Archive for July, 2008

Video Poker Introduction

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
video poker
David Walker asked:


If you enjoy being involved in live poker games then you will love video poker. The rules for video poker are normally the same as the rules for a live table game but in video poker you are playing against a machine rather than a group of people.

Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television monitor with a central processing unit. Early models appeared in the mid-1970s around the same time the first personal computers were introduced. However, these machines were rather primitive compared to the technology available today.

To play you must first deposit your money and, if given an opportunity screen, choose your game of choice followed by choosing which poker game variation you would like to play. You are then dealt a five card hand. You choose which cards you want to hold and which ones to discard. The new cards are dealt and you either win or lose.

A lot of people who are intimidated in a live poker game actually prefer to play video poker. The game is growing in popularity online as well because there isn’t that much of a difference in the online type and the bricks and mortar casino versions.

Newer video poker machines employ variants of the basic five-card draw but the best return on your money is often found on the “Jacks are Better” variation of the game because you are paid twice the amount of your bet for a pair of Jacks or better and usually the payout for three of a kind is three times your bet.

Some of the video poker machines offer a bonus feature at the end of the hand. You might have a double down or a high / low opportunity to double your winnings. Please exercise caution when playing this feature because this is usually a side bet designed to take back more than it pays out.

Video Poker is one of the best games online or off for the player if you give yourself the advantage by learning how to play the hands correctly. Always remember when playing any machine to bet the maximum coins allowed for maximum payouts.

One of the worst things that can happen to a video poker player is to play the minimum coins allowed and hit a Royal Flush. If you play the maximum number of coins in, you stand to win several thousand dollars.



Micheal

Video Poker - How To Calculate Perfect Strategy

Monday, July 28th, 2008
video poker
Boris Sandberg asked:


Video Poker is one of the most popular slot versions of playing poker. In video poker you are playing against the machine, not other players, like in traditional poker. Your goal in this game is to get the highest ranking five card hand possible.

How to play

First you place a bet and receive five cards. Then you decide which cards to hold and which to discard. You may draw up to five new cards to improve your hand. Finally you obtain replacement cards in exchange for the cards you have discarded. All cards are dealt randomly from one card deck.

Perfect Play

Video Poker is a game where skill is important. With enough practice, you can learn how to play video poker like a professional. Video Poker can be one of the few potentially profitable casino games. Some video poker games are positive expectation games. It means that if you play properly, some Video Poker machines actually offer over 100% payback for perfect play over the long run.

You have the best chance of winning (losing less money) at video poker over the long run if select the holding with the highest Expected Value. Expected Value (mathematical expectation) is the statistically projected average of all possible outcomes for a particular play or game. In other words, EV is the amount one would expect to win or lose if this decision were to be repeated millions of times.

There are 32 ways to hold cards for any dealt five-card hand. For each of these holdings you have to calculate the expected value (EV) of the result and draw to the combination which has the highest EV.

The math used to calculate the Expected Value is not very complicated at all. To compute the EV for the particular draw, you have to multiply the probability of each possible outcome by its value and sum up the results.

The following example explains the above definition.

The dealt hand is 8c 9d 4h 9s 8s in the Jacks or Better (8/5) video poker machine. In this simple example the holding with the highest EV is 89_98. There are 47 cards remaining in the deck. 4 cards would make Full House and 43 others would make Two Pairs. We have a payoff value of 8 for a full house and 2 for a Two Pairs.

EV= 48/47+432/47=2.51064

Calculating EV is straightforward. But it is a tedious task for a human. Luckily, there are several computer programs designed to evaluate the optimal strategy for each hand as it is encountered. They can catch your mistakes and warn you about them, showing you the difference in EV between your play and the best play. You can use your computer to master your video poker skills at no cost.



Sue