


                      OPTIMUM STRATEGY FOR PLAYING VIDEO POKER




     There is no bluffing on a video poker machine; so the object is simply to
get the best possible hand.  After you've made your bet (1 to 5 coins), you are
dealt 5 cards.  You may then discard as many of them as you wish, and they will
be replaced, similar to "draw" poker.

     For those unfamiliar with the game of poker, here is a list of the poker
hands, from best to worst:

Royal Flush -- the A, K, Q, J and 10 of the same suit (an Ace-high straight
     flush).

Straight Flush -- any 5 cards of the same suit in order.  The Ace may be low,
     as in the hand A 2 3 4 5 of clubs, for example.

Four of a Kind -- 4 cards of the same rank, such as J J J J, in the hand.

Full House -- 3 cards of the same rank plus a pair, such as 9 9 9 K K.

Flush -- 5 cards of the same suit not in order, such as the 2 8 9 J K of clubs.

Straight -- 5 cards in order (Ace may be high or low) not all the same suit.

Three of a Kind (also called "Trips") -- 3 cards of the same rank in the hand,
     such as 6 6 6 8 K ("trip sixes")

Two Pair -- two pairs in the hand, such as K K 9 9 3.

Pair -- two cards of equal rank in the hand, such as A A 9 6 3.



     The table below lists the standard video poker machine payoff amounts for
the various hands:

     HAND                               PAYOFF

     Royal Flush                        250-for-1 (800-for-1 if 5 coins bet)
     Straight Flush                      50-for-1
     Four of a Kind                      25-for-1
     Full House                           9-for-1 (some machines only pay 8)
     Flush                                6-for-1 (some machines only pay 5)
     Straight                             4-for-1
     Three of a Kind                      3-for-1
     Two Pair                             2-for-1
     Pair of Jacks or Better              1-for-1 (bet returned)

     Note that "4-for-1" is not the same as "4-to-1." A payout of 4-to-1 would
leave you with a total of 5 at the end:  your original bet plus the 4 you won.
"4-for-1" means you end up with a total of 4 at the end, which means a net win
of three.  Thus the "1-for-1" payout for a high pair means a net profit of zero
-- you just get your money back.

     Since the odds against getting a Royal Flush are about 650,000-to-1, the
difference in the overall odds between betting one coin at a time and 5 coins
at a time is very small.






     The following table is the "Optimum Playing Strategy." It lists the
various initial hands, in order, from the best to the worst.  You will see the
notations "inside" and "open" applying to straights.  An "open" straight is one
which can be completed with more than one card.  For example, the four-card
straight 6 7 8 9 could be completed with either the 5 or the 10. On the other
hand, the four-card straights A 2 3 4 or 5 6 8 9 can only be completed with one
card -- a 5 in the first example and a 7 in the second.  The first is called a
"closed" straight and the second an "inside" straight. For the purposes of this
chart, the notation "inside" means either an inside or a closed straight.

      1.  Royal Flush                   (best)
      2.  Straight Flush
      3.  Four of a Kind
      4.  4 cards to a Royal Flush
      5.  Full House
      6.  Flush
      7.  Trips
      8.  Straight
      9.  4 cards to a Straight Flush (open)
     10.  Two Pair
     11.  4 cards to a Straight Flush (inside)
     12.  High Pair (Jacks or better)
     13.  3 cards to a Royal Flush
     14.  4 cards to a Flush
     15.  Low Pair (Tens or less)
     16.  4 cards to a Straight (open or inside)
     17.  3 cards to a Straight Flush (open)
     18.  2 cards to a Royal Flush
     19.  3 high cards (J Q K)
     20.  2 high cards (no Ace)
     21.  3 cards to a Straight Flush (inside)
     22.  2 high cards (including an Ace)
     23.  1 high card (10 or above -- [1 card to a Royal flush])
     24.  nothing                       (worst)

     When you are dealt your original 5 cards, go down the list until you find
the highest line which describes your hand.  Then discard all cards which do
not apply to the description and press the "Deal" button to get the replace-
ments.

     If you do not find the description of your hand in the first 23 lines,
then you have "nothing," and you should discard all 5 cards and draw a fresh
hand.

     [Note that "3 cards to a Flush" is one of the combinations which does NOT
appear on the list.  Don't make the common mistake of drawing to this worthless
hand.  You will win more (through the process of losing less, in this case), on
average, by replacing the entire hand.  The odds against filling a 3-card Flush
are 23-to-1, but the payoff is only 6-for-1, which equals 5-to-1.]

     To use the chart, say you are dealt the 3, 6, 9 and Q of hearts and the Q
of spades.  Going down the list, the first line which describes your hand is
line 12, "High Pair." The other line which describes your hand is 14, "4 cards
to a Flush." Since line 12 is above line 14, that is the action you should take
(i.e., discard the 3, 6 and 9 of hearts and draw to the pair of Queens).

     If you are dealt 4 cards to a Royal Flush, discard the 5th card even if it
means breaking up a High Pair.  In other words, if you are dealt the 10 J Q A
of spades and the Q of clubs, discard the Queen of clubs.







