Montana probably has more "casinos" than Nevada. Theres one on
practically every corner. Except the casinos here are just little rooms
with maybe a handful of machines up to maybe 20. These rooms are
usually attached to a restaurant or bar or a gas station or even a
laundromat. The video pokers are multi-game machines in the 5 cent
and 25 cent denomination.
Montana is home to the legendary 8/5 Jacks. There are other games,
probably games you have never seen or heard of before, and I will get
around to describing them as time permits. But first, Montana is the
only place I've ever seen where Max bet is the dumbest bet. That's
right. It's the dumbest bet. Here's why: The biggest jackpot you can
hit in video poker is $800. It doesn't matter if you are in Butte or
Bozeman or Billings. At least from what I have seen. The machines are
all the same. They are manufactured by a company called Summit
Gaming (If anyone knows anything about this company please post it.
For instance, are they licensed in Nevada? All I get is blank stares when
I asked the hired help any questions here). On the nickel level the max
bet is 40 coins. If you bet from 1 to twenty coins you get 800 for one on
the royal. So at the 20 coin bet the payscale will show 16,000 coins.
But when you punch in the 21st coin the royal stays at 16,000 coins. The
same thing for the 22nd, 23rd, etc., all the way up to the forty coin
bet. So if you bet 40 coins you are getting only 400 for one on the
royal.
The same holds true for the quarter level. At 4 coins the payscale
shows 3200 coins for the royal. When you punch in the fifth coin it stays
at 3200 coins. Max bet is 8 coins and you are getting only 400 for one
on the royal at that point. This is true, not just for 8/5 Jacks, but all
games offered. So the optimum bet in Montana is one dollar. There is
maybe one exception, but I won't be able to describe that game for
awhile. I'm gonna start with a different game today.
This game is called "Wild Widow." Here's the payscale, maybe the best
in Montana. The 800 for one on the royal holds true only if you are
betting one dollar or less.
RF 800
Four Wild 200
Wild Royal 25
5K 15
SF 10
4K 4
FH 4
FL 3
ST 2
3K 1
Notice the payscale above says "four wild", not four deuces. The wild
card changes with every deal. One hand it may be fours, the next Kings,
etc. The cards are dealt on the bottom half of the screen. In the upper
half the right quadrant shows the payscale, the left quadrant shows
what is wild for that one hand. This is one of the easy games on the
machines to analyze. Some that I will be posting later are nightmares
to analyze with a pocket calculator, which is all I have with me. Good
luck.