Page 9 - June 2003 • Southern California Gaming Guide

June 2003
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Page 9
Video poker, the thinking slot player’s game, is one of the most popular games on the casino oor. It has great appeal to a range of players from occasional casino goers, to the expert-wannabe. Combining elements of poker and slots, video poker gives slot players
the rare opportunity to use skill and exercise choice in their play, as opposed to pushing a button and depending on pure luck. With practice (and a bankroll), you can learn video poker strategy and play like a professional.
For you history buffs, here’s a little background on video poker. In the 1970’s an enterprising gaming inventor, William “Si” Redd, a veritable gaming legend, who years later founded the gaming giant International Gaming Technology, came up with the idea of using poker, the grand old American card game, as the basis for a computerized slot machine. He created the game as a novelty, thinking it would be a diversion from the fruit and bar slots, and fun to play before hitting the casino tables. Almost overnight the video poker phenomenon was born. About 25 years later, the multiple-game phenomenon, Triple Play Poker with touchscreens and stereo sound appeared on the scene. Players took to the idea immediately, and loved the fact that they no longer needed to play multiple machines at once to play more than one hand of poker at a time. We
Draw Poker series that feature Triple Play, Triple Play and Five Play, Ten Play, Fifty Play, and most recently, Hundred Play slots.
Choosing the actual machine you want to play may depend on which game you know the best, checking out the pay tables, and, of course, availability. Look for video poker games that pay 9 to 8 credits for a full house, and 6 to 5 credits for a ush. They are usually Jacks or Better games, the straightforward, classic poker game. Strategy charts are enormously helpful as not all video poker games are created equal. Invest in them and even bring them to the casino with you!
There are four new video poker games about to arrive (and in several instances are already) in Southern California casinos: Multi Strike PokerTM, Trade Up PokerTM, Double Down Stud® Poker, and White Hot
could write an entire the history of video poker (and will),
but since those
article on
AcesTM Poker.
two
events,
poker
have
with up to 100 hands per screen, with progressive jackpots, and entertaining themes to rival any video slot.
seminal video
games permutated
So it was only a matter of time
before game designers looked at the immense popularity of video poker and decided to incorporate some of the more exciting features of video slots — fun, entertaining bonus rounds with more opportunities to create those elusive Royal Flushes — with super-fun, engaging bonuses to keep players searching for more cash!
There are many different varieties of video poker machines, all of them based on ve-card draw. The classic triumvirate video poker plays include Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild,
and Joker Poker. Each one of the famous three games demands a unique strategy. And each of these games has been “videoed” into the well-known and ubiquitous multi-play Bonus Poker series that includes Double Bonus and Double Double Bonus Poker, and the best-known
Here’s the skinny on them.
Multi Strike PokerTM
Gaming professionals and journalists awarded Multi Strike Poker the “Most Innovative Gaming Product of 2003” for good reason. The game introduces an exciting new feature in video poker: The ability to advance up to four hands of poker per game, earn- ing 2 times, 4 times and 8 times the pay out!
The Multi Strike game screen has a four-line poker hand format. You bet on all four lines before you play and start to play with the bottom line rst. You have to win the bottom hand (which pays out 1 times your bet — the standard) rst before you can advance to the