Pat - and anyone else who is a novice player - basically the idea behind good
play at video poker is to first look for machines that have the best pay
table. Secondly, learn and use the proper strategy of play for that pay
table.
For example take Jacks or Better, which is a very common game. Sometimes you
may find 2, 3 or even more different pay tables in a casino. A frequent pay
table pays 800 for a Royal Flush with 1 coin in (4000 for 5 coins); 50 for a
Straight Flush; 25 for 4 of a Kind; 8 for a Full House; 5 for a Flush; 4 for
Straight; 3 for 3 of Kind; 2 for 2 Pair; 1 (you get your money back) for a
pair of Jacks or Better (higher).
This is not "full pay." The highest schedule you are likely to find is the
above, but with a Full House (FH) paying 9, a Flush (F) paying 6. We call
this 9/6 JB for short (9 FH/6F Jacks or Better).
Since this 9/6 pay schedule is normally the highest you'll ever see, we call
it Full Pay.
Obviously no matter what strategy you use, you are better off to be paid 9
for a Full House instead of 8 and 6 for a Flush instead of 5.
So your first line of defense is to look for the highest pay schedule in any
casino you are in, and to choose casinos with better pay schedules if you
have a choice of where to play.
Then learn the correct strategy for that game -- strategy cards can be
purchased from people like Skip Hughes, Bob Dancer, etc. You can practice
correct strategy with "Bob Dancer Presents Win Poker" computer program. You
can print out strategies with Tom Ski's "Video Poker Master" program. Some
websites also have free stategies. Try <A HREF="www.vphomepage">www.vphomepage</A> for Skip Hughes
articles and to purchase strategy cards or Win Poker.
Different games have different paytables and different strategies. For
example on Jacks or Better, you always hold 2 pair. If you were playing
Deuces Wild you would hold just 1 pair, assuming no deuces were dealt.
9/6 JB pays about 99.544% with correct strategy.
For Full Pay Double Bonus the table would be 250 RF, 50 SF, 160 4 Aces, 80 4
2s through 4s, 50 4 5s to Ks, 10 FH, 7 Flush, 5 St, 3 3 of a kind, 1 Two
Pair, 1 Jacks or Better. This is called 10/7 DB. This pays 100.17% with
perfect play. The 9/7 (9 FH/7F) versioni pays 99.11% for perfect play. The
9/6 version yields only 97.81% and should be avoided.
The Full Pay Schedule for Deuces Wild is RF 800, 4 Deuces 200; Wild Royal 25,
5 of kind 15; SF 9, 4Kind 5, FH 3, Flush 2, Straight 2, 3Kind 1. This pays
100.76%.
These 3 games are the primary ones that people who look for Full Pay (FP)
look for.
Hope this helps. I recommend that you purchase a good book on video poker
such as Dan Paymar's book as well, since this will provide a good overall
explanation of the many games.
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