It is no secret that casinos become crowded during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season. Those holidays are times of cheer, and for many, that means Las Vegas (or other casino venues).

There are throngs of people who love to experience the joy of Christmas and the excitement of the new year unfolding at midnight. They enjoy the crowds. They enjoy the drinking and the merriment.

Most serious video poker players, however, are not fans of crowds. Instead of joy and merriment, they see and feel:

• Sky high plane fares, rental car and room rates and lines at every restaurant.
• Streets are crowded with traffic (even more than normal), and parking ramps are full.
• Machines (especially their favorite game) filled with people, many of whom are not even playing. This makes finding a playable game extremely difficult.
• Drunks who are definitely enjoying themselves, but who make concentrating on video poker difficult at best and impossible at other times.
• Smokers everywhere blowing smoke at everyone around them. The air is so thick with smoke it is difficult at times to see the other side of the casino.
• Crowds, crowds, and more crowds. They make moving from one place (or one machine) to another nearly impossible.

Many video poker players avoid casinos during the winter holidays. Others, however, join family or friends who enjoy the festivities. It is for these players that this article is written. What can video poker players do to minimize the impact of crowds during the holidays?

Read on to find out more.

Contents

1. Getting there
2. Where to stay
3. When to play
4. Summary

Getting There

If traveling by personal automobile, the cost of travel may not be all that different from other times of the year. It is true that gas prices peak during holidays, but this is not a great inconvenience compared to other transportation costs.

Airfares are a different animal, though. They can vary greatly. Part of the issue is all airfares are higher during peak travel times. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that the lowest of these higher fares sell out quickly. In addition, there are a limited number of lower fares. When they are gone, the price goes up further. 

If the schedule allows for some flexibility, find the days and times with the lowest fares and book them as far in advance as possible. The best fare you find will probably still cost more than at other times of the year.

Once you have arrived at the destination airport, rental cars are expensive. If you are there for several days and plan on staying in the same area, getting a shuttle or taxi for the trip from and back to the airport may be a more frugal course of action.

Where to Stay

If you have some say as to where your party wants to stay, it will save some money staying away from the Strip.

Even staying downtown can be very expensive, so avoiding it could also be prudent. Try to find a good price at a locals casino – if that is agreeable to the entire travel party.

When to Play

Deciding where to play is not really an option. You either play where the best casino games are, in which case you might need a car, or you play where your group is staying (or a casino nearby). 

There is a choice of when to play, however. The obvious answer is to play when there are the least people around. That tends to be from about 2 or 3 a.m. until around 9 or 10 a.m. 

I preach keeping the same schedule as when at home. Obviously, for most of this country, that advice cannot be followed during crowded times. Early morning is the best time for finding open games with a minimum of smoke and drunks to distract your play. Of course, there could always be a very late straggler from the previous night’s revelry that will “rain on your parade.”

The times could be different at different casinos, but this tends to be the least busy time in the casino.

Summary 

Serious video poker players enjoy playing when the crowds are at a minimum. During the winter holidays, casinos are quite crowded. This makes it difficult to find good video poker games. Not only are open games scarce, the cost of everything from travel to car rental to room rates are at a premium. 

By being judicious in planning travel, destination, and when to play, the negative effects of the crowds can be mitigated to some extent. While not ideal, it is better to do some planning than to be totally shut out of playing video poker.

The word has been out for decades among video poker players: Look for "9-6" machines to enhance your chance to win.

That's fine as far as it goes. The 9 and 6 stand for 9-for-1 payoffs on full houses and 6-for-1 payoffs on flushes, and those often are desirable, and even lofty, markers for high-paying games.

But not all 9-6 machines are created equal. A 9-6 Jacks or Better game is a high payer, but a 9-6 Double Double Bonus Poker game is not, and you'd be hard-pressed to ever find a 9-6 game in Bonus Poker.

Why the 9-6 Standard?

The first video poker game to achieve mass popularity among casino players was Jacks or Better, and its initial pay table included 9-for-1 payoffs on full houses and 6-for-1 on flushes.  For a maximum five-coin wager, full houses paid 45 coins and flushes 30.

Per coin wagered, royal flushes paid 250, straight flushes 50, four of a kind 25, full houses 9, flushes 6, straights 4, three of a kind 3, two pairs 2, and high pairs of Jacks or better 1.

If you bet more than one coin, payoffs are multiplied, so with a maximum five-coin wager, a straight would pay 20 coins or four of a kind 125. Royals were, and are, the exception. Incentive for betting the max is built in so that 250-for-1 payoff on a royal soars to 4,000 for a five-coin bet.

That remains the basic Jacks or Better pay table today. A 9-6 Jacks or Better game has an average payback of 99.5% to those who learn expert strategy. That's a much higher return than players get on most electronic games, including slot machines

Naturally enough, casinos with an eye on the bottom line asked for versions that didn't teeter so close to the profit/loss line. International Game Technology obliged, and 8-5 Jacks or Better machines started popping up in casinos. 

With 8-for-1 payoffs on full houses and 5-for-1 on flushes and the rest of the pay table unchanged, Jacks or Better returns an average of 97.3% with expert play.

Sharp players  made it a point to look for the higher payers, and "9-6" soon was in the common parlance for video poker fans.

The Effect of Full House/Flush Changes

In nearly all Jacks or Better-based video poker casino games, each change of a unit in payback on full houses or flushes changes the overall payback percentage by a little more than 1 %. 

In Jacks or Better, the average return with expert play drops to 98.4% if flush returns are reduced to 5-for-1, leaving a 9-5 machine.

Reduce the full house a unit, too, for an 8-5 game, and that drops the return another 1.1% to 97.3%. There also are 7-5 (96.2%) and 6-5 (95.1%) Jacks or Better games.

Increasing or reducing full house and flush paybacks is by far the most common way of changing payback percentages on non-wild card video poker games. 

Video poker regulars refer to the games by their full house-flush pays: 9-6 Jacks or Better or 8-5 Jacks or Better; 9-6 Double Double Bonus Poker or 8-5 Double Double Bonus Poker.

Let's look at the 9-6 situation in various video poker families. 

Jacks or Better

We've seen how the full house and flush payoffs change your average payback percentage. Changes can work in your favor in rare cases when returns increase beyond the 9-6 level.

You may never encounter them, but there have been times when a few casinos offered 10-6 and 9-7 Jacks or Better games. The 9-7 game, with an enhanced flush return, pays 100.8% with expert play, with the 10-6 version pays 100.7%.

They are profit-making opportunities for player in the know. Casinos that have offered them used them as a drawing card to increase business while knowing that most players don't play at expert level and will leave the casino with a slim profit level.

Such games are very rare. Even the 9-6 game can be hard to find. Online players should do some comparison shopping before they play and look for the 9-6 game. If it's not available in your jurisdiction, look for the games with the highest full house-flush paybacks.

Bonus Poker

This is the game that started the trend toward increased four-of-a-kind paybacks that we see in most non-wild card video poker games today.

The pay table looks much like Jacks or Better, except there's a bonus for drawing four Aces or four 2s, 3s or 4s. Instead of the 25-for-1 pays on most quads, for Aces pay 80-for-1. That's 400 for a five-coin bet. On a quarter game, it's a $100 payback, a nice secondary jackpot. Four 2s, 3s or 4s pay half that at 40-for-1.

