Video Poker Strategy
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Internet Video Poker Strategies
Most Internet games have a theoretical expected total return. This is the percentage of the total money bet that you could expect to get back based on the odds. Now most games, including video poker, have a total theoretical expected return in the high nineties. | |||||||||
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That means that most people will end up with slightly less money than they started with, even if they play with perfect strategy. However, in video poker, if you use the right strategy, you can achieve a positive theoretical total return. That is, you can expect to finish with more money than you start.
Let me make one thing clear before we proceed. We are talking about theoretical results and expectations. There are no guarantees. The reason that people play games with negative theoretical total returns, is that out of one hundred people playing, on average (depending on the game) between forty and forty-nine will come out ahead. Casinos make their money on sheet volume. You have a good chance of coming out ahead in any casino game.
Video Poker Strategies - Playing the Odds
It works like this: let's say that a certain video poker game has a theoretical total return of ninety-eight percent when played with two credits. (This is the case with Jacks or Better video poker games where the two credit expected theoretical total return is actually 98.05 %) One way of looking at this is on average, after playing a few thousands rounds, you will have ninety-eight percent of the total money you started with. Of course what this also means that at times you will have far more than you started with and at times far less. When you stop is up to you. That is one reason many people play games where in the long run, they will probably have less money.Another way of looking at it is that out of every one hundred players playing one round of video poker with perfect strategy, fifty-one players will come out behind and forty-nine will come out ahead. The casino only makes its profits because the one extra player losing becomes significant when one million people play rather than one hundred.
So now, if you are feeling lucky, it's not hard to imagine being one of the forty-nine winners. That is the attraction of video poker. It is a combination of known odds with the unknown luck factor mixed.
Different Video Poker Strategies for Different Games
What is interesting about certain video poker games like Deuces Wild (in which twos are considered wild cards) is that when you bet with 5 credits, you have an expected theoretical total return that is over 100 percent. That means that with perfect strategy, you can expect to come out ahead the longer you play!A perfect video poker strategy means that you always aim for the best possible winning combinations. What that means is that if you are holding two pair, you always draw one card in hopes of getting a full house. If you have one pair, draw three cards unless you have a draw on an inside straight. In that case, discard the unconnected card. You keep your pair as a base to work up around. You can also use this strategy in video poker when trying to corner a flush where you already hold four of the cards. The most important thing to remember is that incomplete straights and flushes, i.e.: those which are missing cards, are worth less than a simple pair. Always start small and work your way towards the killer hands.
Just keep in mind that the odds are close. Every day there are winners and losers. Video Poker strategy really comes into play when you are playing continuous rounds for a significant period of time (or even with breaks over a few days or weeks.) Combining the right strategy with the right version of video poker, will help you be one of the winners at the end of the day.
