Ask any gambling house executive and they will tell you that electronic poker is really a genuine money maker for the house. Yet, many electronic poker games feature a house advantage of less than one per cent, and others still can basically yield over a 100 per cent payback if the player uses an optimum playing 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 optimal method for a lot of video poker games is counter-intuitive. Sure, there are lots of hands that everyone plays optimally; if someone is dealt the As Ks Qs Jack Spades three hearts, for instance, you’ll search lengthy and hard before you find a electronic poker gambler who would insist on discarding 4 and maintaining the three of hearts. But you can find are myriad fingers where what would appear to be the appropriate strategy basically costs the gambler money. And in several cases this loss could be significant.
To better illustrate let’s appear 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. You will discover only 9 fingers that qualify for a payback, and it’s usually pretty easy to tell if you possess a draw to one of those nine hands. Still everyday video poker gamblers across the nation are throwing money away by producing bad (nonetheless ‘intuitively correct’) playing decisions. Let us look at a number of various fingers, and see how the optimal method varies from the intuitively appropriate strategy.
Mistake One) Preserving ‘Ace-face card-face card’ as opposed to just holding the two face cards.
You see this play produced all the time, and still couple of players know what a disaster it really is. The idea behind preserving the ace is that you have a greater opportunity of constructing an ace-high straight, and you also have 3 high cards that you simply can try to pair up around the draw. On the other hand, by keeping the ace you are eliminating your odds of creating four of a sort or even a full casino, and reducing your chances of creating two pair. The slight gain you receive through your increased odds of making a straight do not begin to compensate for these other substantial losses.
Error 2) Not attempting sufficient long shot draws at the straight flush.
The directly flush might be probably the most misunderstood hand in Jacks or Better. It does not come around incredibly frequently, 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 seven clubs 5c 3s two diamonds quite a few gamblers will simply discard all five and redraw. The assumption here is the fact that the straight flush will practically never come in, so they would rather ‘cut their losses’ and try to pick up a massive pair around the redraw.
Again, this makes sense at 1st glance. Nonetheless what is forgotten in this kind of analysis is that by keeping the nine clubs seven clubs five clubs the gambler also has a likelihood at a directly or even a flush. Now it is true that a draw like this isn’t a real moneymaker. Except it is going to nevertheless pay a lot more, in the extended run, than drawing five new cards.
Error Three) Maintaining a suited Ace-Ten as opposed to just maintaining the ace.
This is one of the most frequent errors made by electronic poker players at Jacks or Better. Now I will be the very first to admit that holding the ace and the ten is far far more fun then just drawing to the ace. After all, whenever you hold the ace and the 10 you’ve at least a little possibility of some thing seriously good happening; namely, hitting the royal on the draw. You also have a greater chance of constructing a direct or perhaps a flush. Nonetheless as using the hand we examined in Error #1 these gains do not outweigh your decreased chances of constructing four of a sort, three of a type or even a large pair. If you want to play optimally you’ll have to discard that 10; I know it’s tough, except it must be done!
These are three of the most vivid examples of poor wager on, even though you can find plenty of other errors that a video poker player frequently makes in the course of a playing session. If your goal is to reduce the house edge as a lot as achievable I suggest picking up a book that contains charts detailing the finer points of optimal play. You can find a number of books like this out around the market, and they’re surely worth the sticker price. Pore over the charts, and compare the plays they recommend with the plays you’re currently making. I guarantee it will be a actual eye-opening experience.
