Hone strategy to a razor’s edge
January 29,
2010
Dear Mark:
The casino where I play once had a dozen 9/6
Jacks-or-better machines. Now they have just
two. My first question is why do they
take out the good paying machines? Is it
because skilled players take advantage of
them. As for these reduced value machines,
how much am I now giving up from a 9/6
Jack-or-better to let’s say an 8/5 machine?
Eric H.
Good
machines, Eric, always come and go, yet of
late, far too many casinos have been
slashing their high-paying machine
inventory. It’s simply a decision on their
parts to lower the paybacks on their slot
floors.
As to your
question, yes, knowledgeable players can and
do monopolize the better paying machines.
But even your Average Joe will win more on
high-paying pay tables, so what a casino
will do is trade some of decent high-paying
pay tables for substandard ones. I think the
reason that even two remain where you play
is so that the casino can say it still
offers them. Good luck on the egg hunt
finding more.
Now assuming,
Eric, you find an open seat on the two
remaining full-pay 9/6 (9/6 meaning nine for
a full house, six for a flush with one coin
inserted) jacks-or-better machines and you
play perfect basic strategy, your expected
payback is more than 99 percent, actually
99.544 percent. You must take into account
that those high returns are based on your
hitting the royal flush. And why a royal
flush? Because a royal on a full pay (9/6)
jacks-or-better machine accounts for 1.981
percent of your total return. Add a straight
flush and a four-of-a-kind and there’s
another five percent of a player’s return.
What this all means to the video poker
player, Eric, is that the casino has a
sizeable edge against you while you’re
waiting for the big payoff.
So
how much are you giving up with these
reduced pay tables? With mathematically
perfect play, a 9/6 Jacks-or-better machine
pays back 99.54%, the 9/5 game 98.45%, the
8/6 game 98.39%, and the 8/5 game 97.30%.
Yet, Eric, an 8/5 machine doesn’t
necessarily mean that they are all dogs
compared to all 9/6 machines. For example,
look to see if they make available an 8/5
(eight for the full house, five for a flush)
progressive machine with a progressive meter
attached that reads at least $440 on a
nickel, $2,200 on a quarter and $8,800 on a
dollar video poker machine. If they offer
it, you cross the threshold to a positive
expectation game.
The bottom
line, Eric, is staying flexible. Continue to
seek out only positive-expectation machines
and utilize proficient play, and you’ll be
hitting the casino up for all the comps and
cash backs you can get.
Dear Mark: In Texas Hold’em, can you
ever win a hand outright by playing the
board? Jason F.
Not if
you’re called, Jason. Any time your best
five-card hand uses the five community
cards, and that’s what playing the board is,
the best you can do is split the pot.
Although not outright winnable,
playing the board can be worth the
risk/reward, providing no one else can
improve their hand. For example, if the
board is a straight consisting of a five,
six and seven of clubs, and an eight and
nine of spades, someone could be sitting on
two additional clubs, and not be playing
just the board, and their flush, or other,
would beat you outright.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: “Poker
players do not betray any feelings, so what
you have, visually, is a bunch of grim-faced
guys looking like a hemorrhoid support
group.”--Dave Barry, the Lakeland Ledger
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