Ask any gambling establishment executive and they’ll inform you that electronic poker is really a genuine money maker for the house. However, a lot of electronic poker games feature a casino advantage of less than 1 %, and others nevertheless can basically yield over a one hundred per cent payback if the gambler uses an optimum betting strategy. Thus, the question needs to be asked: How can these to seemingly contradictory facts be reconciled?
The answer lies in the fact that the ideal strategy for numerous video poker games is counter-intuitive. Certain, you will find plenty of hands that everyone plays optimally; if someone is dealt the As King Spades Queen Spades J Spades three hearts, for instance, you’ll search long and difficult before you uncover a electronic poker gambler who would insist on discarding 4 and holding the 3 of hearts. Except you will find are myriad arms where what would appear to be the right system in fact costs the gambler money. And in a few cases this loss may be significant.
To better illustrate let’s look at a casino game that most of us are familiar with; Jacks or Better. At 1st glance this casino game looks like a breeze to play. There are only 9 fingers that qualify for a payback, and it is usually pretty easy to tell when you have a draw to one of those nine hands. Still everyday video poker gamblers across the nation are throwing money away by creating bad (yet ‘intuitively correct’) wagering decisions. Let us appear at a few distinct hands, and see how the ideal strategy varies from the intuitively correct strategy.
Mistake 1) Keeping ‘Ace-face card-face card’ rather than just holding the 2 face cards.
You see this play made all of the time, and still handful of players know what a disaster it really is. The thought behind holding the ace is which you have a much better opportunity of creating an ace-high directly, and you also have 3 high cards that you simply can attempt to pair up around the draw. On the other hand, by maintaining the ace you are eliminating your odds of creating four of a variety or a full casino, and reducing your odds of creating two pair. The slight gain you receive through your increased odds of making a straight don’t begin to compensate for these other substantial losses.
Error 2) Not attempting enough extended shot draws at the straight flush.
The direct flush may possibly be essentially the most misunderstood hand in Jacks or Better. It does not come around really often, and it doesn’t have the sex appeal of the royal flush, and as a result most players neglect it. When dealt a hand like the 9c 7c 5c 3s 2 diamonds quite a few players will merely discard all 5 and redraw. The assumption here is the fact that the directly flush will practically never come in, so they would rather ‘cut their losses’ and make an effort to pick up a large pair around the redraw.
Again, this makes sense at initially glance. Nevertheless what is forgotten in this kind of analysis is that by maintaining the 9c 7c 5c the player also has a chance at a direct or a flush. Now it’s true that a draw like this isn’t a real moneymaker. Except it’ll still pay much more, in the lengthy run, than drawing 5 new cards.
Mistake Three) Maintaining a suited AT as opposed to just preserving the ace.
This is one of the most common mistakes created by electronic poker gamblers at Jacks or Better. Now I will be the initial to admit that holding the ace and the 10 is far far more fun then just drawing to the ace. After all, if you hold the ace and the 10 you’ve at least a small probability of something really good happening; namely, hitting the royal around the draw. You also have a greater likelihood of making a straight or a flush. Still as using the hand we examined in Mistake #1 these gains don’t outweigh your decreased chances of creating four of a variety, three of a form or even a large pair. If you want to play optimally you’ll need to discard that 10; I know it is tough, but it must be done!
These are three of the most vivid examples of bad play, although you will find a lot of other errors that a video poker player frequently makes in the course of a wagering session. If your objective is to decrease the casino edge as much as possible I recommend picking up a book that contains charts detailing the finer points of optimal play. You will discover a quantity of books like this out on the market, and they’re undoubtedly worth the sticker price. Pore over the charts, and compare the plays they recommend using the plays you’re currently making. I guarantee it will be a genuine eye-opening experience.