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Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker gimmicks - Part 3

22 May 2024

Let's continue looking at some of the gimmicks video poker designers have added to video poker to give the game some of the excitement and sizzle of slot games. Many people and manufacturers call these enhancements "variations" or "features" and not "gimmicks." Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.

We left off last week looking at gimmicks that require you to double your bet to activate the gimmick. All of the gimmicks that follow are based on multi-hand video poker.

I don't know this for a fact, I just know that it's true. My first dollar royal flush was at the Desert Inn (fact) and it was in diamonds (maybe). Therefore, diamonds is my lucky suit.

I found a video poker gimmick that is right up my alley. When you double your bet on Lucky Suit, you activate the Lucky Suit feature. The machine will choose a suit at random to be your lucky suit. You can change it to your personal lucky suit.

When the suit of the first card dealt is your lucky suit, you get a multiplier based on the rank of the card. For example, an Ace pays 12x, King 10x, Queen 8x, Jack 6x, 10 5x, and 2-9 2x-4x. The multiplier applies to all of your hands. (The multiplier structure may differ by paytable.)

On the one hand, I like this gimmick because we can see what triggers it. It's not triggered by some random number that we can't see. We should get a multiplier on about 25% of our hands. On the other hand, I don't like the randomness of the multiplier you get on the 2-9 ranks. Another hidden random number determining our fate.

Like many of the gimmicks we've looked at, the first five coins pay for the video poker hand. The rest are a fee to pay for the gimmick. And if the gimmick is triggered randomly and it isn't triggered on a hand, the extra credits go right to the shredder.

Have you ever wished that you could have an extra card to help you make a paying hand? The next gimmick does exactly that.

It is called Split Card. To put it simply, Split Card lets two cards occupy one position in your hand. I always recommend that players read the help screens on a machine to understand how a game works. I'm not sure how much help the help is on this machine.

A Split Card is two cards in one location in a hand. Only one Split Card may appear per hand during the game. One of the cards in a Split Card came from the Game deck for the hand. The other came from the Split Card deck for that hand.

If a Split Card contains an Ace from the Game deck for that hand, then the card from that Split Card deck is of the same suit and equally likely to be an Ace, a King, or a 2 (Deuce).

If a Split Card contains a card from the Game deck for that hand other than an Ace, then the card from that Split Card deck is of the same suit and equally likely to be the same rank, one rank higher, or one rank lower.

The Split Card may appear on the deal or on the draw. If the Split Card does not appear on the deal, the Split Card will occur randomly with any card remaining in the Game deck for that hand.

Gee, thanks for clarifying that a 2 is also known as a Deuce. Let's try to make sense of the rest of the text.

When the machines deals your initial hand, it may determine that one of the cards should be a split card. It adds another card into that position. The suit will always be the same is the dealt card. The rank will either be the same, one above, or one below. The three rank possibilities are equally likely.

If your dealt card is 7 of clubs, the Split Card will either be 7 of clubs, 8 of clubs, or 6 of clubs. If your dealt card is the Ace of spades, the Split Card will either be the Ace of spades, the King of spades, or the 2 of spades.

The dream of a Deuces Wild player is to get a Split Card with two Deuces. That happened to me recently. I had a Split Card with two spade Deuces, a 2 of hearts, a 10 and Queen of diamonds (giving me a dirty royal), and an 8 of hearts.

Should I hold the dirty royal and leave one position in which I could get a fourth Deuce?

Or should I just hold the three Deuces and leave three positions free for more Deuces? I should mention that 5 Deuces pay 2000 credits.

I held the dirty royal. Was that the mathematically correct play?

Let's check my go-to guy for strategies, The Wizard of Odds. In the strategy section on his Split Card page, he says, "Sorry, you're on your own with that for now." The page was last updated November 26, 2015. Looks like we're on our own period.

Eventually I'll do the math to figure out if I held the right cards.

Send me an email at my address below to let me know your favorite video poker 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