Multiplier Study

In late 2007 the Venetian had a nice 9/6 Jacks or Better Super Times Pay game in the high limit room. I played it at various times between Sep. 27 and Nov. 9. As I played I tallied how often I received each multiplier. Here were my results.

Super Times Pay

Last Update: Feb 23, 2009

Introduction

Super Times Pay is an IGT video poker variant in which the game sometimes randomly multiplies the win for the price of a sixth coin. According to the rules screen, the multiplier appears once every 15 games and the average multiplier is 4.05. So the average win after the multiplier is 20.33% more, making the sixth coin a marginally good bet.

To get the return of any pay table simply look up the return in a standard video poker game and then multiply by 1.00278. Following are some common pay tables, showing the normal and Super Times Pay returns.

Return

	Game	Standard Return	Super Times Pay Return
9/6 Jacks or Better
8/6 Jacks or Better
9/5 Jacks or Better
8/5 Jacks or Better
7/5 Jacks or Better
6/5 Jacks or Better
8/5 Bonus Poker
7/5 Bonus Poker
6/5 Bonus Poker
9/6 Double Double Bonus
8/6 Double Double Bonus
9/5 Double Double Bonus
8/5 Double Double Bonus
7/5 Double Double Bonus
6/5 Double Double Bonus
25/15/9/5/3/2 Deuces Wild
25/16/10/4/4/3 Deuces Wild
25/15/10/4/4/3 Deuces Wild
20/12/9/5/3/2 Deuces Wild
25/15/9/4/4/3 Deuces Wild
20/12/10/4/4/3 Deuces Wild
25/16/13/4/3/2 Deuces Wild
20/10/8/4/4/3 Deuces Wild
25/15/10/4/3/2 Deuces Wild
9/7/5 Double Bonus
9/6/5 Double Bonus
9/6/4 Double Bonus
8/5/4 Double Bonus
7/5/4 Double Bonus

colspan="3">Super Times Pay Return

0.995439

0.998204

0.983927

0.98666

0.984498

0.987233

0.972912

0.975615

0.954828

0.957480

0.949961

0.952600

0.991660

0.994414

0.980147

0.982870

0.968687

0.971378

0.989808

0.992557

0.978949

0.981668

0.978729

0.981448

0.967861

0.97055

0.95712

0.959778

0.946569

0.949198

1.00762

1.010419

0.997283

1.000053

0.994179

0.996940

0.989378

0.992126

0.989131

0.991878

0.975791

0.978502

0.967651

0.970338

0.959638

0.962304

0.948182

0.950816

0.991065

0.993818

0.978062

0.980779

0.963754

0.966431

0.941897

0.944513

0.931060

0.933646

Mutliplier	Observations	Ratio
Super Times Pay — Venetian Experiment
2	81	0.184091
3	155	0.352273
4	62	0.140909
5	91	0.206818
8	34	0.077273
10	17	0.038636
Total	440	1

My average multiplier was 4.027, a little under the average 4.05.

Actual Multipliers

After I did this study an anonymous source gave me the actual probabilities of each multiplier, as follows.

Mutliplier	Probability	Expected
Super Times Pay — Actual Multiplier Probabilities
2	17%	0.34
3	33%	0.99
4	16%	0.64
5	24%	1.2
8	6%	0.48
10	4%	0.4
Total	100%	4.05

A chi-squared test of my results against expectations has a chi-squared statistic of 6.405, with five degrees of freedom, and a p value of 26.88%.

Volatility

Based on the actual multiplier probabilities, the Super Times Pay feature increases the standard deviation by 51%, compared to not paying for it. Compare that to an increase of 100% by just doubling the bet size on a standard video poker game.

Strategy

The strategy is exactly the same as that for standard video poker of the same pay table.

Links

Super Times Pay official web site . Has a nice play for free game.

My Video Poker Offerings
Basic Video Poker Info My main Video Poker page Return tables: Probability of Ruin for single-play video poker Random simulations of multi-play video poker The standard deviation of n-play video poker Practice / Play Video Poker for Free Play my free video poker game/trainer Video Poker Calculator Analyze the return for almost any video poker paytable Other Stuff Jacks or Better quiz Probability distribution for each hand by number of cards held in Full-Pay Deuces Wild Video poker programming tips San Diego County video poker survey	Strategies Full-Pay Jacks or Better: Simple Strategy (return of 99.46%) Intermediate Strategy (return of 99.52%) Optimal Strategy (return of 99.54%) Full-Pay Deuces Wild: Simple Strategy (return of 100.71%) Optimal Strategy (return of 100.76%) 3 to a wild royal (ace-high) vs. Deuce only 2 to a royal (king-high) with a straight penalty 2 to a royal (king-high) with no penalty Quick Quads: 9/6 Jacks or Better 8/5 Bonus Poker 9/7 Double Bonus 9/6 Double Double Bonus 8/5 Triple Bonus Other Strategies: "Not So Ugly Ducks" 8/5 Bonus Poker 10/7 Double Bonus 9/6 Double Double Bonus

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