Funding those bigger quad paybacks required reductions elsewhere on the pay table. That elsewhere was on full house and flush paybacks. There are no 9-6 Bonus Poker machines. 

Instead, the full-pay version has an 8-5 pay table with an average return of 99.2% with expert play. At 7-5, that drops to 98%, and at 6-5 it drops to 96.9%.

Beware. IGT has played with the pay table more on Bonus Poker than most games. Some versions pay 35-for-1 on a four of a kinds – higher than the 25-for-1 on Jacks or Better, but no Aces bonus. That increases the payoff to 99.7% with an 8-5 table.

On the downside, a minor share of Bonus Poker games pay only 1-for1 instead of the standard 2-for-1 on two pairs. Avoid them. Leave the 1-for-1 two-pair payoffs for games with bigger quad bonuses, such as Double Bonus Poker. 

Double Bonus Poker

A 9-6 pay table signals a reduced return in Double Bonus Poker, which doubles all the four of a kind returns from Bonus Poker. Four Aces pay 160-for-1, four 2s, 3s or 4s pay 80-for-1 and other quads pay 50-for-1.

In the original full-pay version, full houses are bumped up to 10-for-1, flushes 7-for-1 and straights 5-for-1 instead of the usual 4-for-1.  Average return with expert play is 100.2%.

Because of that straight payoff, Double Bonus is usually referred to by three numbers: 10-7-5 Double Bonus Poker.

With the big quad bonuses and extra pays on full houses, flushes and straights, there needed to be a reduction somewhere. That comes on two pairs, which pay 1-for-1 instead of 2-for-1.

The 10-7-5 version of Double Bonus has become a rare game, even online. If you can find a 9-7-5 game, it's a strong play at 99.1%.

At 9-6, you have to make a judgment call whether to play. A 9-6-5 game returns 97.8%, a little better than 8-5 Jacks or Better and just a tad below 7-5 Bonus Poker. But watch out when the straight pay is reduced. At 9-6-4 Double Bonus returns 96.4%.

Either way, a 9-6 game is nothing to get excited about.

Double Double Bonus Poker

With Double Double Bonus, it's back to 9-6 being a game to seek with its 99% return.

The key identifier on Double Double Bonus is its bonanzas on four Aces with a 2, 3 or 4 as the fifth card, and on four 2s, 3s or 4s with an Ace, 2, 3 or 4 as the fifth. Four Aces with a kicker pays 400-for-1, a 2,000-coin jackpot with five coins wagered. That's half the royal flush payoff. Quads in 2s, 3s or 4s with a kicker pay 160-for-1.

Other four of a kind pays are the same as in Double Bonus. Straights are back to 4-for-1 instead of the 5-for-1 in the best Double Bonus games. 

There are a number of full houses-flush variants available, with returns at 97.9% at 9-5, 96.8% at 8-5, 95.7% at 7-5 and 94.7% at 6-5. There is an enhanced 10-6 Double Double Bonus game with a 100.1% average return with expert play, but it's very rare, seen mostly at Las Vegas casinos that cater to local players.

Bonus Poker Deluxe

For the last in our journey through common games, 9-6 pay tables again are the gold standard. 

In Bonus Poker Deluxe, all four of a kind hands pay 80-for-1, or 400 for a five-coin wager. The rest of the pay table is the same as on Double Double Bonus Poker. In fact, other than the quads, it's the same as Jacks or Better except that two pairs pay only 1-for-1.

With expert play, the average return is 99.6% with a 9-6 pay table, 98.6% at 9-5, 98.5% at 8-6, 97.4% at 8-5, 96.3% at 7-5 and 95.4% at 6-5.

The 9-6 pay table is no longer common, but do compare different sites or casinos and find the best deal you can get.

As for other games, just be aware that 9-6 does not automatically signal a good game. One way to check is to visit vpfree2.com. There you can find listings of pay tables, including uncommon variations, and their payback percentages for dozens of game types. Check them out, and shop for the best available versions of the games you like.

The old saying that variety is the spice of life can also apply to casino gaming. Different players are intrigued or bored by different things.

Personally, I find playing slot machines quite boring. The actual act of playing slot machines is very basic - make the bet (only on the first spin – if the bet does not change), and hit the spin button (or pull the handle on older games).

That is all there is to it. Repeatedly hit the spin button and watch the results. There is no thinking, no variety, and no real activity. 

Video poker requires some thought after each hand is dealt. The player examines the hand, chooses which cards to hold, and hits the draw button. The mental gymnastics make the game more interesting.

However, after playing tens of thousands of hands, even this game can become boring. This article looks at what players can do to help keep the game interesting.

Contents

1. Video poker play becomes boring? Really?
2. Quit playing video poker
3. Vary the speed of play
4. Switch games, machines, or break up playing sessions
5. Keep track of the game statistics
6. Summary

Video Poker Play Becomes Boring? Really?

Different types of players have different visions of “boring.” Most casino players play slot machines. I venture to guess most of them do not find the play boring – expensive, possibly, but boring – never.

I suspect most video poker players never get bored. How can a player get bored with determining the proper play for thousands of possible hands. I admit, it took a very long time before boredom crept in – but it did.

After playing around 800-1,000 hands an hour for six to 10 hours a day on monthly 4-day trips to the casino, play became boring. The video poker strategy was firmly locked in. Determining the proper hold took almost no time.

A steady rhythm developed. Hit the proper button and wins are immediately added to the game’s credit total. It started to feel like playing slots. The only thing that really broke the boredom was the occasional straight flush or royal. After a time, even hitting quads was not that exciting.

After a while, excitement waned. Rather than a fun and relaxing experience, it became almost a chore. What can a player do?

Quit Playing Video Poker

The first and most obvious answer is to quit playing video poker. For most players, however, this is not a viable option. Video poker is all they like to play. They do not like table games for various reasons and slot machines are boring. 

For those who like this option – take it. For those who do not, read on.

Vary the speed of play

Changing any aspect of play adds an element of variety which helps relieve boredom. Intentionally changing the speed of play may not change the repetitive nature of selecting the cards to hold from each hand, but it will break the boredom of a constant rhythm of play.

This is easy to do and it could very well be the tweak needed to alleviate the monotony.  

Switch Games, Machines, or Break Up Playing Sessions

Varying the speed of play is a minor adjustment that may produce some relief. There are more effective routes to take, however. Rather than changing the speed of play, try one of these options:

• If well versed in a different game that has a similar return, switch to that game for a while. When that game becomes monotonous, switch back to the original game.
• If not well versed in a different game, or if the other available game options have inferior returns, try switching machines (if one is available). The act of simply getting up, moving to a different machine, and starting again will reset the “boredom clock.”
• The best option might be to take a break. Once a game becomes monotonous, mistakes can creep into play without being noticed. Take a break, and by break, I mean leave the casino. Go outside and walk around. Reenergize yourself. Return when you are once again alert and ready to play with enthusiasm.

Keep Track of Game Statistics

One option to break the monotony of play that I find useful is to record various events that happen during playing sessions. This started several years ago when trying to verify video poker games are random. Before starting play the following are recorded on a piece of paper:

• Game
• Denomination
• Machine number
• Start time
• Starting player’s club points a
• Names of several events to be monitored

At the session’s end, the following were recorded:

• End time
• Ending player’s club points*

* Used to calculate number of hands played.

