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Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker machine that paid all winning hands

22 January 2025

Question: Your article on "Only highest winner paid" reminded me of a game that once existed many years ago called Multi-Pay video poker that did pay on all winning combinations. I forget who made it but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't IGT.

Answer: Ah, yes. I remember playing that machine.

The machine was made by WMS Gaming, which through a series of acquisitions, mergers, and spinoffs is now known as Light & Wonder. The machines were on slot floors in the late 1990s and early 2000s. You can read WMS' patent for the game here.

John Grochowski wrote about the machines in this column on this site.

Quoting from the riveting patent text:

According to the present invention, the game player is compensated for the value of the highest winning hand in addition to the values of the constituent sub-hands which comprise the winning hand....

According to the invention, if a player obtains a royal flush, then the player is compensated for the values of a royal flush, a straight flush, a flush and a straight. The sum of the values of these hands (400+ 90+ 8 + 6) equals 504 units. Assuming that a conventional video poker game were being played, then the payoff for obtaining a royal flush would only be 400 units. Similarly, a player would be compensated for a full house, three of a kind, two pair and, possibly, a pair of jacks or better if the final hand were a full house.

It can be a challenge to figure out why a hand paid what it did. In his article, John describes having to explain to a slot supervisor why he was paid a strange amount for a royal flush on a non-progressive machine.

John had to explain that not only was he paid for a royal flush, he was also paid for a straight flush, a flush, and a straight. Likewise, a straight flush would also earn a payout for a flush and a straight.

Determining the payout for the sequence=based hands is straightforward. The set-based hands can be tricky.

Consider this hand: 7♥ 7♦ 7♣ J♣ J♠. How many entries in the paytable apply to this hand?

If you didn't skip over the quote from the patent above, you know the answer is four. The full house is obvious as are the 3-of-a-kind and high pair. What's the fourth entry? You also have two pair hiding in that hand.

This similar hand 7♥ 7♦ 7♣ 8♣ 8♠ pays a little less. The pair in the full house is no longer a high pair.

Now consider this hand: Q♥ Q♦ Q♣ J♣ J♠. We have a full house, 3-of-a-kind, and two pair. We also have a high pair in jacks and a high pair in queens. Do we get paid for two high pairs?

According to the patent, the program checks "whether the player's hand includes a full house, in which case the player is compensated for the full house, three-of-a-kind, two pair and a pair of jacks or better if they are present."

How about this hand T♥ Q♦ Q♣ J♣ J♠ ? From the patent: "It is determined whether the player has two pair, for which the player is compensated for the two pair and a pair of jacks or better, if present."

It looks like the Multi Pay payout algorithm is very similar to the standard payout algorithm: if hand is royal flush, pay and stop checking; if hand is straight flush, pay and stop checking; etc.

The difference is that the Multi Pay algorithm doesn't stop when it finds an applicable paytable entry. It keeps on checking and accumulates all the applicable payouts.

Like the standard algorithm, it looks like the Multi Pay algorithm checks only whether a paytable entry is present in the hand, not how many times a paytable entry is in a hand.

These machines are long gone and slot manufacturers have pretty much ceded the video poker market to IGT.


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