Playing Poker in a Casino

Dear Mark, I never bet the progressive bet in Caribbean Stud, but you said you should "depending on the size of the jackpot." In all my playing time, I have hit one flush, so the extent of my savings far outweighs what my losses would be by putting that white chip in the slot.
Of course, if I did hit the progressive with my red light off I would absolutely have a stroke, and never gamble again. I know the smaller payoffs I may miss wouldn¹t bother me very much (except the 10% of the Progressive). When would it be prudent to put that dollar in the slot? For instance, the jackpot at the Atlantic City Tropicana is now at close to $200,000. Is that high enough? By the way, the dealer at the Tropicana said the progressive tends to hit about once a year, usually around Xmas. I was there Dec. 8, so maybe it was just a ruse to get me to bet. Suzanne W.
Caribbean Stud Poker is in essence a game of five-card stud poker, without the luxury of a draw. The progressive jackpot¹s payout for royal and straight flushes (the jackpot also pays for four-of-a-kinds, full houses and flushes) is based on the amount indicated on the meter, which can, as you noted, be as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars. I stated in a previous column that the dollar offering was worth a buck only if the jackpot came within a stone¹s throw of true odds; a variable factor, I know: how far can you heave a rock?
Personally, I have never made the wager, as the highest jackpot on any slot game I have played was around $155,000. That said, Suzanne, let¹s do the arithmetic. There are 2,598,560 possible five-card combinations in a standard 52-card deck. With four ways to make a royal flush, the true odds of hitting a natural royal are 649,760 to one. So, Suzanne, is a jackpot of $200,000‹with odds of hitting it close to 650,000 to one‹worth a measly buck? The answer seems to me a real no-brainer, but there plenty of wishful gamesters among us who don¹t mind making a dollar donation to the casino every 45 seconds, always looking for that green Christmas.... two centuries away.