Each time money is inserted or credits cashed out, the amount is recorded. When specific events happen, hash marks are added under that event’s heading on the paper. The events included:

• Royal flush – along with the specific suit and the originally dealt hand
• Straight flush – along with the ranks, suit, and originally dealt hand
• Four of a kinds – along with rank, number originally dealt, and kicker (if relevant)
• Full house
• Four of a flush – and, if it filled, another mark under the “flush filled” heading

This information not only satisfied the original purpose, it also provided an interesting history and results of play. The added side benefit - it breaks up the monotony. 

Summary 

Not every video poker player will experience boredom while playing the game. In fact, this probably affects a small minority of players. But when experienced video poker players play hundreds of thousands of hands a year, that play can become monotonous.

That can cause errors to creep into their play. While not an exhaustive list – nor practical for every player, the following can help alleviate the boredom:

• Quit playing video poker
• Vary the speed of play
• Switch games, machines, or break up playing sessions
• Keep track of game statistics

Video poker should be fun. When it becomes boring, consider the above suggestions.

There are times blackjack can seem routine. You hit, you stand, you win, you lose and the game goes on, whether it's online blackjack or in a live casino.

But there always seems to be something odd, unusual or otherwise memorable in other sessions. It might be a run of cards that seem to defy the odds. It might be some funny antics by someone at the table, or just some good advice that sticks with you.

Regardless of the situation, players come away with Tales from the Front, stories they enjoy retelling, such as these from readers who have been there. 

The Accidental Card Counter

I once was in on a hand where everybody had low cards. Several players had hands of four or more cards — I think one player strung out a seven-card 20. The dealer had to go five cards before making a standing hand.

One player expressed amazement and started counting. "All low cards! One, two, three, four ..."

The dealer at my table didn't banter with the player. He called out to the pit, "We have a card counter here!"

It was all in fun. No one really thought that was an advantage play, but the whole table enjoyed the exchange.

One Hand, Seven Losses

I had a hand for the ages last week, and not in a good way. It involved both splitting pairs and doubling down. I played it by the book, but it was an unmitigated disaster. We know that happens.

I played it right, but I lost SEVEN BETS.

It’s one of my favorite hands that a lot of people miss. You turn the probability from loss if you hit or stand to a small profit if you split.

I bet $25 and I split my original 2-2. On hand No. 1 was dealt another 2 and resplit.

Back to hand No. 1. Next card was a 9. I doubled and was dealt a 5 for 16.

On hand No. 2, I drew a 4, then a 5, then a 3, for 14. The basic strategy play is to hit 14 against 7, as you know. I did what I must, drew an 8 and busted.

On hand No. 3, ANOTHER 2 came up. I split those, and another $25 was on the line. I drew an 8. Time to double down again. This time I drew a 7, so I had 17.

Finally, I drew another 8 on the last 2, doubled down again, and drew a 3.

I could hope for a dealer bust, and if she turned up 10 for 17, I’d at least salvage a push on one double.

No such luck, but at least it was quick. The dealer had an Ace down, so she had 18 and beat all my hands. So the final outcome: I lost two $25 bets on the first double down; one $25 bet on the bust hand; two $25 bets on the double down that was a 17; and two $25 bets on the double down that was a 13.

That’s a $175 loss on what started as one $25 bet. This isn’t my first go-round and we’ve all seen those swings before. But man, it’s still exasperating.

A Mistake to Learn By

I'll admit I was a really bad player when I started. I was the kind who didn't differentiate between hard and soft hands and that led to all kinds of mistakes.

Once, I had Ace-4 and the dealer had 10. I signaled to stand and the whole table jumped on me. One guy shouted, "You can't stand on that hand!" Another calmly tried to explain that nothing I could draw would hurt the hand. If I drew, I might improve to a winning hand, but I couldn't bust. I insisted I couldn't risk hitting my 15. 

Unfortunately, it got worse. The dealer had a 6 down for 16. He then drew a 5. It would have given me 21, but it gave him 21 instead, and the whole table lost. Everybody was unhappy, and one guy stormed away in disgust.

I should have taken the advice then, but I'm better now. At least no one storms away from the table anymore.

Some Great Advice

When I was a blackjack beginner, I got advice at the table that started me learning basic strategy. I had an Ace and a 5, and the dealer had a 6. I signaled to stand on my 16.

The dealer hesitated, other players made noises like that was a mistake, but one player took the time to explain.

"You know you can't hurt that hand by hitting. You have a hand that can't win unless the dealer busts. If you hit, the worst you can wind up with is another hand that needs a dealer bust to win, but you could get something much better."

I asked what he'd do. He looked at the dealer and pit supervisor and when they didn't object, he said, "I'd double down. But if you can't bring yourself to double, at least hit."

I hit, won the hand, then went to the books after I left. I play better today because that player took the time to explain, made sense, and prompted me to look up strategy.

Fatigue-Induced Error

Some mistakes I've made when tired have been doozies. Here's one that really sticks out. I had a pair of 4s, the dealer showed a Queen. A sane person hits and hopes for the best. He certainly doesn't split and risk twice as much money on bad hands.

So much for sanity. I was in such a daze that I read the 4s as Aces. If all you can see is the card corners, it's not that hard to misread 4s as A's. But these were face up on the table. You could see all of both cards. The four spots should have been a giveaway, but uh-uh.

It shocked the dealer. He called to the supervisor, "Splitting 4s vs. 10," and the supervisor came over to watch. 

I should have said, wait, I don't want to do that, but I didn't. I took my double loss as a sign it was break time.

Magic at the Table

I was having one of THOSE blackjack sessions. Every  time I had blackjack, so did the dealer. If I had 20, the dealer had 21. If I had 11 against 6 and doubled, I'd draw a 5 and the dealer would make a hand.

It was working that way for the whole table. No big stacks of chips in front of anyone. You were rich if you had two chips to rub together.

When it was time for a new shoe, the cutter said, "It's time to put some magic in this table," which drew a chorus of "amens" and "I'm with you, brother." He waved his hand over the cards and said, "Protego!" before he cut.

One of the other players asked, "Protego?" and the cutter said, "It's the Harry Potter shield charm. I'm shielding us from dealer blackjacks."

A couple of people laughed. A supervisor said, "Hey, I'm not sure the state allows magic," and then she laughed.

I know it was just coincidence, but that shoe was great. The third hand into it, I got a blackjack and actually won. I won all my blackjacks in the shoe, and I think everyone else did, too. A couple of hands later, I had 8-3 and the dealer had 10. I doubled, got a 10 for 21 and the dealer had a 7 down for 17. I think everyone won or pushed that hand.

By the end of the shoe, every player's stack had grown. I was back in the black, ahead a couple of hundred.

I don't know how it went from there. My bit of magic was managing to disappear with a profit.

The seven deadly sins of Christianity are generally well known. They are pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. They can also apply to video poker – indeed to all casino gambling.

This article looks more closely at how they apply in the hope that the reader will avoid each of them.

Contents

1. Pride
2. Greed
3. Lust
4. Envy
5. Gluttony
6. Wrath
7. Sloth
8. Summary

Pride

“Pride goeth before a fall” is adapted from the Book of Proverbs. According to dictionary.com, it means “people who are overconfident or too arrogant are likely to fail.”

This adage applies to video poker as well. I suspect many, if not most, serious video poker players have experienced pride and its negative impact on play.

Experienced players can play tens of thousands of hands in a few days in the casino. When they were not as experienced they would brush up on proper playing strategy at home and possibly even in the hotel room before each playing session.

