Ask any gambling establishment executive and they will inform you that electronic poker is a true money maker for the house. Nonetheless, quite a few video poker games feature a house advantage of less than 1 per-cent, and others nonetheless can truly yield over a one hundred per-cent payback if the gambler uses an optimal betting strategy. Thus, the question needs to be asked: How can these to seemingly contradictory facts be reconciled?
The answer lies in the fact that the optimum strategy for many video poker games is counter-intuitive. Certain, you will discover plenty of hands that everyone plays optimally; if someone is dealt the As King-S Queen Spades J Spades 3h, for instance, you will search long and hard before you discover a electronic poker player who would insist on discarding 4 and maintaining the 3 of hearts. Except you can find are myriad fingers where what would appear to be the appropriate technique really costs the player money. And in some cases this loss can be significant.
To superior illustrate let us look at a game that most of us are familiar with; Jacks or Better. At initially glance this game looks like a breeze to play. You’ll find only 9 fingers that qualify for a payback, and it’s usually pretty easy to tell whenever you have a draw to one of those 9 hands. Still everyday video poker players across the nation are throwing money away by generating negative (nevertheless ‘intuitively correct’) wagering decisions. Let’s appear at a handful of unique palms, and see how the optimal system varies from the intuitively appropriate strategy.
Error One) Maintaining ‘Ace-face card-face card’ rather than just holding the two face cards.
You see this play produced all of the time, and nonetheless handful of gamblers know what a disaster it truly is. The concept behind keeping the ace is that you simply possess a much better possibility of constructing an ace-high direct, and you also have 3 superior cards that you simply can make an effort to pair up on the draw. Nonetheless, by holding the ace you are eliminating your chances of making 4 of a sort or even a full house, and reducing your chances of making 2 pair. The slight gain you receive by means of your increased chances of making a direct don’t begin to compensate for these other significant losses.
Error 2) Not trying sufficient lengthy shot draws at the directly flush.
The direct flush may be probably the most misunderstood hand in Jacks or Better. It doesn’t come around extremely frequently, and it doesn’t have the sex appeal of the royal flush, and as a result most gamblers neglect it. When dealt a hand like the nine clubs seven clubs five clubs 3 spades 2d many gamblers will simply discard all 5 and redraw. The assumption here is the fact that the straight flush will nearly never come in, so they would rather ‘cut their losses’ and attempt to pick up a huge pair around the redraw.
Again, this makes sense at first glance. Still what is forgotten in this sort of analysis is the fact that by maintaining the nine clubs seven clubs five clubs the gambler also has a opportunity at a direct or perhaps a flush. Now it’s true that a draw like this isn’t a authentic moneymaker. But it will still pay much more, in the lengthy run, than drawing five new cards.
Error Three) Keeping a suited Ace-Ten as opposed to just preserving the ace.
This is one of the most typical mistakes produced by video poker players at Jacks or Better. Now I will be the very first to admit that holding the ace and the 10 is far more fun then just drawing to the ace. After all, when you hold the ace and the ten you might have at least a small probability of something truly good happening; namely, hitting the royal on the draw. You also possess a far better opportunity of making a straight or perhaps a flush. Yet as with the hand we examined in Mistake #1 these gains do not outweigh your decreased odds of making 4 of a sort, 3 of a variety or a big pair. If you want to play optimally you’ll have to discard that 10; I know it is tough, but it must be done!
These are three of the most vivid examples of poor bet on, although you will discover plenty of other errors that a video poker player frequently makes in the course of a playing session. If your goal is to decrease the casino edge as a lot as feasible I suggest picking up a book that contains charts detailing the finer points of optimal play. You will discover a variety of books like this out on the market, and they’re undoubtedly worth the sticker price. Pore over the charts, and compare the plays they suggest with the plays you are currently making. I guarantee it will be a real eye-opening experience.
This entry was posted on September 14, 2010, 4:21 am and is filed under Video Poker. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.