Ask any casino executive and they’ll inform you that video poker is really a actual money maker for the house. Nevertheless, several electronic poker games feature a house advantage of less than one %, and others still can actually yield over a one hundred % payback if the player uses an optimal wagering strategy. Thus, the question needs to be asked: How can these to seemingly contradictory facts be reconciled?

The answer lies in the fact that the optimal technique for several video poker games is counter-intuitive. Sure, there are lots of palms that everyone plays optimally; if someone is dealt the As K Spades Queen Spades J Spades three hearts, for instance, you’ll search prolonged and tough before you locate a electronic poker player who would insist on discarding 4 and maintaining the 3 of hearts. Except you can find are myriad fingers where what would appear to be the right method in fact costs the gambler money. And in a few cases this loss may be significant.

To better illustrate let’s look at a game that most of us are familiar with; Jacks or Better. At initial glance this casino game looks like a breeze to play. You will discover only 9 hands that qualify for a payback, and it’s usually pretty easy to inform whenever you possess a draw to one of those 9 hands. However everyday electronic poker players across the nation are throwing money away by generating bad (however ‘intuitively correct’) playing decisions. Let’s look at a few distinct fingers, and see how the optimal technique varies from the intuitively correct strategy.

Mistake One) Preserving ‘Ace-face card-face card’ rather than just holding the two face cards.

You see this bet on created all the time, and yet couple of players know what a disaster it seriously is. The thought behind maintaining the ace is that you have a much better possibility of making an ace-high directly, and you also have 3 good cards that you just can try to pair up around the draw. Nonetheless, by maintaining the ace you’re eliminating your chances of making 4 of a sort or a full house, and reducing your chances of making two pair. The slight gain you receive by means of your increased odds of making a direct don’t start to compensate for these other considerable losses.

Error 2) Not trying enough long shot draws at the straight flush.

The straight flush may possibly be one of the most misunderstood hand in Jacks or Better. It does not come around really usually, and it does not have the sex appeal of the royal flush, and as a result most gamblers neglect it. When dealt a hand like the nine clubs 7c five clubs 3 spades two diamonds many players will merely discard all five and redraw. The assumption here is that the straight flush will almost never come in, so they would rather ‘cut their losses’ and attempt to pick up a major pair on the redraw.

Again, this makes sense at initially glance. Nevertheless what is forgotten in this sort of analysis is that by preserving the 9c seven clubs 5c the player also has a possibility at a straight or even a flush. Now it is true that a draw like this isn’t a real moneymaker. Except it is going to still pay much more, in the prolonged run, than drawing five new cards.

Mistake Three) Maintaining a suited AT as opposed to just maintaining the ace.

This is one of the most common mistakes created by electronic poker players at Jacks or Better. Now I’ll be the initially to admit that holding the ace and the ten is far a lot more fun then just drawing to the ace. After all, when you hold the ace and the ten you’ve at least a small likelihood of some thing seriously very good happening; namely, hitting the royal on the draw. You also have a better possibility of constructing a direct or even a flush. Still as with the hand we examined in Error #1 these gains do not outweigh your decreased chances of creating 4 of a sort, 3 of a type or a major pair. If you want to wager on optimally you’ll need to discard that ten; I know it’s tough, except it must be done!

These are three of the most vivid examples of negative wager on, although you will discover lots of other errors that a video poker player frequently makes in the course of a betting session. If your goal is to decrease the house advantage as a lot as feasible I advocate picking up a book that contains charts detailing the finer points of optimal play. There are a number of books like this out on the market, and they’re definitely worth the sticker price. Pore over the charts, and compare the plays they advocate with the plays you’re currently making. I guarantee it will probably be a true eye-opening experience.