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Look Ahead Poker

Introduction

 
 

Any legitimate professional gambler, or cheat, can tell you if you know the next card to be dealt, it gives the player a powerful advantage. This is exactly what you're told in Super Look Ahead Poker. After the deal, the game tells you the next card to be dealt. Unfortunately, IGT is not so foolish that they give this information for free. It costs two more coins on top of the usual five, which also pays to bump up the pay table a bit. Below are the complete rules.

Rules

 
 
  1. The game is based on standard single-play video poker rules, except as noted.
  2. The player may play normally, betting one to five coins, or may bet seven coins to invoke the Look Ahead feature.
  3. The wager must be made before the deal.
  4. If the Look Ahead feature is active, then after the deal, the game will reveal the next card to be dealt.
  5. The player will indicate which cards he wishes to hold, as usual.
  6. In addition to the extra two coins paying for the Look Ahead feature, it also bumps up the pay table on some of the hands.
 

Example

 
 

After betting seven coins, here is the hand I was given on the deal. The little ace of diamonds on the left is the next card in the deck.

 

In conventional video poker, the correct play in this situation is to hold the ace and jack. However, knowing the next card is the ace of diamond, I choose to keep the ace of hearts only.

 

As promised, the game replaced the first discard, the four of clubs with the ace of diamonds. Unfortunately, I didn't improve upon the pair of aces I knew I would get, so was paid for a high pair.

Please note that using my video poker hand analyzer will not give the correct numbers because after the Look Ahead card, you're drawing into a 46-card deck, not 47.

Games and Pay Tables

IGT kindly provided me a list of all games and pay tables that Look Ahead Poker is available in.

The returns indicated in the following tables are based on a full seven-coin bet.

Bonus Poker

Poker Hand 99.40% 98.24% 97.83% 96.05%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 50 80 50 50
FOUR ACES 100 100 100 100
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's 60 60 60 60
FOUR 5's THROUGH K's 30 30 30 30
FULL HOUSE 9 8 8 8
FLUSH 6 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 4 4 4 3
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 2 2 2 2
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1

 

Bonus Poker Deluxe

Poker Hand 99.80% 98.68% 97.68% 96.51% 95.70%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 90 120 50 80 120
FOUR OF A KIND 95 95 95 95 95
FULL HOUSE 10 9 9 8 7
FLUSH 6 6 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 5 5 5 5 5
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 1 1 1 1 1
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1 1

 

Deuces Wild

Poker Hand 99.27% 98.00% 97.41% 97.08% 96.27% 95.42%
ROYAL FLUSH NO DEUCES 800 800 800 800 800 800
FOUR DEUCES 200 200 200 200 200 200
ROYAL FLUSH WITH DEUCE 25 20 20 30 20 30
FIVE OF A KIND 16 13 13 17 11 16
STRAIGHT FLUSH 10 11 10 14 9 12
FOUR OF A KIND 5 5 5 5 5 5
FULL HOUSE 4 4 4 3 4 3
FLUSH 3 3 3 2 3 2
STRAIGHT 2 2 2 2 2 2
THREE OF A KIND 1 1 1 1 1 1

 

Deuces Wild Bonus Poker

Poker Hand 99.50% 98.87% 97.72% 96.72% 95.49%
ROYAL FLUSH NO DEUCES 800 800 800 800 800
FOUR DEUCES + ONE ACE 400 400 400 400 400
FOUR DEUCES 200 200 200 200 200
ROYAL FLUSH WITH DEUCE 25 25 25 25 25
FIVE ACES 100 100 120 120 120
FIVE 3's, 4's, 5's 50 50 50 50 50
FIVE 6's THROUGH K's 30 30 30 30 30
STRAIGHT FLUSH 14 13 10 13 11
FOUR OF A KIND 4 4 4 4 4
FULL HOUSE 4 4 4 4 4
FLUSH 3 3 3 2 2
STRAIGHT 1 1 1 1 1
THREE OF A KIND 1 1 1 1 1

 

Double Bonus

Poker Hand 99.23% 98.18% 96.65% 94.49%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 50 100 140 100
FOUR ACES 200 200 200 200
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's 120 120 120 120
FOUR 5's THROUGH K's 60 60 60 60
FULL HOUSE 10 10 10 9
FLUSH 7 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 5 5 4 4
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 1 1 1 1
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1

 

Double Double Bonus

Poker Hand 99.01% 98.20% 97.19% 96.09% 94.72%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 100 150 180 200 120
FOUR A's + ANY 2, 3 OR 4 400 400 400 400 400
FOUR 2's,3's,4's + ANY A,2,3,4 200 200 200 200 200
FOUR ACES 200 200 200 200 200
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's 100 100 100 100 100
FOUR 5's THROUGH K's 70 70 70 70 70
FULL HOUSE 10 10 9 8 8
FLUSH 6 5 5 5 5
STRAIGHT 4 4 4 4 4
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 1 1 1 1 1
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1 1

 

