|
Main Factors:
- Paytables
- Playing Strategy
- Maximum Coin Play
- Comps
Some Vegas Video Poker machines have long-term expected returns of over 100%--player has the Edge.
Here are some Full Pay returns for Vegas casinos:
- Deuces Wild (FPDW) 100.76%
- Joker Poker, Kings or Better 100.65%
- Double Bonus (DB) 100.17%
- Double Double Bonus (DDB) 100.07%
In Video Poker, Paytables are abbreviated as “9/6” or 9 coins for a Full House and 6 for a Flush--a 99.54 % Jacks or Better game.
Unfortunately, good machines look exactly like bad machines. You can only tell the difference by looking at Paytables. Jacks or Better of 45/30 for Full House/Flush is exactly the same as 9/6 except that we show the 5 coin maximum which should always be used to get the best payout.
|
5 Coin Paytables
|
JOB
|
Bonus
|
DB
|
DDB
|
NSUD
|
FPDW
|
LD
|
Joker
|
|
Royal Flush
|
4000
|
4000
|
4000
|
4000
|
4000
|
4000
|
4000
|
4000
|
|
4 Aces with King-5
|
125
|
400
|
800
|
800
|
20
|
25
|
20
|
100
|
|
4 Aces with 3,4
|
125
|
400
|
800
|
2000
|
20
|
25
|
20
|
100
|
|
4 Aces with 2
|
125
|
400
|
800
|
2000
|
80
|
75
|
75
|
100
|
|
4 Deuces with King-5
|
125
|
200
|
400
|
400
|
1000
|
1000
|
2500
|
100
|
|
4 Deuces with Ace-4
|
125
|
200
|
400
|
800
|
1000
|
1000
|
2500
|
100
|
|
4 of a Kind 3,4 with Ace-4
|
125
|
200
|
400
|
800
|
20
|
25
|
20
|
100
|
|
4 of a Kind (King-5)
|
125
|
125
|
250
|
250
|
20
|
25
|
20
|
100
|
|
4 of a Kind (3-4)
|
125
|
200
|
400
|
400
|
20
|
25
|
20
|
100
|
|
Royal Flush (with wilds)
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
125
|
125
|
125
|
500
|
|
5 of a Kind
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
80
|
75
|
75
|
1000
|
|
Straight Flush
|
250
|
250
|
250
|
250
|
50
|
45
|
50
|
250
|
|
4 of a Kind
|
125
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
20
|
25
|
20
|
100
|
|
Full house
|
45
|
40
|
50
|
50
|
20
|
15
|
15
|
35
|
|
Flush
|
30
|
25
|
35
|
30
|
15
|
10
|
10
|
25
|
|
Straight
|
20
|
20
|
25
|
20
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
15
|
|
3 of a kind
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
15
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
10
|
|
2 Pair
|
10
|
10
|
5
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
|
Pair of Kings or Aces
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
|
Pair of Jacks or Queens
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Return
|
99.54%
|
99.17%
|
100.17%
|
100.07%
|
99.73%
|
100.76%
|
100.97%
|
100.65%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
JOB=Jacks or Better
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NSUD=Deuces Wild (Not So Ugly Deuces)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FPDW=Deuces Wild (Full Pay Deuces Wild)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LD=Loose Deuces (If 85 for 5 of a kind, then 101.60%)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joker=Joker Poker
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bonus=Bonus Poker
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DB=Double Bonus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DDB=Double Double Bonus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Correct Playing Strategy
Most Video Poker players play about 3 full percentage points below perfect play. Partially this is not always using maximum coin for best odds but mostly it is subtle mistakes.
