Video Poker

If you have not yet joined the legions of fanatically devoted video poker fans that populate every single nook and cranny of this blue marble known as the planet Earth, it’s probably a good idea to take a look at some possible reasons why you are depriving yourself of so much gambling pleasure.
Let’s start with the basics: is it possible that you are what is known as a poker slob? In case you don’t have a firm grasp on the meaning of this term (which is intended as a pejorative, by the way) let me enlighten you. A poker snob is a person who thinks that unless you are sitting at the green felt engaged in a battle of no-limit Texas Holdem in the main event of the World Series of Poker, with a televised audience of millions chanting your name as you go on a full-throttle charge to the championship, then it’s really not worth your time to play the game of poker. That’s just one variation of the poker snob, the type of woefully misguided individual who mistakes the glory of winning for the appeal of the game itself.

Another subspecies of the poker snob is far more prevalent in our society. You probably know one or two of these people (perhaps you can even look in the mirror to get a good look at one.) This type of poker snob thinks that the game of poker absolutely must be played in a room of living, breathing people, with opponents seated across the table close enough to touch. No exceptions are allowed to this maxim in the mind of a poker snob, so video poker is thus strictly verboten.

Well, I’m here to tell you that if you are a poker snob of the type described above, you’re really cheating yourself out of one heck of a good time. There has never been a better moment in history to jump on the video poker bandwagon, so just give up those nagging inhibitions and join the party, OK? Before you begin this transformational leap, however, you probably realize the wisdom in gleaning a few essential tips that will assist your rise to greatness in the world of video poker. Fair enough. Let’s go over a few.

First and foremost, never keep a kicker with any pair. This rule is fundamental to success in video poker. Holding a kicker to any pair reduces your return by 5%, so don’t be a chump.

Secondly, always be sure to bet the maximum amount of coins on a progressive machine to get the bonus for royal flushes. Building on this theme, remember that if you choose to play a progressive video poker machine that pays 8 coins for a full house and 5 for a flush, play on a progressive where the jackpot is over $250 on a nickel machine, $2,500 on a quarter, and $10,000 for the dollar. This payout structure is designed to boost your success.

Finally, never underestimate the Jack. Many players mistakenly think the Ace is the most important card in the deck. Wrong. Holding the Jack over the Ace gives you more opportunities of making lucrative hands. Don’t forget it!

Now you’re armed with good information, so get out there and play some video poker!

How the game is played

A hand in Video Poker is played as follows:
A player makes his/hers bet.
The machine gives the player five cards.
The players decide which cards to hold on to and which cards to muck.
The player’s mucked cards are replaced with new ones.
The player is paid off (or loses the bet) according to the value of his/hers hand.
Major differences between regular and Video Poker
In Video Poker you play against a machine and not against real people as you do in online poker games.
The objective of the game is to make high ranking hands rather than to beat other player’s hands. Consequently, bluffing and other strategic concepts do not come into play in Video Poker.
Different kinds of Video Poker
There are many different kinds of Video Poker and each one requires its own strategy. Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and Jokers Wild are three of the most common playing forms:
In Jacks or Better a pair of Jacks is the lowing ranking paying hand.
In Deuces Wild the deuces are wild and can be counted as any card in the deck. For example, this make a hand like Five of a Kind possible.
In Jokers Wild a Joker is included in the deck. The Joker can be counted as any card in the deck. This makes hands like Five of a Kind and Joker Royal Flush possible.
Remember that some strategic knowledge is very useful when you’re playing Video Poker. If you randomly pick a machine and apply your general poker knowledge, you will surely lose over time. If you want to gain an edge in Video Poker you must know what the best pay tables are for each game, where to find them, and how to play them. Consequently, some research is needed if you want to be a Video Poker winner.

POKER STRATEGY

A few words about playing strategy

My Video Poker Home Page lists a variety of places on the Internet where books, newsletters, magazines, laminated cards and software that will help you to learn a good, playable strategy for virtually any game you wish. I will offer some brief strategy hints here, but for serious strategy training you should access any or all of these resources or wait for my book "How to Leave Las Vegas with your shorts intact" (or something like that.) Also, REC.GAMBLING'S VIDEO POKER FAQ has the strategy for 8/5 jacks or better progressive and Deuces Wild (or Wild Ducks, as I like to call them.."I wanna go where the Wild Ducks go and...") as well as other useful info.

A brief preface then:
Some elementary concepts: Some of the strategies are relatively Simple and involve little consideration of what is commonly known as PENALTY CARDS. Penalty cards are discards that can affect the value of the cards you hold. For instance, if you hold jack-10 unsuited any discard that falls in the range of 7 thru ace negatively affects the number of possible straights you can draw. Likewise, if you hold jack-10 suited not only does the former apply but also any discards of the same suit will reduce the total possible flushes. Cards that fit both categories (e.g. a suited 7) would also reduce the number of straight flushes. Games that pay more for straights and flushes (10/7 double bonus and All American Poker) are affected more by penalty catds than other games and therefore have more complicated strategies.

Many of these games have an unusually large great percentage of the return concentrated in big jackpots and compensate by reducing the payout on the much more common hands such as full houses and flushes (or in Deuces Wild, straight flushes and QUADS (four of a kinds.) This reduction in the most often occurring hands increases the DRAIN, that is the percentage you can expect to be losing until you hit the big quads and/or the royal flush.

Many (it seems like most) of the Professional Video Poker players and writers are also mathematicians who often seem to spend most of the time in the land far to the right of the decimal point. Much of the discussion involves the RISK OF RUIN which is the chance you run of running out of money before the odds comes around to save you (assuming you are playing a game with a positive expectation.) The basic measure all of these discussions seem to begin with is the Standard Deviation per bet. This is a mathematical way of expressing the idea I was discussing in the previous paragraph. One of the writers on Video Poker (Dan Paymar) calls this number the VOLATILITY INDEX. The method for calculating it is not complicated, even for a math simpleton like myself. I have a spreadsheet template I will make available if anyone is interested. The point I want to make (and am FINALLY getting around to) is that it's not necessary for the non-professional to have to deal with all this. When I refer to VOLATILITY in these writing, I am using the judgement and common sense that tells you when a game is likely to make more serious demands on your bankroll than others. The bigger the jackpots (and the more the payouts on lesser hands are reduced to pay for them) the bigger the bankroll you need.