Double Up in Video Poker - do you do it?

Do you use the "Double or Nothing" option in Video Poker?

  • Yes, often.

    Votes: 20 30.3%
  • Yes, but seldom.

    Votes: 21 31.8%
  • No. Me no like.

    Votes: 22 33.3%
  • No opinion.

    Votes: 3 4.5%

  • Total voters
    66
Very occasionally will double up on wins if jacks or better or 2 pair but never anything higher. Basically VP is part chance with a skill element using strategy- to me (and the maths guys can happily show me if wrong) doubling up changes the ER from the strategy play and increases the chance element percentage..
 
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Increased variance is not a drawback in negative expectation games.
In a practical sense I feel that low variance is in favour of the player.
Less time gambling & less money spent to see the expected return.
 
In a practical sense I feel that low variance is in favour of the player.
Less time gambling & less money spent to see the expected return.

Most gamblers don't want to reach expected return because on negative expectation games it means leaving with less money than you started with. So variance = good, if the goal is to end up ahead.
 
some time ago....

Used to double up like a nutta but I dont touch it anymore unless its my last draw, even then I will only double to get another draw in... In the early days I used to play JoB and soon realised I was getting MUCH more play and much better results not doubling. On occasion I would get some nice double up's but most of the time I would simply bust out going for 4/5/6 double ups without seeing hardly any cards in the main game. In JoB the streaks of small wins can easily add up to a couple of mega double up's over a session and lets face it the object of the game is always to hit the royal where the majority of the games return lies...

Most slots have a double up feature, but who uses that? Funny as this probably is a better bet than the slot itself but in the case of VP don't double and you are much more likely to hit big wins as you will see more cards and draw to more wins.
 
Tried some gambling on Ladbrokes today:

Played £100 on Ladbrokes' Jacks or Better today, and took on every double or nothing gamble, just to see what would happen.
I only hit each gamble once, even in the result of a tie. Here are the results...

Jacks Or Better Standard 1-hand
Bet £1.25

wp 1
tp 1
trip 1
straight X
wp X
wp X
wp X
tp X
wp (missed)
wp 1
tp X
tp X
wp 1
tp 1
tp 1
wp X
trip X
tp X
wp 1
wp 0
Flush X
tp 1
wp 1
wp X
wp X
wp 1
trip 1
trip 1
Straight 0
wp 1
wp 0
wp 1
wp 0
wp X
tp 1
wp X
wp 0
wp X
wp X
wp X
wp 1
Trip 1
tp X
wp X
wp 1
tp 1
Flush 1
tp 1
wp 0
wp 1
trip X
wp 1
wp X
tp 1
wp 1
tp X
wp 1
tp X
Straight X
wp 1
wp X
wp X
wp 1
trip 1
wp X
wp X
tp X
trip X
wp 1
wp 1
wp 1....
Flush X
tp 1
Straight X
Trip 1
tp 1
Flush 1
wp X
trip X
tp X
wp X
Straight X
wp 0
wp 1
Flush 1
wp X
trip 1
trip X
wp 1
wp 1
trip 1
tp 1
wp 1
house 1
wp 1
wp 1
wp1
trip 1
tp X
tp X
tp X
house X
tp 1
trip X
tp X
Straight X
tp 0
wp X
trip 1
trip X
tp 1
wp 1
wp X
tp 1
wp 1
wp 1
wp 1
wp 1
Straight X
wp 1
trip 1
wp 1
tp 1
flush X
wp X
trip 1
tp X
wp X
wp X
wp 1
wp X
wp X
wp X
tp X
trip 3's X
wp 0
trip 1
wp X
tp X
wp 0
wp X
wp X

Hands played: 349
Winning hands: 142
Losing hands: 207
Gamble successes: 66
Gamble losses: 65
Gamble ties: 10
Missed gambles: 1

Gamble Breakdown:



Winning Pair (74 total) w/l/t: 34/31/8 (1 missed)
Total won: £42.50
Total lost: £38.75
Profit/Loss: + £3.75

Two Pair (32 total) w/l/t: 15/16/1
Total won: £37.50
Total lost: £40
Profit/Loss: - £2.50

Three of a kind (21 total) w/l/t: 13/8/0
Total won: £48.75
Total lost: £30
Profit/Loss: + £18.75

