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Question about Draw Poker Bonus (Local Casino)

Stacda

Stacda

What happened in Vegas...
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
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Trips to Las Vegas
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Our local casino has a few nickel 'Draw Poker Bonus' as shown below. 8/5 Payout, 2 for 1 on Two pair. Match card can pay any amount. I was playing it the other night and the guy next to me taps me on the shoulder, says 'watch this, I'm going to toss a 3 of a kind and still get paid'. I can smell the alcohol on him, but I watch. Sure enough, he dumps the entire hand and draws nothing. But the Match Card pays out the 60 he would have won with the 3. He then goes on telling me that 'once the machine is set to payout, you can't lose. Go for the Royal.' I watch him a little bit more, and sure enough, every time he's dealt a winning hand, he tosses it and the game either gives him another winning hand on the draw, or pays with the Match Card. I figure I'm playing 5 nickels a hand, I can try it.

To my surprise, it works. If I'm dealt a winning hand, I keep one or two cards, and on the draw, I'm getting the same kind of winning hand back, or the Match is covering it. A few times, I get a smaller winning hand, but the Match makes up the difference. And there's a couple times the Match pays out MORE than what I just tossed away, ie I'm dealt two pair, I keep one card, I get a Match for 160 (bet was now 20 nickels).

I'm trying to understand it, but I think I'm missing something. Is the 'end result' determined before the first draw of cards? So if I'm dealt two pair, the machine assumes I'm going to keep them and knows if I draw one, it'll give me a full house, but when I don't do that, does it change the 'Match Card' so that I get the payout that it determined on that first draw of cards? Photo of the machine for reference, however that 4Q was not based on being dealt a winning hand before the draw. IMG_8748.webp
 

  • What Would Dolly Do?
You're not playing a Class III machine, it's likely a VLT. You can essentially ignore the pay table and ignore all strategy. As you've already seen, it's meaningless on these machines.
 
Yeah, your VP neighbor is doing what I would do for funsies. Lol

In Washington State (and most New York State racinos), all slot machines and video poker machines are legally electronic pull tabs.

So you are correct in thinking the match card is the gimmick used to guarantee the hand you were "supposed" to win. Since the game is technically an electronic pull tab, and what you see on the screen is for "entertainment purposes only," strategy and paytables do not matter.

I also assume this pays back in the low 90s, since they aren't bound by true poker probability.
 
tringlomane said:
Yeah, your VP neighbor is doing what I would do for funsies. Lol

In Washington State (and most New York State racinos), all slot machines and video poker machines are legally electronic pull tabs.

So you are correct in thinking the match card is the gimmick used to guarantee the hand you were "supposed" to win. Since the game is technically an electronic pull tab, and what you see on the screen is for "entertainment purposes only," strategy and paytables do not matter.

I also assume this pays back in the low 90s, since they aren't bound by true poker probability.
Click to expand...
That makes sense! Essentially I'm 'playing' the poker for fun, and the results are more or less predetermined when I hit the 'deal' button.
 

  • What Would Dolly Do?
Exactly. You are wagering on the match card, which is going to just randomly have a prize & you have absolutely no influence on it.

But because it could be boring to simply press a button for $1 and have it immediately light up and say “LOSER” or “PRIZE AMOUNT,” you get to play a hand of poker that doesn’t matter at all.
 
pta210 said:
Exactly. You are wagering on the match card, which is going to just randomly have a prize & you have absolutely no influence on it.

But because it could be boring to simply press a button for $1 and have it immediately light up and say “LOSER” or “PRIZE AMOUNT,” you get to play a hand of poker that doesn’t matter at all.
Click to expand...


It's easier to "hide" the electronic pull tab mechanism in slot machine games, that's for sure. It's very hard to tell the difference if the ticket pool is large enough.
 
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