American Poker

Introduction

 

"American Poker" is perhaps the biggest misnomer in gambling. It is a form of video poker played not in the United States but, instead, in Germany. Why they call it "American Poker" I have no idea.

What separates American Poker from conventional video poker is the player must pay for both the deal and draw (if made) but is paid for his final hand only. The player may choose to decline the draw and in doing so will not have to double his bet.

These rules should not be confused with Double Pay Poker, where the player is paid for both the deal and draw. In American Poker, the player is paid based on the draw only, if made, and the deal only if the draw is declined.

Perhaps a good comparison is to blackjack where the only options are to stand or double. However, instead of getting another card, the player must exchange at least one card.

In all known examples of American Poker found in land casinos, the game is based on a 53-card Joker Poker game.

Another interesting feature is that the game sometimes features a progressive "jackpot" for a pair of queens on the deal. If the player improves his hand on the draw, then he is paid based on the final hand only.

Finally, I wish to emphasize that American Poker is gaffed to conform to German gaming laws that set maximum win and loss limits per hour of play. How the games, made by Novomatic, are programmed exactly, I do not know. The analysis in this page incorrectly assumes each card is independent with the same chances. The high player advantages of about 40% per initial bet should also be evidence that the games are gaffed against the player.
   

Rules

The following are the general rules for American Poker.
 

1. Play shall start with the player making a wager and receiving five cards.
2. If the player chooses to hold at least one card, then he will automatically make another wager equal to his initial wager and shall receive replacement cards as in conventional video poker.
3. If the player holds no cards and presses the "draw" button, then the game shall score the player's hand on the draw and not charge the player an additional wager. However, it will be assumed the player wishes to play another hand and will immediately start a new game.
4. All wins are based on the initial bet only.
5. Many games have a "mini bonus." This is incremented by the initial bet amount for every pair of jacks, kings, or aces. It is won on a pair of queens on the deal. If the player improves his hand on the draw, then he is paid based on the final hand only. Based on just one game found in Berlin, it starts at five bets and reaches a maximum at 20 bets.
6. There is an auto-hold feature, that gives very dubious advice at times.
7. It is common to have a double or nothing feature based on predicting whether a random card is red or black.
8. To make matters more confusing, the player doesn't have just one credit meter, but two. It is my understanding that the initial buy-in will go into the "geldspeicher." Any win will go into a second meter called the "punkte-bank." Bets made shall first come out of the punkte-bank but if that is zero, then the geldspeicher. Some machines may have ways to move credits back and forth between the two meters or it can happen automatically. However, none of this really matters. I have no idea why they need two meters.

 

As stated in the introduction, the game is gaffed to meet German gaming laws so I wouldn't take the rules too seriously, which don't even appear anywhere on the machines.

 

Analysis

 

I had to pause and consider how I wanted to present my analysis of this game. Normally, with video poker games, I show what the player can expect to get back for his bet. In other words, I express everything on a "for one" basis, because the player doesn't get his original bet back on a win, as he does with most table games.

However, in this case the player can do worse than lose just his original bet. He might pay for a draw and still have nothing, resulting in a two-unit loss. Never once have I listed a negative pay in a return table based on a "for one" basis. I think doing so would confuse the reader.

After much thought, I decided to treat it like a table game and show the probability of every net win or loss. I also indicate whether the player accepted the draw or not. Note that the win for any given hand is one unit less if the player accepted a draw as opposed to getting it on the deal and declining the draw. That said, the return tables below show the probability and contribution to the return of every possible outcome.

As I wrote in the rules, American Poker is gaffed and does not conform to the Nevada law that every card must have the same chance of being dealt, as if a human being were fairly dealing the game. However, I did not know this at the time I wrote my program to analyze the game. So, please don't run out and buy a plane ticket to Germany after reading these tables. The games are gaffed and you will lose on them.

