Hask wrote:
Obviously, from a practical point of view, it doesn't matter.
However, from a psychological point of view, it does matter, at
least to me. If I am playing FPDW and am dealt AKQ suited and two
other queens, keep the queens and draw the two cards that would have
delivered a royal, I feel a lot better knowing that the royal wasn't
sitting there waiting for me (spoken from bitter experience!). I
respect Dan and other professionals who would not think twice if
something like that happened.
If that happened to me, and it has, I would be annoyed that I missed the royal that WAS sitting there waiting to be drawn, but I would try to console myself knowing that I had made the play for the best EV.
The exact quote is as follows:
Vasquez: It's serial and the five later cards aren't determined
until there is more player interaction at the time of the draw.Author (Steve Bourie): They aren't determined at the time of the
deal?Vasquez:No. They're determined at the time of the draw. That varies
with the jurisdictional regulation actually. Some lottery
jurisdictions tell you you have to draw all 10 at once. Different
jurisdictions write into their rules how they want it done,
specifically on poker, because it's a simpler game and they
understand it. They say they either want all 10 done at once, or
however they want.Author: How is it done in Nevada? All 10 at once or five and five?
Vasquez: In Nevada it's five and five.
But just what does Vasquez mean by this? It's very doubtful that he is a programmer or has even looked at the code. This is probably just his understanding from someone else.
Suppose you take a real deck of cards shuffle it well, and deal out a five card hand. The cards available for the draw are still sitting on top of the deck. They will not change, but they are unknown until you select your discards and draw. Could this not be described as "five and five"?
It's all a matter of semantics, and it doesn't matter anyway.
It doesn't matter how the remainder of the deck is handled, whether the draw cards are "behind" the dealt cards as in some very old machines, whether they sit on the top of the deck waiting to be drawn as I have described, or whether the remainder of the deck is shuffled again or repeatedly until the draw. As long as the shuffle is random, there is one chance in 1081 that those two cards you needed to complete your royal will be in the desired place to appear on the draw.
The correct play is to hold those three queens.
Dan
ยทยทยท
--
Dan Paymar, author of the book, "Video Poker - Optimum Play"
Editor and Publisher of "Video Poker Times" newsletter
Web site at http://www.OptimumPlay.com
"Chance favors the prepared mind."
-- Louis Pasteur