Online Video Poker Games

A whole lot of time, $250, and an expanded waistline. Here’s the breakdown.

If you’re the average Joe, that’s you, you’re going to be playing about 350 hands per hour, give or take. At 350 hands per hour, it will take you just over 114 hours to play 40,000 hands. If you were to play two, two-hour sessions per day, with a buffet in between, it will take you 28.5 days.

Okay, Joe, on your mark, get set... now that we have those 40,000 hands out of the way, and you have increased your girth by two inches, you should have lost $250. Here’s the arithmetic.

Playing the maximum coin amount on a quarter machine will cost you $1.25 per hand. Multiply that by 40,000 hands and you will have cycled $50,000 through the machine. (Tip one: You might as well get credit for all those quarters you’re inserting, so make sure you’re using your Player’s Club Card to get credit for those 40,000 hands. “Comp yourself” those trips to the chow line.)

If you were to play perfect basic strategy on a full-pay 9/6 jacks or better machine, and hit the royal in 40,000 hands, you should achieve a return of 99.5%. Multiply $50,000 by .05 percent, and you should lose, in theory, $250. The feeding frenzy using your Player’s Club Card should be free.

Tip two: Check out weightwatchers.com. Their point system works. I know!

That expert was correct, Sandy. Like today’s cybernetic slots, all video poker machines use a random number generator (RNG) software algorithm to determine the game’s outcome. The number of coins played cannot influence the end result. It doesn’t make any difference if one coin is being wagered or 50 or 100.

Also, they should have the same expected return – that is, if the pay tables are identical. Herein lies the secret -- why both of you are coming out cash-poor when playing the multi-play boxes. It’s not because there is some sort of monkey business happening, but that multi-play video poker games usually have stingier pay tables than do their single-play kissing cousins. Typically, the more the hands offered, the worse the pay table.

For those who do prefer multi-play games, I suggest that you look for pay tables equal to that of a single-play game. Although a bit tough to ferret out, they do exist. Once found, perfect basic strategy (train here) always remains the same, be it for 1-play, 3-play, or 100-play.

Quick tip: Assuming that both Sandy and Pete were to find identical pay tables, they will then need to ask themselves what they normally would play on a single play machine, and will then need to divide that number by 50 or 100. For instance, if they play $1 single-line machines, they should then play a one-cent 100-line game, or two-cent 50-liners.

The double down option feature that Paul is speaking of entails being dealt five cards face down, picking one card, and the machine picking another. If Paul’s card is higher than the machine’s, he doubles his winnings from the original poker hand. If it’s lower, he loses them.

You are correct, Paul, that it is a 50/50 proposition that you will double your money, but only the first time. Also, each subsequent time once you’ve won, the same 50/50 chance of winning applies. But your question states “trying for a winning streak of five consecutive wins before quitting.” Well, setting such a lofty goal gives you only a 3.13% chance of this occurrence happening, and not 50/50.

Gambling Wisdom of the Week: “The Vegas strip must contain more elegance and extravagance per square inch than anywhere in the known universe.” —Rob Wiser

For inquiring minds, what Mike meant by a “9/6 machine” is that it’s a Jacks or Better machine paying 9 for a full house, 6 for a flush, with one coin inserted.

Jacks or Better video poker with maximum coin play has a house edge of 0.5%. Excluding the royal flush, the casino’s advantage would be approximately 2.5%. Here’s a barnyard math way of viewing it. If, for instance, you were to play 600 hands per hour on a $1 Jacks or Better 9/6 machine, you can expect to lose about $75 per hour, on average, for each hour you play without hitting that phantom royal flush.

With similar paytables, Marcy, you will want to stick with the lower denomination nickel machine. Here’s why.

If you hit a royal flush on a nickel machine playing five coins you will win $200. Compare that to hitting a royal flush on a quarter machine with one coin where your payout is typically $67.50.

You are involving the same risk, one quarter, but a difference of $132.50 between the two machines when it comes to payoff for hitting the royal.

The majority of video poker machines in the past operated using parallel dealing. That is where all 10 cards are dealt simultaneously, the point being that your display cards and any draw replacements that may be called for are selected, dealt, and held in a single movement. Today, most machines employ serial dealing. Here, replacement cards are dealt right from the top of the deck -- as in a live poker game.

Someone working for IGT in Reno who reads this column in the Reno Gazette Journal will correct me if I’m wrong, but to the best of my knowledge IGT’s machines continuously shuffle the remaining 47 cards, and it is not until you press the draw button that you get whatever cards are on top of the deck at that precise moment.

