Ask any gambling establishment executive and they will inform you that video poker is really a genuine money maker for the casino. Yet, quite a few electronic poker games feature a house advantage of less than 1 per-cent, and others nonetheless can actually yield over a 100 percent payback if the gambler uses an optimal playing 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 optimum method for quite a few video poker games is counter-intuitive. Sure, there are a lot of fingers that everyone plays optimally; if someone is dealt the As Ks Queen-S J Spades 3h, for instance, you will search prolonged and challenging prior to you find a video poker gambler who would insist on discarding 4 and retaining the 3 of hearts. But you’ll find are myriad hands where what would appear to be the appropriate technique actually costs the gambler money. And in a few cases this loss might be significant.

To superior illustrate let us appear at a game that most of us are familiar with; Jacks or Better. At 1st glance this casino game looks like a breeze to play. You will discover only nine arms that qualify for a payback, and it is usually pretty easy to inform once you possess a draw to one of those 9 hands. Yet everyday video poker gamblers across the nation are throwing money away by generating inadequate (yet ‘intuitively correct’) betting decisions. Let us look at a couple of distinct hands, and see how the optimum system varies from the intuitively correct strategy.

Mistake 1) Retaining ‘Ace-face card-face card’ instead of just holding the two face cards.

You see this wager on created all the time, and yet couple of gamblers know what a disaster it genuinely is. The concept behind holding the ace is that you just possess a far better possibility of constructing an ace-high straight, and you also have three high cards that you simply can try to pair up around the draw. Nevertheless, by maintaining the ace you are eliminating your odds of making four of a form or even a full house, and reducing your odds of making two pair. The slight gain you receive through your increased chances of making a straight don’t start to compensate for these other substantial losses.

Error Two) Not trying sufficient prolonged shot draws at the direct flush.

The directly flush may possibly be one of the most misunderstood hand in Jacks or Better. It doesn’t come around quite generally, and it doesn’t have the sex appeal of the royal flush, and as a result most gamblers neglect it. When dealt a hand like the 9c seven clubs five clubs 3 spades 2d quite a few gamblers will merely discard all five and redraw. The assumption here is the fact that the directly flush will practically never come in, so they would rather ‘cut their losses’ and make an effort to pick up a huge pair around the redraw.

Again, this makes sense at initial glance. Yet what is forgotten in this kind of analysis is that by retaining the nine clubs seven clubs five clubs the gambler also has a likelihood at a directly or perhaps a flush. Now it’s true that a draw like this isn’t a true moneymaker. Except it’ll still pay additional, in the prolonged run, than drawing 5 new cards.

Error Three) Maintaining a suited AT as opposed to just holding the ace.

This is one of the most common mistakes created by video poker players at Jacks or Better. Now I will be the very first to admit that holding the ace and the ten is far a lot more fun then just drawing to the ace. After all, once you hold the ace and the 10 you’ve got at least a small probability of some thing actually very good happening; namely, hitting the royal on the draw. You also possess a greater possibility of constructing a straight or perhaps a flush. However as using the hand we examined in Error #1 these gains do not outweigh your decreased odds of making four of a form, three of a form or even a large pair. If you would like to bet on optimally you’ll need to discard that ten; I know it is tough, but it must be done!

These are three of the most vivid examples of inadequate play, although you can find plenty of other errors that a video poker gambler frequently makes in the course of a wagering session. If your goal is to reduce the house advantage as much as feasible I advocate picking up a book that contains charts detailing the finer points of optimal play. There are a quantity of books like this out around the market, and they’re certainly worth the sticker price. Pore over the charts, and compare the plays they advocate using the plays you’re currently making. I guarantee it will be a actual eye-opening experience.