Page 29 - February 2009 • Southern California Gaming Guide

February 2009 Media Picks
Video Poker for the Intelligent Beginner by Bob Dancer VReviewed by Borris Bienn
ideo poker is known as the “thinking person’s slot.” When you play traditional slots, the outcome is based entirely on luck. And while luck is still important when playing video poker, skill is also a signi cant part of the equation. A very skilled video poker player can actually make money playing video poker. Bob Dancer, in fact,
has famously earned over $1,000,000 playing video poker professionally. Dancer is also a world-class teacher dedicated to helping players learn how to hone their skills and maximize their enjoyment playing video poker. Dancer is the author of Million Dollar Video Poker, a variety of Video Poker Winners Guides, and Video Poker for Winners software, and is also a regular columnist for the Southern California Gaming Guide. Dancer’s newest book, Video Poker for the Intelligent Beginner, is a how-to-win blueprint for players who want to master this beatable game.
Are You an Intelligent Beginner?
You might be wondering if this book is for you. e only way to answer that question is to consider why you play video poker and how you enjoy spending your time at the casino. If you play video poker because it’s a nice change from playing the slots, or if the idea of studying and practicing at home before you go to the casino seems like a big hassle, then this book probably isn’t for you. On the other hand, if you play video poker because you know it takes skill as well as luck, if you’re willing to invest a little time in research and practice before you go to the casino, and if you’re not intimidated by some basic mathematics, then you are an “intelligent beginner” and this book belongs in your gaming library.
Part I: The Games
e variety of video poker games available is rather staggering, and in an excellent overview and introduction to the games, Dancer helps make sense of the landscape by sorting the games into three major categories: No Wild Cards, Deuces Wild Variations and Joker Wild Variations. He then sorts the No Wild Cards games into subcategories: Low Volatility (two pair pays double); Medium Volatility (two pair pays single); High Volatility (two pair pays single, no kickers); High Volatility (two pair pays single, with kickers); and Miscellaneous Non- Wild Card games. e Deuces Wild games are sorted into Standard Deuces Wild Variations, Higher Pay for Four Deuces, and Deuces Bonus Variations. Finally, the Joker Wild variations are broken down as Kings or Better Joker Wild, Two Pair Joker Wild, Five-of-a-Kind Joker Poker and Double Joker.
e rst and most important rule of Video Poker is Nothing is More Important than the Pay Schedule. Of course, you need to understand what you’re looking at when you see the pay schedule, and that’s what you’ll learn in these initial chapters. Category by category, Dancer provides a brief overview of each game, and includes an illustration of the most popular pay schedule variations for each game. ese are what you’ll look for when you sit down at the machine. What Dancer includes that you won’t see when you look at the pay schedule on the game, is the eoretical Return, the Variance and the Standard Deviation for each pay schedule.
ese are the numbers you need to know before you go to the casino. e eoretical Return is how much the game pays back over time, assuming you play with perfect strategy. If you want to expect to win, you need
to play games where the theoretical return is over 100%. ere’s more to this than just the pay schedule, and Dancer covers this in detail in Part III.
But knowing the theoretical return (and the perfect strategy) isn’t enough. You also need to be aware of the
Variance and the Standard Deviation for each game. Without getting too far into the mathematics behind these numbers, the higher the number, the more volatile the game. is means that while you can expect some big, exciting wins, you can also expect equally big losses. In general, the lower the Variance and Standard Deviation on a game, the
longer you can expect to make your bankroll last.
Dancer also spends a chapter discussing the strategies needed to play Multi Strike games and Six Coins Per
Line games.
Part II: The Strategies
In Part II, you’ll take a closer look at the basic strategies for the most popular games: 9/6 Jacks or Better, 10/7 Double Bonus, 9/6 Double Double Bonus, and Deuces
Wild. Each of these chapters begins with a brief description of the game, followed by the Strategy Table, and then a list of test questions (followed by answers).
While these chapters only cover the most popular pay schedules for these games, the Video Poker for Winners program allows you to practice and improve your skills on any variation of any video poker game you’re likely to encounter.
Of particular value is Chapter 14,“Too Many Wrong Mistakes” where Dancer explores some of the more critical (and subtle) errors that can creep into your play and reduce your expected rate of return.
Part III: Beyond the Machines
e fundamental rule, if you want to be able to come out ahead when you play video poker, is that you must play games where you have an advantage. It’s very di cult to accomplish this with pay schedules alone. While there are a few video poker games that return more than 100% when played perfectly, they are few and far between— and almost impossible to nd in Southern California casinos. However, the machine pay schedule isn’t the only source of revenue for the savvy video poker player. When you factor in bene ts from Players Clubs, casino promotions and progressives, even a game that on the face returns less than 100% can be a good play.
e easiest way to make this call, however, is to use some of the advanced features in the Video Poker for
Winners software. Rather than having to do all of the math yourself, you can simply plug in some basic information about the speci cs of the Players Club, and get the additional percentage of return. When you add this number to the return rate of the game, if the total is more than
100%, then you have the advantage.
With the assistance of Video Poker for Winners
software, you can also factor in speci cs of casino promotions, and easily determine when the top progressive jackpot on an otherwise undesirable machine makes it a worthwhile play.
Of particular value (and importance) in this section is the chapter on Bankroll. Remember that in addition to knowing the expected return on any game, it’s also important to know (and understand) the volatility, variance and standard deviation of the game? You need this information to understand how to manage your bankroll— and your expectations.
Video Poker for the Intelligent Beginner is an outstanding place to start if you’re interested in improving your skill at video poker. With a relatively small investment of your time, you can easily increase your level of enjoyment when you play video poker at your favorite casino. By understanding how to choose the right game for you, and learning the basic strategy for that game, you can get better value for your entertainment dollar. And should you decide that you want to do more than just play a few games well, Video Poker for the Intelligent Beginner is the perfect companion to Bob Dancer’s video poker training software, Video Poker for Winners.
Borris Bienn plays video poker in Southern California casinos and writes articles on new entertainment technologies.
February 2009
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Page 29
Gaming Guide Media Picks