With the added experience, players become overconfident in their abilities and feel they have the strategy down pat so there is no need to brush up on it anymore. After all, they have played possibly hundreds of thousands of hands. They know what they are doing.

I was guilty of exactly this feeling. I was wrong. Slowly, unnoticeably, small mistakes entered my play. Mistakes that, while minor, still took their toll – and noticeably over scores of thousands of hands.

I learned. Before every trip to casinos, I brush up on the strategy for the games and pay tables I will be playing.

Greed

Greed is defined in Merriam-Webster as “a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (such as money), than is needed.”

Greed can cause a normally stable and rational person to lose all discipline. Having had a taste of success, players become gamblers by pushing for more, more, and more wins. They fail to realize (or forget) that the casino has the edge on virtually every game on the floor. Chasing more and more wins can bankrupt the greedy gambler.

Players must be careful they do not become undisciplined gamblers potentially causing them to lose it all.

Lust

Quoting from Merriam-Webster once again, lust is “usually intense or unbridled sexual desire,” or “an intense longing or craving.”

When it comes to playing video poker, the second definition is obviously the correct one. Preying on the same selfish human instincts as greed, lust can cause a very similar reaction in video poker players.

Players having an intense desire to hit a very large jackpot can push aside their normal guidelines concerning money management. Care is cast to the wind and they risk all in a mostly futile attempt at scoring the object of their lust.

Envy

Merriam-Webster says envy is “painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage.”

This is the “green-eyed monster” so common today. “I should be able to have a great house like others do.” Or more closely related to video poker players:

“I have played video poker much longer than the person who just sat down beside me and they got a royal flush. I want that.”

Also: “I just moved from that machine. I got nothing. She just sat down and got MY royal flush!”

Envy can cause video poker players to lose the concentration required to play properly. This lack of concentration causes errors in video poker strategy, which in turn, causes winnings to suffer. 

Envy has an even greater risk to the player. It can cause feelings of pride, greed, and lust to manifest themselves. These emotions will cause a loss of self-control which can eventually bankrupt the player. 

Gluttony

Merriam-Webster defines gluttony as:

• Excess in eating or drinking
• Greedy or excessive indulgence

This is a very close cousin of greed. In fact, greed is used in its definition. 

Gluttonous players do not know when to quit. They continue playing long beyond the point where they should stop. They become tired. They make mistakes in playing strategy. They must constantly have more; more hands dealt, more hands played, more chances to win.

Unfortunately, the house edge ultimately depletes their bankroll. The casino will win all that player’s money with enough play.

Wrath

Wrath is defined as “strong, vengeful anger or indignation” by Merriam-Webster.

Wrath can come from many different playing experiences that are common while playing video poker. These can include:

• Long losing streaks
• Closely related to the above, bankroll depletion
• Other players nearby having good luck
• Hearing other’s winning shouts
• Others smoking nearby blowing smoke in the player’s face
• Constant interruptions from players nearby
• Loud and boisterous players 
• Numerous other irritations.

Eventually, all these irritations swell to the point where wrath erupts. The effects are like those of envy, but they are much stronger. 

Sloth

The seventh and final deadly sin, sloth, is defined in Merriam-Webster as “disinclination to action or labor” or “spiritual apathy or inactivity.”

Sloth that affects casino play can be exhibited at home (or in the hotel room). Most serious video poker players know that the best results come from perfect playing strategy. Strategy that must be practiced while not in the casino. Slothful players tend to avoid practicing strategy at home. If they do, they do it for very short periods of time.

Perfect strategy cannot be “perfected” this way. It takes active and lengthy practice to “perfect” the playing strategy.

Summary 

The seven deadly sins are not only deadly in general life, they can be deadly in video poker play (or while playing any game in a casino).

Each of the seven deadly sins can have an effect of video poker play. 

Whether it causes loss of discipline, allows errors to creep into playing strategy, or simply causes the player to lose more money in the casino than necessary, each of the seven deadly sins should be avoided. 

Have fun playing video poker, but also, be smart. Avoid the seven deadly sins of video poker.
 

The dice are tumbling and there are plenty of high fives as the shooter hits yet another point number. Players scramble to place their bets for the next roll at the bustling, high-energy table. In a few minutes those dice will be moving again.

A craps table can be one of the most entertaining places to be at a casino. Players love the action as the dealers pay out winners with stacks of multi-colored casino chips – unless that dreaded seven shows up. While most are accustomed to playing the game in a live casino, craps also has a history beyond the gaming floor.

In fact, the game goes back to the streets – known as “street craps” by many who like shooting dice with friends and acquaintances. Here’s a quick look at this popular version of the game.

Quick History of Craps

Craps a unique history. Gambling and games involving dice date back to the Roman Empire when soldiers reportedly shaved pig knuckles into cubes. Numbers were added and soldiers tossed the cubes in their shields. This might have been the earliest version of some form of street craps and is believed to have brought about the saying “roll the bones.”

By the 13th century, dice games could be found in Spain and other European countries. Early versions included games like Hazard and Marlota, in which a player had to roll a certain number before rolling another number.

Dice as an addition to gambling proved popular – whether in a gambling house or in other scenarios and locations among friends. Fourteenth century scholar Francis Petrarch was a critic of this form of gambling and described gambling with dice as “an inexplicable, gaping cesspool leading to abject desperation.”

Despite those warnings, the game would grow in popularity in the years to come. By the 1700s, the game gamblers would recognize today had taken shape and was called “crabs” in France.

The French spread the game to North America, including New Orleans, where it eventually became known as “craps” and the new name stuck. The game could typically be found where workers or others might gather on a break or with a bit of downtime. Those with a few bucks in their pockets may have been willing to gamble with dice to kill some time.

“African-Americans were among the first players, and likely the inventors of American Craps,” author David Schwartz notes in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling. “Black roustabouts and other river workers up and down the Mississippi were for years the most eager players of ‘American dominoes,’ which was played as a social game.”

Street Craps vs. Casino Craps

Craps can be confusing for new players entering a casino. There is seemingly an endless number of bets available. However, the best craps strategy involves bets on the Pass Line (and Don’t Pass is also available and a good bet). When betting with the shooter on the Pass Line, players win on the comeout roll when the shooter rolls 2, 3 , or 12.

If the shooter rolls a 7 or 11 during this period, the player wins on the bet. The numbers 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 are called point numbers. When the shooter rolls one of these, players are then hoping that number will be rolled again before a seven appears.

Players can also add odds to their Pass Line wagers and also put some money on other numbers via place bets and come bets. But overall this is the general idea – to roll a certain number before “sevening out.” As a casino, dealers take care of all the action – paying off wins, making certain bets on the table for players, and taking down bets when players lose.

In street craps, players take care of much of this themselves in what is a bit more of a simple game. The game is much more informal version and, as the name implies, got its name from those who rolled some bones outdoors – in the street.

With no table or felt, players place their bets on the ground usually using cash or coins. Players may act as the shooter, house, or simply bet on the shooter, depending on how those involved want the action to proceed. The game follows the same rules for the most part, but may be more simplified without all of the exotic bets and ability to back up Pass Line bets with odds.

Players are essentially playing the same type of Pass Line bets hoping to hit point numbers before sevening out to earn even money on those wagers. Some games may feature players simply betting against each other. Players can agree on a number to roll before rolling a seven or roll the dice to establish the point number. 

