Dealt royals come around every 650,000 hands on average, assuming you’re playing with a 52-card deck. I play perhaps 800,000 base hands per year, so I “should” get slightly more than one of these a year. Several years sometimes go by for me with none of these, although in the first six months of 2008 I’ve had three. Go figure.
The last of these royals was “usual.” It was dollar Five Play and as soon as the royal was dealt, the machine automatically held all five cards on all five hands. The machine locked up for a $20,000 hand pay.
The first two of these, however, were NOT usual. Both were at least $20,000 in size, and eventually a tax form had to be signed, but neither machine immediately locked up. What could explain this? I’m presenting this as a puzzle for you.
I’ll give you a hint. One of these was at a large Las Vegas local casino that you’ve heard of. The other was at a small place that you’ve (probably) not heard of (and I won’t tell you the name here.) Different games, although both were somehow related to Deuces Wild. So what could explain the machines not locking up?
If you want to take some time to go and think about this, I don’t mind. I’ll be happy to wait until you’re ready to proceed.
Back already? Okay. Let’s go.
The first of these was at Green Valley Ranch casino. I was playing $5 NSU Deuces Wild Multi Strike (alas no more) and was dealt a royal flush on the bottom line for $20,000. Very nice! But Multi Strike is a 4-line game where if you win on the first line, you get to play the second. The machine acknowledged 4000 credits and then dealt the second line. I played the second line but didn’t score anything on it. At this time the game was over and the machine locked up.
The machine didn’t lock up immediately because the game wasn’t over yet! We’re used to having a game being over when we play a hand, but Multi Strike has different rules. It’s not such a big deal when you hear the answer, but it’s tricky to come up with BEFORE you hear the answer.
The second of these royals was at a pub which had 15 games, which is the limit for pubs with a certain type of license. Most of these places have horrendous pay schedules, but there are some that are profitable enough to interest me. (You’ll have to find them for yourself. Publicizing such a location would swamp it with more strong players than they could afford, which will eliminate the game and cost me $50,000 a year in EV. I don’t want that.)
The game I was playing was a version of Deuces Bonus on a 10-coin $5 machine that paid 1000-for-1 for a royal flush, which adds up to $50,000. The brand name of the machine is CEI, and I’ve been told that the technology is 25 years old. (I believe it.) When I was dealt the royal flush, the top line on the pay schedule lit up, but it did not hold the five cards. If I wanted the fifty grand, I was going to have to go through the effort of holding the cards for myself. What a pity!
I held all five cards (of course!), checked twice to see that the cards remained held, and then pushed the draw button. NOW the machine locked up.
We are used to newer machines in casinos. Even in casinos with “old” machines, they are less than ten years old and most of them are IGT machines. Many of us have never played on these older machines.
Even though I’ve played on these older machines from time to time, I guess I’d never been dealt a royal on one, nor had anyone ever told me about what happens when a royal is dealt. So I was surprised. Not so surprised that it prevented me from pressing all five buttons, but surprised.
Surprised enough that I though it was interesting enough to justify a column.
Bob Dancer is America's best-known video poker writer and teacher. He has a variety of "how to play better video poker" products, including the software "Video Poker for Winners," Winner's Guides, strategy cards, his autobiography Million Dollar Video Poker, and his two novels, including Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. Dancer's products may be ordered at www.bobdancer.com or by telephone at 1-800-244-2224 M-F 9-5 Pacific Time.
