Page 10 - June 2004 • Southern California Gaming Guide

by Maya Winkler
Video poker has enormous appeal, a ording slot players the rare opportunity to use skill and exercise choice to in uence the outcome of their casino play. Attracting a range of players from occasional casino goers to the expert (and the expert-
wannabe), video poker combines elements of poker and slots. With judicial practice (and a bankroll), you can learn video poker strategy and play like a pro!
Video poker has a recent history. In the 1970’s enterprising gaming inventor, and the eventual founder of IGT, a legend in the gaming business, William “Si” Redd, came up with the idea of using poker, the grand old American card game, as the basis for a com- puterized slot machine. He created the game as a novelty, thinking it would be fun to play before hitting the tables, or a diversion from the then fruit and bar slots. us the video poker phenomenon was born. About 25 years later, Ernest Moody created the video poker multiple-game phenomenon, Triple Play PokerTM with touchscreens and stereo sound. Players took to the idea immediately. Since those two seminal events, video poker games have permutated with up to 100 hands per screen, have entertaining, fun bonus rounds and can even have exciting progressive jackpots.
ere are many di erent varieties of video poker machines, most of them based on ve-card draw. e 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 packaged in the well-known and ubiquitous multi-play Bonus PokerTM series that includes Double Bonus PokerTM and Double Double Bonus Poker®, and the best-known Draw Poker series that feature Triple Play and Five Play, Ten
Play, Fifty Play, and Hundred Play slots.
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, bonus rounds with more opportunities to create those elusive Royal Flushes.
is year’s clever group of creative games comes again from the fertile minds of Action Gaming and Leading Edge Design and produced by IGT. ere are ve new exciting multi- denomination video poker games about to arrive (and in several instances are already) in Southern California casinos. e graphics and sound are amazing, the games—can be breathtaking fun! Here they are.
Super Times PayTM Poker
Super Times PayTM Poker lets players up the ante for the chance to win a multiplied payout. Basically, by betting an extra credit — for a total of six — the player has a shot at multiplying the standard payout on winning hands from two to ten times!
Super Times Pay is available on the base games that video poker players already enjoy: Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, Deuces Wild, and Joker Poker with three, five and ten-hand play versions.
Here’s how it works. As usual, you select the number of hands and the bet-per-hand. If you opt to bet the sixth credit (like a buy-a-pay slot feature), you’ll be eligible for the Super Times Pay
When you bet an extra credit on Super Times Pay Poker and the Super Times Pay card appears, all payouts can be multiplied 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, or even 10x! A royal flush could be worth 40,000 credits!
Page 10 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE June 2004