More sophisticated street operations may have additional rules and payouts, but this varies by game. Street craps can be just as fun as entertaining for those involved as it might be in a real casino.

As Philadelphia magazine notes: “The craps table is the best gaming experience because it’s boisterous, it’s communal, it’s the cool kids’ table.” And that can go for the street version of the game as well.

Taking It to the Street

Craps became much more popular in the 20th century after soldiers began returning home following World War II. Many had taken to playing the game to pass time between battles. Because players basically only need a set of dice, soldiers rolling for point numbers could be found in barracks, in fields, on ships, and other locations throughout the European and Asian theaters of war.

These craps lovers brought the game back home and rolling dice became the most popular casino game, only to be passed by blackjack in later years. Street craps remained popular as well, and since Nevada was the only state in the U.S. with legalized gambling at the time, street craps could be played in other parts of the country – with players always mindful of the law.

Because of this, the game may have taken on a more unsavory reputation. Wise street hustlers may have realized that the house has an edge in the game and frequently separated unsuspecting players from their money.

A similar game known as “floating craps” refers to a more serious version of the game that can be easily moved to stay ahead of law enforcement. This version of the game plays a key role in the famous Broadway musical Guys & Dolls, which was also turned into a film in 1955 starring Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando.

One of the main characters in the film regularly runs an underground craps game and the trailer below offers a look at some of the on-screen dice action.

Numerous other films have featured street craps through the years, often using the game to set the scene around a gritty location where characters may be a bit more down and out or running afoul of the law. But as more states and countries have legalized casino gaming, craps may have a better reputation than it once had.

Those who enjoy rolling some dice with a couple dollars on the line may want to give some street craps a try. With a little luck, you may win a few bucks and some bragging rights over your friends.

Do you want to know how the casinos get their edges over the players? This short answer is sufficient to fully explain the matter. Here it is: more money goes into the casinos then comes out of the casinos. Correct. You really don’t need a more detailed explanation than that. 

That slot machine keeps more money than it pays out; so, does the blackjack game, and the craps game, and the roulette game and on and on it goes. You don’t need an advanced degree in mathematics to get this simple picture.

Now to make you forget precisely what is happening to you, the casinos structure their games to make them “fun.” You are always this close to winning the next decision. That fact allows the players to hang in there because the decision after the decision after the decision could be the winner!

Anticipation is a key to why people play casino games or lotteries and such. The anticipation is a strong enough feeling that it rivets most players to the games they love to play.

(At some point or other, the player will retire from playing. He or she could be ahead; more than likely he or she will be behind. And on it goes. Perhaps for eternity.)

How Many Players Should Be at a Table?

A lot of players prefer to play one-versus-one against the dealer. And that could be the fast way to epic losses. You want to play at full tables (or nearly full tables) in order to play the least number of decisions that you can.

Here is the truth: the more decisions that you play, the worse it will ultimately be for you. And you can’t escape that fact. More decisions means the game is better for the casinos. You can’t escape that fact.

Games that are fast (such as mini-baccarat) can hammer you even though the house edges at that game are rather small on two of the three bets. Play 150 decisions or so an hour and see where you wind up. 

Oh, and don’t play the tie bet, one of the worst bets in the casino. Just play player and even better, just play bank which has the lowest house edge. One hundred fifty decisions – remember that number can be a mere one hour of play!

But even so. Such speed makes that game dangerous – low house edge or not.

Also, the number of superstitious players makes that game trying on your nerves if you find yourself surrounded by such players. At times they might (they actually might) blame you for their defeats. That has happened to me.

The house edges on the two best bets are good. The speed of the game is bad. If you want to play the game? Reduce the number of decisions you face by 50%! (Or more!)

Oh, Those Magnificent Slot Machines!

The number one casino game is the slot machines. More people play the slots than all the other casino games combined. 

Slot machines are almost always one-versus-one, the player versus the machine. Machines come in with house edges between 8% and 16% – or thereabouts. No player is getting a break when he or she plays the slot machines. 

They are fast if the player plays fast and most slot players speed up their play as time goes by. They take more than one coin (or credit) and they can lose a lot of money quickly and surely because some will take so many coins (or credits) that the wind in your hair will make you bald with how fast the machine obliges them. 

Slot players do not – by and large – want to play table games because, well, because, just because. One-on-one at a machine is not scary, but having a bunch of other players playing the same game can horrify a slot player. Go figure.

Other than slot players who hit for outrageous sums on absolutely rare occasions which are (as stated) rare, the prospects for these players are dim and even dimmer than that.

Slot machines do have lights and sound effects and cartoons and such but these are simply there to distract you from the fact that losses are coming soon and sooner even than that. The world’s casino industry is built on slot machines.

How should a wise slot player play the machines if he or she must play the machines? Playing slowly is the best advice when it comes to how to win at slots.

And seriously, even slower than that. 

In fact, so slow that in a race the slot player will not even appear to be playing. You’ll have to speed up the film to notice movement!

The bottom line is to play one coin or credit per decision. There I said it. And do it slowly, oh, so, so slowly. 

I do not care what kind of machine you are playing, just stick to one coin or credit per decision and take your time hitting the play button. Come on, do you really think you will be one of the rare players who will hit for millions? Play one decision at a time and enjoy your time in the casinos. It won’t be too costly.

And What About Blackjack?

The most popular game in the casino, other than slot machines, is blackjack. It has been the king of the casinos’ table games ever since Edward O. Thorp worked out a system called card counting in the early 1960s in his book Beat the Dealer.

This system would allow the knowledgeable player to actually get a real edge at the game (meaning more money coming out of the game and going to the player) and that would put the casinos behind such a player who could work such magic.  

Craps, the World War II game, had been the leader in the casinos up to that time but blackjack quickly surpassed it. Why? Because everyone thought they could beat the game – even if they never learned how to count cards or had enough money to suffer and ultimately beat the bad streaks.

The casinos soon panicked and then started adding more decks to the game from one to two to four to six and to eight. They placed the cut card not as deep into the shoe and generally ruined the pristine game that blackjack had been. (Single deck with great rules. Farewell.)

Next came unlimited continuous automatic shufflers. Then came games where a blackjack only paid 6 to 5 instead of 3 to 2. Then came all sorts of “different” blackjack games to sucker in the players. None really made big hits but they all won money from the players who were foolish enough to play them.

Still the good old single-deck game of blackjack from the 1950s was for all intents and purposes dead. Stone dead.

Some card counters are still out there but, in truth, they are rare. The casinos have seen to that. The game is just much tougher to beat. Even with an edge of 1% in favor of the players, they will see loads of bad streaks. A card counter’s bankroll has to be able to survive such losing streaks. Many blackjack players can’t survive the bad streaks.

But what else comes with blackjack? Now some decent news.

Blackjack is a game where your decisions on what to do with your hands count. These decisions mean you make more money or lose less money. Play properly and the casinos will still only have a half-percent edge over you. And that’s good. 

Okay, do you double down on your first two cards? Split pairs? Double down after splits? What are your hitting and standing decisions? Do you ever take insurance? Are you getting paid 3 to 2 for a blackjack?

Anything else? Oh, indeed, yes. You see at blackjack there are some players, enough that you will definitely experience them, who want to “teach” you how to play properly as the game progresses. Are they expert players? They think they are. But, come on, are they really?

NOPE!

