How To Beat Video Poker Machines
Not many casino games give you an opportunity to win profits. Poker games like Texas Hold’em, blackjack (card counting), and certain progressive slots (jackpots that offer +EV) are among the select few games that provide a long-term advantage.
Video poker also carries the reputation for being a beatable game. It offers over 100% return to player (RTP) on certain variations.
Of course, these variations are hard to find and not accessible to most gamblers. So, is video poker actually beatable?
This guide discusses how you can beat video poker over the long run. It also covers if the methods covered below are actually realistic.
Video Poker Is Beatable in Some Cases
Most real money video poker variations are favorable when compared to the average casino game. For example, the common 9/6 Jacks or Better variation offers 99.54% RTP with perfect strategy.
The “9/6” refers to how this Jacks or Better game pays nine coins for a full house and six for a flush. 8/6 Jacks or Better, by comparison, only offers 98.39% payback.
Here are the highest paying video poker game machines that exist today:
Michael Friberg John Kane was on a hell of a winning streak. On July 3, 2009, he walked alone into the high-limit room at the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas and sat down at a video poker machine. John Kane was on a hell of a winning streak. On July 3, 2009, he walked alone into the high-limit room at the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas and sat down at a video poker machine called the Game King. Six minutes later the purple light on the top of the machine flashed, signaling a $4,300 jackpot. Gambling authorities are there to ensure that the gaming industry is operating correctly.
- Full-pay Deuces Wild = 100.76% Return To Player
- Full-pay Joker Wild = 100.65%
- 10/7 Double Bonus = 100.17%
- 10/6 Double Double Bonus = 100.07%
The house rarely gives you an opportunity to win long-term profits. Therefore, the games listed above are quite unique.
You’re not going to get rich by playing these machines. This is especially true when you consider that the coin sizes are only worth a quarter ($1.25 per five-coin hand).
However, you can win decent money on full-pay Deuces Wild. Here’s an example on how much you can look forward to winning under ideal circumstances:
- You bet $1.25 per hand and use perfect strategy
- You play 800 hands per hour
- 25 x 800 x 0.76 = $7.60 in hourly profits
- The casino offers a 0.1% comp rate
- 800 x 0.001 = $0.80 in hourly rewards
- 6 + 0.8 = $8.40 in total hourly winnings
Most jobs today pay well over $8 an hour. But if you want to make guaranteed money from your gambling hobby, then Deuces Wild offers this chance.
Games With +EV Are Rare
You can see that multiple types of video poker offer positive expected value (+EV). But you’ll have trouble finding these machines anywhere outside of Las Vegas.
Sin City is home to the large majority of beatable video poker games. Assuming you try playing anywhere else, such as Atlantic City or Macau, you’re not going to find +EV machines.
Even when you visit Vegas, though, you’ll mostly be dealing with 10/7 Double Bonus and 10/6 Double Double Bonus games. As covered before, these variations only pay 100.17% and 100.07% RTP, respectively.
Sam’s Town is the only Las Vegas casino that currently offers full-pay Deuces Wild. As you can imagine, its Deuces Wild machines are crowded with gamblers who want to make profits. Therefore, you may not even find an open seat for the best games.
Profits Are Theoretical
Video poker isn’t like blackjack, where it offers a fairly even payout distribution. Instead, it features a wide range of payouts.
Therefore, video poker can be volatile over the short term. You may not earn a straight flush or royal flush until after playing tens of thousands of hands.
In fact, you’ll only get a royal flush on around 1 out of every 40,000 hands on average. Theoretically, you need to play at least 40k hands before receiving a royal.
Maybe you’ll find an open full-pay Deuces Wild machine and play a large amount of hands. Even so, you might need to play for many hours before actually realizing the 100.76% RTP and making profits.
What You Must Do to Win Profits
You can see that the road towards video poker winnings is difficult. But if you’re still interested in the matter, you can follow the tips below.
Travel to Las Vegas
Some +EV video poker machines are sprinkled around Nevada. If you truly want a real chance at winning, though, then you should take a trip to Las Vegas.
Sin City is the only place in the world with full-pay Deuces Wild and Joker Wild. It also offers a fair number of Double Bonus and Double Double Bonus games.
