Page 26 - May 2009 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
WIhen You’re Not Sure of the Game
received a too-good-to-refuse o er from the Tropicana Express in Laughlin. In addition, neither Shirley nor I had collected our $99 o er from Harrah’s Laughlin this month. We were going to let these slide because it was “too far for too little,” but with the Trop X o er
already justifying a trip, the Harrah’s money was a nice bonus.
e best “regular” game at the Trop X at the current time is 8/5 Bonus with triple pay for quad 7s. is is worth 100.045%, and with the 0.167% cash back, the game is worth 100.21% at the $1, $2, and $5 denominations. Plus comps. Certainly not a terrible game, but hardly worth a 90 mile drive from our home to play. Still, I have to play something to justify receiving the o er, and it’s nice to have
a positive game when you
“have”toplay.
Two “at least competent”
players I recognized, however, were playing another $5 game. I actually don’t know them well enough to evaluate how strong they are, but I’ve seen them both at other promotions I’ve played so I know they aren’t novices.
e game was 7/5 Bonus Poker, with the same bonus for 7777, except this was a progressive. e royal was at $25,000 (which adds 0.5% to the base game) and four aces was at $3,200 (which adds another 0.95% to the base game). I ballparked it at 0.3% to 0.4% stronger than the game I was intending to play.
Winners on it in my room at Harrah’s (perhaps a mile
away). It would take me perhaps two hours to study the game so I could play it at a high level, but I didn’t know if the progressives would last two hours, and I was only planning on playing for two hours on this particular day anyway. Shirley and I had other plans for later that night, so playing a lot more wasn’t a comfortable option. I was going to play again the next day, but I gured
So with my incomplete knowledge, I assumed this game was worth 0.2% higher than the game I knew almost perfectly. e variance had to be much higher on this game because so much of the value was in the four- aces hand, but this didn’t really enter into my decision. It was “only” a $5 game. For those stakes, and the amount of action I was intending to give the casino, my bankroll was essentially in nite.
So what to do? I decided to play the 8/5 game, even though it returned less. I put a stronger emphasis on knowing games perfectly than most others do, and knowing I would have to make a lot of guesses as to the correct play didn’t feel real comfortable to me. Still, if the aces returned $4,200 and/or the royal was at $30,000, this would have given me enough of a cushion that I would have lived with my uncertainties and gone for the progressive.
Although I am comfortable with my decision, it was close and could have gone the other way. Next time (which will certainly be di erent in one or more aspects), I may well choose the opposite.
So how did the play go? I hit aces right o ,“naturally.” I got only $2,000 instead of the $3,200 on the other machine. Oh well. It happens that way sometimes. I’m still comfortable with my decision.
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 his new book, Video Poker for Intelligent Beginners, 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 or at 1-800-244-2224 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Paci c Time.
it was unlikely the aces would survive until then with at least two players going for it.
I could easily gure out that I would break aces full in this game, but what about AK765 unsuited? DoIholdAKorA? Does it matter how many cards are suited with the ace? Does it matter how many cards are in the 2–5 range? I just didn’t know.
What about with A of one suit and ‘QT’ of another. e higher royal indicates holding the ‘QT’.
e bonus on aces lobbies for holding either AQ or maybe even the ace by itself. How do the other cards in the hand a ect the decision? I just didn’t know.
While there are a lot of hands I would have to guess at, the vast majority
of hands I knew how to play because this game is played exactly like 8/5 Bonus for a high percentage of hands.
While I know 8/5 Bonus
Poker well (with or without
the bonus for 7777), I haven’t
studied 7/5 Bonus Poker
with a progressive—let alone
two progressives. I had my laptop with Video Poker for
“I decided to play the 8/5 game, even though it returned less. I put a stronger emphasis on knowing games perfectly than most others do, and knowing I would have to make a lot of guesses as to the correct play didn’t feel real comfortable to me. Still, if the aces returned $4,200 and/or the royal was at $30,000, this would have given me enough of a cushion that I would have lived with my uncertainties
and gone for the progressive.”
Page 26
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
May 2009
Video Poker with Bob Dancer