The following is an introduction to Video Poker strategy. We’ll be covering a basic strategy sheet that does not take into consideration penalty cards. Penalty cards are cards that are discarded which reduces the chance of completing a flush or a straight. The difference between using the most complete and hence, most complex strategy cards is rather small, usually less than 0.1%. Hence,  many if not most  advantage players ignore penalty cards.

The first step in playing better video poker is choosing the right machine, and that doesn’t mean one the “feels right”, it means a machine with the best pay table.

The variation in expected return is due to small changes in the payoff for flushes and full houses. The full-pay version of Jacks or Better is abbreviated 9/6 which means full houses pay 9 or 45 with 5 coins be and flushes pay 6 or 30 with 5 coins in. The game has an expected long run return of approximately 99.5% when using the following strategy.

Strategy for Jacks or Better(JOB 9/6)

[9/6 describes the version of Jacks or Better where a full house pays 9 units or 45  for max bet and a flush pays 6 units or 30 for max bet.]

All strategy list/cards work the same way, you start at the top of the list, and work you way down, until you come to the hand you have been dealt. The list/card will list the cards to hold.

The following is a strategy chart generated by the software package Video Poker Strategy Master by Tomski.

(The number on the left is the expected return by holding the indicated cards, for pat hands expected returns equals actual returns. The numbers are based on a single coin, hence a royal flush is marked 800; multiply by 5 for the five coin pay-out of 4,000. Look at the expected pay-off for two pair, which pays 2 for a single coin bet, is 2.5957. The extra .5957  factors in all possible improvements in the hand, which for two pair is a full house.)

800.0000 Pat Royal
50.0000 Pat Straight Flush
25.0000 Pat Four of a Kind
18.4255 4 Royal
9.0000 Pat Full House
6.0000 Pat Flush
4.3080 Three of a Kind
4.0000 Pat Straight
3.4282 4 STFL, Open, 2345s-9TJQs
2.5957 Two Pair
2.2307 4 STFL, Inside
1.5405 High Pair JJ-AA
1.3201 3 Royal
1.2447 4 Flush
0.8723 TJQK
0.8237 Low Pair 22-TT
0.7979 9TJQ
0.7447 89TJ
0.7280 QJ9s
0.7216 JT9s
0.6809 4 ST, Open, 2345-789T
0.6300 3 STFL, Open, 345s-89Ts
0.6253 KQ9s, KJ9s, QJ8s
0.6096 QT9s, JT8s, J98s
0.6079 QJs
0.5938 AKQJ
0.5858 KQs, KJs
0.5774 AKs, AQs, AJs
0.5319 4 ST, Inside, 3 Hi Cards
0.5318 3 STFL, 2 Gaps, 1 Hi
0.5260 3 STFL, 1 Gap, 0 Hi, +234s
0.5153 KQJ
0.5059 QJ
0.5008 JTs
0.4901 KQ, KJ
0.4804 QTs
0.4783 AK, AQ, AJ
0.4749 KTs
0.4742 Jack
0.4704 Queen
0.4682 King
0.4622 Ace
0.4376 3 STFL, 2 Gaps, 0 Hi
0.3598 Redraw

The following is my first iteration of making sense out of the above strategy list.

1.      Hold the following pat hands Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House.

Notice that Flushes and Straights are NOT automatic holds.

2.      For pat Flushes and Straights, that also contain 4 card royals, keep the 4 card royal and discard the fifth card. For example Ac-Kc-Qc-Jc-5c Break-up the pat club flush, keep the four card royal and discard the 5 of clubs.

3.      Four Card Straight Flush open/no gaps

4.      Two Pair

Two Pair beats High Pair, if you are dealt a pair a Jacks and a pair of fours, hold both pair, don’t throw away the 4s to go for quad Jacks.

