Real vs. Fun VP

[4 of a kind]

When playing for fun it’s usually obvious that RTP settings are set higher. Every fun account I played on always maintains 6 digit balances. Let’s face it, the casinos know if your fun play is terrible you won’t deposit real money. Regardless, if in fact the RTP’s are set higher in fun play it should only be possible for slot machines. Video Poker is allegedly not controlled by RTP’s, therefore the games should remain the same even in fun play. This of course would mean that the cards, like real play, are still being dealt from random 52 or 53 card decks with expected probabilities.

Giving myself a good excuse to play online again and feeling like I was taking one for the team, I picked a highly regarded accredited RTG casino to perform my test with. The game I picked was Joker Poker. A professional VP player over time with this game should expect between 94 and 98 percent return.

Any session with this test, whether it was real play or fun play started with $500.00 dollars. The bets never were over $5.00 dollars per hand. I kept each session averaged out to approx. 400 to 500 hands or to a zero balance which ever occurred first. Each session lasted for about 30 to 40 minutes.

So far I played 8 sessions of Joker Poker for fun. I played over 3500 hands all at $5.00 dollars per hand. My fun bankroll is at exactly the same $500.00 I started with. At the moment I’m at exactly 100% return. I never dipped lower then $250.00 dollars and highest winning point was plus $400.00.

I had 5 sessions of Joker Poker for real money, approx. 2200 hands. I played $5.00 dollars per hand and when bankroll dipped lower then $150.00 dollars I reduced my bet to $2.50 per hand. Only once after a session playing real money did I still have funds left over for another session. REAL play bankroll…presently negative -$2,000.00 dollars.

Not sure how much more I’m willing to risk to continue this test. At first I recorded for two sessions every hand that was hit. Can’t write at all with my left hand so was forced to work mouse with left hand and pen in right. Working mouse with left hand really slowed down the whole thing, and I quickly gave up on it and just counted the hands being played.

All sessions combined I hit 5oak only once for real money when I was playing $2.50 per hand, and hit two Royals with Joker while playing for fun at $5.00 dollars per hand.

I prefer keeping my own records since I don’t trust anything the casino tells me. I’ll keep you posted if I continue. Would be interesting if you VP players out there would like to conduct similar samples.

I know this sample size is small but not sure how much I'm willing to waste to prove a point, especially since I'm already convinced from my personal past history that online VP is not right anymore. I thought it would have been easier and cheaper to prove different settings for VP using real play against fun play since there should be no different options available between the two. Like I said this is a small sample but so far it has me leaning one way. I also will keep the casinos name out of this till I'm done with my test.

[taysh075]

Hmmmm interesting. I only occasionally play VP but would be interested in your results. Can understand why you aren't sure you can keep up with the experiment but hope you can do a few more, as you are right, so far the sample remains small. Please keep us informed.

[jod5413]

I believe that any casino having different RTP in fun mode than the real money play mode is considered rogue. So, what you seem to be saying is that Bryan and his forum have rogue casinos?

I also believe that you would need many more spins, hours and hours and days and days playing both modes to even come close to "proving" what you are posting about.

Just My Opinion.

[all4greed]

Usually don't play in fun mode anymore, but I remember hitting a bunch of RTG random jackpots. Made it look so easy...

[liquuid_fusion]

A few years ago a thread was made here for an experiment with the Hulk slot at Crypto (I think it was the William Hill casino) in fun mode as someone suspected it was rigged. It turned out that most peoples balances just kept going up and up betting the maximum per spin. I got mine to £100k+ before stopping.

It turned out that the random jackpots were set much too high in the fun mode, which is what led to the ever increasing balances.

It's the only time i've ever come across a fun-mode game that seemed rigged.

[4 of a kind]

I believe that any casino having different RTP in fun mode than the real money play mode is considered rogue.

So, what you seem to be saying is that Bryan and his forum have rogue casinos?

With that first comment above I'm not sure if I could take you serious anymore.

With your second comment, no, I didn't say that at all, YOU DID. The fact that you think play mode and fun mode are the same and want to start a debate about that, I think it's time for me to activate the ignore poster switch.

[Stovetopp]

I think I know which casino you are referring to. I think I have played JOKER POKER there too for the last year or so and I play a lot I can tell you I have never hit a Royal , a wild royal and only one or 2 sstraight flushes..I think there waa a miSTAKE once when I received 5OAK. This ,I estimate is after about 5000 hands But I have never seen a casino which gives me so many hands with 4 to the royal which to me is a joke.
I play VP almost daily, if not online at 3 casinos, then if not on line at our local casinos here and go to vegas 3 or 4 times per year I have had royals in joker poker playing every where except at this one particular casino."
I wont accuse the casino of cheating but I think its the "platform" they use.
'

[4 of a kind]

I wont accuse the casino of cheating but I think its the "platform" they use.
'

My test is not to prove cheating. I'm just trying to prove that Video Poker online is no different then slot machine software, and that online casinos can alter the RTP like slots.

Even with just my small sample so far the difference from one to the other is ridiculously obvious. Every time my fun bankroll dipped to below $400.00 dollars I knew a 4oak hit was close by. It's not that this happened here and there, it was as though it was guaranteed every time. During my real money play I never recovered when dipping below $400.00 dollars except once, when I hit for $350.00 while playing $2.50 per hand when bankroll was under $100.00 dollars. This is the time I closed that session and had enough funds to start another one.

Which ever platform their using is not cheating. I just don't want to be told one thing when in fact another is the truth.

[colly]

I have had pretty similar results on VP in fun and real mode at RTG casinos but microgaming has given very skewed results for me. Ihave noticed a very distinct higher win number and types (royals, 5/4ok etc) in microgaming fun mode compared to real mode- particularly in games with wilds (Jokerpoker and deuces wild).There is also a much higher number of "free rides" in the level up style vidoepoker games when played in fun mode .

[4 of a kind]

Here is an update:

FUN PLAY:

15 sessions, 7,117 hands, negative -$1,000.00 dollars

REAL PLAY

08 sessions, 3,325 hands, negative -$3.000.00 dollars

In addition all hands combined only three Joker Royals were hit and two 5oak were hit. One of the 5oak’s was hit in real play and the other 4 premier hands were hit in fun play.

So far if my real play sessions were anything like fun play, which I believe at one time it was, I certainly wouldn't be suspicious.

I'll probably risk only another 2k playing for real then at that point see how long it takes for fun play to catch up to real play losses. My average hands per minute are between 19 and 23.