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Triple Trouble
Introduction
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.
In January 2018, I spotted this pay table at the Seaport Casino in Aruba.
Triple Trouble-Red Rock Pay Table
| Hand | Payoff | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 | 45,525,632 | 0.000027 | 0.021926 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 195,901,205 | 0.000118 | 0.005897 |
| Four A | 200 | 375,619,835 | 0.000226 | 0.045225 |
| Four 2-4 | 40 | 870,780,444 | 0.000524 | 0.020969 |
| Four 5-K | 25 | 2,648,746,035 | 0.001595 | 0.039864 |
| Full house | 6 | 17,739,917,574 | 0.010680 | 0.064078 |
| Flush | 5 | 18,595,092,458 | 0.011194 | 0.055972 |
| Straight | 4 | 24,414,725,751 | 0.014698 | 0.058792 |
| Three of a kind | 2 | 121,747,145,510 | 0.073293 | 0.146586 |
| Two pair | 1 | 199,858,785,822 | 0.120317 | 0.120317 |
| Pair | 1 | 355,107,019,965 | 0.213778 | 0.213778 |
| Nonpaying hand | 0 | 919,503,282,869 | 0.553550 | 0.000000 |
| Total | 1,661,102,543,100 | 1.000000 | 0.793403 |
The value of the bonus feature is 0.169162 for a total return of 0.962565.