Video Poker

[Avatar73]

I must say, I think VP is my favourite game! 4 hand JoB £20 bet to be precise. Possibly because it's easier to flat-bet and not end up chasing losses. With BJ I end up martingaling every now and again a bit, fortunately all for the good so far. Plus with VP, there's always the chance of a mighty win, which you don't get in BJ!

Anyway, does anyone know a good site for working out strategies for a variety of video pokers, with different paytables?

Also, how about challenge VP? I'm guessing you would just go for JoB on the bottom 2 and ignore most other things on the pat that don't pay. And for deuces wild, just try and get anything you can!

[Casinomeister]

http://wizardofodds.com/videopoker

[aka23]

Anyway, does anyone know a good site for working out strategies for a variety of video pokers, with different paytables?

Also, how about challenge VP? I'm guessing you would just go for JoB on the bottom 2 and ignore most other things on the pat that don't pay. And for deuces wild, just try and get anything you can!

I list strategies for multiple paytables on my site at http://www.beatingbonuses.com/vp.htm . However, you may want to buy a program like WinPoker or VPSM, which would give more flexibility and offer more paytables.

[Avatar73]

thanks! I've used wizardofodds for ages, but it does little more than JoB really (but it does that v well). Also found beating bonuses a couple of days ago, which is pretty helpful.

Anyone know about Challenge VP ?!

[aka23]

Anyone know about Challenge VP ?!

You mean the game with Chartwell SW that has multiple levels with different that pay 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x?

The level setup would influence strategy. On the first level, you might favor a good chance of a jacks or better over a low chance of a higher paying hand. It would be difficult to estimate optimal strategy without a computer simulation.

[Avatar73]

lol, well maybe I'll write a simulation when I get uber bored. I've already got a BJ one which informed me there's no real way to make money out of +EV BJ!

Anyone a programmer who has some tips as to exactly how to implement such a simulation?

For example, do you program in the various strategies and see what happens each time?

Or is it more a case of "given a starting hand X (such as JTT98) cycle thru all possible outcomes to see which option has best result". This would also mean cycling thru all possible combinations for upper levels, which sounds nightmarish. [ie do you keep TT for 3ok, or JT98 for straight? or just the J to hope for an easy JoB to move up a level? I think the answer is obvious, but it helps demo the point.]

[Avatar73]

From beatingbonuses:

Joker Poker, if dealt joker then

18* 6, 7, 8
19* 5, T, 9
20 Redraw (keeping Joker)
* Counterintuitive strategy relates to chance of straight and 3+ of kind


How does keeping 5 T 9 help with a straight? or 6 7 8 with 3oak?
I just realised now it probably means hold any one of those, but perhaps it should be clearer.... mebbe it's just me

[aka23]

There are more ways to form a straight (or a straight flush) with a 5,6,7,8,9,T than with a 2,3,4 since A/2/3/4/5 is the minimum straight. If you keep the 4, then you can not make a K/A/2/3/4 straight. This makes it better to keep the 5-T than a 2-4 by a small margin. So if you are going for a 3+ of kind, it is better to do so with a 5-T & Joker than a 2-4 & Joker.

[aka23]

lol, well maybe I'll write a simulation when I get uber bored. I've already got a BJ one which informed me there's no real way to make money out of +EV BJ!

Anyone a programmer who has some tips as to exactly how to implement such a simulation?

For example, do you program in the various strategies and see what happens each time?

Or is it more a case of "given a starting hand X (such as JTT98) cycle thru all possible outcomes to see which option has best result". This would also mean cycling thru all possible combinations for upper levels, which sounds nightmarish. [ie do you keep TT for 3ok, or JT98 for straight? or just the J to hope for an easy JoB to move up a level? I think the answer is obvious, but it helps demo the point.]

After thinking some more, I believe you could do this without an original simulation.

You could start with the top level and compute return & strategy using existing programs/calculators.

Next you add the average payout of the top level *2 to all returns of the 3rd level, then plug the returns into an existing strategy simulator.

Next you add the average payout of the third level *2 to all paying returns of the 2nd level, then plug the returns into an existing strategy simulator.

Finally you add the average payout of the 2nd level *2 to all paying returns of the 1st level, then plug the returns into an existing strategy simulator.

The bottom level can also be used to calculate the overall payout.

I don't see any mention of free rides in the game. If this is the case, then the overall payout is poor when choosing multiple levels. The optimal strategy would be to choose only 1 level and simply play jacks or better with their enhanced pay table.

[Zoozie]

I made a JoB simulator(Java, no GUI) and the link is here:
http://www.casinomeister.com/forums/...tor#post117150

But I have hard coded the optimal strategy instead of calculating it. Therefore it can only play JoB strategy, but at least it can do it insanely fast. 5000+ hand decisions/second. And you can change the paytable and see what happens when you still play JoB strategy.

If you want to calculate the optimal strategy according to a paytable you can of course cycle through all combination, but then it will be really really slow.
The way to do it fast is to instead use lots of combinatorics so you know that holding a pair etc. will result in two pairs in 25000 cases. etc. Then you have saved 25000 draws. And then you go to 3oK etc. All of this depend on start hand (like flushes). It took years for VP programs to fully implement this.
I am sure it is very complicated, but this is the way modern VP programs does it.