Either/or, Frank, the cards are shuffled and displayed randomly, and neither way would have any effect on the outcome.

The odds of hitting a royal flush on a Jacks-or-better video poker machine are identical to the odds with a hand-shuffled deck at the kitchen table, approximately 40,000 to one. Yet that doesn’t mean Willy Wonder is guaranteed to hit a royal if he plays 40,000 hands. You could instantly hit a royal in 10 hands or 100,000 hands, or never see or hold one.

Take my Mom for example. She was a 20-year VP aficionado before she passed --I’m wondering out loud if the casino upstairs offers 9/6 machines-- but never hit a royal. My dad, who seldom if ever plays video poker, has hit two.

The casino’s advantage in video poker is in adjusting the payout for different poker hands in relation to the odds of making each hand, not in making it tougher for you to hit big in their house than it is at home.

GUARANTEED? Ah, another swindler scamming their system.

Before you get sucked in, here’s the real deal. True, by always playing perfect basic strategy you can achieve any video poker machine’s maximum payback. If you have knowledgeably selected a machine that offers a potential return very close to, or even exceeding, 100%, then, technically, you could have an edge over the house, and probably a winner over the long haul, but guaranteed?, not so.

Even the casino, Ken, isn’t guaranteed winning against every gambler’s play, though they do just happen to have an edge on nearly all the games, and on the wagers on those games. In a house holding such a guarantee, and never paying off, there’d be very few and only rather sleepy gamblers, wouldn’t there?

Yes, Ken, I’ve written plenty in the past to the effect that video poker is one of the only games where the smart player can get an advantage over the house, but there is a difference between playing with an advantage, and always being a winner. The one doesn’t necessarily GUARANTEE the other.

Plenty! Try six percent. With maximum coin play and perfect strategy, a five-coin return for four-of-a-kind gives you a slight edge against the house-a 100.76% return versus 94.34% if the machine returns just four coins.

Although I am not familiar with any gaming companies using continuous shuffle technology on their garden variety video poker machines while a hand is in progress, if the video poker machine is dealing a fair game, the answer to your question would be, no, it is not possible to get the same card back. Once you discard a card it shouldn’t be returning to the same hand.

Video poker, Jack, can be played at chop chop speed, and after a while, you can start seeing all kinds of streaks and patterns, so some same-card placement sorta seems possible. In actuality though, once the hand is completed, cards are reshuffled and that seven of diamonds you discarded the last hand can easily appear as the first card dealt on the next.

There are separate decks utilized for each game. In addition, there is a separate RNG program for each game. For multi-denominations games, there is again a separate RNG for payouts.

I use this strategy mainly for wager management. You are right, eventually you will win if it's a full-pay version utilizing optimum strategy, however, getting up and seeking another full pay or perhaps different VP version to play saves your gambling bankroll and perhaps you will find a machine that pays better.

Generally, if you don't hit 4 Deuces, you are in for a losing session with this VP, however, with 4 wildcards, 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.

Help is on the way. Triple Double Bonus pay schedule offers 4000 coins payout for 4 Aces w/ 2, 3 or 4--same as for a Royal Flush, however payout for 3 of a kind is reduced to 10. Four 2, 3 or 4's w/ace, 2, 3 or 4 pays 2000.

Strategy: Aces with a winning fifth card and as always, a Royal is the goal here, so the strategy is to hold the ace only when dealt with other high cards (Jacks+) not suited.

- If dealt a suited ace and face, then you will hold both.
- If dealt full house with 3 aces, keep the aces only.

Not only is there the reduced pay of 10 coins for 3-of-a-kind, but the overall return for this game is a lowly 98.15%. I suggest this version be played only with winnings from other VP games with better returns.

I did some research for this question, as I am skeptical of any VP game that is not full pay and has not been around for a long time.

As for strategy, there's no change from the regular strategy for single line games. You want to look for full-pay schedules: e.g., 9/6 Jacks+, 9/5 Deuces, 10/7 or 10/6 Double Bonus, etc. To my delightful surprise, I found the overall payback %'s for this game to be Jacks 9/6=99.996%, Deuces 9/5=100.067%, Double Bonus 10/6=100.06%.

Again, if you find the full pay schedules as described above, the returns can be better than a regular single payline-always a plus for VP players.

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.

Also, casinos already make additional money from VP players who are not educated and are not playing the game with optimum strategy or without max coin each time.