Video Poker FAQ
by
Gayle
Mitchell &
John Grochowski
In
this
lesson, there are 12 Video Poker FAQ, frequently
asked questions with answers.
1) Q. I have
heard Video Poker versions referred to as 10/7 Double Bonus and 9/6
Jacks+
(Jacks or
Better). What does this mean?
1) A.
These names are derived from the VP pay schedules.
The
first two numbers reflect the payouts for a full house and flush as per
one
coin payout for 10/7 Double Bonus and 9/6 Jacks+.
10/7 Bonus
VP version would pay 10 coins for a full house and 7 coins for a flush
for a
one coin bet while a 9/6 Jacks or Better refers to 9 coins for a full
house and
6 coins for a flush.
2) Q. Could you
explain to me what is meant by "a full pay" Video Poker machine, in
particular as
regards to a Deuces Wild machine?
2) A. 9/5 Deuces
Wild full pay schedule refers to nine coins for a straight flush and 5
coins for
four of a kind under the 1 coin payout schedule.
3) Q.
I know you like Deuces Wild Video
Poker. As I
look
at payouts, it seems that only when you get 4DW do you really get
anywhere. Given the fact that you seem to like this game can
you help
"convert" me?
3) A.
Generally, if you don't hit 4 Deuces, you are in for a losing
session with this VP version, however, with 4 wild cards, you can also
continue
to play with enough Royals w/Deuces, straight flushes and four of a
kind while
awaiting a 'big hit'.
The big difference I have noticed with wild card games is the
'roller-coaster'
ride where you never know what payout is coming.
Jacks+ game is slow and steady and certainly an excellent game to play,
but
sometimes you want to play a different kind of VP, i.e., wild card
games
including Jokers Wild.
A final word: Be sure to practice and learn optimum strategy for every
version
you intend to play.
4) Q.
Any advice
on the advantages/disadvantages of the various styles of
Jacks-or-Better?
For instance, you have "double-double," "triple-double,"
etc. and then just plain. Which Video Poker game would you
play and why?
4) A. Like everything
in VP, it
depends on the pay schedules.
For the three versions, you gave me I would choose plain Jacks or
better, IF
you get 10 for 2 pair and it is 9/6. Although the top payouts for
double double
and triple double are much better, the overall payout is not.
The
best version
of Jacks+ is 10/7 double bonus and 100% payback whereas plain Jacks+ is
99.54%,
but with comps or online promotions, you can do better on both of these
versions.
5) Q. On the machines with multiple
games, i.e. Bonus
Poker, Super Aces, etc. Does each game use a different deck or do all
games use
the same deck?
5) A. There are
separate decks utilized for each Video Poker game. In addition, there
is a separate
RNG
program for each game.
For multi-denominations game, there
is again a separate
RNG for payouts.
6) Q. The
common
wisdom is that the cards are randomly dealt and the payout percentage
is based
completely on the posted pay schedule. Yet in playing video
poker, they
seem to go through distinct cycles that challenge that data.
In addition, at various casinos the stated average payouts are
different
despite the fact that the posted pay tables are the same.
Is it a fact that the cards are dealt at random, or do the casinos have
the
ability to control the payout percentage other than the pay table?
6) A. Yes, you are
right all picks
are random, however the game is volatile. I'll give you an example. I
just went
through 5 losing sessions and today I hit for $1000, so you never know.
As far as changing machine payouts at any casino online or off, there
is a
gaming license and reputation to consider.
I contend that it is just not worth fooling around with the % payouts
when you
could lose your license or reputation for a small amount of money.
7) Q.
I was
playing video poker when along came 4 to the royal. My wife was
standing by so I
called her
over noting I have never gotten the royal on anything except a 50 hand
game
(neither had she and several other people standing around watching and
waiting
for me to push the button).
I waited and I won. A fun story since there was a bunch of
people hanging around waiting as we were for a give away car drawing.
My
question is: When did the little brain make up its mind
to give it to me, after I selected but before I actually pushed the
button
(several minutes passed, building anticipation) or when the 4 came up
in the
first place. I guess I'm just curious if it was already there or was
the wait
worthwhile. Mike
7) A. If you
listen real close, you can hear my applause, also :-).
