Page 14 - October 2008 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
SIpeed Video Poker Tournaments
’ve gotten dozens of frantic e-mails saying something like,“I’m playing in my rst video poker tournament next week. What should I do?” I have a tough time answering that question in a few words, because there are so many considerations. I answer virtually all e-mail queries,
but I don’t write 1,000-word responses to every one. In this column, let’s explore some of the considerations about “speed” tournaments.
A speed tournament (it is never called this in the announcement) is one with a format that you play for a xed amount of time, and however many hands you can play, they all count. e strategy for these tournaments is di erent than for the type that have you play, say, 200 hands, where 90% of the players nish in the allotted time. I’ll write about these“ xed number of hands” tournaments at some other time.
end of the round and you “need” a royal), but going back and changing the play costs you a turn. It’s usually better to go with the rst play you make and end up playing extra hands.
Play Late if You Can
A tournament with 120 players might well have four sessions of 30 players each. e big advantage of playing late is that you have a better estimate of what score you need to get (see next tip). Also, sometimes you don’t learn everything about tournament machines until you see them. Watching others go through the learning curve can sometimes eliminate it for you. For example, tournament machines might add up credits faster if you hit the deal button twice. Easy to do once you gure it out or have been shown, but not always obvious at the outset. Sometimes players leaving a round will provide valuable information. After all, they know they’re “out of it,” so they gure they might as well help somebody else. An argument can be made that it’s unethical to use this information, since some of the competitors didn’t get it, but most players use any edge they can get.
Have a Target Score
In tournaments you “just need enough to win.” is isn’t the same at all as “the most possible.” Let’s say, for example, that you’re in the nal grouping and that based on the earlier rounds, a score of 1,200 will be enough to move on to the next round. If you get an 800-coin set of aces early, then playing “normal” strategy quickly should be enough to have you move on. Straights and ushes add up. On the other hand, if you haven’t gotten the early breaks, you should go into a “bombs away” mode late in the round. If it will take a royal to have you move on, from K♥ K♠ K♦ K♣ T♥, the proper play is the two hearts. It’s only a 1-in-
16,215 chance to connect, but holding the kings gives you a 0-in-16,215 shot at the royal. But if you were reasonably close to your target score, hold the kings quickly. If you didn’t know what you were aiming for, it would be easy to make the wrong choice here.
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
Play Like Skill Matters
In actual fact, luck is an important factor in all tournaments, but you can’t control that. If you don’t end up with quads (4-of-a-kinds) or royals, you simply aren’t going to win a video poker tournament, even if you play every hand perfectly. ere are several areas, though, where skill matters, and if you look at the results over several tournaments, skillful players do better than unskilled ones—even though luck can carry a player during any one tournament.
be just a ush or straight. Some players play them one card at a time, so it takes ve separate nger strokes to press them all. Good players play all ve at once. is could well gain you an extra hand or two.
Practice Beforehand
It is relatively rare to nd novice players winning speed contests, simply because a big factor in how fast you play is how fast you recognize the correct play. On a hand like Q♠ T♥ 7♥ J♠ 9♥, there are three di erent possible plays: QJ, T79, and QTJ9. e correct play can depend on the circumstances in a tournament, but
Use Both Hands
Players using two hands touching the buttons have a big advantage over the one- nger players or the ones who use touch screens. If the one- nger player can play 500 hands in the allotted time, the two-handed player can play 600. at’s a big advantage.
What if you don’t normally play with two hands? Simple. Go out and practice. In your normal casino play, of whatever game, force yourself to use two hands. It’s just hand-eye coordination, and most folks can get it down with a little practice. Five hours of practice won’t make you equal to a highly-experienced two-handed player, but it might get you up to
“Watching others go through the learning curve can sometimes eliminate it for you. For example, tournament machines might add up credits faster if you hit the deal button twice. Easy
to do once you figure it out
or have been shown, but not
always obvious at the outset. Sometimes players leaving a round will provide valuable information. After all, they know they’re ‘out of it,’ so they figure they might as well help
somebody else.”
recognizing the possible plays is something that only comes with experience.
Know the Rules
Is this a one-round event, in which case your score in this round is the only one that counts? Do twelve people advance to the next round, in which case being twelfth is no worse than rst, and being thirteenth is no better than being dead last?
Don’t Give Up
No matter how badly you’ve been doing, two royal ushes in the last three hands will make you a winner. It certainly isn’t likely that this will happen, but you never know until the clock stops ticking. Playing
Page 14
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
October 2008
580 hands in the previous
example. at’s a lot more than 500 and could make the di erence.
Practice Holding All Five Cards at Once
Let’s say you’re dealt a hand where you want to keep all ve cards—say AAAA2, for example, but it could
half-heartedly because you’re behind can easily cost you several hands.
It’s usually wrong to correct a play. Let’s say you are dealt 2♥ 2♠ J♥ 5♥ K♥ and you quickly hold the deuces. Holding the hearts might have been a better play had you seen it rst (or even KJ if you’re at the
Video Poker with Bob Dancer