Wheel Poker Deluxe

Introduction

 

 

Wheel Poker Deluxe is a video poker variant I noticed at the Red Rock casino in March 2010. It can also be played for free at VideoPoker.com.

The game can be played like conventional 3-play or 5-play video poker. However, for the price of an additional 5-coin bet, on top of already betting 5 coins on each hand, a bonus feature will be enabled. Specifically, if the player gets any hand containing a three of a kind (including a full house and four of a kind) on the deal with the five-coin bet, the player gets to play the bonus.

The bonus involves a spinning wheel which will stop on one of eleven possible video poker starting hands. The player will then play out that hand and get paid according to the outcome and special bonus pay tables.

Example

Let's look at an example taken from screenshots from VideoPoker.com.

Here I was playing 3-play Bonus Poker, with the bonus feature enabled. I received a three of a kind on the deal, so I earned the bonus.

After playing out the hand, the game asked me to press the "spin" button to spin the wheel.

This is a picture of the spinning wheel, which is why it looks blurry. It stopped on triple-play, holding the A234 of spades.

There is no decision making in regards to what cards to hold; the selection is automatic. The tables at the top show the possible wins. Note the callout box in the lower left that says "Only highest category paid per bonus."

I made one flush, which paid 150. Some of the fields in the image above are missing because they were blinking, and I grabbed the screenshot at the wrong moment.

Bonus Rules

Like many prize wheels, not all stops are equally likely. The following table shows the possible outcomes of the prize wheel, with the associated weight for each stop. The probability of each outcome on the wheel is proportional to the weighting.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 3-play suited AKQ.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 3-play suited A234.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 3-play AKQJ suited.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 5-play AKQ suited.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 5-play two pair.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 5-play three of a kind.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 10-play pair.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 10-play suited AKQ.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 10-play suited 258T.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 50-play suited 258T.

 

 

The next table shows the possible wins for landing on 100-play two pair.

 

 

Bonus Analysis

The next 11 tables show the probability and return for each possible win for all 11 bonus hands. I won't bother to introduce each table, just look at the table headers. The average win of each bonus game is in the lower right cell of the table. For example, if you get the 3-play suited AKQ bonus, the average win is 218.51.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that we know the probability and expected return from each bonus hand, we can find the expected win of the overall bonus, as shown in the table below. The lower right cell shows the bonus is worth, on average, 221.24 coins.

 

 

Game Analysis

We can see from my page on probabilities in poker that the bonus probability is (54,912 + 3,744 + 624)/2,598,960 = 0.022809, or once every 43.84 hands. With an average win of 221.24, the expected win from the bonus before the deal is 0.022809 × 221.24 = 5.046393. The cost of enabling the bonus is 5 coins, making it a good bet. The expected return on the bonus feature is 5.046393/5 = 1.009279. In other words, the additional bonus wager has almost a 1% player advantage. However, the main game still carries a negative expected value. Combining the two, the following table shows the overall return, with and without the bonus wager.

 

 

The highest return is on 16-10 deuces wild with the bonus enabled in 3-play at 100.03%.

The next pay table shows the best pay tables available at the Red Rock casino. The best game there is the 99.42% deuces wild.

 

 

Strategy

• Find the best pay table you can.
• If trying to maximize the return, you should pick triple-play. If the casino has a generous player-reward program, pushing the game over 100%, then the hourly expected profit may be greater playing 5-play.
• Always make the bonus bet.
• Hold the cards the same way as in conventional video poker.

Acknowledgements

• J.B. for digging up the rules at VideoPoker.com and for the math analysis.
• VideoPoker.com for the screenshots of the example hand.
• IGT for confirming the average bonus win.
• Bob Dancer for his comments and corrections.

Written by: Michael Shackleford