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Reason #3 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

Excellent Odds

In my opinion many online casinos are too stingy when setting the odds on their games. They think they will make more money that way but I believe they are misguided, because when players lose too quickly it’s not fun, and those players might not come back.

Bovada is one of the few casinos that understands this. They offer generous odds to let you play longer and get you a better chance of winning. Among their generous offerings are Full-Pay Jacks or Better returning 99.54%, six other video poker games paying over 99%, single-zero roulette, and my favorite, Pick ’em Poker, returning 99.95%!

Kudos to Bovada for not being afraid to give their players a good gamble.

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Big Win Poker

Big Win Poker is a video poker variant I noticed at the Red Rock casino on December 13, 2011. It is one of many games on a machine titled "Magic Touch." The interesting thing about Big Win Poker is it pays 0 for a two pair. In Jacks or Better the two pair is the hand that returns the most money, so making it pay 0 gives a lot of room to increase the other pays.

Unfortunately, they were not increased enough to make the pay tables very competitive, at least at the Red Rock. Following are the pay tables I observed there. The higher the denomination, the better the pay table, as usual.

Note that a Two Pair hand where at least one of the pairs is Jacks or Better will award the prize for Jacks or Better.

Big Win Poker -- 12-9-4 Pay Table -- 99.03%
Hand	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Royal Flush	1000	476,406,000	0.000024	0.023900
Straight Flush	250	3,305,899,704	0.000166	0.041462
Four of a Kind	50	44,880,255,840	0.002252	0.112576
Full House	12	219,207,617,280	0.010997	0.131965
Flush	9	360,492,736,416	0.018085	0.162765
Straight	4	237,696,507,288	0.011925	0.047699
Three of a Kind	3	1,385,666,084,352	0.069515	0.208546
Two Pair	0	999,196,693,344	0.050127	0.000000
Jacks or Better	1	5,209,564,806,972	0.261351	0.261351
Nothing	0	11,472,743,510,004	0.575559	0.000000
Total		19,933,230,517,200	1.000000	0.990264

Big Win Poker -- 12-8-5 Pay Table -- 98.58%
Hand	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Royal Flush	1000	496,048,524	0.000025	0.024886
Straight Flush	250	3,295,630,524	0.000165	0.041333
Four of a Kind	50	44,893,377,720	0.002252	0.112609
Full House	12	219,111,310,440	0.010992	0.131907
Flush	8	342,178,364,052	0.017166	0.137330
Straight	5	283,587,363,960	0.014227	0.071134
Three of a Kind	3	1,381,287,402,864	0.069296	0.207887
Two Pair	0	997,690,741,236	0.050052	0.000000
Jacks or Better	1	5,156,333,016,624	0.258680	0.258680
Nothing	0	11,504,357,261,256	0.577145	0.000000
Total		19,933,230,517,200	1.000000	0.985767

Big Win Poker -- 11-8-5 Pay Table -- 97.48%
Hand	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Royal Flush	1000	497,196,996	0.000025	0.024943
Straight Flush	250	3,317,336,064	0.000166	0.041606
Four of a Kind	50	44,873,697,996	0.002251	0.112560
Full House	11	218,057,712,444	0.010939	0.120333
Flush	8	342,702,225,660	0.017193	0.137540
Straight	5	283,982,178,492	0.014247	0.071233
Three of a Kind	3	1,380,626,262,684	0.069263	0.207788
Two Pair	0	987,190,754,544	0.049525	0.000000
Jacks or Better	1	5,158,436,968,080	0.258786	0.258786
Nothing	0	11,513,546,184,240	0.577606	0.000000
Total		19,933,230,517,200	1.000000	0.974789

Big Win Poker -- 10-8-5 Pay Table -- 96.39%
Hand	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Royal Flush	1000	498,569,388	0.000025	0.025012
Straight Flush	250	3,341,633,976	0.000168	0.041910
Four of a Kind	50	44,761,558,296	0.002246	0.112279
Full House	10	217,484,040,744	0.010911	0.109106
Flush	8	344,467,095,096	0.017281	0.138248
Straight	5	284,510,902,956	0.014273	0.071366
Three of a Kind	3	1,376,165,670,168	0.069039	0.207116
Two Pair	0	983,628,470,556	0.049346	0.000000
Jacks or Better	1	5,159,224,700,784	0.258825	0.258825
Nothing	0	11,519,147,875,236	0.577887	0.000000
Total		19,933,230,517,200	1.000000	0.963863