Victory
at Video Poker
by Mark Pilarski
In
video poker, only 21% of the hands dealt are winning hands
of Jacks or better and 79% are downright dogs. Herein lies
the difference between the winning and losing player: what
you do with those 79% of the hands that need to be groomed
into winning greyhounds. The best way to give yourself the
greatest chance of victory at video is to read, absorb,
embrace and pledge allegiance to these playing tips.
-
Seek out Jacks or better machines that pay 9 coins for
a full house and six coins for a flush.
- If
you decide to play a progressive video poker machine that
pays 8 coins for a full house and 5 for a flush, play
on a progressive where the jackpot is over $250 on a nickel
machine, $2,500 on a quarter, and $10,000 for the dollar.
- Always
bet the maximum amount of coins on a progressive machine
to get the bonus for royal flushes.
- If
you are a novice player, play on the lowest denomination
machine until your level of expertise rises.
- If
your casino offers it, use a casino slot card to get credit
for your play. You might as well get a return as a comp
benefit for your play on their video poker machines. Be
sure to ask how many points you will receive per dollar
played, and then find out what those points are worth
in comps. This will help you shop for better value on
your play.
- Take
your time to study every hand. Because you are playing
against a machine, no one will intimidate you if your
play is too slow.
- All
hail the Jack! Some players don't realize the ace is not
the most important card in the deck, but the Jack is.
Holding the Jack over the ace gives you more opportunities
of making more lucrative hands than an ace would.
- There
are more than a hundred different video poker machines
to choose from. Games like Joker Poker, Louisiana Jacks,
Gator Poker, etc. offer you a supermarket selection, but
all have different paytables needing distinct playing
strategies. I recommend learning and limiting your play
to two, such as Deuces Wild and Jacks-or-Better.
- Acquire
video poker skills using either a computer or a hand-held
video poker game. The major benefit of this type of training
is the ability to test you skills with no financial risk
or ruin. You can gather data later review, enabling you
to nix trends that would be costly on a video poker machine.
This information would take you years to accumulate under
normal casino conditions. And again, the key here is that
any knowledge obtained without a casino outlay lets you
net out better down the road.
And
now, some playing strategies.
First,
Never keep a kicker with any pair. Holding a kicker to any
pair reduces your return by 5%.
2nd,
Never draw four cards if you can draw three to a royal flush.
3rd,
Always keep five-card winning pat hands with on exception:
if you can, draw one card to a royal.
4th,
Don't break a flush even if you can draw one to a straight
flush, but
5th,
…always break a flush to draw to a royal.
6th,
Never break a straight to draw to a straight flush.
7th,
Never draw five if you have a jack or better, and
8th,
…don't keep a ten for a four card draw.
|
No
Eggheads 
Allowed