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Dancer's Answers

We publish a brand-new video poker article from Bob Dancer every Thursday in this section. These columns are called "Dancer's Answers". Click on any of the links below for more Dancer's Answers:

Bob Dancer Articles - Main Page
May 1, 2008

Vicksburg Video Poker - May 8, 2008

Vicksburg, MS Video Poker - Part 2 - May 15, 2008

Vicksburg Casino Video Poker - Part 3 - May 22, 2008

Common Deuces Wild Mistakes – Juan or the Other – May 29, 2008

Figuring Out Quick Quads - June 5, 2008

Breaking Full Houses in Quick Quads - June 12, 2008

A Quick Quads Puzzler - June 19, 2008

Let’s Go Scouting - June 26, 2008

When You're Not Sure of the Game - July 3, 2008

Can it be Right to Play Hunches - July 10, 2008

Good Hearted Woman in Love With a Good Timin’ Man - July 17, 2008

One-Way Versus Two-Way Straight Penalties - July 24, 2008

Effectual versus Ineffectual Straight Penalties - July 31, 2008

Unusual Dealt Royals - August 7, 2008

Learning from a Horse Handicapper - August 14, 2008

When Bad Is Good - August 21, 2008

I Live For These Moments - August 28, 2008

Las Vegas Do It Different - September 4, 2008

Figuring the worth when there are Multiple Progressives - September 11, 2008

Which is the Better Play? - September 18, 2008

How Much is Too Much? - September 25, 2008

Evaluating a Promotion - October 2, 2008

Sometimes the Jack, Sometimes Ace-Jack, Never the Ace by Itself - October 9, 2008

Why I Don't Play Poker - October 16, 2008

What is a Royal Flush Cycle? - October 23, 2008

A Logical Puzzler - October 30, 2008

Another Look at Changing Machines - November 6, 2008

Testing Matters - November 13, 2008

Next Dancer's Answers column coming on November 20, 2008!

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I Live For These Moments

One measure of a man (or woman) is what REALLY gets him excited. I’m not talking sexual fantasies here or a dealt royal or the discovery of delicious, healthy calorie-free Death By Chocolate cake. I’m talking about unusual things that turn on some people and not others. For Shirley, it’s finding a $150 dress on the $15 sale rack. She’ll talk about it for days. For me, it’s learning exceptions in video poker. I’m not talking about run-of-the-mill flush penalties, but something unusual.

This one came in the form of Multi Strike. Before I get into details, let me give you some background. Before “Video Poker for Winners” (VPW) was created, Multi Strike players had to use the +6, +4, +2 rule to work out the strategy. Take 9/6 Jacks or Better as an example, instead of a pay schedule for Level 1x of 800, 50, 25, 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1, we enter a pay schedule of 806, 56, 31, 15, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7 into any video poker software and it tells us how to play each hand.

For Level 2x we add 4 to each pay schedule number. For Level 4x we add 2 to each pay schedule number, and for Level 8x or Free Ride we use regular strategy.

According to Larry DeMar, CEO of Leading Edge Design and the creator of Multi Strike, “This rule is approximately correct, at least for the games near 100%. In some games a figure of 5.84 or 6.29 would be more precise and we gave those numbers to the programmers in VPW. It depends on a lot of factors. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that this shortcut method creates a slightly incorrect strategy in some instances, but so far we haven’t identified any such cases.”

Well, Bob Dancer to the rescue! I found such a case!

I was practicing 9-4-4 Deuces Bonus Multi Strike. This is a 99.60% game but with the right slot club it can be okay. I downloaded the strategy from VPW and spent a few hours looking for exceptions. I was going to be playing this as a $5 game ($100 per hand) and for these stakes I wanted to get as accurate as I could.

As many of you know, I used to sell “WinPoker.” While VPW has LOTS of features that WinPoker doesn’t, for some things I still use WinPoker. One of these is the “Hard Hands” feature where you can set it to just deal cases where the top play and the second-best play are within any given amount (I start with 0.03 coins and eventually get down to 0.01.)

So I started with Level 1x and added 6 to all the Deuces Bonus pay schedule entries and I started dealing hands. Whenever I learned how to play a hand I didn’t play correctly before, I checked it against VPW (which is 100% accurate in these things.) I adjusted my strategy in a few cases.

Finally I found a type of hand that VPW and WinPoker played differently. In VPW, when you don’t have a deuce, the only 3-card straight flushes you ever hold on the first level are the “perfect ones”, i.e. ‘567’-‘9TJ’. Using WinPoker and adding 6 to each entry, I found a few cases where imperfect 3-card straight flushes (like ‘457’) would be held, even though VPW said otherwise for the same hand. Eureka!

I decided to write a letter to Larry DeMar first and see if he had any comment. I could either quote him or use him for background information. Whatever he wanted was okay with me. I was sure he would be supportive of an article about this because, after all, he earns royalties when Multi Strike games are sold. The more press he can get for them, the better.

Before I wrote to Larry, I slept on it. I actually do a lot of “practice writing” while I’m asleep. I’ll be thinking of how to phase something before I drift off and frequently I have a solution when I wake up.

When I woke up, I decided to check to see if I had made any mistake. Just in case. It turned out that I had. Instead of 3-of-a-kinds and straights returning 7-for-1 (by adding to 6 to the normal 1-for-1 pay schedule), for some inexplicable reason I’d entered 6-for-1. When I correct this, ‘457’ was now no longer eligible to be held in Level 1x. Damn!

While I was disappointed that I did not have a “breakthrough” situation, I wasn’t really broken up about this. This wasn’t my first mistake and it won’t be my last. I actually was happy I found the mistake before I published. Surprisingly, I still feel some residue of excitement for “almost finding” the exception.

And when I actually DO find the exception, and I will some day, I will REALLY be excited.

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.

Click here to visit River Belle Casino and play video poker games, including Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild.

Classic Dancer

We republish a classic Bob Dancer article every Sunday - often these articles are updated with new insights from Bob Dancer, the master of video poker writing.

Video Poker Questions and Answers - May 4, 2008

More Answers to Questions About Video Poker Machines - May 11, 2008

Losing is a Major Part of Winning at Video Poker - May 18, 2008

Video Poker VS Blackjack - May 25, 2008

The Art of Tipping Slot Personnel - Part 1 - June 1, 2008

The Art of Tipping Slot Personnel - Part 2 - June 8, 2008

Putting Your Ducks In a Row - June 15, 2008

Luck and Skill in Video Poker - June 22, 2008

Strategy Adjustments in Video Poker - June 29, 2008

One Coin vs Five Coin - July 6, 2008

Video Poker Progressives - July 13, 2008

High Pairs versus Three Cards to a Rolal in Kings or Better Joker Wild - July 20, 2008