5.      Four Card Straight Flush Inside

Four Card Straight Flush beats High Pair

6.      High Pair JJ-AA

7.      Three to a Royal Flush

8.      Four Flush

Notice Three card Royal beats Four Flush

9.      K-Q-J-10

10.   Low Pair (Pair of 2′s through pair of 10s)

11.   Q-J-10-9 or  J-10-9-8

12.   Q-J-9 suited or J-10-9 suited

13.   Four Straight 2-3-4-5 through 7-8-9-10

14.   Q-J-8 suited

15.   3 card straight flush (with at least as many high cards as gaps)

5-6-7 suited works, no gaps so no high cards are needed
J-10-8 suited works, one gap but we have one high card
J-9-7 suited, doesn’t work because we have two gaps but only one high card
K-J-9 suited, works two gaps two high cards

16.   A-K-Q-J unsuited

17.   Two Suited High Cards

18.   Four Card Straight Inside Three High Cards

19.   Three Card Straight Flush 2 Gaps 1 High Card

20.   Three Card Straight Flush 1 Gap  0 High Card

21.   K-Q-J Unsuited

22.   Q-J Unsuited

23.   J-10 Suited

24.   K-Q or K-J both unsuited

25.   Q-10 Suited

26.   A-K; A-Q; A-J all unsuited

27.   K-10 Suited

28.   Single High Card (A; K; Q; J)

29.   Three Card Straight Flush; 2 Gaps; 0 High Cards

Notice in the first list  that a single Jack is higher on the list than a single Queen and that the Ace is lowest on the list of single card holds. This may seem counterintuitive to most people, but the reasoning is actually straightforward. The Jack allows for a greater number of straights and straight-flushs than the other royal cards. If you hold an Ace you can only make a Ace high straight. If you hold a Jack, you can make a Ace, King, Queen, or Jack high straight, hence the Jack is the more valuable hold. The same idea is at work with Jack Ten suited being worth more than Queen Ten suited.

At first glance it may seem like a daunting task to learn the strategy for JOB, but the truth is, with a little practice on one of the many available software programs, JOB strategy is easily mastered. Most people find their enjoyment of playing video poker increases substantially once they have mastered the strategy to the game.

I recommend Linda Boyd’s book:

For Information on Las Vegas Casinos Please Visit: MavensVegas.com

Video Poker is one of the best games for earning comps in a casino. Most important among the reasons video poker is a great game to play to earn comps is that it is a game of skill, which allows the player to “trick” the casino into thinking that you are a more valuable customer for the casino than they really are. Additionally, games are available to satisfy just about any level of gambler, from high-roller to low-roller. Finally, but by no means least in importance, video poker is fun! Video Poker has become so popular, in many locals casinos in Las Vegas it has practically taken over the whole gaming floor. The game seems to have the right balance of player involvement via the discard decisions, but is not so taxing as to impede the fun. After playing the game for awhile it is easily understood why Video Poker is called the ”Crack Cocaine” of casino games.

As the popularity of video poker has grown over the past several years, so has the number variations in the game. The original game is called Jacks or Better, often abbreviated in video poker books and articles as JOB. The game plays like 5-card draw, where the player is dealt 5 cards, with which he decides how many to discard for a re-draw. In video poker you are playing against a pre-determined pay-schedule not other players, hence there is no bluffing! Having a pre-determined pay-schedule is an advantage to the player, since it allows the player to determine the payback of the video poker machine before he even sits down at the machine.

Video Poker Basic Rules

All Video Poker games are a variation of a five card draw poker game, the goal of which is to select which of your initial five cards to discard so that you end up with the best possible poker hand. The rank of poker hands is as follows, in descending order:

Royal Flush: Ace; King Queen; Jack; 10 all of the same suit
Straight Flush: 5 consecutive cards all of the same suit e.g. 5-6-7-8-9 of clubs.
Four of a Kind(Quads): Such as four Jacks.
Full House: Three of one denomination and a pair of another denomination such as three Jacks and a pair of Queens.
Flush: Five cards of the same suit.
Straight: Five consecutive cards, not all of the same suit, which would make it a straight flush.
Three of a Kind(Trips): Three cards of the same denomination, such as three Jacks.
Two Pair: Two cards of the same denomination plus another pair of different denomination.
Single Pair:Two cards of the same denomination.

Each version of Video Poker will assign a unique value to each possible outcome. For Jacks of Better (JOB) the pay-schedule is shown in the following table.

The first number is for a single unit bet, while the second number represents the maximum coin bet of five units.