I know that the cards are still shuffling before you hit the
'deal' button on most VP versions and eventually the card you want is
there,
but knowing how long to wait--there's the rub!
I often will do a bit of waiting myself even when dealt
three-of-a-kind, especially Aces.
In addition, if I am getting a 'string of losing hands', I
will sit back and wait for a while.
There is nothing scientific about this strategy and it does
not make a difference whether you wait or not, but we all have ‘our
little
quirks’ and you just hit on one of mine.
8) Q.
I have a sincere, but strange question. I
have won playing 10-7 full pay Double Bonus Video Poker. If I told you,
I have won
7
straight trips (51 out of 58 winning days), would you say this is A)
Impossible. B)Very Very Lucky or C) Simply a Hot Streak?
I play at least 11 hours a day. I'd like to hear any
comments.
8) A. First,
Congrats on your win. I would say this is a hot streak and I have had
several,
especially with this version. Just be sure, you are insulated against
that
'cold streak'.
The following 4
FAQ, frequently asked questions are from the mail bag of John Grochowski
The most common video poker games, online and off, requires
you to wager five credits to get the best odds. The big change comes in
the Royal
Flush jackpot. Most of the time, drawing a royal with one credit
wagered will
bring 250 in return. You’ll get 500 for a two-credit wager, 750 for
three, and
1,000 for four.
That’s all proportional, until you get to a
five-credit wager.
Then the jackpot goes up to 4,000 coins, an 800-for-1 proposition, and
a Royal
Flush brings joy and full pockets.
Still, the temptation is there for a short-bankrolled player
to make bets of less than one coin, as with this reader who wrote of
her
experiences:
9) Q. I hit a Royal
Flush on a Video Poker machine. I was thrilled, but now I get lectured
from
everyone
when I tell them I was betting only one quarter at a time. Everyone
tells me I
should have been betting five coins, and then I’d have won $1,000. I
thought my
250 quarters for one coin bet was pretty good, but everyone wants to
rain on my
parade. Did I make a
mistake?
9) A. This is an
issue between you and your budget. If your bankroll and comfort level
with
wagering tell you that you should play one coin at a time, then that's
what you
should bet. You get a better payback percentage if you bet five coins
at a
time--that royal would have paid 800-for-1 instead of 250-for-1. I play
five
coins at a time, and if I can't afford to do it, I don't play.
But
if you're
enjoying your day's entertainment while settling for the lower
percentage, it's
your quarter.
That being said, there is a price for playing fewer coins
than the maximum.
When we say that 9-6 Jacks or Better Video
Poker is a
99.5% game
with expert play, well, part of expert play is betting maximum coins.
If
you
bet fewer coins, it's only a 98.4 percent game.
I would warn anyone against betting four coins at a time.
Then, you're paying most of the price of VP without getting the best
benefit.
Look at it this way. If we break 9-6 Jacks or Better down to five
one-coin
bets, on the first coin we're getting a 250-for-1 payoff on a Royal
Flush, and
our return is 98.4 percent. Same on the second coin, the third and the
fourth.
But on the fifth coin, our royal pays 3,000-for-1, right?
If we bet four coins, we get only 1,000 back on a royal, but
if we bet five, we get 4,000. With that bonus payback in mind, our
return on
the fifth coin is 106.2 percent.
That's true on nearly every VP game. The return on the fifth
coin brings back in excess of 100 percent of what we put in. When we
stop at
four coins, we give away so much return in exchange for so little
savings.
Betting one coin at a time may be budget-conscious; betting
four is penny-wise and pound-foolish.
10) Q. Video Poker
machines can be programmed to pay off for any hand.
So why
can’t drawing an inside straight, which has only four
chances to win, pay more than an open-ended straight that has eight
chances to
win? Also, why does a flush pay more than a straight? When you have
four cards
to a flush, there are nine left that can complete the flush, but with
an
open-ended straight, you have only eight cards to make a straight.
10) A.
It
is true that the odds
are longer against you filling in an inside straight --- a hand such as
4-5-7-8
in which only a 6 will bring a winner, than an open-ended straight such
as
4-5-6-7, where either a 3 or an 8 will complete the
straight.
However, the goal of VP game designers isn’t to best reflect
the odds of drawing a hand. It’s to design a game that’s playable and
fun, one
that’ll keep the customers coming back for more.
