Video Poker Help With Video Poker

I'm a table games player that has recently started playing VP. There are enough versions of video poker to make your head spin, so I'm confused. I know you should always look for the jacks or better at 9/6 payout, as this has the best odds.

Last night I was at MGM and on the regular Jack's or Better game it was 8/5 in the high limit room (I think it was the high limit room). I switched the game to "double bonus" and "double double bonus" and that was 9/6. So I settled on playing double bonus. But there was differing payouts for different types of quads, and a straight flush. I later found out this version is just as bad.

As a table games player its always easy to find the most liberal rules for best payouts. For example ensuring BJ pays 3:2, dealer stand soft 17, playing euro roulette etc... Pit staff can always usually steer you in the right direction. I asked the slot staff where 9/6 JoB was and no one seemed to know. How do you find the best VP pay tables at the casino you go to?

 

Go to the VPFree2 website and you can search by casino. It will show the games available and sometimes an up to date location in the casino.

 

In addition to payout, you need to think about volatility of the games you choose. For example, both JOB and DDBP may both appear to be 9/6 (Full House and Flush) payouts but DDBP definately has the other payouts skewed to the high end - which is why you get those crazy payouts when kickers are triggered (like 4A with a kicker).

What this means is that you won't be having a lot of regular payback from lower hands refilling your pocket with DDBP - and you NEED to be hitting the higher end stuff regularly (mainly 4OAK) in order to stay even. DDBP is a lot more volatile than JOB this way - and that thrill of the big scores is balanced by a lot fewer low end scores - but the low volatility games often seem like a lot of grinding to many. It also means you should probably have a bigger bankroll to play the higher volatility games to manage the ups and downs.

The other thing you need to appreciate is that there is definately a different strategy for each different variation of VP - where the nature of the game forces you to hold or release certain cards differently (JOB, deuces, aces, etc). A good way to explore the differences is with the WinPoker app - which is one of the best trainers I know.

BeeJay has found what he claims to be a good compromise in Bonus Poker Deluxe - which is somewhat less volatile than DDBP. Have not tried that yet. I trained myself up for DDBP and can play a pretty error-free game without thinking too hard.

 

I've been searching for a good training app for JoB, but I have a blackberry and one doesn't seem to exist. I've just been going off the simple strategy on wizardofodds

 

I would suggest going to videopokerforwinners.com and buying that software. It totally mimics what you see at a casino and is a great training tool that you can play on your computer.

 

WinPoker is an app for Apple products - BUT I believe you can also buy it for your PC. So at least you can play on your machine if not your Blackberrry.

Here's the link. They have it for a lot of platforms but not Blackberry...

http://www.zamzone.com/

I love it because you can program ANY game you will ever see - and learn strategy for each (it corrects your play). Also, you can program in a hand and it will tell you what the strategy should be - great when you are stumped by a machine (and this is when you need it on your mobile).

JZB

 

Naturaleight, you sound just like me a little while back. I was strictly a table games player and started to dabble in VP given the good odds available. Here are some things I learned both from others and from my own experience and mistakes:

1) Start out with strictly 9/6 JoB (or the best paytable you can get). It has lower variance than other games and more importantly you NEED to learn the optimal strategy. You'll get too mixed up if you try to learn optimal strategy for multiple games at once. Let optimal strategy JoB become second nature first. Then you can move on to BP, DBP, DDBP where the strategy is almost exactly the same. Then you can move to other types of games like Deuces Wild, etc where strategy gets more different. Right now I'm still 99% a JoB player.

2) Practice, practice, practice! VP optimal strategy takes longer to learn than BJ optimal strategy which you can learn super fast. So many hands in VP are obvious, but there are enough where you will make mistakes even if you think you're making the logical decision. And those mistakes can widen the house edge dramatically.

As others have said, getting a training program is a smart idea. I used Frugal Video Poker which was free and is great for JoB. It trains you, lets you run simulations, edit paytables, and tons of other features. I also practice on my iPhone which brings me to....

3) You mentioned having a blackberry so not sure what apps you have available. If you get a iPhone or iPod touch there are a few great apps not just for practicing but also to actually USE WHILE YOU PLAY in a casino because they have hand analyzers where you can put in any hand to find the optimal play. I've been using it on several hands per hour while I play in the casino and its been super helpful.

A couple free apps are - Video Poker by Robert Suh, and Video Poker Trainer - Jacks or Better by Brainware. Both have hand analyzers but the free version of the first one only gives you limited training.

You mentioned reading the Wizard of Odds site - he has a great app I just bought. Its $9.99 called Video Poker Wizard. That's expensive for an app in iTunes but I read enough about the app and have a lot of respect for the Wizard of Odds so I bought it. This does everything, you won't need any other app. Has the trainers for a ton of VP games, pay tables, hand analyzer, and much more.

My point is not to only practice on these with the trainers turned on but when its on your phone you can use it while you play in the casino for any hand you have even the slightest doubt about.

Have fun. So far VP has been good to me, have probably only played a dozen or so hours of it in the casino but I'm up

 

DDBP is the best game for me. I hit 4oak most of the time and the payouts on DDBP when compared to JoB is a lot better. It makes for a better return in my opinion. The only way you hit something big in JoB is the royal. In DDBP you can hit 4 aces with the kicker for $500 on a quarter machine! Two of these is basically a royal! I would suggest DDBP and play slow so and never hold two pair, unless both are under jacks! Good Luck!

 

In DDBP you should ALWAYS hold 2-pair, except if one pair is aces (then just hold the aces). Going for the full house is much more valuable than the slim hope of hitting quads. The extra possible bonus hands with 4 aces makes this right, something you don't get with K,Q or J.

(only listing the various pair/2pair hands)

Expected return Hand
1.8863 Pair Aces
1.6809 Two Pair
1.4478 Pair JJ, QQ, KK
0.8658 Pair 22, 33, 44
0.7332 Pair 55 to TT