You can also look forward to some of the best rewards programs in Vegas. These VIP benefits will add to your bottom line.
Look for the Limited +EV Machines
Once in Las Vegas, you need to start searching for the small percentage of beatable video poker games. After all, you can’t just sit down to any machine and expect to win.
Most of these games are located in downtown casinos or on the Boulder Strip. Meanwhile, you won’t find any of these machines on the Vegas Strip.
Keep in mind that open seats for the most desirable games aren’t always available. You may have better luck hitting up casinos during non-peak hours, such as the morning and late evening.
Play Countless Hands to Overcome Volatility
A royal flush only makes up around 2% of the total payback for any video poker game. Considering this fact, many gamblers put too much emphasis on getting a royal.
Nevertheless, you still need to get the best hand at some point to earn over 100% payback. You’ll likely have to log countless hands to make it happen.
On average, you’ll need 40,000 hands to get a royal. You should consider yourself blessed if you’re able to land one within the first 10,000 or 20,000 hands.
Target Days With Double Rewards
Las Vegas casinos commonly feature promotions involving double or even triple points through their loyalty programs. Assuming you visit the casino on these days, you can look forward to a lot more rewards.
These extra rewards won’t line your pockets with riches. But they’re definitely worth taking advantage of when available.
The Average Player Isn’t Going to Beat Video Poker
Unless you live in Las Vegas or can afford to frequently visit, you’re not going to win guaranteed profits. You instead need to rely on some luck to be most games.
You should treat beating video poker as more of a hobby than a legitimate way to profit from gambling. If you’re already going to be visiting Las Vegas, you might as well take advantage of the +EV machines.
But you won’t make a career out of beating video poker. The travel costs and hotel bookings will eat up your profits. Even if you live in Las Vegas, you won’t be able to make any more than $8 to $10 an hour with perfect and rapid play.
Should You Still Consider Playing Video Poker?
Video poker may not be beatable from a realistic standpoint. But that doesn’t mean you should completely avoid it.
It’s still a fine game that has lots of entertainment value to offer. You can play for big payouts while still enjoying some of the best payback in the casino.
Honestly, you have a better shot at winning with video poker than almost any of the other casino games. You can stick with the aforementioned tips to boost your odds.
9/6 Jacks or Better is never a bad game to play in terms of odds. Its 99.54% RTP is right in line with the world’s most-favorable blackjack games.
You can even opt for 8/5 Bonus Poker if 9/6 Jacks or Better isn’t available. It gives you a solid chance to win with its 99.17% RTP.
Conclusion
Theoretically, video poker is a beatable game. Full-pay Deuces Wild, Joker Wild, Double Bonus, and Double Double Bonus all exist in Las Vegas. You can find Double Bonus and Double Double Bonus machines in other parts of Nevada too.
However, the days where you could bet $1 coins ($5 hand with five coins) on full-pay Deuces Wild are long gone. The latter is only available in one Vegas casino through quarter machines.
You can still win profits from video poker if you’re willing to visit Sin City. But you aren’t going to make a living from doing so.
Like many casino games, video poker is most entertaining when you treat it as a hobby. Assuming you get a little luck on your side, you could land a royal flush and earn a large profit.
Learning How to Win At Video Poker Is The Easiest Way I Know to Make $2,000 a Day!
It may hard to believe, but video poker can be beaten.One reaction to this statement is “How can you beat a slot machine?”
The fact is that video poker is only played through an computer chip controlled devise that looks like a slot machine, but is operates on much different principles.
With the right machine and the right strategy for that particular machine you can play with a payback of 100% or better.
Many people like slot machines because you can play without anyone watching you.You don’t have to contend with pit bosses or dealers or fellow players who scrutinize and even comment on your play.You’re mostly on your own when you choose to play slots.
Like regular slot machines video poker shares all of these characteristics, but with one important difference: When you play video poker with the correct strategy you will play at an advantage over the casino.
Here is a quick point-by-point comparison of slot and video poker play:
·With video poker instead of mindlessly playing like many slot machine players do, you will use a definite strategy.This makes the game much more interesting (and a lot less boring) than playing ordinary slots.