Notice, with the exception of the Royal Flush, the five unit bet is simply five times the single unit bet. That the Royal Flush payoff is not a simple multiple of  the number of units bet, is more obvious when you look at the Royal Flush payoff for one to five units bet: 1=250; 2=500; 3= 1,500; 4= 2,000; 5=4,000 this extra payoff, 4.000 versus 2,500 is what leads to the expert advice of always playing maximum credits, five units per hand, when playing video poker.

The exception to this rule, aren’t there always exceptions, is under the rare circumstances when the video poker machine offers no royal flush premium for five coins bet, e.g. 800 coins per unit bet.

Video Poker Game Variations

There are many variations in video poker pay-schedules, most involve the pay-offs of four of a kinds, often called “quads” The most common variation involves premium pay-offs for quad Aces and quad 2s; 3s; and 4s. Which leads to ever higher pay-offs for these premium a hands in the following games:

Bonus Poker
Double Bonus Poker
Double Double Bonus Poker
Triple Double Bonus Poker

That list is enough to make any novice video poker player’s head spin, but there is method to the madness.

Before we dive into the table let me first say, that I have chosen representative versions of each individual game, with a preference given to the best version of the game that is commonly available in Las Vegas.

First let’s look at what happens to the payoff to Quad Aces as we progress through the list. For the sake of completeness I’ll start with our old friend Jacks or Better (JOB), in that game all quads pay 25 per unit bet or 125 for a five unit, hence quad aces pay 125.

As a side note, since I already explained that it is almost always optimal to play five units per hand, henceforth I will always assume I am speaking about a five unit bet when I am speaking about video poker pay schedules.

Next in the list is Bonus Poker this games pays 400 credits for quad Aces. Guess what Double Bonus pays for quad Aces, that’s right 800 credits.

Now we come to Double Double Bonus Poker, what does that mean. This is where we introduce the idea of  “kickers”.

A kicker is a fifth card that increases the value of the quad.

Double Double Bonus is a very popular version of video poker, probably the most common. In Double Double Bonus Aces; 2s; 3s and 4s make up both the premium quads and the kickers. For example quad aces with a kicker fifth card of any 2, 3 or 4 is worth 2,000 credits, wow, now that’s a bonus quad. Without the kicker quad aces is worth 800, as in the base Double bonus game. In Triple Double Bonus the pay-off is ratcheted-up to 4,000 for Aces with a Kicker.

Every version of Double Double Bonus will have identical payoffs for all the quads, that is Aces with a kicker will pay 2,000 while Aces without a kicker will pay 800, and so on. The difference among versions of Double Double Bonus is found in the payoffs of Flushes and Full-Houses, just where most players are not looking. We’re back to our recurring theme that it is the small things that are often most important in casinos.

Don’t be lured into playing an inferior game by the prospect of large jackpots.

Most gamblers would look at the table and say, Triple Double Bonus is obviously the best game of the bunch. Why would anyone bother ever playing Jacks or Better for a measly 125 units, when you can get 4,000 units for Aces with a kicker. First impressions can be deceiving. The punch-line is contained in the last line of the table labeled “Expected Value” The line tells you the expected return of the game, when playing the game with the correct strategy. The higher the number the better, hence Jacks or Better with the measly 125 units for all quads is the best game in the table with 99.54% return versus 98.15% return for Triple Double Bonus. The obvious next question is “How can that be true?” To answer that question, let’s compare the pay-schedules.

Quads versus Two Pair and Trips

The differences in the schedules are due to the payoffs in the quads and the pay-offs in two pair and three of a kinds. The payoffs for quads all favor the Triple Double Bonus schedule, with all quads being much higher than the measly 125 Jacks or Better pays for all quads. However the pay-offs for two pair and three of a kind favor Jacks or bettor. If you think about this classic tortoise and hare example, it is rather amazing. The plodding advantage of getting an extra 5 units for two pairs and three of a kinds outweighs the advantage of getting 4,000 units for Aces with kickers and 2,000 units for 2s, 3s, 4s with kickers versus 125 units with JOB, I haven’t even mentioned the significant premium that Triple Double pays for all the other quads, as can be seen in the Table Video Poker Pay Schedules

To help drive home the importance of paying close attention to small changes in pay-schedules, and for completeness, let’s quickly review key aspects of the Variations Table . Starting at the right side of the table with Triple Double Bonus and moving leftward, the next game is Double Double Bonus. The only difference between these two games is the reduction of the “kicker” pay-offs from 4,000 to 2,000 for Aces and from 2,000 to 800 for 2s, 3s, 4s and the increase in three of a kind pay-off from 10 to 15. Once again we see that the small 5 unit increase in pay-off more than makes of for some substantial quad pay-offs. I say more than makes up for the difference because Double Double has a higher expected return than Triple Double, 98.98 versus 98.15.

