Video poker is the ultimate indated casino slot, and is likely the most misunderstood gaming machine. Ask a veteran player to define a video poker machine and they’ll probably reel you in with a complete jargon lesson. But don’t be Sir, I know that you, like me, are always interested in that magic, elusive, yet alluring, video poker. And, no matter what our sources tell us, the casinos know video poker players better than we know poker players.
For our various reasons, we’ll take a look at the game and some of the myths that have grown up around it, and see if we can’ accept some of them. Accepting these won’t make you a master, but you’ll understand how the casinos maintain their edge.
There is a fundamental ambiguity that plagues video poker players as to whether or not the game is a valid game of chance. The most accepted notion amongst video poker players is that the machines are pre-programmed to pay out at a greater ratio to the player than to the casino. While Java and C# coding can allow a programmer to essentially create a random generator, the question is, can the random generator be pre-programmed? Is there a chance that players can learn how to win at video poker by learning the tricks and figuring out which machines are the surest bets?
Firstly, let’s look at theWhether video poker is a game of skill or chance. The program that runs the games in a casino or online is called a Random Number Generator. These generators produce a number series that is totally unique and random, what mathematical mathematicians refer to as a uniform distribution. The chances of any game of chance are, at best, the same number of good or bad outcomes. Add to that the fact that video poker machines are run by a computer, and you have a game of chance that is statistically fair.
There are however, some slight differences that the player can exploit to tip the odds in their favor. One of these differences is the variance or cycles. Even the best Video Poker strategy will have a playing period of about 30 minutes, during which time the machine is polish and smooth. The machine is tuned and adjusted for its operating frequencies. The staff is professional and courteous, working to keep the customers and other slot machine users having a pleasant experience.
A question that I get asked all the time when I go to charm other gamblers is, “How long does it take for the machines to pay out?” The answer is usually “As long as the person wants.”
So if 30 minutes seems like a long time, let’s consider this. The odds of the game are BBC (Basic Pay out = number of coins played = 1 coin = payout) x 1000deals. If you have played 1000 coins, your chances of getting a payout should be 1 in 376.6 chances, right? Though you can’t predict the outcome, you can get a rough idea with a coin flip.
But the variance or cycles can vary, and it is up to the player to know when they are due to come back. I have heard the proposition that there are machines that give a bonus for playing in any situation not normally covered. Thesebonusesfor playing non-optimal hands are supposed to encourage players to keep on using cash for machines that otherwise would not offer a payout. The rationale is that the casino wants the bonus pool to grow, and many will “Bolagila” by payoutting more frequently, larger amounts, in response to a player steady increase in play.
Perhaps this is true. Perhaps not. I certainly would like a casino that offers a bonus for playing non-optimal hands, especially since my last visit there some of the older machines did not pay out for about 5 minutes, so I had to get a tow to try to win.
So my parting advice, although I don’t believe there are strategies that enable one to win at video poker, the notion that it is a game of chance is certainly accurate.