Does anyone know of a thread or web site that explains what all the abbreviations and pay tables mean for Video Poker. I see a lot of DDB, JOB (which I play), 9/6 all over the board but would like to get a better understanding for it. Also would like to find the better machines at the Vegas casinos and not just choose the first ones I see. Are these machines usually hidden or not so easy to find? I know all of the different games have a different strategy and am not really interested in that, only the terminology. I will stick to playing JOB
There are two sites that are pretty standard for what you want. Wizard of Odds has good explanations of all of the shorthand, and a list of odds for all paytables. VPFree has information (although not always up to date) on where the best machines are.
Yeah Wizard of Odds (http://www.wizardofodds.com) is a great site for info on VP and other casino games. VPFree is the only one I know of that lists the good machines, the URL for that one is http://www.vpfree2.com and then click on GAMES + MACHINES for their search engine. You can also try http://www.videopoker.com for some free games you can play online. And was going to add that the casinos don't really hide the machines with a better payback, oftentimes they can just be right there amongst a row of lower pay machines. IE: might be 6 machines side by side of which the JoB on all of them is 8/5 except one might be 9/6 As for abbreviations: JoB or JOB is "Jacks or Better" DW is "Deuces Wild" otherwise the "D" usually means "Double", a "B" usually refers to "Bonus" and "T" is for "Triple" and then if there is a "P" thats for "Poker" So, as an example: BP = Bonus Poker DB = Double Bonus DDB = Double Double Bonus
Thanks for the info. I will read up on those sites mentioned. Could you briefly explain the 8/5 and 9/6 thing and which machines are the better ones to play. I assume the 9/6 is better, but other than the obvious why is it so much better?
Within the same game (like JOB or DDB), the way the casino jiggers with the payback on the machine is almost always by changing the payouts on the full house and the flush. 'Full Pay' pay tables are the maximum payouts you'll ever see for that game with the two numbers referenced meaning the payback on the full house and flush. 9/6 JOB happens to be 'full pay' and this means you win 9 coins for a full house and 6 for a flush (actually 45 and 30 when you're playing 5 coins per spin). Full pay does NOT mean the return is 100%, just the max you'll see on that game. 9/6 is also full pay on Double-Double-Bonus. Double Bonus it's 10/7, Bonus Poker it's 8/5, Bonus Poker Deluxe it's 8/6. To know the exact payout on any particular pay table you can look it up at Wizard of Odds or get a program like WinPoker, etc. To your last question it's obviously better to win 45 on a full house than 40 and 30 on a flush instead of 25.
That defines the paytables. The 9 is what the machine pays for a full house and the 6 is what a flush pays. As an example the return on 9/6 Jacks or Better (JOB) is 99.54%. The return on 8/5 JOB is 96.14%. So over the long run if you're playing for hours, it matters. That doesn't mean for any session you will get that return, it is the long range percentage return. You can put $20 into a 9/6 JOB and get nothing.
Just a couple corrections on the above : >> 9/6 DDB (98.98%) is the usual standard, but it is not full-pay. You can find 10/6 DDB (100.07%) at most Stations' properties. >> 8/6 Bonus Deluxe is short-pay ... as the full-pay standard is 9/6 (99.64%).
Don't get hung up on long term payback and all that. Most people never take the time to learn the game properly anyway. What is important is that 9/6 compared to 8/5 pays 1 coin more for each bet when you hit a full house or a flush. Since most players play 5 coins (to get the full royal payout of 4000) that means every full house and flush is worth 5 more coins. Full house and flushes come VERY often. An average player playing at 500 hands an hour would get around 11 flushes/houses. If you are a dollar player you will be $55 richer than you were playing 8/5. Pretty simple.
8/5 JoB is 97.30% actually, 7/5 JoB is 96.15%. gguerra, each extra unit on the full house and flush payouts on non-wild card games will typically add about 1.1% to the game's overall return, so you should try to find the version with the highest sum of these two numbers possible. But what sum of these two numbers makes the machine "full pay" varies among the game. "Full pay" for Jacks or Better is 15, but for Bonus Poker, it's 13 for example. I listed common games on multigame units and their approximate paybacks in this post: https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?p=786056#post786056