Hi Group:
I am new to the group and have been plying VP in AC for the past year.
I learned on the Masque software. I play 9/6 jacks which appears to be
the only full pay VP available in AC. Does anyone have an opinion of
this software? I have read some on Bob dancer's and the frugal
software, and I am wondering if it's that much more superior to the
Masque. I play 9/6 jacks only as it is the best % return in AC.
-Paul
Although I've never heard of the Masque program, I purchased Frugal
Video Poker about 2 months ago, just before my trip to Vegas. It
took a little while to get used to, but I have no complaints thus
far. I really like the print-outs of what to keep for each hand of
most every game and what to look for in the pay-out schedules. I'd
highly recommend it!
~Ian
--- metoyou500 <metoyou500@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi Group:
I am new to the group and have been plying VP in AC for the past
year.
I learned on the Masque software. I play 9/6 jacks which appears to
be
the only full pay VP available in AC. Does anyone have an opinion
of
this software? I have read some on Bob dancer's and the frugal
software, and I am wondering if it's that much more superior to theMasque. I play 9/6 jacks only as it is the best % return in AC.
-Paul
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Thank you for your posting. My replies are within the body of your
message...
I am new to the group and have been plying VP in AC for the past
year.
I learned on the Masque software.
You are either referring to "Video Poker Strategy Master" or "Multiplay
Video Poker". Both are fairly good products.
I play 9/6 jacks which appears to be
the only full pay VP available in AC. Does anyone have an opinion of
this software? I have read some on Bob dancer's and the frugal
software, and I am wondering if it's that much more superior to the
Masque. I play 9/6 jacks only as it is the best % return in AC.
Frugal VP is apparantly more "customizable" and has a larger selection
of paytables. Frugal VP and WinPoker do not work on Macs, however. You
could also try http://gamblingtools.net
The Masque software has a preprogrammed strategy --- and it
judges your play against the strategy, not against perfect play.
(WinPoker, which does not have a strategy-creation component, judges
your play against perfect play --- FVP can be set to judge it against
either.)
If you limit yourself to Jacks or Better for modest stakes, it
probably doesn't matter --- assuming you don't want perfection for
perfection's sake. Penalty cards are few in number in that game and not
very expensive if they are ignored. But in most other games, the cost of
ignoring penalty cards is quite a bit higher.
Howard judged Masque's inability to change pay tables as lazy
programming. This is probably not fair as including strategies changes
the ground rules. There is a HUGE difference between providing
strategies for a fixed number of games and creating a strategy-maker for
an essentially-unlimited number of pay schedules. Tomski came up with
one strategy-maker version (which had its problems), Jim Wolf (FVP) came
up with another (which has a different set of problems), and I'm on a
team developing another (we've got our own problems). It is a big
project --- fraught with tradeoffs. Each of these programs will have
different outputs --- partly notation, and partly the way each chooses
to group combinations. Anyone who argues that one particular
penalty-free strategy-maker is always "best" is not being accurate.
"Best" is an elusive criteria, (even defining what is allowed and not
allowed in a penalty-free strategy is up for debate) and every
strategy-maker is forced to make numerous choices between accuracy and
usability.
It is possible to create a more accurate penalty-free strategy
for 9/6 Jacks (one of the simplest games) than any currently created by
software. (I saw a version of it on a card created by Jazbo eight or
nine years ago). The type of hand that gives strategy-card makers
trouble is combining an inside straight with 3 high cards with a 3-card
straight flush with two gaps and 1 high card. Like AK"QT8" versus
AJ"QT8", where you go for "QT8" in the first case but not the second.
You CAN list each of the SF3s separately and each of the inside
straights separately (which is what Jazbo does) and get a 100%-accurate
penalty-free strategy in this area. FVP and VPSM do not do this (nor do
Liam W. Daily and myself on our Level 3 (penalty free) strategy nor will
the new program coming out early next year), but it CAN be done. Daily
and I (and I presume Jim Wolf --- I wasn't there) made the judgement
call that the extra precision made by a more accurate penalty-free
strategy was far more confusing than it was worth.
But if you move to Double Joker, a higher-returning game than
9/6 Jacks and found in AC, you need a stronger product than Masque to
get close. The joker mid-card holds or even when you hold a ten by
itself are very complicated and highly dependent on the other cards in
the hand. Even a good penalty-free strategy for this game costs you
about one coin per hour (that is $1 per hour for a dollar player or 25
cents per hour for a quarter player) (and I'm not certain that Masque
even covers this game or how good its strategy is if it does --- Joker
Wild games are tough). This is not a criticism of the strategy-making
component --- merely a testament to the difficulty of the game. Is that
an acceptable cost to you? It wouldn't be for me, although others view
it differently.
Bob Dancer
For the best in video poker information, visit www.bobdancer.com
or call 1-800-244-2224 M-F 9-5 Pacific Time.
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