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Gaming Guru  Good Paybacks28 February 2021
By John Grochowski Smart video poker players shop for the best payback percentage available on their game of choice. A Double Double Bonus Poker player will choose a 9-6 pay table if available over 9-5 or 8-5 games. Top pay tables have become less widely available than they once were. Max Action video poker from IGT leaves the question, "How much extra would you bet to get a higher payback percentage?" On Max Action machines, you can make five-coin wagers and get standard pay tables on video poker favorites such as Double Double Bonus Poker, Bonus Poker and Jacks or Better. But if you activate the Max Action feature by betting anywhere from six to 10 coins, payoffs are increased on most hands and the payback percentage rises. How much do the paybacks increase? If you start at 9-5 Double Double Bonus Poker, a 97.87 percent game with expert play, Michael Shackelford calculates at wizardofodds.com that the payback rises to 97.90 percent if you bet six coins, 97.92 for a seven-coin bet, 97.96 for eight, 98.07 for nine and 98.41 percent for 10. At no point does the return catch up to the 98.98 percent on 9-6 Double Double Bonus. If the higher pay table is available elsewhere in the casino, you're better off taking it. Here's the way it works, using 9-5 DDB as an example. When you make the extra bets, paybacks stop growing at the bottom of the pay table. High pairs and two pairs, which pay five coins for a five-coin bet, still pay only five coins even if you bet the maximum 10. Three of a kind, normally a 3-for-1 pay that returns 15 for five coins, stays 15 for six, then grows to 20 for seven or eight and 25 for 9 or 10. Straights bring the standard 20 for a five-coin bet, but shoot up to 30 for six or seven and 40 for eight or more. Flushes, good for 25 coins for five wagered on 9-5 Double Double Bonus, soar to 40 for six, 45 for seven and 60 for eight or more. Full house pays increase with each coin wagered, from 45 for five to 60, 65, 75, 90 and 100. Straight flushes progress from 250 to 400, 600, 700 and 800, staying at the same 800 for 10 coins as for nine. The prime attraction of Max Action comes at four of a kind. Starting with five-coin returns, four 5s through Kings soar from 250 to 375, 500, 625, 750 and 1,000. With four 2s through 4s, it's 400, 600, 800, 1,000, 1,200 and 1,500, and four Aces with a 5 through KIng bring 800, 1,200, 1,600, 2,000, 2,400 and 3,000. With an Ace, 2, 3 or 4 as a kicker, four 2s through 4s bring the same increased returns as Aces with a 5 through King. Four Aces with a 2, 3 or 4 bring us to prime time, with five-coin payoffs of 2,000 zooming to 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 and 8,000. Royal flushes also bring 8,000 coins for a 10-coin bet, but stay at 4,000 regardless of whether you wager is five, six, seven, eight or nine coins. The result is a game with increased volatility compared to standard Double Double Bonus Poker. High pairs, which account for 21.21 percent of the payback on standard 9-5 DDB, make up only 9.26 percent of the return on the Max Action version with a 10-coin wager. When the quads are coming, you'll love Max Action. When they're not, chances are you'll be looking for a different game fairly quickly. Look for John Grochowski on Facebook (http://tinyurl.com/7lzdt44) and Twitter (@GrochowskiJ). This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. More About Dirt25 February 2021
QUESTION: I had to laugh when I read the question a few weeks ago from a reader who was comparing sanitizer stands in casinos now to how dirty our hands used to get when we used coins in slots. ANSWER:I was a resister, but I'm glad we used tickets now instead of coins. For a long time, I didn't like the ticket printers. ... (read more)
Learning is Important21 February 2021
Games of strategy require learning, and the learning curve isn't always smooth. There are fits and starts, detours and sometimes an "aha!" moment where things suddenly make sense. A couple of blackjack players reached out recently with moments when the light bulb switched on. Suddenly, something about the game made sense. ... (read more)
Hold and Spin14 February 2021
One of the ways slot machines evolve to enhance your entertainment experience is by taking popular features and using them in new ways. We're seeing that now with hold-and-respin features. They were growing in popularity before COVID limited player access to casinos. In the interim, game makers added new wrinkles. ... (read more)
Craps SystemsCraps players love systems, trying to mix and match bets in hopes of finding the magical formula that will beat the casino. Just about any system will work sometimes, and when a player wins with a system, it encourages another try, and another, and another. In the long run, of course, the casino comes out on top. ... (read more)Multi Strike PokerIt was a Friday morning in Joliet, and I'd been playing a little video poker aboard Empress II, waiting for the 11 a.m. opening of Empress I and its video poker room. Soon, if it hasn't already happened by the time you read this, Empress' new barge will open, ending such little scheduling inconveniences, but on this day, I found myself passing time with a little quarter Triple Play Poker. ... (read more)Comps - The BasicsA colleague of mine likes to refer to casino comps as "free stuff." And for those who know their basic strategy in blackjack, optimal strategies for certain video poker games and who know how comping systems work, the "stuff" really is free--the value ... (read more)Basic Strategy for Spanish 21In the last couple of weeks, we've looked at basic strategy in blackjack. Sit down at most blackjack tables in any jurisdiction, play basic strategy and you'll narrow the house edge to a half-percent or so, perhaps a little more or a little less depending on house rules. ... (read more)Single-Deck Basic StrategyThose whose casino memories stretch back far enough may recall a time when the standard "Las Vegas Strip" blackjack game was dealt from a single deck of cards, with the dealer standing on all 17s. That started to change in the 1960s as operators grew ... (read more)John Grochowski |
John Grochowski |