Jacks or Better with Joker

 

The following analysis is based on the the pay table pictured below. What characterizes this pay table is that a pair of jacks is an automatic winner as opposed to having a "mini bonus." This game and pay table were seen at two separate casinos in Berlin.

   

The bottom right cell shows an expected win of 0.46 units per deal. In other words, a player advantage of 46% relative to a single bet. The player will make the raise bet 58.4% of the time, which means an average final bet of 1.58 units, for a player advantage of 29.06% relative to the total amount bet.

Mini Jackpot

 

The following analysis is based on the pay table pictured below. What characterizes this pay table is the "Mini Bonus." For every pair of jacks or better on the draw, the Mini Bonus goes up by one initial bet. It is won by obtaining a pair of queens on the deal that does not improve on the draw. The Mini Bonus starts out at five credits and reaches a maximum of 20 credits.

The math would get very complicated factoring in these minimum and maximum values of the Mini Bonus. To keep things fairly simple, the following table does not factor in these starting and maximum values of the Mini Bonus, but instead assumes it starts at zero and has no maximum.

   

The bottom right cell shows an expected win of 0.25 units per deal. In other words, a player advantage of 25% relative to a single bet. Again, this does not consider the seed value nor the maximum value of the Mini Bonus. I roughly estimate that adds 15% to the return to the game, for a total of 40% relative to the initial wager.

The player will make the raise bet 56.2% of the time, which means an average final bet of 1.56 units, for a player advantage of 25.6% relative to the total amount bet.

Wazdan Joker Poker Game

   

The following return table is for the game titled "Joker Poker" by Wazdan software.

 

The bottom right cell shows an expected win of 0.168353 units per deal. In other words, a player advantage of 16.8% relative to a single bet. The player will make the raise bet 61.4% of the time, for a player advantage of 10.43% relative to the total amount bet.

Before you clear out your bank account to play this game, please be warned that no casino using this software is endorsed by the Wizard of Odds and it is probably gaffed, like the machines in land-based casinos in Germany.

 

American Poker V

     

The following return table is for the game titled "American Poker V" by Wazdan software. It contains a strange rule that royal flushes must contain a natural ace. This leaves me wondering how 10-J-Q-K-Joker would be scored. I assume it pays the same as a straight flush, but I list it separately in the return table.

 

The bottom right cell shows an expected win of 0.169337 units per deal. In other words, a player advantage of 16.9% relative to a single bet. The player will make the raise bet 55.4% of the time, for a player advantage of 10.895% relative to the total amount bet.

There is also a "Mini Bonus" feature. Every time the player gets a pair of jacks to aces a meter increases by one coin. When the meter reaches 100, the player gets the 100 coins and the meter resets. I do not know what value the meter starts at. Assuming the meter starts at zero and no strategy deviations, I show this rule should increase the return per initial hand by 0.11%.

As stated under Wazdan's Joker Poker game, please be warned that no casino using this software is endorsed by the Wizard of Odds.

Wazdan American Poker Gold

   

The following return table is for the game titled "American Poker Gold" by Wazdan software. It also contains the strange rule that royal flushes must contain a natural ace. As with American Poker V, I assume they pay the same as a straight flush.

 

The bottom right cell shows an expected win of 0.161 units per deal. In other words, a player advantage of 16.1% relative to a single bet. The player will make the raise bet 60.3% of the time, for a player advantage of 10.0% relative to the total amount bet.

Let me repeat that no casino using this software is endorsed by the Wizard of Odds.

Where to Play

   

Finding American Poker in Germany should not be too difficult. I found it at both the Mirage Casino and the Spielbank Casino in Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Generally speaking, any large German city should have small slots-only casinos scattered about the city and one or two full-blown casinos with table games. You may find American Poker on a multi-play machine, so look carefully.

 

Internal Links

 

Turbo Poker — This is a 52-card game based on the German rules.

External Links

 

• YouTube video of me playing American Poker at the Mirage casino in Berlin.
• Discussion of American Poker Gold at Wizard of Vegas.

Written by: Michael Shackleford