vpFREE2 Forums

LO-BALL video poker?

#1

i recently ran across a bank of ancient video poker machines with a
game called LO-BALL. i've never seen anything like it. it's video
poker based on california lowball, with a single-joker deck. hand
types and payouts as follows:

100 Joker-432A
20 5432A
15 6432A
10 65-high
5 74-high
4 75-high
3 76-high
2 8-high
1 any Joker

i can't imagine it's a good game, because strategy would be too easy
for it to overhold much from bad play. but i'm curious what optimal
return is. anyone seen this game before, and worked it out? i could
figure it out myself, of course, but i'm feeling lazy. :slight_smile:

cheers,

five

#2

I saw these at Horseshoe Club, Carson City, long time ago.

···

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, fivespot <fivespot55@...> wrote:

i recently ran across a bank of ancient video poker machines with a
game called LO-BALL. i've never seen anything like it. it's video
poker based on california lowball, with a single-joker deck. hand
types and payouts as follows:

100 Joker-432A
20 5432A
15 6432A
10 65-high
5 74-high
4 75-high
3 76-high
2 8-high
1 any Joker

i can't imagine it's a good game, because strategy would be too easy
for it to overhold much from bad play. but i'm curious what optimal
return is. anyone seen this game before, and worked it out? i could
figure it out myself, of course, but i'm feeling lazy. :slight_smile:

#3

fivespot wrote:

i recently ran across a bank of ancient video poker machines with a
game called LO-BALL. i've never seen anything like it. it's video
poker based on california lowball, with a single-joker deck. hand
types and payouts as follows:

100 Joker-432A
20 5432A
15 6432A
10 65-high
5 74-high
4 75-high
3 76-high
2 8-high
1 any Joker

i can't imagine it's a good game, because strategy would be too easy
for it to overhold much from bad play. but i'm curious what optimal
return is. anyone seen this game before, and worked it out? i could
figure it out myself, of course, but i'm feeling lazy. :slight_smile:

cheers,

five

I calculated a long-term return of 98.5698% with perfect strategy.

HAND - PROBABILITY - RETURN
Joker+432A - 0.1033% - 10.3293%
5432A - 0.7772% - 15.5447%
6432A - 0.7772% - 11.6585%
65 High - 2.3025% - 20.3245%
74 High - 0.2871% - 1.4356%
75 High - 1.2743% - 5.0974%
76 High - 3.1716% - 9.5149%
8 High - 6.7559% - 13.5117%
Any Joker - 11.1531% - 11.1531%
Loser - 73.6677% - 0.0000%

Total Return = 98.5698%
Variance = 17.1908
Chance of any winning hand = 1 in 3.7976

#4

Anyone here ever play 2-7 Triple Draw? Man, someone ought to make a VP game
out of that.

I have such fond memories of being in the big blind and having to discard 3
cards only to draw a full house and have to throw my hand away to any bet.

···

On 3/13/08, VPGenius <vpgenius@vpgenius.com> wrote:

  fivespot wrote:
> i recently ran across a bank of ancient video poker machines with a
> game called LO-BALL. i've never seen anything like it. it's video
> poker based on california lowball, with a single-joker deck. hand
> types and payouts as follows:
>
> 100 Joker-432A
> 20 5432A
> 15 6432A
> 10 65-high
> 5 74-high
> 4 75-high
> 3 76-high
> 2 8-high
> 1 any Joker
>
> i can't imagine it's a good game, because strategy would be too easy
> for it to overhold much from bad play. but i'm curious what optimal
> return is. anyone seen this game before, and worked it out? i could
> figure it out myself, of course, but i'm feeling lazy. :slight_smile:
>
> cheers,
>
> five

I calculated a long-term return of 98.5698% with perfect strategy.

HAND - PROBABILITY - RETURN
Joker+432A - 0.1033% - 10.3293%
5432A - 0.7772% - 15.5447%
6432A - 0.7772% - 11.6585%
65 High - 2.3025% - 20.3245%
74 High - 0.2871% - 1.4356%
75 High - 1.2743% - 5.0974%
76 High - 3.1716% - 9.5149%
8 High - 6.7559% - 13.5117%
Any Joker - 11.1531% - 11.1531%
Loser - 73.6677% - 0.0000%

Total Return = 98.5698%
Variance = 17.1908
Chance of any winning hand = 1 in 3.7976

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

#5

They were still there about a year ago. They are $1 coin operated. By
that I mean you have to feed coins, and any winnings are paid out in
coins. I had a hard time with these machines, as I was unable to figure
out how to hold a pat hand. There is a button called "stand", and as I
remember the buttons are not hold buttons, but discard buttons. That
takes some getting used to! You have a choice of Hi-ball or Lo-ball, so
I guess you can say they are MG machines. I will check them out to see
if they are still there the next time I am in town.

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "paladingamingllc"
<paladingamingllc@...> wrote:

···

I saw these at Horseshoe Club, Carson City, long time ago.

#6

> I saw these at Horseshoe Club, Carson City, long time ago.

yup, that's the place. they must be even more unusual than i thought.
i stumbled across them while waiting for a friend for dinner at a
nearby thai place.

review of the thai food: mediocre, but what do you expect, it's carson.

review of the video poker machines: real antiques. but in surprisingly
good condition considering they can't be much less than 25 years old.

the four-coin $1 8/5 jacks had a royal progressive at $7500 when i was
there a few days ago. a half-percent edge on a dollar game at 200
hands per hour! be still my beating heart!

strangely they somehow managed to hook them up to a slot club. i
repeatedly attempted to feed a $20 into the slot card reader before
the bartender took pity on me and explained that there was no bill
acceptor, that I had to buy tokens and use those. ohhhh...

cheers,

five