·Video poker players lose less money per hour than slot players do.This is because video poker players can apply their card playing experience to video poker play to reduce the house edge (or, as we will see, in some cases gain a real edge over the casinos).
·Video poker machines offer much higher paybacks than slot machines.While a 95% payback might be considered a very good payback for a traditional slot machine, with video poker you can achieve paybacks of over 100%.
·Video poker is a game of skill where by applying the methods I am going to teach you can win consistently.With slot machines you are almost always at the mercy of fickle dame luck.
·With video poker machines you can determine whether you can play at an advantage by simply viewing the pay out schedule shown on the front of every video poker game.With slot machines you never know what the true payback will be.Two identical slot machines can have very different payback rates as the slot payback is determined by a computer chip, programmed to pay out at a certain rate.Furthermore, there is no way to know what the payback rate is by looking at the front of a slot machine.
Video poker machines are much more forthright than slot machines.While it is impossible to look at a slot machine and determine what its payback rate is, this is very easy to do so with video poker.A video poker machine gives you the information you need to know if it is beatable right on the front of the machine.
In the Power Video Poker Strategy Manual I will show you how to find the best paying video poker machines and give you winning strategies to play and beat them.
I take two very different approaches to playing video poker machines in this book and present different strategies for each type of play.
Short-term players are presented simplified playing strategies that are much easier to learn and use.In fact, there are playing strategy cards in the back of the Power Video Poker Manual that you can print and carry with you.
Short-term play is my preferred method of play.It is easier to learn, wins much quicker and requires a much lower bankroll than long-term play.I use a combination of a higher simplified playing strategies and betting strategies that adjust the size of your bets depending on how the video poker machine is paying off.This Profit Directed Betting is the key to winning at video poker on a short-term basis.
Even though the short-term playing strategies are much simpler than their long-term counterparts, they give up very little in gaining an edge over the video poker game.Unless you are interested in becoming a professional video poker player and spending a great amount of time playing video poker, learning the long-term or professional playing strategies will not be worth your effort.
Short-term players also have more flexibility in how they play the games.I will explain all of this in greater detail and give you plenty of information so that you can decide what kind of player you want to be.
Click here to learn more about how to win a fortune with Power Video Poker!
Evaluating Video Poker Hands
Evaluating and playing video poker hands is different than playing conventional poker. Here is our guide to evaluating and playing video poker hands!
Expected Values of Video Poker Hands
Assume that you are dealt a hand of: 5©6©7©8§8¨.This hand is either a low pair, a four card straight, a three-card straight flush or we could even discard all of the cards and draw five new ones. You will play this hand differently dependent upon which version of video poker you are playing. Read on to learn why expected values lie behind every video poker decision.
Types of Video Poker Games
There are three broad types of video poker games. The version you choose can can a tremendous effect on your ability to win. Read about it here.
The Mechanics of Video Poker Play
Would you like to play video poker but are a little unsure of exactly how to do it without making mistakes? Here are the basics.
Playing Trends in Video Poker
Trends are a fact of life in gambling.They occur in virtually every gambling game ever devised.Blackjack dealers go on streaks and win nearly every hand.At other times, the dealers bust hand after hand.
Roulette wheels repeat some numbers with much greater frequency than expected and other numbers are not hit at all.
And video poker machines will go into a streak mode where a large number of higher paying hands are made in a short time period.At other times, the machines have periods of almost no winning hands.
Here's critical info about playing trends in video poker.
Jacks or Better Short-term Playing Strategy
Here is a Jacks or Better Playing Strategy developed for short-term play that you may use it for long-term play as well giving up only a few hundreds of a percent of potential return.
Deuces Wild Short-term Playing Strategy
Like the Jacks or Better games, the Deuces Wild game uses a 52-card deck. Here is the optimum strategy for shot-term play.
Joker Wild Short-term Playing Strategy
How To Beat Video Poker Machines In Bars
One for Ace-King (Kings or Better) and an alternative strategy for Two Pair and Double Joker Poker.
Ace-King (Kings or Better) needs a minimum hand of a pair of Kings to quality and Two Pair and Double Joker Poker need two pair to quality.
Joker Wild Strategy
Buy Used Video Poker Machine
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