The Ultimate Progressive Video Poker Machine!

30 October 2012

By Jerry Stickman

Hi Mr. Stickman,

I was walking through one of the downtown Las Vegas casinos and noticed someone had just hit a royal flush on a progressive video poker bank of 25¢ Double Bonus video poker machines. The winner had saved the King, Jack and Ten of Diamonds and ended up drawing the Ace and Queen of diamonds.

I walked around the casino for a while looking for some good games. As I walked by the back of video poker machines where the winner was, I noticed that the amount for a royal flush was $2001.64. I assume the reset value was $2000.

I checked the pay table and it paid 9 – 1 for a full house and 6 – 1 for a flush. I know this isn’t real great for a non progressive game, I think it is around 97 or 98 percent return. However, with the very high reset value of twice the normal 1000 dollars, I think this is a great progressive game.

What do you think?

Wil J from CA

Dear Wil,

If all the other pays are normal, a 9/6 Double Bonus game returns 97.8 percent, just as you estimated. With the standard five credits played, an 8,000 credit ($2,000 on a 25¢ game), the return would be 100.1 percent. There is absolutely no way a casino would start a progressive game at more than 100 percent return.

I have seen something similar on a cruise ship – an unbelievably high progressive amount – so I investigated further. Upon closer examination of the machine, 10 credits, rather than the normal five credits, were required in order to collect the progressive amount. The double-sized progressive required a double-sized bet, meaning the return for this game at reset is the same as a five-credit for 4,000 credit progressive – 97.8 percent.

Had you sat down to play the game you should have immediately seen this.

As pointed out by your observation, if something seems to be too good to be true it probably is too good to be true. This truth is especially true when you are in a casino.

May all your wins be swift and large and all your losses slow and tiny.

Jerry “Stickman”

Jerry “Stickman” is an expert in craps, blackjack and video poker and advantage slot machine play. You can contact Jerry “Stickman” at stickmanGTC@aol.com