Double Double Bonus versus Double Bonus

The next game to the left of Double Double Bonus is just plain Double Bonus, say that three times fast! In Double Bonus the kickers are removed, hence all Quad Aces pay the same, 800, while 2s, 3s, 4s all pay 400. To make up for this shortfall, flushes are increased to 35 from 30 and straights are increased to 25 from 20. Notice again these small strategically placed 5 unit increases slightly more than make up for the big kicker payoffs. Double Bonus has a higher expected return than Double Double Bonus, 99.19 versus 98.98.

Double Bonus versus Bonus

The jump from Double Bonus to Bonus gets us to a game that is much closer to Jacks or Better than any of the previous games we have discussed so far. As you might expect, in going from Double Bonus to Bonus the all quads are cut in half, Aces from 800 to 400, 2s, 3s, and 4s from 400 to 200, non-bonus quads from 250 to 125.  The flush is cut from 35 to 25 and straights are cut from 25 to 20. The only gain, which again more than off-sets these cuts, is that two pair is now worth 10 instead of 5. Expected return of Bonus is 99.17 versus 99.11 for Double Bonus.

Bonus versus JOB

The final jump is from Bonus to Jacks or Better the reduction is in quad Aces from 400 to 125 and quad 2s, 3s, 4s from 200 to 125. Note that both games pay 10 for two pairs. JOB more than makes of for the reduction in bonus quads via 5 unit increases in flushes and full-houses to 30 and 45 respectively. The jump in expected value from Bonus to JOB is the largest in the table, from 99.17 to 99.54.

Pay Schedule Variation within Versions of JOB

There is more variation in Video Poker Pay Schedules than just among the different games, Pay Schedules can vary among different versions of the same game. As always, small changes can be very important. We’ll take a closer look at our old friend, Jacks or Better (JOB).

(Only the hands that vary are included)

Notice how small changes can have large effects. In going from JOB 9/6, which pays 45 for full houses and 30 for flushes, to JOB 8/5 which pays 40 for full houses and 25 for flushes we lose over 2% of our expected return, going from a 99.54% game to a 97.3 % game.

The same variations occur in all versions of video poker games. For instance in Double Double Bonus poker, the game where quad Aces with a kicker pays 2,000 the standard game we looked at in the first table paid 45 for full house and 30 for flushes, if we drop the pay schedule to 40 for full house and 25 for flushes the expected value of the game goes from 99% to 97%.

The reason that small changes in hands like two pair or three of a kind are enough to offset large changes in quad hands is due to the relative frequency of each type of hand. In any given session of video poker you are going to have many more hands resulting in two pair than you are quad Aces with a kicker. This is obvious to anyone that has any played poker. What is less obvious, is the exact extent of the difference in frequencies. This is why expert video poker players don’t rely on gut instinct in deciding how to play each hand they are dealt in video poker. Experts rely on strategy sheets and cards that tell them exactly how to play each hand. Remember, there is no bluffing in video poker!

There are 2,598,960 unique possible dealt five card hands in video poker. Fortunately, many of these hands are treated the same way from a strategy perspective. This allows us to have a relatively short list of instructions to advise on how to play any given dealt hand. The best way to learn the correct strategy for any video poker games requires both a basic understanding of the theory behind the strategy and some brute force practice and memorization.

In Part an upcoming post we’ll walk through a Jacks or Better strategy sheet.

For a good beginner’s book on Video Poker, I recommend Linda Boyd’s book,  the book also includes several strategy cards.

A good forum on Video Poker is the vpFree one on Yahoo Groups.

