Bob Dancer's CasinoGaming Column - 9 OCT 2007

[Bob_Dancer1]

Paladin wrote: I'd actually prefer they'd offer Guaranteed Play in Triple Double. If you understand why, go directly to the head of the class.

Brian answered: High variance gives biggest possible wins. Big losses are impossible, due to the Guaranteed Play format. Duh!

Correct --- except for the underlying assumptions. The GP game designers (Walker Digital Gaming) developed the pay schedules for a number of different games. They take into account the variance by changing the number of games.

For example --- with the specific number of games being off-the-top-of-my-head --- if they give you 200 games of Jacks or Better for a given price, they'll offer you 125 games of Double Double Bonus for the same price or 75 games of Triple Double Bonus.

Presumably what Paladin meant was that he'd like 9/7 TDB WITH THE SAME NUMBER OF GAMES guaranteed. That isn't going to happen --- at least in the first phase of Guaranteed Play --- because the number of games offerred for a given price is fixed by WDG. In later phases, slot directors who "know better" can offer any number of games for any price. That's when we might see some big mistakes.

If Station offered TDB now, it will be at the reduced number of games fixed by WDG and at a 9/6 or more likely 9/5 pay schedule. There is nothing there for the knowledgeable player.

Bob Dancer

[WP_SF]

Paladin wrote: I'd actually prefer they'd offer Guaranteed Play in

Triple Double. If you understand why, go directly to the head of the
class.

Brian answered: High variance gives biggest possible wins. Big

losses are impossible, due to the Guaranteed Play format. Duh!

Correct --- except for the underlying assumptions. The GP game

designers (Walker Digital Gaming) developed the pay schedules for a
number of different games. They take into account the variance by
changing the number of games.

For example --- with the specific number of games being

off-the-top-of-my-head --- if they give you 200 games of Jacks or
Better for a given price, they'll offer you 125 games of Double Double
Bonus for the same price or 75 games of Triple Double Bonus.

Presumably what Paladin meant was that he'd like 9/7 TDB WITH THE

SAME NUMBER OF GAMES guaranteed. That isn't going to happen --- at
least in the first phase of Guaranteed Play --- because the number of
games offerred for a given price is fixed by WDG. In later phases,
slot directors who "know better" can offer any number of games for any
price. That's when we might see some big mistakes.

If Station offered TDB now, it will be at the reduced number of

games fixed by WDG and at a 9/6 or more likely 9/5 pay schedule. There
is nothing there for the knowledgeable player.

Ding! But Bob, you're the teacher, not the student (and Brian, you
graduated with honors many years ago)! Not fair! Since the number of
hands offered per purchase is set by the game's variance, and TDB has
2x the variance than DDB, 75 hands at 9-7 TDB would probably favor the
player (my recollection was that you get 100 hands of DDB). At 100
hands of 9-6 (98.15), the player probably has the edge.

As Shackleford has implied, the game strategy is similar in many ways
to playing a VP tourney, except with the option of being able to quit
while ahead. I can see situations like this: with 20 hands to go, you
are dealt 6633K. The right hold is almost certainly 33, because if
you're still playing at this point, you're probably down a significant
number of credits.

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--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, bob.dancer@... wrote: