Ask the Slot Expert: Super Draw 6 Poker

Question: I recently played a video poker machine that gave you a 6th card if you played the max. The max was 10, 25 or 125. What percentage is given to the player?

Answer: Hmm. I think you're talking about Super Draw 6 Poker, but I'm confused by the max bets you gave. Super Draw 6 requires you to bet twice what you would on a game without any gimmicks to get the 6th card. Super Draw 6 is a multi-hand game, either 3, 5 or 10-play. The max bets are 30, 50 and 100 credits. There's no way the max can be an odd number when you're doubling your bet. If it's a gimmick that requires just an extra credit (6 credits per hand), there's no way the max could end in a 5.

If you didn't play Super Draw 6, then send me an email with the name of the game you played. In the meantime, I'll do what politicians do. If they won't answer a question they're asked, they answer a different question.

Let's look at Super Draw 6 Poker.

According to its Find Video Poker Games page at VideoPoker.com, there are only four machines in Las Vegas. No wonder I haven't seen one. The Jackpot Gents have a number of YouTube videos of them playing the game in a casino in Florida.

As I said before, Super Draw 6 is a multi-hand game. If you make a max-coin bet, 10 credits per hand, you activate the Bonus Card. When you hit the Draw button, the machine replaces your discards and gives you a bonus 6th card. In addition to the usual 5-card hand payoffs, betting the max also enables the 6-card hand payoffs (e.g., Two 3 of a Kinds, 3 Pair) at the top of the screen. Amounts won on a winning hand are displayed over a blue background if the winning combination is within the first five cards and yellow if the bonus card was used in the combination.

As frequently happens, the Wizard of Odds has done all the hard work for me and has a page for Super Draw 6 on his site. Be careful looking at the page. The first few charts show the returns for adding the Super Draw 6 feature to a number of full-pay tables. You probably won't find those paytables on a Super Draw 6 machine. Even though gimmicks may be available for good paytables, casinos tend to choose not-so-good paytables for their video poker machines with gimmicks. The Jackpot Gents video I linked to above shows them playing not 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe, but 8/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe.

I can't tell you the payback percentage of the game you played because I don't know the paytable you played. The Wizard has paybacks for all the Super Draw 6 paytables on his page. Generally speaking, the Super Draw 6 feature adds about 0.3% to the return of the base paytable.

That increase assumes mathematically perfect play. There are some strategy changes you need to make compared with the base paytable strategy to get that increase in payback. This livestream from the Gents contains some comments sent in by one of their viewers giving the correct way to play a hand that they misplayed.

This page on the Gents' site contains strategy charts for these Super Draw 6 paytables: 20/12/10 Deuces Wild, 9/5 Double Double Bonus, and 8/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe.

Be really careful with video poker gimmicks that require doubling your bet. Most of the time, the extra bet that activates the gimmick goes right in the shredder. That's not too bad when the extra is just one credit. Your bankroll can disappear in a flash, though, when the bet is doubled and you don't get many hands that benefit from the gimmick.

On the other hand, the gimmick can pay off and pay off big. What you're really buying with your extra bet is extra volatility.

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