For Information on Las Vegas Casinos Please Visit: MavensVegas.com

Most people that patronize casinos have dreams of leaving with more money than which they arrived with, to be winners. A better perspective would be to view the casino visit  purely in terms of amusement, and thus think in terms lowering the cost of the entertainment, or more precisely, minimizing losses. While the cost of other forms of entertainment, such as playing a round of golf, are rather well defined, the cost of gambling as a form of entertainment is more difficult to grasp, due the variability of individual outcomes. This variability of outcomes is what makes gambling so exciting, and potentially problematic. To the savvy gambler this variability can be harnessed for advantage over the casino, as explained below.

First, let’s press a little harder on the gambling and golf analogy. Imagine your preferred golf course had greens fees of $100, and worth every penny of that fee. Now, let us suppose the golf course adopted a casino pricing model. You expect your round will cost you $100, but you really don’t know before the round what the cost is, since the Course Pro will come out at the end of the round and tell you how much the round cost. For instance, the Course Pro may have noticed all the sand traps you hit into, and charge you $300 for the round. On the other hand, he may say he really likes your smooth golf swing and only charge you $50. Or, to push the analogy even further he might congratulate you on your great round and say the round is free, not only that you can have a free room in our resort hotel, and dinner at Michael Mina’s new restaurant.

Sounds crazy? But that’s the way the seemingly impenetrable casino comp system seems to work at most casinos. Actually, a common comp experience is more like one of the two following scenarios.

The most common scenario is as follows:

You play a slot machine for a half hour or so, lose $40 or $50, maybe $100 walk up to the club desk ask for a comp to the buffet and are sternly told you have earned no comps, regardless that the value of the comp you are seeking is much less than the amount of your loss.

Another less common scenario is:

You play for three or four hours on a slot machine, win $50 or $100, walk up to the club booth and ask for a buffet comp, and are asked, “How many” Crazy, right?

How Casino Comps are Calculated

To understand what’s going on here, you have to understand how casinos calculate how they award comps to their patrons, and it really is all about Theo, and I’m not talking about Vincent’s brother. Theo is casino short hand for “Theoretical Loss”. Theoretical Loss is the calculation the casino uses to calculate your monetary value to the casino and subsequently how much in complementaries, or comps, they are going to offer you.  Every game in a Casino has a built in house advantage, which means, over the long run the Casino will always be a winner. Theoretical loss is a way for the casino to combine their knowledge of their advantage on their games with their knowledge of how much you are wagering.

Theoretical loss is calculated as follows:

Take the Casinos Advantage and multiply it by your total wager
(Casino Advantage)   X  (Total Wager)
Total Wager = (Average Bet) X (Number Of Bets)

Action More Important Than Win/Loss

Notice, whether you actually win or lose  is not in the above calculation. It is largely immaterial to how the casino will comp you. The saying is “the casino is rewarding you for your action” Your action is how much you are betting times the house advantage at the game you are playing. This explains why someone that bets the same amount at a game with a higher house advantage, will be comped more than a player that plays a game with a lower house advantage. For example roulette has a higher house advantage than  baccarat, hence roulette players will earn comps faster, assuming they are betting the same dollar amounts.    It should also make sense now, why the person that lost $50 or $100 in a short period of time earned zero comps and why the person that actually won money over the course of several hours earned  a basket of comps.

Theoretical Loss In Action

To put some numbers to the earlier scenarios, assume the players are playing a slot machine with a 10% house advantage, and are playing at a rate of 500 pulls an hour at an average bet of $1, all reasonable assumptions I might add. Plugging these numbers into the Theoretical loss equation above we arrive at the following results: twenty minutes  play = $17 Theo versus four hours = $200 Theo. Assuming the casino is willing to comp players at a rate of 40% of Theo, again, a reasonable assumption, the earned comps are: $7 and $80 respectively.

Use Theo To Your Own Advantage

The obvious question is, how do you use this information for your own advantage, and thereby reverse, or at least diminish the casino’s advantage. The answer is to play games of skill. Even though it may sound oxymoronic, there are indeed games of skill in a casino, the two most prevalent are Blackjack and Video Poker. These are games where the skill level of the player can have a dramatic effect on the outcome.