Most are total idiots. They subscribe to gaming gurus who think they have logically figured out the game but in reality their hitting, doubling, standing, and insurance decisions are by and large wrong. And they whine and moan when you make a good basic strategy decision that is right but unfortunately goes wrong.

And what is basic strategy? It is the computerized version of how to play every hand you are dealt against the dealer’s up-card. Even players who have played blackjack for decades can have played it wrong for decades. Sad but true.

The good news is that you can buy correct basic strategy charts from the Internet or from good gambling web sites. Yes, there are a number of different blackjack games but there are basic strategy charts for just about each and every game.

Buy the card(s) and take your time making your decisions about your hands. Doing this will mean you are playing a strong game against the house. And never rush your play. Players who rush will inadvertently make mistakes.

Craps: Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes!

I don’t know why this became a famous craps saying but it did. Craps, first known as crabs in the American South where it originated along the Mississippi River, became the “city game.” I guess it meandered into the alleyways of the North and became the number one game of soldiers during World War II. 

The post-World War II casinos had craps galore as it was the number one game in just about every casino. That is until blackjack bumped craps out of first place. Blackjack is still in first place.

You’ve seen the craps tables and you have certainly heard the craps players cheering wildly when things are going well and moaning awfully when things are going poorly. 

There are actually two craps games going on at the same time; the rightside game of players who are looking for the shooter to make points and numbers, and the wrong side game, known as the darkside, where the players are betting the shooter will seven-out as quickly as possible. 

The darksiders make up a tiny percentage of craps players but they are out there. Rightsiders generally do not like darksiders. Some rightsiders hate darksiders.

Play craps on the rightside. Make no more than two bets – a pass-line bet and a come bet or a place bet of the 6 or 8. Craps is action-packed but too many players fall into the casinos’ trap of making many, many bets most of them with outrageously high house edges. Don’t fall into the trap!

And shoot the dice. It’s fun – although often it is also sad when you seven out quickly. Still, craps is a great game but a dangerous one if you don’t bet properly.

Do You Want Advice? 

Many casino players do not want advice. If you are one of them then you can leave the room – but, better still, leave your wallet by the exit because, come on now, you will be losing just about every penny you bring with you to the casinos. 

Over even a relatively short period of time that will probably happen. And that is why casinos make money; you lose, they win.

Advice: The house has the edge at almost every game almost all of the time. Chew on that will you? You can’t escape that fact.

What are the edges at the games? Here are a few:

• Blackjack with proper basic strategy: about one-half percent. Systems sellers will quibble or fully disagree with the true basic strategy for the various blackjack games. They are wrong. They will cost you a lot of money. They are, for lack of a better term, idiots.
• Craps if you make only the best bets which means pass line, come, don’t pass, don’t come and taking full odds when number is chosen by a roll of the dice.
• Placing the 6 or 8 in $30 increments. House edge 1.52%.
• Making other place bets? Don’t bother. The edges will go from single digits to double digits. And your bankroll will go into the drink. Just chew on that statement.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

I am going way, way back to a time when there were candy stores just for kids. 

Oh, not the kind of candy stores we have today with store-created candy by “candy-chefs” but the kind where maybe a fourth of the store was devoted to candy cigarettes of all types that were made by companies that made all sorts of awfully but deliciously tasting candied cigarettes for little kids who lived in a culture where so many, many adults smoked.

All my uncles (with maybe a few exceptions) smoked. I had so many, many uncles, and all of them fought in World War II where cigarettes were given out to many of them as a part of their “rations.” 

My father didn’t smoke – except the occasional cigar; my mother smoked but not at home. Basically, my parents’ apartment was smoke free – but me? I loaded it with seemingly millions of candy cigarettes of all types.

We had many types of hard candy cigarettes that you had to really bite ferociously to break and chew. They must have been pure sugar. You had chocolate candy cigarettes that were wrapped in cigarette paper. Those were expensive but the best tasting of them all. How can you ever turn down a chocolate candy-cigarette?

Now, did I know anything about sugar? No. Did I know anything about cigarettes? No.

 Only adults could smoke them and those adults looked cool although I didn’t know the word “cool” way back then. I guessed that when I became an adult I would smoke too.

That’s what you did as an adult, right?

I do remember that at lunch time, when I was in elementary school, the kids would rush to the candy store with their pennies (and maybe a nickel or two for the richer kids) to hoard away the candy cigarettes they’d load up on. I guess you could say that I lived the life. 

Being ignorant of the facts of real life I had fun gobbling down loads of candy cigarettes. I had no idea of the horrors of sugar – what kid does? If it tasted good then it was good.

Many casino players, maybe even most casino players, are like those excited kids in the candy store. The games are just like those candy cigarettes displayed for all to see. They do have a hidden danger that some players don’t really understand. It’s called the house edge. 

Every game being played has such an edge. Some of the games have reasonable house edges; some have nasty house edges.  

Look around any casino floor and there are slot machines galore and all sorts of table games jammed with players. 

We players can, using just a wee bit of our imaginations, look just like the hordes of young kids figuring out what candy cigarettes they want to eat way back when.

The Game of Roulette

There are now three different roulette games in the casinos. They go from a decent game – the single-zero (0) European/French wheel with the numbers 1-36 and a single 0 with a house edge of 2.7%, to mediocre with the double-zero (0, 00) American wheel with the numbers 1-36 and a 0 and a 00 with a house edge of 5.26%, and the latest roulette game that no country takes credit for, with triple zeroes (0, 00, 000) with a house edge of 7.69%.

That triple-zero wheel seems to have come to us from the churches that held Las Vegas nights (or some such) for their parishioners and others willing to gamble for spirituality and perhaps a chance of heaven. 

Obviously, the triple-zero game has a ridiculously high house edge. Watch how the house edges are determined and you can then see how the casinos have offered really poor candy cigarettes to their clientele.

There are 36 numbers on all three of the roulette wheels. They travel from 1 to 36.

Check out the wheels and you’ll see these displayed. The numbers on the various wheels are not in numerical order, for example, the number one is nowhere near the number two. However, the layout is in numerical order. 

Why is this so? Placing the numbers as the casinos do prevents people playing the layout from betting groups of numbers that are in bunches on the wheel. Of course, wheel-watchers are, obviously, watching the wheel and not the layout but still almost all roulette players play the layout and not the wheel. Just check out a game with a lot of players.

[Please note: The chances of finding a truly biased wheel are now so remote in today’s casinos that it is probably a waste of time to scout for them. Yes, sorry, they probably don’t exist anymore as today’s wheels are computer and electronic marvels and they are constantly checked. My wife, the Beautiful AP, and I accidentally found a biased wheel in the early 1990s in a Las Vegas casino. Three numbers were coming up for an entire day out of all proportion to their probabilities. So, finally at night, we sat down at the table and started to hammer home those numbers. Strangely, no one else played them! The pit boss finally closed the wheel. He was very polite when he told us we could go to another table which was just being opened. Instead, my wife and I went to our room for a well-earned sleep.] 

Now we come to the zero and the double and the triple zeroes. These can be found at the top of the layout and opposed to each other on the wheels.

So far so good, right? Now, more bad news as I look at the payouts for the various roulette games. 

All inside bets directly on the numbers or the zeroes will pay 35-to-1. At the European/French single-zero game, there are 37 pockets for the ball to fall into. The true payout for a winning bet is not really 35-to-1 but 36-to-1. The casino does not pay out the true value of the bet – otherwise it can’t make money. In short, the casino short-changes the players. By the way, it does this at many of their games, just check out some of the “place” bets at craps.