Each game has a unique optimum strategy. Games with bonuses or wild card payouts do so by eliminating or reducing payouts for other hands, usually the more frequently hit hands. Perfect strategy could add about 1.5% to an average player’s return for most games if not more.
|
Hours
|
Days
|
Total Hours
|
Hands Per Hour
|
Total Hands
|
Average Bet
|
Total Bet
|
Strategy Gain
|
Value
|
|
Typical Benefit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Time Vegas Visitor
|
5
|
2
|
10
|
250
|
2,500
|
$1.25
|
$3,125
|
1.50%
|
$46.88
|
|
2 Time Visitor
|
5
|
6
|
30
|
350
|
10,500
|
$1.25
|
$13,125
|
1.50%
|
$196.88
|
|
Weekend Local
|
5
|
100
|
500
|
400
|
200,000
|
$1.25
|
$250,000
|
1.50%
|
$3,750
|
|
Weekend Semi-Pro
|
5
|
100
|
500
|
650
|
325,000
|
$5.00
|
$1,625,000
|
1.50%
|
$24,375
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Max Benefit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Time Vegas Visitor
|
7
|
2
|
14
|
350
|
4,900
|
$1.25
|
$6,125
|
1.50%
|
$91.88
|
|
2 Time Visitor
|
7
|
6
|
42
|
400
|
16,800
|
$1.25
|
$21,000
|
1.50%
|
$315
|
|
Weekend Local
|
7
|
104
|
728
|
550
|
400,400
|
$1.25
|
$500,500
|
1.50%
|
$7,508
|
|
Weekend Semi-Pro
|
7
|
104
|
728
|
700
|
509,600
|
$5.00
|
$2,548,000
|
1.50%
|
$38,220
|
|
Weekend Pro
|
7
|
104
|
728
|
850
|
618,800
|
$25.00
|
$15,470,000
|
1.50%
|
$232,050
|
You will want to learn multiple games because casinos remove or downgrade high payout machines. The game that you like may suddenly disappear or be downgraded.
Each game may require hours of practice even if it seems there are not many apparent differences from one game to another. For example, Jacks or Better (JOB) strategy can be used for 8/5 DB or Double Bonus with a loss of a tenth of a percent (.001) from not using optimum strategy specifically for DB. Other games vary much more from JOB strategy.
Although it seems that just learning one strategy and playing the same way on all machines might work, there could be big savings (or additional winnings) by learning multiple strategies.
If you play only on weekends, 2 hours a day for 50 weeks in a year as a local in Las Vegas and your playing speed is 400 hands per hour, you will play about 80K hours a year. At the $0.25 level at max coin of $1.25 per hand (5 coins leads to optimum payout for a Royal) you will put $100,000 through Video Poker machines a year.
By picking up .001%, your decreased loss or increased winnings will be about $100 a year on average. If you play for 10 years, the Net Present Value (NPV) or today’s value of that future money will be roughly $786 depending on timing of actual gains from perfect strategy (5% discount rate). If you play 20 years, a .001% increase in your chances could be worth about $1,263 in today’s dollars.
Some of your benefits may be seen right away so you could have hourly gains from optimal play. On rare hands it may be years before you see a benefit. As a compromise, Vegas Made Easy.com assumed benefits on a monthly basis. See Table below. Some Video Poker writers believe that not playing optimum Expected Value play is justified by the variance of the game. You can play perfectly and lose steadily or play poorly but win big on a 6/5 Jacks or Better machine.
Even playing well, you luck can run in major streaks. One player hit 2 Royals and 2 Quad Deuces worth $600,000 in payouts. This was done within about 48 hours at Caesar’s on a rare 3 coin max $100 Deuces Wild machine—now downgraded. He had played $100+ Video Poker machines for about 2 years at other casinos without getting a Royal.
Chance does overwhelm strategy.
However, give yourself the best possible chances by always playing the right strategy. Over the long term, it will probably mean many thousands of dollars for serious players. If you have bad luck, you may not lose as much. If you have good luck, you may win more.
Of the several good sources for proper strategy, Vegas Made Easy.com recommends Video Poker for Winners (VPW) as our top choice with Frugal Video Poker our second recommendation. Our top picks for books are Bob Dancer's life as a VP pro, Jean Sott's Paytable guide and her book on Video Poker.
VPW http://www.videopokerforwinners.com/
Frugal Video Poker http://queenofcomps.com/
   
  
    |