If you're playing five-card draw around the kitchen table
and you win with a straight, you don't get extra credit for drawing to
the
inside, do you?
The
Video Poker pay table is not
meant to be a precise
mathematical model
of the relative frequency of paying hands.
It's meant to draw players in by giving them a familiar-type
game, one in which full houses outrank flushes and flushes outrank
straights
even though those three hands occur with about the same frequency in
video
poker.
To give a bonus for hitting a straight on an inside draw
would mean that the pay table would have to adjusted down elsewhere to
keep the
payback percentage the same. By splitting hairs like that, we'd create
the need
for a more complex strategy.
You can find situations like that all the way up and down
the pay table.
Instead of 800-for-1, shouldn't Royal Flushes pay close to
the 40,000-1 odds of hitting one? The answer is no, because other
paybacks
would have to be adjusted down so far that the game would be unplayable.
11) Q. I
found a Video Poker game with an interesting chance to double your
winnings.
A card spins on the
screen, and you pick high (9 through Ace) or low (2 through
7).
An 8 is a push, and
you just keep your original winnings. This seems to me like a true
even-money
bet and therefore the best bet this side of the free odds in craps.
Is this correct,
and is there any strategy as to when to do it and when not? Also, if
you win
the first time do you double again?
You can double up to
four times.
11) A. The Double-Up bet you describe
is,
indeed, an
even wager with no house edge, provided the machine draws the cards
randomly.
There are six denominations from 2 through 7, and six more from 9
through Ace.
And since the remaining cards, the 8’s, are a push, there's no edge on
this bet
either way, just as there's no edge on the free odds wager in craps.
It's
the
electronic equivalent of a coin flip.
Remember, though, that although the house has no edge here,
neither do you. If you enjoy the doubling option, play it; if not,
don't. In
the long run, you'll wind up the same either way.
Let your own tastes and bankroll guide you in deciding when
and how many times to double up. On an even bet, the odds against winning two consecutive
trials are 3-1; the
odds are 7-1 against winning three in a row and 15-1 against winning
four in a
row. However, the odds on winning your next bet always are even.
If
you've
already won three in a row, the odds of winning the fourth no longer
are 15-1;
they're even.
12) Q. I
have always considered a 1-for-1 payoff to be no payoff at all. If I,
as the
bettor, wager five coins on a Jacks or Better machine and get back five
coins
for a pair of Jacks, I am merely getting the return of my money that I
have put
up to bet. In effect, the house has put up nothing on the wager.
I feel there should
be nothing less than a 2-for-1 payoff.
If the bettor puts up
one, two, three,
four or five coins, then the house should put up the same, and any
minimum
winning payout would have to include the return of the original bet
plus the
equal amount in payout.
How does one get
this changed, if that’s at all possible?
12) A.
Video poker machines that
merely return your bet for a pair of Jacks, Queens,
Kings or Aces are so well entrenched that I don't think you could
change it. I
also don't think such a change would be desirable.
A 1-for-1 payoff on the minimum winning hands are video
poker's equivalent of a push in blackjack -- and many's the time I've
sat with
a 17 against a dealer's Ace and been grateful to get a push when the
dealer
turned up a 6. From ties in baccarat to split hands in pai-gow poker,
pushes
are a part of the fabric of gaming.
The outcome that leaves
your bet alive for
another chance is a perfectly legitimate outcome.
You’re also asking the house to “put up” at least as much as
your wager on all paying hands, but I notice you’re not offering to put
up at
least as much as the house. On a Royal Flush we can get back 4,000
coins even
though we put up only five.
That aside, I think VP games that had no payoffs of less
than 2-for-1 would be unplayable. The pay table would have to be kept
in
balance -- a casino that offers 7-5 Jacks or Better, paying 96.2
percent to experts,
isn't suddenly going to start paying 120
percent or so by raising payoffs on high pairs to 2-for-1
without making some adjustments. Pairs of Jacks and Queens
would have to become zero-pay hands.
That would drastically
reduce the number
of paying hands and make results more volatile -- most of the time,
you'd
heading for the exit quickly.
In most Video Poker games, the 1-for-1 payoffs are the most
common
paying hands on the machine, and they keep you going until something
better
comes along. They are important to the player -- too important to give
up for a
belief that a bet ought to be met with more than a push.
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