The American game, the double-zero wheel, has 38 pockets, and a winning hit on this still pays 35-to-1. That increases the edge over the players from 2.7% to 5.26%.

And finally, and lousily, the triple-zero wheel has 39 pockets and a winning hit still (yes, still!) pays 35-to-1. Just figure it this way, the more zeroes a wheel has the higher its edge.

How to Buy the Casinos’ Roulette Candy Cigarettes 

Roulette has been a great casino game for several centuries and there does not seem to be any reason to believe it won’t stay as popular. Sure, today’s blackjack game is numero uno but roulette is number two or number three. Roulette players are a loyal tribe. 

The game was invented by scientist, philosopher, and theologian Blaise Pascal in the 1600s. Blaise was trying to answer one of science’s greatest questions: Could there be such a thing as a perpetual motion machine? That is, a machine that would not need the input of any outside energy to run and run and run, well, and run perpetually. He received the answer everyone who tried to discover the correct answer received and that was (sad to say) a resounding “no!”

But he did, along the way, invent roulette.

[Please note: What else did Blaise do to give him fame? He answered the question of whether it would be smart to believe in God? His answer was pretty clever. If he doesn’t believe in God and God actually exists, well then, good old Blaise would be in for everlasting torment in hell. So, Blaise figured he’d believe in God and if there were no God, what the heck, no eternal damnation; actually no nothing. But if there were a God then Blaise probably smiled, knowing he would be saved. Sadly, there is no way to play roulette in a casino where the house does not have an edge.] 

All Those Bets!

Roulette has an amazing number of bets a player can make – all of them coming in with that particular game’s house edge. There is only one way to escape this – and I’ll get to that later (don’t you dare skip ahead!).

Betting one number directly on that particular number opens you up to long losing streaks, much like slot players face. 

Just contemplate this. You have a one in 37 chance of hitting your number on the single-zero wheel, a one in 38 chance of hitting it on the double-zero wheel, and a one in 39 chance of hitting it on the triple-zero wheel. Those bets are long shots for sure.

Yes, you can make two, three or more bets on two, three or more numbers – spending two, three or more amounts of cash. That is an option is you can afford it. You’re just like the rich kid buying up all the candy cigarettes.

Or, you can bet propositions which come in with many more numbers and only one bet needed. Here are a few of these:

You can put a single bet on the side of some numbers such a 1, 2, 3 or 4, 5, 6 on up by threes. (You can do groupings of six numbers too.)

You can put a single bet on propositions such as columns and dozens which will pay 2-to-1. You lose if the green zero or zeroes show up. 

You can bet the even-money bets of red or black, high or low, or odd or even. 

These are called even-money bets because a win is paid at even-money. You bet one chip and get paid one chip but the BIG BUT here is that on the single-zero wheel you have a one in 18 chance of hitting your proposition (you want red so you bet red) but the casino is still taking its cut from your win. How so? Those green zeroes are all losers on the even-money bets too. Ah, nuts!

It gets worse as you go up the zero ladder. Still, these bets won’t come in with major losing streaks. I believe that is a good thing. I believe that is why I prefer to bet the even-money bets. Long losing streaks can really, really get to you.

The Gift Given by Some Casinos!

The casinos are not always money-grubbing entities, are they? Actually, in rare cases not exactly. Some casinos will give you a little treat on the even-money bets. 

I am going to go a little sideways in this section. Stay with me, okay?

The even-money bets are good on the single-zero wheel with a 2.7% house edge, and “so-so” on the double-zero wheel with a 5.26% house edge, and stinky on the triple-zero wheel with the abominable 7.69% house edge.

Follow me. Just tour the casino and look at the games closely. In no game does the casino explain how it gets its house edge. There is no sign at the roulette table proclaiming “the house edge on this game is” … whatever the house edge is. At no game is this true. 

Go to a craps table and no casino proclaims which are the good bets, which are the bad bets, which are anything about any of the bets. True of blackjack. True of every game in the house.

But there is an option that some casinos will offer the player at roulette who bets the even-money bets, which is, in the scheme of things, a darn good one. On the single-zero game, it is called “en prison” and on the double-zero game it is called “surrender.” 

When a zero hits, the casino will only take half your bet in the American game reducing the house edge of that game in half. It goes from 5.26% down to 2.63% – not too bad.

But on the single-zero European/French game “en prison” does the same thing (but differently) by holding onto the bet and not paying it until the next decision. This reduces that game’s house edge down to 1.35%! That is one of the best bets on the casinos!

How do you know if the casino allows this? Just ask! They won’t advertise it but if they offer it and you ask them, they will tell you.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

If you are like most video poker players, you do not expect a lot when you are dealt a low pair for your initial hand. It seems like these hands never turn into winners.

But, is that really the case? Is a low pair is such a bad initial hand? If it is, why does a low pair hold end up so high in playing strategy charts?

Contents

1. Strategy chart positioning
2. Why low pairs are saved
3. Comparing results of other holds
4. Review and Summary
5. Strategy chart positioning

Just how high are low pairs in strategy charts?

There are several video poker strategy-producing programs available. Some produce a basic as well as an advanced strategy. Others just produce a single strategy for each game and pay table combination. Still others may give three or four levels of strategy so beginners can work their way up to the maximum overall return in stages.

For the following examples, I used the basic strategy charts created by the program I use most often. There are fewer lines in basic than advanced, but many strategy charts are summarized without impacting the results in order to make them more readable and quicker to reference. The approximate percentage of placement from the top of the chart is similar in any case.

The table below gives the relative placement of the “low-pair” line on the strategy chart for various games and pay tables.

You may have noticed that only one wildcard game is shown. Other wildcard games such as Deuces Wild are not included in the chart. There is a very simple reason for this. Almost all these wildcard games in a casino do not distinguish between low pairs and high pairs in the strategy. Only pairs are referenced – whether they are high or low is of no importance.

Why low pairs are saved

Let us take a look at what you can really expect when dealt a low pair. A full pay (9-for-1 for a full house, 6-for-1 for a flush) Jacks or Better game is used for the example, but other (non-wildcard) games have similar results. In order to be accurate with the results, we need to make sure the hands being considered have only a low pair. The information shown below is based on a hand with a low pair only and no possibility of a straight or flush.

Let us look at the following sample hand. The initially dealt hand consists of the 6 of clubs, 6 of diamonds, king of diamonds, 8 of hearts, 2 of spades.

This hand has a low pair and no shot at a flush or straight. Any hand that has a low pair and no shot at a straight or flush will produce exactly the same results.

The highest return of any possible hold comes from holding the two sixes. The return for this hold is 4.1184 credits based on an initial five-credit bet. That is better than an 80% return. While the return varies with other games and pay tables, a low pair does have a fairly decent return in any non-wildcard game.

What winning hands generate this return of 4.1184 credits? How many different hands are possible and how is that return spread over those hands?

These are all very good questions. Here is the breakdown.

Let us take a look at all the possible hands when holding just a low pair. The table below shows the number of occurrences, the percentage of that occurrence and the return rate for each possible resulting hand. The frequency numbers are based on a 16,215 total possible resulting hands.

On this hand players lose a bit more than 71% of the time.