Straight (7 total) w/l/t: 0/6/1
Total won: £0
Total lost: £30
Profit/Loss: - £30

Flush (6 total) w/l/t: 3/3/0
Total won: £22.50
Total lost: £22.50
Profit/Loss: EVEN

Full House (2 total) w/l/t: 1/1/0
Total won: £11.25
Total lost: £11.25
Profit/Loss: EVEN





Biggest win (pre-gamble): £11.25 (9x bet)
Biggest win (post-gamble): £22.50 (18x bet)
Money won in gambles: £162.50
Money lost in gambles: £172.50
Difference: Overall loss of £10

Money lost at this point (actual casino credits): £100

Fairly self-explanatory, but if in doubt the code is:

wp = winning pair
tp = two pair
trip = 3 of a kind
straight, flush and house are obvious.

1 = gamble won
X = gamble lost
0 = Tie

I also accidentally collected one of the gambles (didn't see it in time).
Before totting up the scores I was convinced I had lost far more than I had won. I figured I had lost 'all' the big hands and half of the rest of them but there is only a difference of £10 overall. For a £1.25 bet and 142 winning hands (141 of which were gambled), that really isn't bad at all and goes to show that Ladbrokes' video poker gamble feature does seem fairly evenly balanced.

I'm going to try it again soon, but (based on my results) only gamble winning pairs, two pair and three of a kind wins.

PS - I always picked the middle card. I thought all things being equal it wouldn't (shouldn't) matter which card I pick.
 
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Another attempt, same casino, same game, slightly different strategy.

This time I've tried to make it easier to read by including the result of every hand for 100 goes.

Jacks or Better (standard 1 hand)

Credits: £125 Bet: £1.25

Gamble all wp, 2p and trip. nh = No hand
Collect all other hands. 100 hands to play.


1 wp X
2 nh
3 wp Y
4 nh
5 wp X
6 trip Y
7 nh
8 2p Y
9 flush C
10 wp X
11 nh
12 wp X
13 wp X
14 nh
15 nh
16 wp X
17 2p Y
18 wp X
19 nh
20 nh
21 wp Y
22 nh
23 nh
24 2p Y
25 nh

26 trip O
27 wp X
28 2p Y
29 nh
30 wp Y
31 Straight C
32 Straight C
33 2p Y
34 nh
35 nh
36 nh
37 2p X
38 nh
39 wp X
40 nh
41 nh
42 nh
43 nh
44 nh
45 trip Y
46 nh
47 nh
48 nh
49 nh
50 2p Y

51 wp X
52 2p X
53 wp X
54 nh
55 2p Y
56 nh
57 nh
58 wp Y
59 2p X
60 nh
61 quad C
62 wp X
63 nh
64 nh
65 wp X
66 nh
67 2p O
68 nh
69 wp X
70 nh
71 nh
72 2p X
73 nh
74 nh
75 nh

76 nh
77 nh
78 nh
79 wp Y
80 flush C
81 2p X
82 nh
83 nh
84 nh
85 nh
86 wp Y
87 2p X
88 flush C
89 nh
90 nh
91 nh
92 nh
93 nh
94 2p Y
95 nh
96 wp X
97 nh
98 nh
99 wp X
100 wp X

16 wins, 23 losses, 2 ties and collected 6 winning hands.
After 100 hands playing like this I was actually up £15 with a balance of £140, but...


Notice that after each decent win(s), I suffered a big downswing:

1st quarter of hands: Got my first decent hand (flush), then put nothing
into the bank until 8 hands later.

2nd quarter of hands: The 2 straights in a row then two pair,
followed by virtually nothing for 12 hands.

3rd quarter of hands: Four of a kind, and then gained nothing for 18 hands
(almost the full value of the poker lost).

4th quarter of hands: Two flushes collected (£7.50 each, or six hands)
but then nothing until the sixth go afterwards each time, losing the full
value of the flush.

I'm only doing this for the sake of interest. Read into it what you will :)
 
I was playing VP at Casino Euro earlier and decided to take the double up gamble on most of my wins.

[In case you didn't know] This one is different to MG casinos. You pick [next card] Red/Black, or a specific suit. I won over €100 in next to no time (betting €1 per hand), continually picking the right colour.

I felt as though I was being led into a false sense of security though, because surely it shouldn't/couldn't be that easy? I even gambled a four of a kind on Joker Poker (€15) and picked correctly. I was quite chuffed with myself. :)

Naturally though, being an idiot, I went back to video slots and lost the lot. :rolleyes:
 

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