Jacks or Better

Poker Hand 99.73% 98.63% 97.46% 96.98% 95.48%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 120 50 80 150 50
FOUR OF A KIND 30 30 30 30 30
FULL HOUSE 9 10 9 8 8
FLUSH 7 6 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 4 4 4 4 4
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 2 2 2 2 2
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1 1

 

Triple Double Bonus

TRIPLE DOUBLE BONUS POKER 99.62% 98.44% 97.06% 96.08% 94.97%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 100 140 50 80 100
FOUR A's + ANY 2, 3 OR 4 800 800 800 800 800
FOUR 2's,3's,4's + ANY A,2,3,4 400 400 400 400 400
FOUR ACES 200 200 200 200 200
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's 100 100 100 100 100
FOUR 5's THROUGH K's 60 60 60 60 60
FULL HOUSE 10 10 10 9 8
FLUSH 7 6 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 4 4 4 4 4
THREE OF A KIND 2 2 2 2 2
TWO PAIR 1 1 1 1 1
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1 1

 

Analysis

It takes my computer three days to run through all the combinations for any given pay table, on a single core, so forgive me for the small number of pay tables analyzed for this game. As always, these tables assume optimal player strategy.

In these tables, the return is the product of the win, probability, and 5/7. The reason for multiplying by 5/7 is that the player must bet seven coins, but the win is only five times as much as the "pay" indicates.

10-6-4 Double Double Bonus

Hand Pays Combinations Probability Return
Royal flush 800 60,100,115,292 0.000036 0.020511  
Straight flush 100 348,036,025,680 0.000208 0.014847  
Four aces + 2-4 400 134,655,743,124 0.000080 0.022977  
Four 2-4 + A-4 200 333,883,756,332 0.000199 0.028487  
Four aces + 5-K 200 287,549,935,848 0.000172 0.024533  
Four 2-4 100 676,405,891,728 0.000404 0.028855  
Four 5-K 70 3,066,123,704,448 0.001831 0.091559  
Full house 10 35,553,627,217,080 0.021234 0.151670  
Flush 6 38,692,376,838,612 0.023108 0.099036  
Straight 4 48,760,613,357,316 0.029121 0.083204  
Three of a kind 3 132,268,313,400,384 0.078995 0.169275  
Two pair 1 293,264,282,158,848 0.175147 0.125105  
Jacks or better 1 304,865,065,482,096 0.182075 0.130054  
Nothing 0 816,080,329,818,012 0.487389 0.000000  
Total   1,674,391,363,444,800 1.000000 0.990112  

 

10-7-4 Triple Double Bonus

Hand Pays Combinations Probability Return
Royal flush 800 55,827,487,800 0.000033 0.019053  
Straight flush 100 357,641,145,792 0.000214 0.015257  
Four aces + 2-4 800 157,698,610,272 0.000094 0.053819  
Four 2-4 + A-4 400 419,336,026,704 0.000250 0.071555  
Four aces + 5-K 200 230,854,735,188 0.000138 0.019696  
Four 2-4 100 558,065,083,212 0.000333 0.023807  
Four 5-K 60 2,991,319,902,648 0.001787 0.076565  
Full house 10 32,941,051,437,672 0.019673 0.140525  
Flush 7 44,715,058,097,976 0.026705 0.133526  
Straight 4 49,676,392,631,544 0.029668 0.084767  
Three of a kind 2 129,536,619,778,440 0.077363 0.110519  
Two pair 1 281,533,946,483,160 0.168141 0.120101  
Jacks or better 1 297,825,527,340,432 0.177871 0.127051  
Nothing 0 833,392,024,683,960 0.497728 0.000000  
Total   1,674,391,363,444,800 1.000000 0.996238  

 

9-6-4 Bonus Poker

Hand Pays Combinations Probability Return
Royal flush 800 57,777,225,660 0.000035 0.019718  
Straight flush 50 300,781,663,812 0.000180 0.006416  
Four aces 100 352,084,163,256 0.000210 0.015020  
Four 2-4 60 1,015,231,075,740 0.000606 0.025986  
Four 5-K 30 3,062,878,723,044 0.001829 0.039198  
Full house 9 36,913,475,261,880 0.022046 0.141724  
Flush 6 37,422,033,921,468 0.022350 0.095784  
Straight 4 46,642,635,726,960 0.027856 0.079590  
Three of a kind 3 129,490,734,791,376 0.077336 0.165720  
Two pair 2 337,692,546,047,808 0.201681 0.288115  
Jacks or better 1 273,725,942,113,260 0.163478 0.116770  
Nothing 0 807,715,242,730,536 0.482393 0.000000  
Total   1,674,391,363,444,800 1.000000 0.994040  

 

Strategy

Sorry, you're on your own with that.

Comparison to Super Look Ahead Poker

 

There is a similar game called Super Look Ahead Poker. The only differences are:

  • In Super Look Ahead Poker the player may decline the Look Ahead card.
  • In Super Look Ahead Poker the player must pay three extra coins for the Look Ahead feature, as opposed to two.

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