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Max Out Poker

Last Update: May 08, 2005

Introduction

Max Out Poker is a video poker variation I noticed in Caesars Palace in May, 2005. The game is essentially the same as multi-play video poker, except one hand is more heavily weighted, and a more liberal pay table is used on the other hands.

Rules

The player plays video poker normally with 1 to 5 coins bet. For coins 6 to 8 the player buys extra hands, which follow a slightly more liberal pay table. The extra hands start with the same cards the player keeps on the deal, as in multi-play video poker.

Return Tables

I'll call the hand the player bets coins 1 to 5 on the "big hand" because the player bets more on it, and the cards are displayed larger. The "small hands" are the additional three hands for coins 6 to 8. With the max 8 coins bet the total pay for a hand is 5*(big hand return) + 3*(small hand return). With this total win standard video poker analyzers can be used to evaluate the return. The return column in the following tables is the probability*(total win)/8.

Max Out Poker - Jacks or Better
Hand	Big Hand Pays	Small Hands Pay	Total Pay	Combinations	Probability	Return
Royal flush	800	2000	10000	611374332	0.000031	0.038339
Straight Flush	50	125	625	2444009004	0.000123	0.009579
Four of a Kind	25	50	275	47011821396	0.002358	0.081072
Full House	7	17	86	228636474084	0.01147	0.123304
Flush	5	5	40	234089906424	0.011744	0.058719
Straight	4	4	32	261308756424	0.013109	0.052437
Three of a kind	3	3	24	1473532107036	0.073923	0.22177
Two pair	2	2	16	2550902134572	0.127972	0.255945
Pair	1	0	5	3952432723788	0.198284	0.123927
Nonpaying hand	0	0	0	11182261210140	0.560986	0
Total				19933230517200	1	0.965091

Hand	Big Hand Pays	Small Hands Pay	Total Pay	Combinations	Probability	Return
Max Out Poker - Bonus Poker
Royal flush	800	2000	10000	612614556	0.000031	0.038417
Straight Flush	50	80	490	2330134980	0.000117	0.00716
Four aces	80	200	1000	4080196212	0.000205	0.025587
Four 2-4	40	80	440	10517771964	0.000528	0.029021
Four 5-K	25	50	275	32463756612	0.001629	0.055984
Full House	6	14	72	228869295732	0.011482	0.103336
Flush	5	5	40	232461161544	0.011662	0.05831
Straight	4	4	32	253157020176	0.0127	0.050801
Three of a kind	3	3	24	1476410703984	0.074068	0.222203
Two pair	2	2	16	2556244301544	0.12824	0.256481
Pair	1	0	5	3973776511968	0.199354	0.124596
Nonpaying hand	0	0	0	11162307047928	0.559985	0
Total				19933230517200	1	0.971896

Hand	Big Hand Pays	Small Hands Pay	Total Pay	Combinations	Probability	Return
Max Out Poker - Double Bonus
Royal flush	800	2000	10000	579476316	0.000029	0.036339
Straight Flush	50	100	550	2423293812	0.000122	0.008358
Four aces	160	400	2000	4581136236	0.00023	0.057456
Four 2-4	80	160	880	10505799216	0.000527	0.057975
Four 5-K	50	100	550	32171730540	0.001614	0.110961
Full House	9	18	99	213613674264	0.010716	0.132616
Flush	5	7	46	266880758892	0.013389	0.076985
Straight	4	4	32	291861165312	0.014642	0.058568
Three of a kind	3	3	24	1473709023900	0.073932	0.221797
Two pair	1	0	5	2398633864020	0.120333	0.075208
Pair	1	0	5	3856127968296	0.193452	0.120908
Nonpaying hand	0	0	0	11382142626396	0.571013	0
Total				19933230517200	1	0.957171

Hand	Big Hand Pays	Small Hands Pay	Total Pay	Combinations	Probability	Return
Max Out Poker - Deuces Wild
Natural royal flush	800	2000	10000	512436444	0.000026	0.032135
Four deuces	200	1000	4000	4099162824	0.000206	0.102822
Wild royal flush	25	40	245	40448685744	0.002029	0.062145
Five of a kind	15	25	150	61008605976	0.003061	0.057387
Straight flush	10	15	95	92346494184	0.004633	0.055014
Four of a kind	4	5	35	1236366703008	0.062025	0.271361
Full House	3	3	24	518039618256	0.025989	0.077966
Flush	2	2	16	402919969476	0.020213	0.040427
Straight	2	1	13	1046143182396	0.052482	0.085284
Three of a kind	1	0	5	5345827634160	0.268187	0.167617
Nonpaying hand	0	0	0	11185518024732	0.561149	0
Total				19933230517200	1	0.952158

Hand	Big Hand Pays	Small Hands Pay	Total Pay	Combinations	Probability	Return
Max Out Poker - Bonus Poker Deluxe
Royal flush	800	2000	10000	608875428	0.000031	0.038182
Straight Flush	50	125	625	2427099432	0.000122	0.009513
Four of a Kind	80	200	1000	49503227292	0.002483	0.310432
Full House	6	6	48	162617338764	0.008158	0.048949
Flush	5	5	40	238372136280	0.011959	0.059793
Straight	4	4	32	305200890852	0.015311	0.061245
Three of a kind	3	3	24	1544382513720	0.077478	0.232433
Two pair	1	0	5	2137041798480	0.10721	0.067006
Pair	1	0	5	4167412796952	0.209069	0.130668
Nonpaying hand	0	0	0	11325663840000	0.56818	0
Total				19933230517200	1	0.95822

Strategy

All I will say about the strategy is that the player should play the max 8 coins. The return for playing 8 coins averaged 0.4% higher than that for 5 coins on the machines at Caesars Palace. Conventional strategy software like Video Poker Strategy Master by Tom Ski can be used to create a strategy using 5*(big hand)+3*(small hand) for each win in the pay table.