Chase The Royal

Introduction

This appendix presents my analysis of Chase the Royal video poker. The rules for Chase the Royal are as follows:

 

• The game is based on conventional video poker. The player may choose among four different video poker variations and either 3-play, 5-play, or 10-play.
• If the player is dealt a pair of jacks, queens, or kings and made a max coin bet then the player may exchange the high pair for 3 cards to a royal flush. This Chase the Royal option does not apply if the pair is part of a higher hand (for example a two pair) or if the player also has 4 cards to a straight or royal flush.
• The 3 cards to a royal shall be chosen at random from among the 40 possible (4 suits by 10 ways to choose 3 ranks out of 5). The player may see the specific three cards before deciding to switch.
• If the player opts to chase the royal then the other two cards will be dealt immediatly from the remaining 49 cards in the deck.
• As an incentive to chase the royal a straight shall pay 10 and a flush shall pay 12 in chase the royal mode.
• A dealt royal shall pay 2000, as opposed to the usual 800 per coin bet based.

 

As in conventional video poker, the player should seek out the best pay table possible and play proper strategy. If the player has the opportunity to chase the royal, then the player should always do so.

Overall, the player will get 4.39 as many royal flushes as conventional video poker, at the expense of fewer low paying hands. The standard deviation is very high at 9.15 (for 9/6/5 double bonus), compared to the normal 5.55 for the same game. This game is well suited for the player who puts an emphasis on excitement, over bankroll preservation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Games

The following list shows the expected return with optimal strategy of other Chase the Royal games and pay tables.

Practice Chase the Royal for free at videopoker.com.

 

 

Written by: Michael Shackleford