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Reason #5 why the Wizard likes Bovada:
Intelligent Bonuses
Many online casinos offer huge signup bonuses, but there’s a catch. Buried in the fine print is that play on the most popular games doesn’t count towards earning the bonus. It’s common for play on blackjack, baccarat, roulette, craps, and video poker to be excluded. In many cases, only slots count.
And that’s if you can even find the terms and conditions. Many casinos put their 100% bonus in big flaming letters but make you hunt all over their site to find the rules.
Bovada allows play on all games to count towards the wagering requirement. It’s that simple. Just no opposite betting. All casinos ought to be as easy as Bovada about this. The bonus offer itself is simple too: on your first deposit, they’ll give you an extra 10%. If you deposit $100, you’ll wind up with $110 in chips or tokens.
Finally, in the unlikely event that Bovada feels you’ve been abusing their bonuses they won’t seize your winnings like most other casinos will. In the worst case scenario they will politely tell you that they will not be offering you any future bonuses, but you are welcome to keep playing and keep everything you have made already.
Video Poker
Last Update: Apr. 13, 2012
Video poker made its entry to the casino in the seventies; and is today one of the most popular forms of gambling. For the player who likes a game of skill, a low house edge, the possibility of large wins, and the anonymity of playing alone there is nothing else that can compare to video poker. The rules of video poker are simple; you play 1 to 5 coins, the machine give you five cards, you choose which to hold and which to discard, the machine replaces your discards and pays you off according to the value of your hand.
You may have heard the adage that the "house always has the advantage." Video poker is an exception to that rule. If you look for the most liberal pay tables, and play them properly, you can have a thin advantage. Some pay tables, which are slightly in the machine's favor, can return over 100%, if you factor in incentives such as cash back, free play, mailers, and other comps.
Video poker is one of my personal favorites to play. It isn't as strong as it was when I first moved to Las Vegas in 2001. However, good opportunities are still out there.
If you don't want to learn proper strategy, or bother to look for the liberal pay tables, then video poker is not for you. Inferior pay tables and mistakes will make it an expensive form of gambling. You may as well play slots. Correct strategy is often not intuitive. If you try to bring your five-card draw strategy to video poker, like holding a high kicker with a pair, you will lose, and lose badly, over the long run.
Playing Strategy
Following are some strategies to some of the most popular video poker games:
- Jacks or Better simple strategy (return of 99.46%)
- Jacks or Better intermediate strategy (return of 99.52%)
- Jacks or Better optimal strategy (return of 99.54%)
- "Not So Ugly Ducks" (Deuces Wild) intermediate strategy
- Full-Pay Deuces Wild simple strategy (return of 100.71%)
- Full-Pay Deuces Wild optimal strategy (return of 100.76%)
- 8/5 Bonus Poker basic strategy
- 10/7 Double Bonus basic strategy
- 9/6 Double Double Bonus basic strategy
Quick Quads strategies:
- 9/6 Jacks or Better Quick Quads
- 8/5 Bonus Poker Quick Quads
- 9/7 Double Bonus Quick Quads
- 9/6 Double Double Bonus Quick Quads
- 8/5 Triple Bonus Quick Quads
Return Tables
For just the pay tables and returns of major games and pay tables see my Video Poker Return Summary.
Can't find the game or pay table you're looking for? Video Poker Help Starts Here also carries lots of return tables.
Play for Fun
Practice over a dozen video poker games on my new and improved video poker game.
Five-Card Hand Calculator
My free video poker analyzer will calculate the best way to play any hand and any pay table for most video poker games.
Game Return Calculator
My video poker analyzer will calculate the return for just about any video poker game in seconds.
Strategy Maker
I'm very proud to offer the only free video poker strategy maker. Enter any common game and then the pay table and the calculator will produce a near-optimal strategy. Here is an example of the output for 9-6 Jacks or Better.
Miscellaneous Advice and Comments
- Always play the maximum coins. I have never seen a machine that didn't offer a bonus on the highest hand for five coins played. If you are uncomfortable playing five coins, then drop down to a lower coinage.
- The cards are chosen at random and the games are fair. There is no switch inside the machine that can make the machine loose or tight. Do not be fooled by Pull Tabs, which are not real video poker games.
- A royal flush can come along at any time with equal probability. A machine is never "overdue" in the sense that it becomes more likely to hit. Theories such as that a machine will get tight right before hitting a royal are simply not true.
- Always use a slot club card if there is one, and there usually is. This is free money for playing, and can often make the difference in having an edge or not.
- When you put your slot club card in make sure the game can read it. Every few minutes check to ensure the connection isn't lost.
- Do research on where the most generous machines are. The best source in my opinion is VP insider
, a subscription based site costing $65 for the first year of $20 for a three-month trial. The best free source in my opinion is VP Free . - Some games offer a double-up feature. This, and the odds in craps, are the only bets you can make with no house edge. Whether you make the double-up bet should depend on your reason for playing. If you want low volatility, with long "time on device", you should decline it. If you are playing a 100%+ game, you should decline it. If you want high volatility, you should accept it. If you want to maximize return, including money bet on the double, then you should accept it. If you should take, up to what point, you may ask? That is something you can decide for yourself, according to how much you value risk vs. reward.
- Tipping in video poker, as well as any game, is a matter of much debate. I think a good rule of thumb is to tip 0.5% to 1.0% on any jackpot requiring a hand pay. The smaller the jackpot, the larger the percentage. An exception can be made for games in which you get hand pays frequently, like $5 10-play. In this case, tipping on just big wins, or at the end of the session is acceptable. If you lost badly, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't tip.
Video Poker in San Diego
In November 2008 I did a video poker survey of the 11 casinos in San Diego County.
Video Poker in Macau
For a detailed explanation of the video poker scene in Macau, please visit my companion site, Wizard of Macau .
Links
- Wizard of Vegas for a more simplified explanation of video poker.
- Video Poker Strategy Master by Tom Ski.
- Video Poker for Winners by Bob Dancer.
- A German translation of my strategies can be found at richtigspielen.com .
| My Video Poker Offerings | |
|---|---|
Basic Video Poker Info
Practice / Play Video Poker for Free
Video Poker Calculator
Other Stuff
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StrategiesFull-Pay Jacks or Better:
Full-Pay Deuces Wild:
Quick Quads:Other Strategies: |
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