Page 18 - November 2002 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Why Don’t Straight Flushes Pay More? by Bob Dancer
Straight ushes, which consist of ve consecutive cards in the same suit, are tough to get. In Jacks or Better (also called Draw Poker), straight ushes happen every 9,000 hands or so and are paid 250 coins. Compare that to 4-of-a-kinds, which happen every 430 hands or so and are paid 125 coins. In that game, straight ushes are paid twice as much, but are 22 times as hard to get. Doesn’t seem fair.
People who end up with a straight ush and “only” receive 250 coins often feel they should receive more. Okay. Let’s hypothesize a “Straight Flush Jacks” game that pays 750 for a straight ush and reduces the pay for 4-of-a-kind to 100. This game returns very close to the same amount as the
earlier mix, but the return on straight ushes is more in line with how dif cult it is to earn.
Column: Video Poker with Bob Dancer
Would this be a better game? I don’t know. It would certainly be different and would require a different strategy. On a hand such as 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ 7♠ K♦, the correct play would be 5–6–7 rather than the usual
7–7. On a hand such as Q♦ J♥ T♥ 5♣ 3♦, the cor- rect play is J–T rather than the normal Q–J. And from K♦ Q♦ T♦ K♠ 5♣, now you hold the 3-card royal (which becomes a K-high straight ush as often as it becomes a royal) in preference to the pair of kings. In fact, appropriate play would increase the frequency of straight ushes from 1-in-9,000 hands to 1-in-7,000.
Would I like to see such a game appear on casino oors? As a player, I’m
Would casinos be interested in putting such a game on their oors? Maybe. A casino is looking for games that are popular enough so that players play them, and dif cult enough so that the games are pro table to the casinos. If this game were built in as part of a multi-game platform (such as IGT’s
“Game King” or Bally’s “Game Maker” series) so the casino could add the game quickly and inex- pensively, I’m sure many slot directors would take a chance on it. If it had to be a standalone game, fewer slot directors would take a chance because it costs several hundred dollars to make each switch and unless they were convinced the game would
be more lucrative, why go through that expense?
Of course, when players ask for more for the straight ush, they aren’t really talking about something else being reduced. They want an extra 500 coins for the straight ush with everything else remaining as it was before. Dream on!
Anyone who seriously believes this will happen must be convinced that it’s Christmas every day!
So why spend an entire column discussing a game that will never happen? Two main reasons, really, that are obvious to advanced players but not-so-obvious to
begin- ning players.
First,
every change
in the pay sched-
ule changes correct strategy. Players who seriously want to win enter the schedule changes into a com- puter program to discover whether the game returns enough, and if it does, how to play it.
Second, it’s not that hard to gure out what a casino will do when you look at it appropriately. Casinos are not charities, nor are they these awful places trying to gouge people. Casinos attempt to offer games that will be popular to the players and pro table to themselves. If they can do this, they’ll be successful. If they can’t, they won’t. I nd it easier for me to thrive within a casino environment when I understand what motivates the other side.
“Bob Dancer” is the nom de plume of the top video poker writer in the country. In addition to playing video poker frequently in high-roller rooms across the country, he writes about what he does. He has a monthly video poker column in Casino Player, and is the video poker editor for Strictly Slots.
going after the game
with the highest return.
If a game with a higher
return for the straight
ush and lower return
for a 4-of-a-kind ends
up paying more, then
I’ll learn it and play
it. If the net return
on this game is lower
than that for existing
games, I’ll avoid it. As
a writer, I like new
games because they give me something to ana- lyze and discuss. The more I can write about new things without repeating myself, the longer I can be successful at this gig. Even if I end up rejecting a game, it’s worth a column or two explaining why.
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Page 18
NOVEMBER 2002
“As a player, I’m going after the game with the highest return. If a game with a higher return for the straight flush and lower return for a 4-of-a-kind ends up paying more, then I’ll learn it and play
it. If the net return on this game is lower than that for existing games, I’ll avoid it.”
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