Page 12 - January 2007 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
CTriple Bonus Poker Versus White Hot Aces
ompare the following two games: e rst game is called 9/5 Triple Bonus Poker Plus (TBPP) and the second is called 9/5 White Hot Aces (WHA).
If we look at the last item on the list, we see that even though a suited JT may be part of three di erent straight ushes, the di erence between the values in the two games is only 2¢, rather than the 28¢ we saw earlier. e explanation is that JT requires three cards to complete and JT9 only requires two. ere are fteen times as many draws possible when you are drawing three cards while keeping two as when you are drawing two cards while keeping three. So since 28¢ ÷ 15 = 2¢ (allowing for rounding), this amount, too, is consistent with the others.
What about a hand such as 22244? Is it possible that the strategy di ers between these two games? e answer is no. e only di erence in the pay schedule is on the straight ush, and whether we hold 22244 (the correct play) or 222, there is no possibility for a straight ush. If we were playing a version of this game that only returned 8 for 1 for the full house, or (horrors!) 7 for 1, then the correct play
would be 222.
Or with a hand such as A♥ K♥ Q♣ J♣ 8♣, let’s
say that someone we trusted told us that the correct play was the clubs (by 2¢) over AKQJ in the WHA game, but he didn’t know the correct play in the TBPP game. Can we know for sure without checking either a strategy card or a computer? e answer is yes. Since TBPP returns more for a straight ush, if the straight ush draw is the correct play in WHA, it must also be the correct play in TBPP, and by a bigger margin. Since there is only one possible straight ush, possible from a suited QJ8, and we’ve seen that that changes the value by 9¢ between the two games, we’d expect QJ8 to be superior to AKQJ by 11¢ in TBPP.
Video poker math isn’t that di cult once you get the hang of it. Some people avoid math at all costs, but most players nd they can get better at it if they apply themselves.
Bob Dancer is America’s best-known video poker writer and teacher. He has a variety of “how to play better video poker” products, including Winner’s Guides, strategy cards, his autobiography Million Dollar Video Poker, and his two novels, including Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. Dancer’s products may be ordered at www.bobdancer.com
Royal Flush Straight Flush Four Aces Fours 2s-4s Four 5s-Ks FullHouse Flush
Straight
Three of a Kind Two Pair
Jacks or Better
Optimum Return
TBPP WHA
800 800 100 80 240 240 120 120
50 50 9 9 5 5 4 4 3 3 1 1 1 1
99.80% 99.57%
a. K♠Q♠J♠K♦9♣
b. Q♥J♥T♥3♥Q♠
c. J♣T♣9♣7♦7♠
d. Q♥J♥9♥8♠8♦
e. J♠T♠9♠8♥4♣
f. T♣9♣8♣7♥3♠ g. J♦T♦3♦K♠4♠
TBPP
KQJ by 7¢
QJT by 14¢
JT9 by 24¢
QJ9 by 2¢
JT9 by 18¢
Exact tie
JT in nitesimally
WHA
KK by 2¢ QQ by 4¢ 77 by 4¢
88 by 16¢ JT98 by 10¢ T987 by 28¢ KJ by 2¢
Reducing the return on a full house by one unit reduces the return on either game by a little over 1%. It takes a while to see that the only di erence in the pay schedules is the amount you get for a straight ush.
ese games have very similar strategies, of course, since most of the elements of the pay schedule are identical. Most casual players would play the games identically. After all, the return on the straight ush isn’t that important.
Wrong. e return on the straight ush is very important and there are a number of important strategic changes. Let’s look at some of them, where the amounts assume you are playing a dollar game and betting ve coins.
ere are several important lessons here. First is that the strategy for every game is di erent from that of every other game. If you ever wish to become successful at video poker, you need to learn the strategy of each game you play.
Second, the di erences in strategy are predictable. In the rst hand, where there is only one straight ush possible, the 20-coin di erence in the 5-coin straight ush makes for a 9¢ di erence between the two games. It stands to reason, then, that when two di erent straight ushes are possible, we’ll get an 18¢ di erence in the games. And if we look at examples b and d, we’ll see that this is true.
When there are three possible straight ushes, as is the case in examples c, e, and f, we’d expect to see a di erence of 27¢ between the two games. We do, except that because of rounding, it’s closer to 28¢. But if you looked at the numbers with all of their decimal points, you’d see that the di erence was exactly three times as much as when only one straight ush was possible.
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Page 12
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
January 2007
Video Poker with Bob Dancer