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Ask the Slot Expert: Finding video poker strategies

1 May 2024

Question: Where can I find the best videos and books that give the latest and, I assume, the best strategy for playing video poker? Who is the best author or expert on video poker?

Answer: Thinking about your question takes me back about 30 years. (I can't believe it was that long ago!) It was an exciting time for casino gambling -- er, gaming, as it was becoming more frequently called then. A couple of new resorts were opening in Las Vegas every year. Casino gaming was also expanding around the country. Casino Player magazine held three gambling conventions, two in Atlantic City and one in Las Vegas (or maybe the other way around -- and maybe there were only two -- it was a long time ago). Players could also look forward to new books from the giants of gambling writers. It was the golden age of books on gambling because so many new players wanted to learn more about the games that were now available to them without a plane ride to Las Vegas.

The Mount Rushmore of Gaming Writers has Frank Scoblete, John Grochowski, and Henry Tamburin. They've each written one or more books on every casino game worth playing, with Frank being the most prolific of any gaming writer. You can rest assured that their books contain accurate information and are well written.

"Wait a minute," you say. "There are four faces on Mount Rushmore. Who's Teddy Roosevelt?"

I don't have a clear winner. Jean Scott, on how to get the most from slot clubs and Bob Dancer, on video poker, are two names that come to mind immediately.

I've written many times that it used to be easy writing about gambling when the only places with gambling were Nevada, Atlantic City, and Mississippi. The regulations were pretty much the same everywhere and all the machines worked in the same way (RNG-based). Then manufacturers figured out how to turn a bingo drawing into a slot machine and state lotteries got into the act with machines that were really scratchers under the hood. Now there are machines that work quite differently from an RNG-based machine. How many times have you seen me say that a particular statement applies only to Class III, RNG-based slot machines?

Writing about video poker, in addition, used to be much easier. The only things authors had to deal with are changes to the paytable. The only gimmick was Ernie Moody's multi-hand video poker and that didn't require any strategy changes. Multi-hand was only a challenge for the math guys to calculate the standard deviation.

It's a bit different today, isn't it? Some machines have a slider on the side which you can use to choose from a dozen or more different gimmicks.

I assume that when you say you want the latest strategies, you're looking for strategies that tell you how to play these gimmicks. I searched for "video poker" on Amazon. I found only one book that covers gimmicks, but I have to admit that I only checked the first five pages of results because of Amazon's poor search function and loose standards on what matches search terms (What do blank Yahtzee scoring sheets have to do with video poker?).

The best strategy is one that is based on math and that you can learn and play accurately. Playing mathematically perfectly is impossible because there are too many hands in which the cards you discard affects the expected value of the cards that you hold. (That said, Bob Dancer's advanced strategies get pretty close to perfect.) Fortunately, playing even a simple strategy is a huge improvement over guessing.

You can get strategies for games without gimmicks from the books. I think there are a few reasons why few books are about the gimmicks. One, there are so many of them, how do you choose which ones to cover? Two, no one knows how long a new gimmick will be available. Three, not all gimmicks are widely available. And four, a book about gimmicks limits the author's audience.

Fortunately, it's much cheaper to put up a web page than to publish a book, so look for strategies online. My goto site is Wizard of Odds. You can be assured that all of his strategies are based on math.

Get books from the authors I mentioned above for a good read and strategies for base paytables and if multi-hand video poker is as gimmicky as you get.

Check online to see if someone has determined what strategy changes, if any, you have to make for a particular gimmick.


If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.


John Robison

John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots
John Robison
John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots