter machines paid back at a 6/5 rate, which (I think) is about 96%. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to win my Identity play back in cash then I left to play some quarter and penny slots that eventually took most of my winnings.

I normally play Jacks of Better (8/5 @ Cosmo) which pays back about 99+% (at full pay) so the 1 percent difference isn’t much on $100, but in time it adds up and most people prefer to play games that have better payouts. The way it looks is that slot machine payouts (~92%) aren’t much worse that video poker so I took my money and decided to have a little fun playing Top Dollar slots, which I’m a sucker for and will play again.

I believe that the quarter Bonus Poker paid out 8/6 when Cosmo opened, so this isn’t much of a change but this isn’t a reason to visit the Cosmo. If you’re a video poker player you can find some better games on the strip at lower denominations on the strip. Cosmo remains a place to go to eat, drink and be merry, but not necessarily a place to visit if you want to gamble. That said, I can get Kettle One when gambling, so that’s a plus on that side.