True, there are 47 cards remaining in the deck, which means it's 46-to-1
against you drawing the King of spades for the Royal Flush.  But the payoff is
at least 250-for-1 if you make it, a greater than 4-to-1 positive expectation
with this possibility alone.  (If you played 5 coins, it would be an incredible
16-to-1 positive expectation on just this one possibility!) There are also 8
OTHER spades in the deck, which also gives you 8 chances out of 47 to be paid
6-for-1 for the Flush, also a slight positive expectation.  There are 3 other
Kings in the deck any of which will give you a straight, and there are 3 Aces,
2 Queens and 3 jacks remaining, any of which would give you a high pair.

     The ONLY exception is if you have a king-high Straight Flush (the K Q J 10
9 of the same suit), in which case you would stand.

     SOME OF THE ACTIONS IN THE CHART ARE CONTRARY TO NORMAL POKER PRACTICE!
The people who designed the payoff rates for these machines made it that way on
purpose, in the expectation that even the best poker players will be fooled
into making bad plays on their machine.

     Please be aware that the above strategy, while it is the optimum strategy,
does NOT give the player an overall edge.  It only promises that, in the long
run, the player will lose at the slowest possible rate.  The odds are still
slightly against you.  In other words, you will have to be "lucky" to win.

     However, SOME video poker machines offer a "double-or-nothing" option with
each win.  The machines which offer this option CAN be consistently beaten!
With this option, you bet on either a "big" or "small" card.  The small cards
are Ace through 6 and the big cards are 8 through King. The seven is the "House
Card," which is their edge on the bet.  (They made the Ace low to confuse you.)
On the surface this looks like a "sucker bet," and for most people it is.  But
it is often possible to turn this "sucker bet" to your advantage.

     The easiest way to explain this is through example.

     Say you are dealt an initial hand of 8 5 5 2 2.  Going by the chart above,
you will discard the 8.  Notice that the 8 is the ONLY "big" card that has been
removed from the deck!

     Now, suppose you draw a 4 to replace the 8.  You have seen 6 cards, one
"big" and five "small." In the remaining deck of 52 cards, there are 23 big
cards (the 24 in a "virgin" deck minus the one you saw), 19 small cards (24
minus the 5 you saw) and 4 sevens.  If you were to go double-or-nothing on
"big," it would be an exactly even bet.  There 23 "big" cards which will win,
and 23 cards which will lose (19 "small" plus four 7's).

     Now lets look at an example where the player has a definite edge.  The
initial hand is K 7 5 6 7.  Again, only one card from the "big" group.  But,
importantly, two of the sevens have been used up! You discard the K 5 6 and
they are replaced by 6 A 6 so your final hand is 6 7 A 6 7 -- two pair.  You
have seen a total of eight cards, only one of which was "big" and two of which
were sevens.  This means that 5 of the 8 were low cards.  Therefore, in the
remaining deck, there are 23 "big", 2 sevens and 19 "small." If you go double-
or-nothing on "big" there are 23 cards which will win, but only 21 cards which
will lose.  In this example, you have a 2/44, or 4.55% edge on the bet!

     With each initial hand, make a mental note of the number of cards seen in
the least-represented group, and the number of sevens.  For example, say you
are dealt an original hand of A K 10 9 8.  Before you discard the 10 9 8, make
the mental note, "The Ace is the only small."  Suppose you draw a Q K 7 to this
hand, which gives you a final hand of A K Q K 7.  Now you have seen one "small"
and one "house" out of 8 cards, which means you have seen 6 "big."






     Subtract the number of "smalls" from the number of "bigs." In this case, 6
minus 1 equals 5.  If the result is larger than the number of sevens remaining
in the deck (3 in this case), you have an advantage on the bet.  If the number
is equal, it is an even bet, and you can double or not at your option.

     Another, "shorthand," way to do this is to double the number of the cards
you've seen the least of, and subtract the product from the TOTAL number of
cards excluding "house" cards.  Using the above example, 2 x 1 = 2; 7 - 2 = 5;
5 is greater than 3 (the number of house cards remaining); you have an edge.

     Let's look at another example, using this "shorthand" method.  The initial
hand is 2 3 5 6 8.  First make a mental note, "Only one big." Then, following
to the strategy chart, you throw away the 8 to draw to the inside straight.
You get lucky, and draw a 4 to fill the straight.  You have seen 5 "smalls" and
one "big." You've seen 6 cards, only one of which was high. 6 total minus 2
times the one high you saw equals 4.  There are four 7's left in the deck.
Therefore, doubling on "big" is an exactly even bet.

     One more example -- an extreme one: you are dealt A 2 2 4 6.  You make the
mental note, "No bigs." You discard the A 4 6 and draw 7 7 7 for a final hand
of 7 2 2 7 7.  You have seen five "smalls," three "house," and NO "bigs!" Five
minus (2 x 0), obviously, is five.  There is only one "house" card left in the
deck.  Five is four greater than the 1 remaining "house" card.  Obviously, you
should double on "big," since there are four more cards in the remaining deck
which will win than will lose. Since you saw eight cards, only 44 remain.  This
means you have an impressive 4/44, or 9.09%, edge on the bet!

     If you want to win (and who doesn't) follow the strategy chart religiously
and don't go for double-or-nothing unless you have an edge on the bet.  (If you
want to gamble, then doubling when you've got an even bet is O.K., since even
bets will come out even in the long haul.)

     NEVER play "hunches!"  There is only ONE correct play in each situation.
Sure, you can get lucky and win occasionally, but the ONLY way to come out
winner in the long run is to play the percentages EVERY time.




