Comparing results of other holds

Earlier I said the highest overall return from this hand is obtained by holding the low pair of sixes. Now let us see what the returns would be for other possible holds.

Most video poker players who would not hold the low pair would instead opt to hold the lone king of diamonds in the hope of snagging another king for a high pair. That hold returns 2.3765 credits on average for the five credits bet – considerably less than the 4.1184 credits returned when holding the low pair. 

Even more incredible, there are three holds that return MORE than the king of diamonds hold. 

Those holds are:

• 6 of clubs, 6 of diamonds, king of diamonds
• 6 of clubs, 6 of diamonds, 8 of hearts
• 6 of clubs, 6 of diamonds, 2 of spades

Each of these holds returns 3.3765 credits for the five credits bet – significantly more than holding the lone king of diamonds.

Review and summary

Video poker players tend to remember big wins more than losses. But video poker players also remember losses. With a low pair, this means they remember the over seven losses out of every 10 hands. What they remember is not the minor winning hands, it is the hand after hand that ends up as a loss.

By saving the low pair and discarding the king many players feel they are making the wrong play. They are giving up any shot at a royal flush. They are wrong.

While it is true that a low pair will most often return nothing (more than seven out of 10 times), making it seem that one never wins with it, at times the win can be very healthy (up to 800 for 1 in Triple Double Bonus Poker). This helps explain its fairly high position in strategy. The winning hands may not be very frequent, but they can pay extremely well.

Remember also, in the game of Jacks or Better, the actual return for an initial hand of a low pair is 82% of the bet. While this number includes the fairly infrequent full house and four of a kind hands, it is still a very decent return,

While holding a high pair will guarantee at least the return of the initial bet, if the draw after holding a low pair produces a winning hand, it will always improve upon the 1-for-1 return from a high pair. Maybe this type of thinking can help players get through that miserable 71-plus percent loss rate of low pair hands.

One of the more interesting hands in video poker is one that contains two pairs. This is almost always a winning hand, though in some casino games (wildcard games in particular) three-of-a-kinds are the lowest winning hands.

This article looks at some of the peculiarities of how this hand is played in various video poker games.

Contents

1. The beauty of being dealt two pairs
2. Sometimes holding two pairs is not the answer
3. Wildcard games and two pairs
4. A unique video poker game – no two pairs ever dealt
5. Summary

The beauty of being dealt two pairs

Most video poker players smile when they see two pairs on the dealt hand. Unlike a plethora of other possible hands, a hand with two pairs is a winning hand by itself – except in some wildcard games where three of a kind is the lowest winning hand.

Depending on the specific pay table, a hand containing two pairs pays either 1-for-1 or 2-for-1 – the player either gets the initial bet back, or doubles it. The player can never lose when dealt two pairs.

Virtually all pay tables for the following video poker games pay 2-for-1 for two pairs:

• Jacks or better
• Bonus Poker

The wide variety of other non-wildcard games pays 1-for-1 for two pairs. These games include:

• Bonus Poker Deluxe
• Double Bonus Poker
• Double-Double Bonus
• Triple Bonus Poker
• Triple Bonus Plus
• Triple Double Bonus
• And several other jacks or better-based games

Holding two pairs eliminates any chance of a royal flush, but there is other gold to be found in the possible winning hands. When a player holds two pairs, there are 47 possible outcomes in a 52-card game. Five of the 52 cards in the deck were in the initial hand. This leaves 47 cards left in the deck. Since one card will complete the hand, there are 47 different possibilities for that card.

Of those 47 possible hands, there are:

• 43 hands containing two pairs
• 4 hands containing a full house

That means there is about a one in 11 chance of winning 8-for-1 or 9-for-1 on most pay tables. This is not a fortune by any means, but it does keep the player going for a while longer. 

The strategy for the following games recommends holding the two pairs only:

• Jacks or Better
• Bonus Poker
• Bonus Poker Deluxe
• Double Bonus Poker
• Royal Aces Bonus
• USA Poker
• Aces and Faces

Sometimes holding two pairs is not the answer

Depending on the game being played, holding both pairs is not always the best play. This is true of most of the “bonus” games where certain four of a kind hands pay a bonus. Most often aces are the favored rank – but not always.

When the pays for these specific quads get high enough, the video poker strategy changes. The player then must check the rank of each of the pairs. If the rank of one of the pairs has a high enough pay, just that pair is held.

Holding one pair makes three open slots which translates to 16,215 possible resultant hands. The possible hands are:

• 11,520 – Jacks or better
• 2,629 – two pairs
• 1,852 – three-of-a-kind
• 169 – Full house
• 45- four-of-a-kind

There are multiple opportunities to improve the initial hand. In some cases four aces with a kicker pays as much as a royal flush and other combinations can pay up to half as much as a royal flush.

Since most of the pay tables for the bonus games in question pay 1-for-1 for both a pair of jacks or better and for two pairs, some players may assume that there is no reason to hold both pairs and a better platy is holding just the pair of high cards due to the multiple opportunities for high-paying hands. 

They are wrong.

Unless the pay for the four-of-a-kind or four-of-a-kind with a kicker is high enough, holding both pairs is still the more profitable play.

The strategy for the following games calls for holding a pair of aces before holding two pairs:

• Double-Double Bonus
• Super Double-Double Bonus
• Triple Bonus Poker
• Triple Bonus Plus
• Triple Double Bonus
• White Hot Aces
• Double Aces and Faces
• Double-Double Aces and Faces
• Super Aces Bonus
• Royal Aces Bonus

All the above games call for holding a pair of aces alone when dealt two pairs. The strategy for one game (Super Double Bonus) calls for holding a high pair (jacks, queens, kings, or aces) when dealt two pairs. If both pairs are face cards (jacks, queens, kings), pick either one of the pairs. They will both return the same on average. If, however, one of the high pairs is aces, hold the aces.

Wildcard games and two pairs

As mentioned near the beginning, wildcard games do not follow the same patterns as non-wildcard games. This is primarily because most wildcard games require three of a kind and sometimes more in order to produce a paying hand. 

The information given below may not hold true for all pay tables for the games, but are correct for the most common pay tables.

Games where the strategy calls for holding two pairs if there is no wildcard:

• Deuces Wild
• Joker Wild

Game where strategy calls for holding any one pair:

• Super Bonus Deuces Wild

Games where there is a choice of pair to hold:

• Deuces Wild Bonus – Hold a pair of aces, otherwise hold any one pair
• Deuces Wild Double Bonus – Hold one pair in priority order: Aces, 3s-5s, 6s-Ks

A unique video poker game – two pairs are never dealt

There is one unique type of game where a player never has the opportunity to hold two pairs. It is called Pick ‘em or sometimes Pick-a-Pair. Two cards are dealt face up as well as two piles of three cards with the top card of each pile displayed face up. The player must pick one of the piles of three to go with the two face up cards. 

There is never an opportunity to hold anything other than a single pile with one face-up card. 

Summary 

A dealt hand containing two pairs is a guaranteed winner. That does not mean it is always best to hold the two pairs. 

• When two pairs are held, there are only 47 possible results. They are either two pairs or a full house.
• When one pair is held, there are 16,215 possible hands including some very high-paying winners.
• Even though there are many possibilities if only one high pair is held, the proper strategy may still be to hold both pairs
• The player must know when to hold both pairs or just one of the pairs. If holding one pair, the player must know which one to hold.

A savvy player “knows when to hold ‘em” and which ones to hold.