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How To Play Video Poker
Some
people have the misconception that Video Poker Machines are money
eating contraptions. Nothing could be further from the truth. In
fact, some Video Poker Machines have a long-term payout of greater
than 100%. Other than card counting in Blackjack, they are the only
games in the casino where a player can get a long term advantage
over the house.
Players who like to play alone could find
Video Poker to be the perfect game with its low house advantages [bottom
right] and possible jackpots. Another advantage for the new
player is the fact that you control the pace of the game. You can
take your time while you are learning the game and then pick up the
pace when you’re more comfortable.
Video Poker is often
classified as a type of Slot machine, but there are two major
differences. First, Video Poker has an element of skill where Slots
is a game of luck. Second, you can tell the payout percentage of a
Video Poker machine by looking at the pay table, and it is
impossible to know what a slot machine’s payout is set to.
Poker is one of the most popular card games in the
US.
Even if you don’t know how poker hands are ranked, they are easily
learned and the payoffs for hands are always printed on the machines.
Video Poker follows the same game play as Five Card
Draw Poker. Players are dealt five cards and decide which ones to
keep. Players can discard 0 to five cards. After the draw, winning
hands are paid out according to the posted payout schedule.
It is important to note that all Video Poker
payoffs are on a “for” and not a “to” basis. For example, a pair of
Jacks pays 1 for 1 on a Jacks or Better Video Poker machine. This
means that your original bet is returned, not doubled — in other
words, you break even.
DOUBLING YOUR BET
AFTER A WINNING HAND
Some machines and online casinos
offer the option of doubling your winnings after you have won a hand. If you decide to do
this, the machine will deal five
additional cards with the first one face up and the last four face
down. The player then picks one of the face down cards. If it is
higher in value you double you winnings, if it is of lower value,
you lose your winnings. In most cases a tie is a push, but in some
cases a tie loses. If you win the double, you are usually allowed to
keep doubling.
If a tie is a push, there is no house
advantage because your chances of winning are 50/50. If a tie counts
as a loss, the house advantage is a very high 5.8%.
Although
there is no House Advantage in doubling your winnings, this does not
affect the overall long-term payout of a machine. The reason is you
cannot double unless you have already won.
Multiple doubling
can be tempting but dangerous. Below are the chances of winning
consecutive double bets. Keep in mind that the chances of winning a
double bet are not affected by previous double wins — if you have
won 3 doubles in a row you still have a 50/50 chance to win the
fourth double at that point.
Number of Doubles
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Likelihood of winning
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One Double
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50%
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Two Doubles
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25%
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Three Doubles
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12.5%
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Four Doubles
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6.25%
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Source: WorkTheOdds
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