Maximize Comps by Playing Skill Games Well

The key to maximizing your comps, is to get the casino to believe that your theoretical loss is greater than it actually is. The most important way to do this is to play skill games, and to play them well. Skill games are games where decisions you make effect the outcome of the game. Most table card games are skill games, baccarat is not a skill game, since the player has no impact on the outcome of the game. Blackjack is the most widely known table game where the player’s skill level has a large impact on the house advantage. If the player is skilled enough to be able to successfully count cards, they can even turn reverse the house advantage, so that they have an advantage at the game. The other table card games, such as Caribbean Stud, also have elements of skill, however their house advantages are rather large, even with optimal play. Playing blackjack, using basic strategy, allows the player to lower the house advantage to less than 1%.

Importance of Games of Skill

So, how do you get the casino to believe your theoretical loss is greater than it actually is and why are skill games the key?  Let me answer the second question first. Skill games are of key importance because the only way the casino can assign a theoretical loss value to your play at skill games, is to assign the average player’s skill level to your play. In non-skill games, such as roulette, everyone plays at the same skill level, and hence is assigned the same theoretical loss level, for a given amount of action. In skill games, if play at an above average skill level, the casino will credit your play at a higher theoretical loss level than is true.

Video Poker is Great for Generating Comps

For example, let’s look at video poker. Video poker is a skill game because decisions the player makes effect the house advantage of the game, and hence the player’s theoretical loss.  Video poker is a key component of a players set of tools in gaining comps from casinos.

Video Poker Example

Let’s say you are playing $1 video poker, where you can bet one to five credits per hand. As will be explained in future posts on Video Poker,  you always want to bet five credits per hand, or in our example $5 per hand. Slots or machine games are played at a much faster rate than table games. While you would be lucky to play 50-60 hands in an hour at a table game, at video poker 500 hands per hour is considered a leisurely pace. So if we’re playing video poker at $5 per a hand, 500 hands an hour, that’s $2,500($5 x 500) an hour. If we play 4 hours in a gambling day, not a particularly large amount of hours in Las Vegas where sleep deprivation is the rule. That leads us to $10,000 bet per day. We then multiply this amount by the house advantage.  I’ll use the relatively common game of Jacks or Better, the full pay version known as 9/6 Jacks or Better, often abbreviated 9/6 JOB.

A future posting will be  “A Primer on Video Poker” . Until then, the 9 represents the payoff for a full-house and the 6 represents the payoff for a flush. These are the most common parts of the pay schedules that casinos play with to raise the house advantage)

9/6 JOB has a house advantage of 0.5%, when rounded to the third decimal place.  Hence, our expected loss on $10,000 bet is $50($10,000 x .005). Not too bad when you consider all the comps this level of play will likely garner for you.

In the example just cited, I calculated that you would expect to lose $50 and yet the casino would probably give you some very nice comps for that level of play. How can that be? First, the casino will calculate your theoretical loss based on their experience of all players that play the type of games you are playing. As I mentioned before, playing at a 2% disadvantage to optimal play is a conservative assumption. Using figures like 7% or even 10% would not be unheard of. In the example above, playing at a 2% disadvantage would generate an expected loss of $250 (.5% house advantage with optimal play plus 2% times $10,000 = .025×10,000 = $250) Using the 10% figure we get an expected loss of $1,050. Realize that casinos will generally comp players up to 40% of their theoretical loss, hence, a $1000 theoretical loss equates to $400 in comps. In our example, a savvy video poker player can play at an expected loss of $50, and conceivably get $400 in comps, that seems like more than a fair trade for a player. Even at the conservative 2% rate a comp value of $100 is above the true Theo of $50.

Learning how to maximize comps from casinos is a bit of a game in and of itself, a game within a game, and is often referred to as “The Comp Game” and can be as much fun as the games themselves, and certainly more profitable.

Two Great Yahoo Groups

I hope this essay proves helpful if you choose to patronize casinos. I recommend two Yahoo Groups “Casino Comps”  for more detailed and up to date information on Casino Comps and vpFREE for up to date information on Video Poker at various casinos around the country.

For Information on Las Vegas Casinos Please Visit: MavensVegas.com

For information on Casino Comps in Las Vegas Visit:

Casino-Comps.info