Reason #2 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

No-hassle practice games

Most online casinos spend more effort trying to separate you from your money than they do trying to give you a good experience. They have all kinds of popup windows, they usually make you download their software, and if they do offer play-in-browser games then you have to register an account before you can play. And if you register they start sending you emails trying to get you to deposit real money.

But Bovada is different. They have no popup windows at all, and their practice games play right in your browser, with no download, and no registration required. You don’t even have to give up your email address. It couldn’t be simpler: just one click and you’re playing the game.

I wish all online casinos showed this much respect for their players. Other casinos practically ask for your first born child to play for free. Meanwhile Bovada is patient and does not twist anybody’s arm to play for real money. You can play as long as you like for free with no obligation. The real-money games are available if that’s your preference, but if not, you can play the free practice games for as long as you like without hassle.

Visit Bovada

Triple Trouble

Last Update: May 11, 2010

Triple Trouble is a video poker variation I noticed at the Red Rock casino in May, 2007. It was also seen in a peyote induced hallucination by Tony Soprano, in the episode in which he visited Las Vegas. The base game is conventional video poker. In addition, there are three devils which may light up after the deal or after the draw. If all three are lit after the draw then the player will win three times his bet, plus three free spins, in which all wins will be tripled. If the players gets three devils in a free spin he will win nine times his original bet, but does not earn any additional free spins.

I am told that the free spins probability is 1.6%. When I played it took 186 plays to get my first feature. Here is how often I got each number of devils:

3 devils: 1
2 devils: 24
1 devil: 62
0 devils: 99
Total: 186

I assume I just had bad luck to have to wait so long. The probability of exactly one devil in 186 plays is 15.06%.

The following is the return table of the game offered at the Red Rock, before consideration of the bonus feature.

Triple Trouble — Red Rock Pay Table
Hand	Payoff	Combinations	Probability	Return
Royal flush	800	543603228	0.000027	0.021817
Straight flush	50	2344607496	0.000118	0.005881
Four A	200	4515410220	0.000227	0.045305
Four 2-4	40	10456785924	0.000525	0.020984
Four 5-K	25	31918369380	0.001601	0.040032
Full house	7	213391202292	0.010705	0.074937
Flush	5	222687455196	0.011172	0.055858
Straight	4	291874249212	0.014643	0.058570
Three of a kind	2	1466496448776	0.073570	0.147141
Two pair	1	2405076093936	0.120657	0.120657
Pair	1	4244026406472	0.212912	0.212912
Nonpaying hand	0	11039899885068	0.553844	0.000000
Total		19933230517200	1.000000	0.804094

The average video poker win per bonus feature is 3 + 3 × 3 × 0.804094 = 10.236846. The average win for three devils earned in a free spin is 3 × 9 × 0.016=0.432. The average win per feature is 10.236846 + 0.432 = 10.668846. The return from the feature is 10.668846 × 0.016 = 0.170702. The total return of the game is 0.804094 + 0.170702 = 0.974796.