Video Poker Wizard

Announcement

I'm happy to announce that as of Oct. 28, 2018, a new version of the Video Poker Wizard is now available! In addition, an Android version is available too.

Features

From the main menu you can analyze a hand, analyze a game's paytable, and practice playing to learn your favorite game's strategy.

Continue reading to learn how to get the most out of the app.

Selecting a Game

From the main menu, tap the first item, which shows the currently selected game. This brings up the game menu.

The following games are supported:

Selecting a Paytable

Each supported game has several built-in paytables. Tap the paytable row from the main menu (located directly beneath the game name) to bring up the paytable menu for that game.

If the paytable you want isn't there, you can add it. Tap the Edit button in the upper-right corner of the screen, and then tap the plus sign (+) that replaces it. Give the paytable a new name and adjust the payouts by tapping a hand and entering its payout.

You can also rearrange and delete paytables when you are in Edit mode.

Analyzing a Hand

From the main menu, tap Analyze a Hand to bring up the entry screen. You can tap the five cards you want to enter, or tap the Random button to be dealt a random hand.

Then tap the Analyze button in the upper-right to bring up the results. The 32 ways to play the hand are sorted from the best play (at the top) to the worst play (at the bottom).

Analyzing a Game

The most powerful feature of the app is the game analyzer, which can compute the long-term return of a game within seconds. The results menu lets you view a summary, or detailed statistics for each hand's probability, hit frequency, return, and variance.

Risk of Ruin Calculator

The game analyzer also has a built-in Risk of Ruin calculator. This Risk of Ruin model is for games or situations where you have the advantage. It computes the probability of going bust with a specified bankroll for the current game/paytable before achieving theoretically infinite wealth. A negative paytable can become positive with cash back, which the risk of ruin calculator lets you enter.

Practice Play

The Play mode lets you practice or learn the current game's strategy a couple different ways. By default, the game will not automatically hold the best play as soon as the hand is dealt, but it will warn you if you do not make the best play. From the Settings, you can change the way this works. When you have been dealt a hand but not finished it yet, you can tap the Analyze Hand button to view the 32 ways to play it, and from within that menu you can tap one of the ways to play to be taken back to the game with that play selected.

You can switch between the display of the paytable, or the display of your playing statistics. Your playing statistics can be reset by tapping the reset button.

Settings

The Settings screen lets you turn sounds on or off, enable or disable autohold and warnings in play mode, and adjust the speed with which cards are dealt.

The "Easy Hold" option works as follows: When it is off, you must tap each individual card you want to hold. When it is on, you can run your finger across the cards you want to hold in a single motion. For example, with a dealt Flush, you can swipe your finger across all five cards to hold them all at once.