Page 16 - March 2006 • Southern California Gaming Guide

VIDEO A
Optimal strategy changes depending on the video poker game you play. And that strategy can also
POKER
mong casino slot games, video poker has a distinct appeal. It is the only slot that demands (if you want to win the most) knowledge of strategy. Because players can discard any card in the dealt hand—or even an entire hand—knowing what to discard is the key to winning.
POWER
change with di erent pay tables. If you are a faithful reader of reigning video poker expert, Bob Dancer—whose monthly column appears in this news magazine (see page 12), you know that video poker is de nitely the “thinking player’s slot.” If you like the idea of exercising skill and choice to in uence the outcome of your slot play, then video poker is worth the investment of knowledge and practice, and the game for you!
Innovative Video Poker Slots Deliver Thrilling Play!
If Aces from upper hands will improve the score of the lower
hands, the Aces from the upper hands will automatically drop, “invading” the lower hand and improving the payout!
Aces aren’t the only things that “invade” in Ace InvadersTM Bonus Poker—a Royal Flush will also drop, awarding the player 8,000 credits (from Hand 2) or 12,000 credits (from Hand 3)!
Video poker is a casino favorite nationwide, from the classic Draw Poker games to exciting video poker slots that combine varieties of poker with the thrilling features of video slots—fun bonus rounds, and multiple line wins with thrilling graphics and exciting sound, plus more opportunities to receive the ultimate video poker jackpot—the Royal Flush!
Video Poker History
While slot machines can trace their history back to the turn of the century, video poker has a recent past. About thirty years ago the enterprising gaming inventor, and eventual founder of IGT, legendary William “Si” Redd, came up withtheideaofusingpoker,thegrandoldAmerican
card game, as the basis of a slot machine. He created the game as a novelty, thinking it would be fun to play before gambling
at the tables, and a diversion from
the fruit and bar slots of the time. us video poker was born. In the late nineties Action Gaming
founder, Ernest Moody created the video poker multiple-game phenomenon, Triple Play PokerTM,completewithtouch screens and stereo sound. Immediately, players took to
the idea of playing three hands of video poker simultaneously. Since those two seminal events, video poker games have permutated with up to 100 hands per screen, and include multi-line, multi- denomination plays and exciting progressive jackpots.
ere are many di erent varieties of video poker, most 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 has been packaged in the well- known and ubiquitous multi- play Game King® and Bonus PokerTM series that includes Double Bonus PokerTM and DoubleDoubleBonusPoker®,
and the best-known Draw Poker series that feature Triple Play, Triple Play and Five Play, Ten Play, Fifty Play, and Hundred Play slots.
But this month we pro le some of the most innovative and exciting multi-line video poker games coming soon or currently in Southern California casinos.
Ace InvadersTM Bonus Poker
With the new Ace InvadersTM Bonus Poker from IGT,
the winnings literally invade your poker hands. If you’ve ever wanted to copy aces from one played line of multi-
hand poker and add them to another hand, then this game is perfect for you.
Ace Invaders Bonus Poker is an innovative, thrilling three-line video poker slot.
How it works: You play the bottom hand like regular video poker: deal ve cards, select the cards you want
to hold, and then draw new cards. But then, two stud hands, on the two lines above, are also dealt. Not only do you get paid on all three hands, but any ace(s) can
fall from the higher hands down to the lower hands,
“invading” the lower hands with better pays! Aces can fall in all sorts of ways, as long as the aces that fall can increase the
hand directly below.
Aces appearing in the top hand
are copied down to the middle hand to improve its win. e middle hand’s aces then invade the bottom hand, if doing so
will improve that hand’s win. Even aces of the same suit can drop, which is a rst for a non wild-card game. Four aces pay 50, and ve aces pay 500 times
the bet-per-hand.
But the invasion is not
over. A Royal Flush in the middle, copied down, awards two Royal Flush wins, while a Royal Flush on top, copied to the middle and bottom hands, triples the win!
Exciting video graphics and lively invasion game sounds
by Maya Winkler
Page 16 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE March 2006