A Winning System Part 3 - Video Poker - Optimum Play

In A Winning System Part 1, I gave you an overall view of three products to help make you a winnerat the casino. Last time I reviewed“” by Jean Scott to help youlearn about comps. This time I will review Dan Paymar’s a book that will teachyou the basics of Video Poker.

Video Poker, like Blackjack can be one of the best games you can play inthe casino. If you play properly, some Video Poker machines actually offerover 100% payback. It can also be one of the worst games if you play by hunchinstead of using the proper basic strategy, derived from the mathematicsof the game.

There are many variations of video poker games. Each game has its own payschedule. Unlike slot machines you can determine the payback percentage ofa video poker machine by reading the pay schedule on the machine. The mostcommon Video Poker game is Jacks or Better (JB). The maximum payback fora full pay JB machine is 99.54%. Although this game does not have a positivereturn, this is the game you should learn first. It is the most popular andthe one that you will most likely find in all locations. If you combine itwith good slot club benefits or other promotions you can come out ahead.By learning Jacks or Better first you will have a strong foundation whenyou move on to other games. If your favorite casino offers full pay DeucesWild, you will want to learn that game with its 100.7 payback.

In order to win at video poker you will need to know more than just how toplay the game. In his book “Video Poker - Optimum Play”, Dan Paymarshows you how to read the pay schedules of the machines in order to choosethe ones with the highest payback potential. He discusses bankroll considerationsyou will need to determine your chances of hitting a jackpot. Other chapterswill show you how to evaluate the contribution of comps and promotions tothe games total payback. The risk of ruin and volatility of the games arealso covered.

Finally Dan shows you playing strategies for Jacks or Better, Deuces Wildand Joker Poker using his “Optimum Playing Strategies” “Percisionplay” simplifies some of the situations that occur very infrequentlyand where the expected value of computer- perfect play and the recommendedplay is very small.

Dan defines Optimum play this way. “Many writers say optimum playwhen they really mean perfect play. In truth, except for a few of the simplergames, video poker is too complex for perfect play to be practical for mostplayers. By perfect play, I mean that every play would be for the absolutehighest expected value.

In many cases, two or more possible ways of playing a hand have such closeexpected values that the discards affect the decision. Moreover, many videopoker games are so complex that no matter how many details are included inplaying rules or how many notes are attached to a hand rank table, it isnearly always possible to find yet another exception where a marginal decisionhas not been covered. So just how perfect is it desirable to make a playingstrategy? In other words, just what is optimum play?

In my opinion, truly optimum play is that which maximizes your average long-termexpected hourly win rate without overplaying your bankroll. I feel that thisshould be the goal of all serious players.”Video Poker - Optimum play offers well -rounded practical information aboutVideo Poker for the novice as well as the more experienced player.

The next step is to apply your new Video Poke knowledge by playing the gameat home on your computer before risking you hard earned money at the casino.You can do this with software by Zamzow, which I will review in Part4 of this series.

Until next time, remember:
Luck comes and goes...Knowledge stays forever.

A Winning System Part 1
A Winning System Part 2
A Winning System Part 4

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