POKER TAO

The '70s witnessed the rise in popularity of video poker in casinos. Today it continues to enjoy this fame as one of the most popular forms of gambling. Video poker has proven to be an attractive game for those who enjoy playing games of skill, the probability of making a big win, and the experience of just playing alone. One of the great things about video poker is the simplicity of the rules: you play one to five coins, the machine deals you five cards, you get the chance to keep or discard some of the cards, and you get paid depending on the value of your hand.

A serious video poker player will always try to find opportunities to increase his advantage and the probability of winning. But like any form of gambling, if getting an advantage were that easy, then surely everybody would be doing the trick. Video poker is indeed a very dynamic game. And it requires the avid video poker player to sustain the many changes that the game has slowly been integrated with. Numerous variations of the video poker game will require one to develop ones own strategy. To be successful, a video poker player should be knowledgeable about where to find the best plays, the best pay tables for each game, and the method by which to play them.

Video Poker Odds

Several factors need to be put into consideration when looking into the video poker odds. The video poker game has several variations. There are different pay tables for every type of variation, and with each pay table, a video poker player must have his own strategy. Only a skilled player will be able to determine and understand which pay tables are ideal for each game and how to play them. A novice player will not be aware that for each variant of video poker, an optimal strategy should be implemented for the game to be played correctly. This just goes to show that any video poker player who simply selects games at random without any strategy at hand will undoubtedly lose a large amount of money in the long run.

Increasing one's video poker odds also entails putting into utmost consideration other elements, which include deviation, risk of ruin, volatility, and the like, all of which are terms of ideas that refer to the figuring out the probability and possibility of return. As a game of mathematics, when played properly, one is sure to increase his video pokers odds in every game.

Video Poker Return

Video poker return, or expected return alone, refers to the long-term result of your decisions when it comes to playing the game. This is the payback percentage of the video poker machine over the extended period of time. Video poker return is calculated with the use of the payout for the specific hands. Knowing the right video poker strategy or being able to determine how and what card to keep and to discard will give you the best video poker return.

If, for example, you are playing Jacks or Better at 9/6, this means that you are being paid 6 for 1 for a flush and 4 for 1 for a straight. Having four cards to a flush at hand means that there are nine cards out of the remaining forty-seven cards that can complete your hand or a 9/47 probability.

But if you have a straight draw, out of forty-seven, there are eight cards that can complete your hand for the 4 for 1 win, and the probability is at 8/47.

The expected video poker return for every situation is the amount that which you will be getting paid off multiplied to the video poker odds of getting paid.

Going further, a flush draw would therefore yield a video poker return of 9/47 * 6 or 115 percent, while a straight draw would give a video poker return of 8/47 * 4 or 68 percent. This illustration clearly shows the correct strategy to use. Hence, the ideal strategy for each situation entails calculating the highest possible video poker return for the thirty-two various ways of playing your hand.