o Seek out jacks or
better machines that pay 9 coins for a full house
and 6 coins for a flush.
o If you decide to
play a progressive video poker machine that pays
8 coins for a full house and 5 for a flush, play
on a progressive where the jackpot is more than
$250 on a nickel machine, $2,500 on a quarter, and
$10,000 for the dollar.
o Always bet the maximum
amount of coins on a progressive machine to get
the bonus for royal flushes.
o If you are a novice
player, play on the lowest denomination machine
until your level of expertise rises.
o If your casino offers
it, use a casino slot card to get credit for your
play. You might as well get a return as a comp benefit
for your play on their video poker machines. Be
sure to ask how many points you will receive per
dollar played, and then find out what those points
are worth in comps. This will help you shop for
better value on your play.
o Take your time to
study every hand. Because you are playing against
a machine, no one will intimidate you if your play
is too slow.
o All hail the jack!
Some players don't realize the ace is not the most
important card in the deck, but the jack is. Holding
the jack over the ace gives you more opportunities
of making more lucrative hands than an ace would.
o There are more than
a hundred different video poker machines to choose
from. Games like Joker Poker, Louisiana Jacks, Gator
Poker, etc. offer you a supermarket selection, but
all have different paytables needing distinct playing
strategies. I recommend learning and limiting your
play to two, such as Deuces Wild and Jacks-or-Better.
o Acquire video poker
skills using either a computer or a hand-held video
poker game. The major benefit of this type of training
is the ability to test your skills with no financial
risk or ruin. You can gather data, and later review
it, enabling you to nix trends that would be costly
on a video poker machine. This information would
take you years to accumulate under normal casino
conditions. And again, the key here is that any
knowledge obtained without a casino outlay lets
you net out better down the road.
And now, Marge, some
playing strategies.
First, never keep a
kicker with any pair. Holding a kicker to any pair
reduces your return by 5%.
2nd, never draw four
cards if you can draw three to a royal flush.
3rd, always keep five-card
winning pat hands with on exception: if you can,
draw one card to a royal.
4th, don't break a
flush even if you can draw one to a straight flush,
but
5th, always break a
flush to draw to a royal.
6th, never break a
straight to draw to a straight flush.
7th, never draw five
if you have a jack or better, and
8th, don't keep a ten
for a four card draw.
Good
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