Poker Profits - 3 Views
7 October 2005
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
I don't play a lot of poker, but at the family
games a controversy over who has the winning
full house hand has been destroying these once
peaceful fun games. For example, there are two
full house's, one has three eights and two aces,
the other has three kings and a pair of threes.
My opinion is that the aces prevail
notwithstanding that there are trip kings and
only two aces. I have looked at poker references
but these don't answer the question. Please help
us keep peace in the family. Angelo T.
A full house (also called a full boat) is poker
hand consisting of three of one rank plus two of
another. As to hand strength, a full house ranks
above a flush and below a four-of-a-kind. A full
house is often identified by the contained
three-of-a-kind. For example, one hand that you
described, three kings and two 3s is often known
as kings full, and sometimes more specifically
as kings full of 3s. Seeing that a full house is
stated that way, the superior three-of-a-kind
(triplets, tricon, or trio) hand wins, even if
someone is holding a pair of bullets.
May peace now reign at Angelo's table.
Dear Mark,
I have a Brother-in-law who recently started
playing in our weekly home game. One of our
rules is that rather than each player anteing,
the dealer antes up for everyone. When it came
to my Brother-in-law he passed the deal so he
didn't have to ante. He believes since he is
passing the deal, and choice of game, he is at a
disadvantage so he doesn't need to ante when
it's his turn. I don' believe he can do that,
but he claims he can. Please respond quickly as
I will present your answer at our next poker
night. Jeff P.
What you are describing, Jeff, is called "pass
the deal", whereby players deal for themselves
as opposed to something you would see in a poker
room, where the game is dealt by a house dealer.
Ordinarily, a player can refuse to deal, opting
instead to pass the deck to the next player on
the left. But at your home game you noted that
rather than each player anteing each hand, a
dealer antes for all. With the game played this
way, your cheapskate (you don't mind, do you?)
brother-in-law is not permitted to pass the
deal.
Dear Mark,
In last weeks column you stated; "Skilled
players can cut the house advantage to near
zero, or, dare I say it, swing the odds in their
favor when they play perfect basic strategy on
select video poker machines." Any chance you can
share which machines those are? Max F.
Payouts on video poker machines are determined
by; 1) the pay schedule and, just as importantly
2) how you select discards, since selecting the
wrong cards to deep-six will reduce your overall
payout. Even if I clue you in to the
best-of-the-best machines to play, it won't help
you to swing the odds in your favor unless you
learn how to play each hand correctly.
Below are three "full pay" machines that, if
played with perfect basic strategy and maximum
coins per hand, will return over 100%, with but
(there's always a "but") one caveat. There is a
gambling chance you won't even find these
machines in your gaming jurisdiction, especially
if there are only a few casinos in pursuit of
your hard-earned dollars.
1) 7/5 Jokers Wild: 5-of-a-kind pays 1000, Quads
pays 100: Return 100.64%.
2) 9/5 Deuces Wild: Return 100.76%
3) 9/6 Double Double Jackpot Poker: two pair
pays 1 coin: Return 100.35%
To decode, Max, the first two numbers reflect
the payouts for a full house and a flush with a
single coin inserted. Example: a 7/5 Jokers Wild
machine would pay 7 coins for a full house and 5
coins for a flush on a one-coin bet.
Once more, to get those types of percentage
returns, you'll need to find these full-pay
schedules, play the maximum coin amount, and use
perfect strategy when playing them. I never said
it was going to be easy.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Most dealers I
knew secretly rooted for the players." John Soares, "Loaded Dice"
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