By Jean Scott
www.queenofcomps.com

Although in my introductory article here on this Web site I said that there was no one silver bullet for winning more/losing less when you play video poker but that there are hundreds of little things you can do, if I am pinned down to name the most important idea or the first thing a player should consider, I would say that choosing a good game is of prime importance. In the long run, proper strategy or even a large bankroll can’t save you from long term losing when you are playing a “bad” game.

Uninformed gamblers think video poker, like other casino games, is just a matter of luck - and it doesn’t matter what paytable is chosen. I don’t have time in this one short article to go into detail about “short term” and “long term” results, but no matter which you are talking about, in general the higher the ER (expected theoretical return, more commonly called the EV, expected value) of a game the less you will lose and/or the more you will win. This is always true for the “long term,” but is often true for the “short term” as well, especially if the difference in EV is quite large. Experienced and well-bankrolled skilled players may analyze a game using a different formula in order to get a per-hour win or loss figure. And some with small bankrolls will want to take into consideration the volatility factor. But most inexperienced and recreational players are best advised to look at the EV’s of various games and choose the highest one they can find.

For those that think video poker results are just luck, I present this example of a “good” game vs. a “bad” game, giving those names based on their paytables. Both are Jacks or Better games, with the first one having a 9/6 paytable (meaning a 9-coin pay for a full house and 6 coins for a flush) with an EV of 99.54%. The second one is what we call a “bad” game with a drop on the full house and flush to 8/5, giving an EV of 97.3%. Both these games are called “negative expectation” games because they neither one are over 100% and you couldn’t expect a long-term win on either one.

Of course your session results will vary greatly. You can get a royal flush or a bunch of quads just as easily on one as the other and pull out a winning session. . But after many sessions the math says that you will likely be an overall loser. So why does it matter which one you play? Again the math gives us the answer. If you play quarters (5 a hand) at medium speed, say about 500 hands an hour, on the 9/6 machine, the casino edge is .45% (100% minus the game EV of 99.54%). Multiply .0045 by the coin-in of $625 (500 hands at $1.25 a hand) and you get a loss of $2.81 per hour. Do the same calculation for the 8/5 JoB game, which has a casino edge of 2.7%. Multiply .027 by $625 and you get a $16.88 per-hour loss.

Are you playing dollars? You would have to multiply these figures by 4 and you would see a whopping $56.28-an-hour loss difference. And if you play faster, the loss amounts will rise even higher and faster.

So if you are losing more than you like, you need to check the EV’s of the games you are playing. Can you find a game with a better EV?

I hear you now. “But JoB is so boring; I like to play a game like Double Double Bonus with those juicy jackpots. They have often allowed me to dig myself out a big losing hole.”

“Yes,” I would answer, “but how many more times have you had bad losing sessions.” Do the figures for 9/6 DDB (98.98%) or 9/5 DDB offered in many casinos (97.87%) and then compare them with the average per-hour loss I gave above for 9/6 JoB. I’m not telling anyone what he or she should play or not play. My goal here is to give you ways to cut your losses. It’s up to you to decide which, if any, you want to embrace.

Let’s say you do want to choose better games, but you don’t know how to spot them. For years that was a big problem for the inexperienced gambler. There were some Internet sites with information to help players scout casino games, and old hands at video poker had printed it out and carried the sheets around with them. But I saw the need for a compact booklet someone could carry in a pocket or purse. So that is when The Frugal VP Scouting Guide was born. Viktor Nacht and I stuffed this laminated checkbook-sized booklet with as much information as we could: almost 200 of the most common VP pay schedules, the ER for each game, common variations and tricky changes highlighted, volatility ratings, break-even progressive points for over 150 games, and returns for Multi-Strike and Super Times Pay games. If you are truly sincere about making better games choices, this guide will make scouting for good games easier and faster.

I recommend in my most recent book, Frugal Video Poker, that beginners choose just one game while they are beginning their video poker play. That is often 9/6 Jacks or Better, which is a great game on which to learn the basics. However, sooner or later, players will find they probably need to choose other games so they will have more playing opportunities on a “good” game. A wise informed player who is trying to lose less will try to always choose the best paytable he can find, in one casino or one group of casinos.