rockofjello333 wrote:
Is is true what I've read, that the Free Ride option appears more
often, the worse the inherent EV of the game? In other words,
playing something like 8/5 Bonus or Ugly Ducks, the free Ride
appears more often than in 10/7 DB or NSUD?
Not true at all. At the multistrikepoker.com website, review the
frequencies for FPDW and 8/5 BP. By level, the stated frequencies for
FPDW are (8.25, 7.8, 7.8). For 8/5 BP they're (7.6, 7.0, 6.2)
To the best of my knowledge, the principal determinant of Free Ride
frequencies is the rate at which you're expected to advance from one
level to the next and adjusts that rate to approximately 50%. (There
are other factors that tweak this modestly.)
(Note, the frequency values on the website are located on the "See
Pays" screen, not the Help as I've stated elsewhere.)
The (intended) effect, apparently, was to "balance" the games
offered on a given machine so that the EV was constant across the
entire platform.
This isn't the case.
It certainly seems like the free ride comes up less often--FAR less
often--on the best games. Is this a fixed frequency, or can it be
set independent of the paytable?
Casinos don't have the ability to adjust Free Ride frequencies;
they're fixed for any given paytable. A casino can only adjust the
base paytable.
It has been mentioned that the "advance" frequency is adjusted by
means of the Free ride to occur at 50% for every game. Does this
mean that the EV of a given MS game is close to its "regular"
equivalent, and that if we say "MS JOB" we are referring to a game
with a known and fixed EV, because the Free Ride frequency is fixed
also? In other words, does every 9/6 JOB game have the same Free
Ride frequency and thus the same EV?
The key to optimal MS play is the recognition that it's advantageous
to skew early Level strategy to increase the probability of advancing
to the higher levels with increased payout multipliers.
In fact, failure to use an optimized strategy invokes a considerable
penalty because most standard game strategies will result in an
advance rate that falls short of 50% (FR included). Thus, play 9/6
Jacks MS with standard 9/6 JB strategy and you sacrifice close to 2%
ER. Play it with optimal strategy and you get an ER that's about .2%
greater than regular 9/6 JB.
But, addressing your question, because the paytable is known and the
Free Ride frequencies are fixed, it's possible to determine ER of any
given strategy for which you can determine the hand distribution (or
ER) of each level and win frequency and, as a consequence, an optimal
strategy for play. (Optimal strategy determination is discussed in
Dancer and Scott articles link to at the multistrike.com website.)
- Harry