Ask any casino executive and they’ll tell you that electronic poker is really a genuine money maker for the house. Nevertheless, many electronic poker games feature a house advantage of less than 1 %, and others nonetheless can really yield over a 100 percent payback if the gambler uses an optimum betting strategy. Thus, the question needs to be asked: How can these to seemingly contradictory facts be reconciled?

The answer lies in the fact that the optimum system for numerous video poker games is counter-intuitive. Certain, you will discover a lot of arms that everyone plays optimally; if someone is dealt the As K Spades Qs Js 3h, for instance, you will search extended and hard before you come across a video poker gambler who would insist on discarding 4 and keeping the three of hearts. But there are are myriad arms where what would appear to be the right method actually costs the gambler money. And in a number of cases this loss may be significant.

To better illustrate let us look at a game that most of us are familiar with; Jacks or Better. At 1st glance this casino game looks like a breeze to play. You will discover only 9 fingers that qualify for a payback, and it is usually pretty easy to tell if you have a draw to one of those 9 hands. Yet everyday electronic poker gamblers across the nation are throwing money away by generating inadequate (nonetheless ‘intuitively correct’) betting decisions. Let us appear at a few different palms, and see how the ideal technique varies from the intuitively correct strategy.

Mistake One) Maintaining ‘Ace-face card-face card’ as opposed to just holding the 2 face cards.

You see this wager on made all of the time, and nonetheless couple of players know what a disaster it seriously is. The thought behind retaining the ace is that you have a greater possibility of creating an ace-high direct, and you also have 3 great cards that you can attempt to pair up around the draw. However, by maintaining the ace you are eliminating your chances of making 4 of a form or even a full house, and reducing your odds of creating two pair. The slight gain you receive through your increased chances of making a straight don’t start to compensate for these other considerable losses.

Mistake Two) Not attempting enough lengthy shot draws at the direct flush.

The directly flush may possibly be one of the most misunderstood hand in Jacks or Better. It doesn’t come around quite usually, and it does not have the sex appeal of the royal flush, and as a result most players neglect it. When dealt a hand like the nine clubs 7c five clubs 3 spades two diamonds numerous gamblers will merely discard all 5 and redraw. The assumption here is the fact that the direct flush will practically never come in, so they would rather ‘cut their losses’ and try to pick up a major pair around the redraw.

Again, this makes sense at first glance. Nevertheless what is forgotten in this type of analysis is that by retaining the 9c seven clubs 5c the player also has a opportunity at a directly or even a flush. Now it’s true that a draw like this isn’t a authentic moneymaker. But it’s going to nevertheless pay far more, in the prolonged run, than drawing 5 new cards.

Mistake 3) Retaining a suited AT as opposed to just maintaining the ace.

This is one of the most frequent mistakes created by video poker gamblers at Jacks or Better. Now I will be the 1st to admit that holding the ace and the 10 is far a lot more fun then just drawing to the ace. After all, whenever you hold the ace and the ten you’ve got at least a small probability of some thing truly great happening; namely, hitting the royal on the draw. You also have a much better probability of creating a straight or perhaps a flush. Still as using the hand we examined in Mistake #1 these gains do not outweigh your decreased chances of creating 4 of a sort, 3 of a sort or even a big pair. If you want to bet on optimally you’ll have to discard that 10; I know it’s tough, except it must be done!

These are three of the most vivid examples of negative play, even though you will discover a lot of other errors that a video poker gambler frequently makes in the course of a playing session. If your goal is to reduce the casino advantage as a lot as possible I suggest picking up a book that contains charts detailing the finer points of ideal play. You can find a number of books like this out on the market, and they’re certainly worth the sticker price. Pore over the charts, and compare the plays they recommend with the plays you’re currently making. I guarantee it will probably be a genuine eye-opening experience.