I visited one Indian casino that had 9/6 JOB but the Royal was 2500! 98.88% return. People who read gambling books know to look for the Full House and Flush payments 9/6 however neglect to check the Royal. Here is a list of such machines Double Bonus has a variation of 28.2 (JOB a 19), so volatility swings will happen with your bankroll playing this game. Strategy here and here is some good bankroll calculations
There are times I deviate from optimum strategy, I tend to accept a slightly lower expectation on some hands, to increase my chances of the royal, or bonus quads, if I am playing certain games. Not often, and usually when I am winning a substantial amount. But for the most part, you are exactly right....play it by the book! I watch people playing deuces wild, with a nice pay schedule, and they butcher the strategy....holding straights and flushes with multiple deuces in the dealt hand, drawing to two pair, etc. makes me cringe. They are probably playing a 97%+ machine at 85-90% with their personal strategy.
FPDW and DW44 are played a bit differently when it comes to two pairs, but holding a straight or a flush with 2 or more deuces is stupid! I don't think a lot of people check the pay tables, so they just play the strategy that they know. But, "God loves lucky fools!"
I am not a VP advantage player, just too much time and work involved. I am also not an "expert" at all of the different optimum strategy plays on different games. When I fist started playing VP, I did the "math" in my head while playing....should I break the full house to draw to the bonus triples, etc. but even being a pretty fair basic math person, and able to compute most simple calculation in my head, I am sure I was playing several percentage points below optimum strategy, based on "intuitive" interpretation.
Like the author says, probably no mathematical advantage here....unless the higher denomination games provide a better pay schedule than the lower starting one. I play this way a lot. Start with $100 in the quarter machine, get to $200, go to 50 cents, get to $500 +, go to dollars. My reasoning is....I am always looking for the Royal, or aces / kicker bonus. I am not all that satisfied with a "double" my buy in philosophy when it comes to VP....craps is a different story. On VP, you need the high pays to enjoy the true pay schedule....very volatile in that respect. I encounter many small losses, ($200-300) sessions, but also have the big wins an occasion, ($4,000-8,000). But, I am net negative at VP, I play too often, and have no desire to try and spend the time searching out the machines that could provide some advantage play....with the exception of progressive machines, I do search them out, but the volatility still remains, no change, except the positive pay schedule with the increased royal payout. Thanks for the article.
BS777, I agree, but I got burnt over the weekend doing that. In JOB I drew AsKs10s9d9c. I discarded the 2 nines going for the royal. I drew 9s9h. Missed the Quad. I think optimal strategy says to keep the 'low pair'.
AsKs10s9d9c in JOB is to to keep three to the royal flush over a low pair. If playing DB or DDB, then keep the low pair.
I'm new here. This is my first posting. A few years back in Vegas I walked past 3 VP machines, these were dollar machines. This guy was playing all 3 machines, he was waiting for payouts on 2 of the machines, a royal and 4 aces. When I walked back he was playing 2 machines and waiting for another royal payoff. I stood there a while to see how he was playing. He would dump any cards from 2-9. He dumped pairs except aces. He dumped pairs to keep a single card to play for a royal. Just in those 2 royals I saw he collected $8,000. I'm not that brave but I've kept a pair of aces and dumped the second pair to go for 4 aces, I've hit a couple of times.
He was playing the highest possible volatility you can play on a VP machine. Definitely not optimum strategy! He will hit more royals than an optimum player, but he will invest one hell of a lot more money too!
Just looking around at a local casino best I can see is 5-4 payout for flush straight do I need to check every machine or just different sets of machines
I think I was looking at something wrong to come up with that 5-4 payout but still didn't find 9-6 do you need to look at every machine
It's a good idea to check every machine. Sometimes a bank of machines can have different pay schedules, and even different game choices.
I learned and played Dancer's strategy. I took his classes at the South Point Casino. I bought his books and DVD. Later I purchased a Mac computer and went with Dan Paymar's Optimum Video Poker for Mac. I found his approach easier to learn and play. But both Dancer and Paymar have good strategies. The problem is the video poker haydays are about over because machines with good pay schedules are becoming extinct and players have to rely on club points to get close to 100% pay schedules that VP strategies are based on. The poor pay schedules today require a huge bankroll and high tolerance to huge swings in the bankroll. I've been at it for a number of years and have yet to hit a royal. But my wife has hit several. Because of her our joint VP stake is in the black.
So playing.25 8-5 is the best I have found can I play it using the strategy for 9-6? The best I have found is 9-5 on 1 games so far anyway
